Tour de Farms

Three women from DC pedal their way to Montreal, hitting urban farms as they go.

by Sam Tremble

The woman with the carrot in the bag is Jennie Love who runs a blog about eating food from Weavers Way Co-op called Straight From The Farm. Chris Hill eats a cucumber at Chris Hill fixes a flat on Forbidden Drive. In the neighborhood of Mill Creek, leaving Mill Creek farm for Spring Gardens. (CLICK IMAGES FOR LARGER VERSIONS)

The Urban Farm Bike Tour is already running late and it's only the first stop � The Mort Brooks Memorial Organic Farm, part of the Weavers Way Co-op in Germantown. The three women cycling from D.C. as The Women's Gardens Cycle Tour haven't showed yet, and according to the detailed cue sheet provided by organizer (and City Paper co-founder) Chris Hill, the group should already be cycling down Forbidden Drive alongside Wissahickon Creek en route to Mill Creek Farm in West Philadelphia, followed by Spring Gardens near the Art Museum and Greensgrow Farm in Kensignton.

Instead, a group of 20 cyclists/Weavers Way Co-op members dressed in spandex waiting to join the tour for the day stand in a circle listening to David Zelov. The full-time farmer at Weavers Way explains the acre of farm surrounding them, just a couple hundred yards from the Washington Lane R7 stop, not more than a mile from Germantown Avenue. After the group taste-tests leaves of lemony sorrel, the three women of WGCT arrive.

Lara Sheets, Kat Shiffler and Liz Tylander are cycling from D.C. to Montreal and back � an impressive 1,600-mile trip they hope to complete by September � visiting as many urban farms along the way as they can. They'll do most of the ride by themselves, but the Philadelphia leg was inspired by a similar tour Hill organized in conjunction with Farm Aid last September. Today's ride climaxes at Yard's Brewery, just around the corner from Greensgrow, but the women of WGCT won't turn around for home until they reach Montreal. There they plan to spend time with Santropol Roulant, a successful nonprofit that pairs youth with the increasing elderly population in a bike-only meals-on-wheels program.

"The whole point of [the trip] is doing a small film exploring the local food movement and everything that's encompassed in that � the youth perspective, immigrants, urban and rural areas � any efforts people are making as an alternative to the industrial food complex," says Sheets, between bites of bagel provided by Weaver's Way. "We're riding our bikes as an example of using alternative modes of transportation and doing it ourselves."

Upon arrival at Mill Creek Farm, another 20 cyclists join the tour. This new group is more inclined to cutoffs than spandex, but almost everyone has matching toothed grease stains on the back of their legs. There are fresh carrots to chomp on and other produce grown on-site for sale. Tylander has her camcorder rolling, and Sheets holds out a microphone as Jade Walker explains Mill Creek's role in stormwater management, which keeps the neighborhood from becoming Mill Pond. Shiffler simply takes it in, drinking a bottle of water in the shade of a living roof. It's the halfway point of the day's 25-mile trip, but hardly a quarter of WGCT's expansive tour � she deserves the short break.

To follow the Women's Gardens Cycle Tour online, visit http://womensgardencycles.wordpress.com. For information on Mill Creek Farm, visit www.millcreekurbanfarm.org. For information on Greensgrow Farm, visit www.greensgrow.org. For information on Weavers Way Co-op, visit www.weaversway.coop.