Sunday Morning Ducks!

Christa here, taking a break from BBP Programs Talk to share a bit about my personal weekend adventure!  This past Sunday Boise Bicycle Farm Tours (aka, me and Benjamin) led our first social ride of the season to Morning Owl Farm near Lucky Peak Reservoir. Ten folks left the Boise Bicycle Project at 11am and rolled up to Morning Owl Farm at 12:30, after a sunny ten mile ride along the Greenbelt. 

We met two others who drove to the farm and potlucked it up while the landowner, Kevin, shared his bees and honey with us, and then Dan, Morning Owl’s farmer, introduced us to his ducks (anyone had their eggs at the co-op!?) and shared the story of his farm. Dan talked both about some practical aspects of duck farming, and some of the practical intricacies of urban farming, especially at a time when land designated for housing is at such high demand.  Given our similar histories--both students of philosophy drawn to farming conceptually and with no previous experience--Dan’s story was motivating for me; he lives an example I aim to attain.  

Here I’d like to pass the microphone off to Benjamin to share a bit about the inception of the Boise Bicycle Farm Tours, but I’ll end by saying that I hope this series of rides throughout the summer and fall provides this motivation for others as well!  If you are interested in riding along, check out the Boise Bicycle Farm Tours Facebook page for dates and locations of future rides!

Bicycles and Farming, by Benjamin Trieu

If you’re like me, they seem like two peas in a pod, birds of a feather, two things that are obviously in love and meant to be together forever.  I was a third wheel in this wonderful marriage and falling more in love with each every day: I devoted my weekends to eradicating weeds and harvesting the lettuce, mustard frills, spinach, baby kale, mizuna, pak choi, and other leafy greens that, when tossed together, make "salad." I used my gas powered vehicle less and less and my leg powered vehicle more and more. I rode through rain, through sleet, sun, and snow to farm.  When someone totaled my friend’s van, I loaned them the truck I hadn't used in six months, then gifted it over permanently when I realized I didn’t miss it a bit.  I became a bicycle-only party, and that has been a blast! 

The joy that biking and farming brought me led to the conception of the Boise Bicycle Farm Tours--a way to share that joy with everyone!  Throughout the season that's NOT the growing one (commonly known as winter) I emailed and called every farm that I knew or could find through word of mouth and begged them to let bunches of bicyclists visit their land to experience that wonderful amalgam of natural beauty, human ingenuity, and hard labor known as a farm. During dreary nights two winters ago I dreamed of hordes of people joyously peddling to farms that would open their eyes and hearts to the beauty, harmony, and genius of the dance of vegetables, livestock, and people, and then joining the dance themselves by rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty.

had a trusty pair of wheels, I had a good pair of legs, and I had farms saying yes; this beautiful vision felt like it was going to work.

So, here is the root of our tours: Spending time in community with people, getting bodies moving, sharing good food, being in nature and pushing the bounds of what we think possible. All those things--taking the time to appreciate the land and people around ourselves--are what these rides are all about.

Hope you can join us for it all!

-Benjamin