Your view changes depending on where you perch
The chickens have been perching in a tree each night, along with the guinea hens (the ladder is so we can bring them down and re-train them about their coop because the eggs are everywhere).
I’m not sure they are seeing their world differently, but I know I am seeing mine in a whole new light. I’m WWOOFing (doing a volunteer work trade for room, board and knowledge) on a 40-acre homestead in rural North Carolina as the first farmstay of six while traveling 7,000 miles via bikes, buses, and trains Round America with a Duck. It’s five months of experiential research where I’m searching for hope and heroes in a country-at-a-crossroads and a world-in-crisis while sharing and growing my resilience skills for our increasingly-uncertain future.
My traveling companion Disco Duck and his little side duck are already having a great time, as you can see in the photo below of them hanging out in the apple blossoms on the farm. We left Atlanta March 20th for Durham, North Carolina. We spent the night in Chapel Hill with my friend Judy and her family, and we even got to be the featured guest at a book club meeting! More big excitement — I got to ride my folding bike on the trails right behind Judy’s home. They go everywhere! (And to think that my Metro Atlanta city’s residents keep fighting doing this.) Lish, the famer, picked me up there, and here we are, halfway through our three weeks already.
Behind-the-scenes stories
I’ve been posting to the Round America with a Duck blog almost every day. Why not subscribe so you don’t miss a post? Here are some recent ones you may enjoy:
In addition to at least one new video a day (join more than 50k others who’ve already viewed #RoundAmericaWithADuck on TikTok — we’re now at that hashtag on Instagram as well), I’m also taking some photos. Here are a few I especially like:
I’m starting work on Chapter 2 of Round America with a Duck next week (see the route and corresponding chapter summaries). Writing a book is intense work and it takes a lot of focus (this is my, like, seventh). I intend to write along the way and have most of the first draft finished by the time I return home September 1. I’m sharing the first chapter prior to publication of the book, which you can read or listen to for free here.
Does all this farm talk get you thinking about growing your own food? I got you covered:
When tragedy struck, I did the only thing I could to maintain a semblance of control in an uncertain world. I planted seeds and somehow figured out how to grow food, knowledge and community. You get timeless stories, actionable tips, and chapter-ending recipes from that journey in one of my prior books, Food for My Daughters (available on Amazon in all global markets, as well as through indie book channels). It may shorten your learning curve or inspire you a bit (or so the kind reviews suggest) if you’re thinking about digging in as well. Truth? It’s more relevant now than ever. Prescient, even.
Have a ducky day!
___
Pattie Baker, featured in O: The Oprah Magazine, lives her passions as she strives to help create a better world. Founder of one of the newest cities in the USA’s Sustainability Commission; numerous food-growing gardens (including for refugees-of-war and the largest volunteer-run community garden in the State of Georgia); and the first text and TikTok-based bike skills courses for women and teen girls in the world, she is a League of American Bicyclists Cycling Instructor; PeopleForBikes Ambassador; first Metro Atlanta Bicycle Mayor as part of a global consortium with the Amsterdam-based social enterprise BYCS; and a member of Mensa (the high IQ society). She has written and project-managed for many major global corporations and nonprofit organizations, and is the author of thousands of feature articles and blog posts as well as numerous books (both nonfiction and fiction for adults, teens and children). See her resume, portfolio, and other links on her Linktree. She considers her “invisibility” as an aging woman in America to be her superpower and harnesses it as a street photographer. See her street photography.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRcFccdt/
Round America with a Duck 