DAY ONE - Botanical Gardens to LATIMER GOAT FARM
Our Journey will begin at the State Botanical Gardens on Friday morning leaving around 10AM. The first five miles will carry us into Oconee County and through the heart of Watkinsville. Upon leaving Watkinsville we'll head south down Colham Ferry Road for about 10 miles passing through some of the most beautiful farmland of the entire trip. We'll arrive at our first farm just in time for a hearty lunch (to be announced). Afterwards we'll go on a one hour farm tour of the Albert Hale Farm where we'll observe a working dairy, a modern poultry house, and a beautiful field of alfalfa hay. Then we'll mount our bikes and head north onto Elder Mill Road. We'll stop for a rest and a snack at the Elder Mill covered bridge. Our final stop of the day will be at the Latimer's Goat Milk Dairy where we'll be able to watch the goat's receive their evening milking. We'll have a delicious fresh prepared dinner around the spring fed pond before we pitch our tents in the pastures.
DAY TWO - Latimer Goat Farm to BACKYARD HARVEST
After a lovely breakfast, today's ride will carry us
into Oglethorpe County and past one of the area's most beautiful antebellum cotton plantations. We'll travel through the town of Crawford on our way to our lunch destination still to be decided (it's gonna be a good one). That afternoon those speedy riders will have the option to visit Jimmy McCannon, a farmer and truly unforgettable character. Then everyone will arrive at Becky and Boo's Backyard Harvest, a 20 acre organic fruit, vegetable and grain farm with some of the best soils in the region. We'll have a farm tour, then an ORGANIC BANQUET, followed by an evening slide show presentation by Justin Ellis about a 5,000 mile bicylce tour of farms from Virginia to Oregon.
DAY THREE - Backyard Harvest to RED MULE MILL FARM
The morning will begin at Backyard Harvest and we'll head north towards the city of Comer. Shortly before we arrive we'll stop at Jubilee Partners, a christian retreat for international refugees. Jubilee Partners grows fruits and vegetables for use at the retreat and also started the Comer Farmer's Market. They also keep a dairy cow and have three acres of blueberry bushes. After a farm tour and hopefully some blueberry pickin' we'll have lunch around the lakes and push off for Comer. After passing through the small town of Comer we'll head west back towards Athens. Just the other side of Hull we'll visit Tim and Alice Mill's and Red Mule Mills Farm. Here we'll get to witness how Tim grinds grain with a mill powered by Luke the mule. We'll hear Tim and Alice's inspiring stories and have an end of trip snack and celebration. After this grand adventure we'll be able to show ourselves off a bit as we pass right through the middle of Athens on our way back to the Botanical Gardens.
The route is in a process of continual tweeking, but these color coded markers outline a pretty good approximation of the area we'll be travelling through.
Day 1 - (outlined in RED) State Botanical Gardens to Poultry / Dairy farm in Oconee County
Day 2 - (outlined in BLUE) Oconee County to Oglethorpe County through Lexington and to an Organic Fruit, Vegetable and Wheat Farm
Day 3 - (outlined in GREEN) From Oconee into Madison County we'll visit a Refuge Retreat before finishing up at a Mule Powered Mil.
