Will Bike For Food!

Working the Earth

For those who have not heard, Kate and I are taking this year to work on an organic vegetable farm somewhere on the East Coast. Since the New Year, we have spent time in San Diego and then put ourselves on a plane with our gear to fly back to New York/Connecticut. Well, we flew, and our bikes traveled FedEx ground. Because they’re afraid of flying. Imagine that.

We are just ending a short stint in New York City, showing my Mom around town, and saying hello to a few friends and family. Thursday, we head back to Connecticut to see more friends and family, and to continue work on our various projects. We will spend our weekdays in February working much, and sleeping much less. During the weekends, we will be seeing friends and family in New York,  Connecticut, and Boston.

We have not heard a definite yes or no from any farms as of yet. We are hoping to end up somewhere in New York, but we just cannot say who will have us yet. It’s a weird limbo period for us. The farms we have applied to have had to let their application deadlines run out, giving a fair shake to anyone that wishes to work on their farms. Did I do a good enough job keeping it vague? Bottom line is that you will know when we know, and right now, we don’t know.

Working Online

Kate and I are looking forward to being in one place and having time alone to work on our bicycle trip book. It is no small feat to process all the information from the trip. It is as an exciting venture as taking the trip. It has been fun to look back on the good days and the bad, and try to put them into words others will want to read. Not to mention, I have roughly one trillion digital photos, and hours of video.

The finished product will be published much the way Alastair Humphrey published his most recent travel book, There are Other Rivers. (If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, I strongly suggest you do. It’s a great read.)

I have been working on a side project that will launch this summer. To talk in cycling metaphors, the frame is built, I am starting to put on the components, and this spring will be spent fine tuning it, so that when it launches, it will provide a smooth and enjoyable ride. It is a project to help family farmers with the business side of producing food, and quite frankly I’m pretty excited. I want it vague for now because as the saying goes “Loose Lips Sink Ships.” To ensure you are one of the first to hear about this project Like us on Facebook, or Follow us on Twitter.

Amidst farming and writing, I also plan on further developing the FoodCyclist website this year. I will finally get caught up on gear reviews, photo galleries, video, and a gift shop. This will help me enhance your experience, so that when we hit the road again in 2013, the site will be an even greater resource for those who would like to follow along. With only about 40 hours required of us at the farm, it will not be hard to find time to make the rest of it work.

Part of producing our books and materials has been becoming an expert in Social Media. Much like craft beer and organic farming, social media experts or SMEs have seen positive growth in their market place. I have been studying best practices for social media marketing, so that I may apply my knowledge to our various projects. This will be very helpful the day Kate and I start a farm of our own. I am attending several events in New York City during the global Social Media Week from February 13-17. Some events that I am most excited for are held by one of my favorite social media companies, Likeable Media, right here in NY City.

It may all seem like a lot, but it feels good to be busy. It is all very exciting, and none of it feels like work. We are very motivated, and working very hard at what we are doing. This has been a serious transition for us, and we are getting to do what we love. Believe it or not, we have kicked some other projects to the back burner to give all the above mentioned work our full attention. I used to be in the entertainment business, now I’m going to be the World’s First Adventurer/Farmer.

Working on the Blog

For this year, we will keep up the photos and Video Vignettes based on our farming experiences. I have a bunch of photos to put up from Southern California still, and those posts are in draft form right now. It has been a real whirlwind coming back East, and there is definitely some serious adjustment taking place. It has been good to see more familiar faces, and familiar places. Jet-lag is fun and great! I recommend it!

Working on the Future

Our travel days are not over yet! For those who have written in telling me, “It was just getting good. I wanted to see you struggle in some far-off land.”, do not worry. It will come. This year will allow us to gain further knowledge in agriculture before going abroad. It will also allow us to really develop the site so that the experience is even better for you when we start to travel again.

Right now, we have definite plans to leave the States January 2013. Our first stop, Indonesia. We’re going to start off on foot with just backpacks, and then travel through Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand in 2013. At some point we’ll either have our bikes sent out, or buy a couple of cheap bikes to get from place to place.

After SE Asia we head to Europe for 2014. Perhaps we’ll have a stint in India in there, or some other new and interesting place. The beautiful thing is that Kate and I can change our plans as we see fit. The steps we are taking this year will hopefully provide a mobile source of income so that we will be able to work from anywhere, and thus, go anywhere. To answer the frequently asked question, “How do you do this? Did you win the lottery?” My answer is no, it takes a LOT of hard work, and the willingness to follow your dreams, for better or worse. If we had won the lottery, we might be in another country right now.

One thing is for certain, we are not done traveling! (Much to the dismay of our mothers.) We are happy to be back on the East Coast living our dreams, and making it all happen. Just cross your fingers that we end up on a great farm this year.