What’s cooler than growing food in vacant urban space? Riding bikes around Lake Washington to support urban farming!

Alleycat Acres is in the begining stages of planning a fantastic-sounding fundraiser bike ride. Registration will start in early December, and the ride will be in early March.

But what do bikes and farming have to do with each other? Well, for one, the folks at Alleycat Acres deliver much of the food they grow to food banks via bicycle. The group hosted Bikestravaganza in August, and they are always trying to figure out ways to tie farming and bikes together.

Bikes and farming both help us “get more connected with the cities we’re in,” said Sean Conroe, founder of Alleycat Acres. The organization has farms in the Central District at 22nd and Union and on Beacon Hill on 24th Ave S near the golf course:

Alleycat Acres: Grow Forth! from sean conroe on Vimeo.

Since its founding less than a year ago, Alleycat Acres has been approached by other cities in the region that would love to have residents utilize their vacant spaces for urban farming. The ride is about raising funds and having fun, but it’s also about experiencing the region and bringing people together, Sean said.

The group hopes to raise their entire year’s worth of funds with this one event. The ride has a cap of 100 riders. Registration will be $10, and each rider will be expected to raise at least $60 in donations. That’s $1 per mile for those keeping score at home.

Also, there will be prizes, and the ride’s list of sponsors keeps growing. Check out the event page on the Alleycat Acres website for more info, and stay tuned if you are interested in signing up to ride.

If you want to help out, either with the ride planning or with the farms, email Sean.