He explained that while the Country Barn still is a working farm (with potatoes as the main crop), it is really the hospitality services (hosting weddings and corporate events) that keep him in business.ĭinner finished early as we were all eager to get a good night’s rest. He told us that it used to be a tobacco farm, but he was proud to have stopped growing that crop.
I saw Beth, Jess and Andrea a few times during the ride, and they were always kind and encouraging.Īfter the clinic, we picked up our registration packets and headed back to our room to change for the Gourmet Farm Dinner at the County Barn Loft.Īnother First Class perk: swag from Colavita and other sponsors!Īt the dinner, we met other cyclists and got to hear from Farmer Jim (owner of the Country Barn) about the history and heritage of the farm. The pros gave us great tips that I put into practice during the ride–especially the tips on turning and keeping your thumbs hooked around your handle bars for extra control.
We “checked in” (met the owners and got the key to our room), and enjoyed the view from the rocking chairs on the front porch until it was time for the cycling clinic with Jess, Beth and Andrea from the Colavita-Bianchi pro cycling team. Farm To Fork Fondo Overview - Friday EventsĪs part of the First Class package, we stayed at the Manor View Inn, which is a bed and breakfast across the road from the Country Barn (and part of the same family business). Things ran smoothly from the moment we arrived at the Country Barn staging area on Friday afternoon to the moment we left about 24 hours later. While the promise of gorgeous scenery and great food may attract new riders to sign up for a Farm To Fork Fondo, the great organization and wonderful staff will keep riders coming back for more. Our second rest stop: Riehl’s Family Farm In another post, I will share the mental and physical challenges I faced on the course.
My next post will go into more detail about the food. I have so much to say about this ride! Here I provide my overview of the whole event. While we’ve driven through the area on various family trips, nothing compares to the views from our bikes. We waved to horse-drawn buggies, farmers tilling plots with man-powered tillers, and women in traditional Mennonite dress tending beautiful gardens. We were thisclose to cows, horses, goats, and even a few llamas. We saw (and climbed!) rolling hills flecked with white farm houses, red barns, and silver silos. Imagine every picture you’ve seen of Pennsylvania Dutch country, and then imagine riding through it. The scenery was almost as breathtaking as the hills. Riding through the bucolic farmlands of Pennsylvania Dutch country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania certainly renewed my appreciation for family farms and the history, heritage, and horticulture they embody.
Tyler Wren founded the Farm To Fork Fondo series to unite the cycling and farming communities and encourage cyclists to support local farmers. This is a wonderfully-detailed and candid account of the life of a British farmer - of the highs and lows and lessons learned from a lifetime on the land.Wrenegade Sports sponsored my participation and asked me to writeĪ review of my experience doing the Pennsylvania Dutch Farm To Fork Fondo. Often undermined as an antiquated pastime, agriculture is actually the core of a £122bn food and farming sector (the UK's largest manufacturing industry), and Farm to Fork: The Challenge of Sustainable Farming in 21st Century Britain stands as a testament to British farming and the heart that goes into the food our farmers produce, the environmental stewardship they deliver and the landscape they maintain, whether through the assurance of food quality, animal welfare or environmental sustainability. Along the way, he offers insight into his daily routine, such as how crops are planted, why livestock is brought in for winter, and what happens at harvest, while addressing the bigger issues surrounding food standards, sustainability, the environment, rural heritage, trade and the future of agricultural policy outside the EU. Drawing on a lifetime of experience, he strips observations of the countryside and agricultural practices down to the core of his day-to-day, illustrating how our food is produced and why our farmed landscape looks the way it does. Providing a seasonal tour of a traditional farming year, passionate beef farmer Joe Stanley seeks to bridge this knowledge gap and inform the reader about the journey their food takes before it gets to the plate, revealing the realities of modern agricultural life for a British lowland farmer.
Food is our most intimate and vital commodity, yet too many of us have lost touch with the reality of where it comes from and how it is produced.