One of HUB’s favorite events of the year took place Sunday.
Thirty people in two groups took part in the third annual Bike to Farms ride.
We again visited Matt and Deanna Laity at the historic Brookfield Farm, Lorea McCready and her amazing vegetable garden, and learned what goes on at Red Barn Plants and Produce from owners Ken and Elke Knechtel.
Visiting these local farms made me think about how important it is to treasure our heritage. The passionate people who own and work so hard on our farms often have a long and deep connection to the land where they sow and harvest their produce, and to the animals that produce the milk, eggs and meat we consume.
These businesses keep our heritage alive.
Most of all, we need to treasure and support our local farmers because they are needed to make our community more resilient in the long term, in case California can no longer send us the many fruits and vegetables that have fed us with for decades.
And when it no longer makes sense to transport much of our food thousands of miles, our own local farmers can help feed us and we won’t need to go hungry.
We had some kids on the ride, but next year I’d like to see more.
Of course, there’s more to heritage than just farming. You can find out more about our community’s heritage at GETI Fest 2015, on Sept. 19 (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.), as this year’s theme is just that: heritage.
If you’ve never heard about GETI, it stands for Golden Ears Transition Initiative.
Under the leadership of founder Gerry Pinel, GETI works to create awareness of the need to transition to a less fossil-fuel dependent future and greater resilience of our community.
Many action groups each do their little bit to help create awareness and encourage change.
Our HUB committee is one of those groups.
Our bike rodeo at GETI Fest has something to do with transition and resilience, as well. But most of all, it’s a lot of fun for the younger crowd.
Kids are welcome to bring their own bikes, that they can decorate at our bike decorating station before they try the bike rodeo.
We will teach the kids some of the rules of the road that they can practice on a large intersection drawn on the pavement in front of city hall.
Parents can help by being car traffic.
If you can’t bring your own bike, we have several kids’ bikes that you can use, and helmets, donated by Maple Ridge Cycle and Pitt Meadows Cycle.
I’m happy to tell you that there will be some e-bikes at the event.
Do drop by and try one out.
You won’t believe how much fun they are!
This year at GETI Fest, the organizers want to see things through your eyes. They’re asking everyone to take a photo of themselves or their friends, upload it to facebook and tag it with #GETIFest2015.
A name will be drawn from the submissions and the winner will receive a $50 gift certificate from Big Feast.
Let’s have some photos with bikes on them.
• GETI Fest still needs more volunteers. Contact Lisa at lovesfavorite_memories@hotmail.ca if you would like to help out.
Jackie Chow is a member of the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows chapter of HUB Cycling.