Great weather for the bike ride today. We rode for about three hours, and made four stops:
- Allandale woods, which are much closer and bigger than I’d imagined, and featured a really nice little pond.
- Nira rock in JP. I’d been there before a few years ago, and was happy to see that it’s in much nicer shape now; a group of neighbors has been putting enough work into it that some funding was secured for some serious cleanup. It looks good now, and by next summer it should be something else entirely.
- McLaughlin park and orchard up on Mission Hill, which has an amazing variety of fruit trees and bushes, including chestnut, pear, currant, and a bunch of apples including the field apple pictured at left (funky looking but delicious!)
- Cider and more at the Shirley Eustis house in Roxbury
In addition to good times and apple cider, I scored a copy of Earthwork’s Urban Fruit Guide, which lists and discusses the publicly available fruits, nuts and berries in the Boston area. A little late in the season to put it to much use, but looking forward to exploring next year.
This weekend features food-related bike rides on both days:
- On Saturday, Earthworks and Bikes not Bombs are hosting a tour of orchards and wild spaces in Boston. More details on the Earthworks calendar. An RSVP is required; there were still spaces when I checked earlier this week.
- On Sunday, Hub on Wheels is doing a bike tour of Boston Restaurants - details on their calendar.
The forecast as of today is for sunny weather in the 50’s on both days. I was bummed out enough at missing the Tour de Farms earlier this year that I might just go on both.
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The choice of foods available at smaller food retailers is heavily influenced by what the WIC program pays for. Unfortunately, WIC’s current food guidelines aren’t particularly healthy. Fruits and vegetables, for example, aren’t covered.
The good news is that, after 32 years of the current guidelines, a new set is under consideration, with needed changes like whole grains, fruit and veggies, and a better overall balance. In addition to the obvious benefits for the women and children who would be better fed under these new guidelines, the rest of us would also profit due to the increased availability of these healthy foods at our local grocers.
Thanks to the National WIC Association, it’s quick and easy to send a comment in favor of these changes - just follow the link to their homepage for some more background information, or head right here to send an email to the USDA.
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