I credit my grandparents with the journey they took 100 years ago this year to come to America. I went to Ellis Island on the exact 100th anniversary of each of their arrivals. One of those stories is in the book. The other time (pictured above), I held the fruits of my labors (and theirs)….
Author: Pattie Baker
Writer, street photographer, urban farmer and global WWOOFer. League Cycling Instructor (#5382) and first Metro Atlanta Bicycle Mayor as part of global consortium with Amsterdam-based social enterprise BYCS. Peace Corps Uganda invitee (June 2020, derailed due to COVID-19). Former CDC Foundation Communications Specialist with State of Alaska Dept. of Health on Healthy You in 2022 project. Mensa member. See books on Amazon in all global markets (USA link: https://www.amazon.com/Pattie-Baker/e/B005JBN7ZK) and on indie book sites.
Irishfest
No, I didn’t win the Irish soda bread contest (a young girl did), but I did have fun making my grandmother’s recipe from the back of my new book, Round Ireland with a Duck. I tucked the warm loaf into my denim satchel (free with AARP membership!) and bungee-corded it in my bike basket for the 11-mile ride…
Go raibh maith agat (thank you) to Cathy Cobbs!
Cathy Cobbs, the managing editor of RoughDraft Atlanta, Metro Atlanta’s premiere local news organization, ducked out briefly from the major breaking news she covers daily — to feature Disco and me (again)! She so generously wrote an article about our first journey, Round America with a Duck, and now she’s back with a really nice…
Now available at indie bookstores, too!
More good news today! Round Ireland with a Duck is now available at indie bookstores everywhere, including BooksAMillion, The Last Bookstore (Los Angeles), Word Bookstores (New York/New Jersey), McNally Jackson (New York), Trident Booksellers (Boston), Women and Children First (Chicago), Boulder Bookstore (Boulder, Colorado), Scholar and Scribe (Trilith, GA) and Charis Books (Atlanta), BooksAMillion, and more! Tap into your local indie bookstore online…
Very big good news
I got some very big good news today that changes literally everything for me going forward. I’m not sharing it publicly yet (but it’s the number one thing folks who’ve read my latest book ask me about). I just want to remind you that each step you take on your own personal journey opens doors…
Shout out!
A shout out of thanks to Shout Out Atlanta for this nice little feature!
“If she can do it, maybe I can too”
If you are reading Round Ireland with a Duck and thinking, “maybe I can do this, too, “ the answer is, yes, you can. In fact, one of the book’s reader reviewers is WWOOfing internationally right now. She told me both this new book and the first one (Round America with a Duck) are big…
My color scheme be schemin’! (Updated!)
I’m packed and ready to go (folding bike, Amtrak ticket, the works), and my color scheme be schemin’! Even my little farmer thumbs are green! One hundred years ago right now, my Irish grandfather was on a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean on his way to Ellis Island. I’ll be there in just a few…
Agri-Tourist podcast!
So Jen Ross and I got on a Zoom call and I swear we would never have gotten off if night hadn’t fallen and hunger hadn’t called! This was the second time she interviewed me for her provocative podcast, The Agri-Tourist — the first was for Round America with a Duck (see that blog post,…
Thank you
Thank you for the lovely emails, texts, and notes you’ve been sending as you’re finishing reading my newly-released book, Round Ireland with a Duck — my solo female journey in search of roots and wings (the sequel to Round America with a Duck). Sharing my heart with the world, and seeing who the words were…
A day on the farm
A year ago today, I lived in this carriage house in Ireland on a thoroughbred horse and cattle farm (my first of three farmstays during my Round Ireland with a Duck journey — book available globally). I had it entirely to myself. For free, food included, in exchange for my volunteer labor about 30 hours a week….
Book reading in the wild!
You’re not gonna get me indoors very easily. But I’m happy to share this little book reading of Round Ireland with a Duck (now available globally!) out there in the wild. If you want me to pop in to your book club remotely to answer questions about any of my books, drop me a note.
Dig in!
“Travel takes you many places, but ultimately it takes you back to yourself.” Join me on the journey of a lifetime. Yours. Something in Round Ireland with a Duck is exactly what you may need to hear right now on your own unique path. Trust the journey — Pattie Now available globally on Amazon: USA…
Calling all book clubs!
With everything going on in the world, doesn’t the thought of escaping to farms in Ireland sound just about perfect right now? You can, you know — at least virtually. Round Ireland with a Duck will take you there — sensually, lyrically, and provocatively. It will also raise questions that pertain to other parts of…
The women who made me a mom
As the song goes, time makes you bolder, even children get older, and I’m getting older, too. The babies I held now hold me (photo from when I dipped my tire in the Pacific Ocean at the end of my 10,000-mile/5-month journey Round America with a Duck). Together, we continue to brave the waves of…
Fancy shmancy!
My 2025 Bingo card didn’t include seeing my muddy, sweaty self named a tastemaker of fancy shmancy Buckhead in Atlanta, but here ya’ go (see page 52)! And just in time for National Bike Month! Guess bikes are truly fashionable again! Or is it the in style now when women travel solo around the USA (and Ireland) via that…
Time change
After 19 hours on Amtrak with my folding bike (the still-unnamed replacement to America), I traversed the island of Manhattan from Battery Park to (and across) the George Washington Bridge. We used to cross that bridge to visit my grandparents, and I wanted to “feel” it again for the epilogue to my new book (the…
America is beyond repair
America (the name of the bike I took Round America with a Duck) is beyond repair. Brakes, cassette, stem. A mess. The cost to repair would be greater than the value of the bike (sentimental value aside). In all honesty, I was surprised that bike even made it 10,000 miles with me via buses, trains…
My brief “return” to Ireland
I got to make a brief “return” to Ireland as a guest blogger on the WWOOF Ireland website. Here’s what I wrote: 3 Farms in Ireland in 6 Weeks Foals followed me, a bag of feed over my shoulder, through the dewy pasture. A hunk of thick, black soil in a potato field yielded to…
“61-Year-Old Woman Plunges to Death Making a TikTok”
Crawling on my belly toward the edge of the cliff, my fingernails gripped the wet, green turf for dear life. Below me, the Atlantic roared, waves crashing violently against jagged rocks, seabirds wheeling in the salt-laden wind. I could almost see the headline: 61-year-old American woman traveling solo plunges to her death in Ireland ….
You are enough
During this Winter Solstice, this thin veil between worlds that invites us to reflect as we let more light into our lives, I’d like to remind you (and myself) that You Are Enough. Whatever your heart is calling you to do is what you are meant to do, even if that sometimes means doing nothing….
12 Days of Bikemas — #12: Joy
You constantly hear people say that the roads are dangerous. The roads are not dangerous. On days when there are no motor vehicles, such as during Open Streets events and before marathons and parades, they are lovely to ride bikes on. A joy, in fact. What makes roads unsafe for people on bikes is motor vehicles and…
12 Days of Bikemas — #11: Wild Atlantic Way/Euro Velo 1, Ireland
At 1600 miles/2600 kilometers, the Wild Atlantic Way is one of the world’s longest defined coastal routes. It weaves in, out and around the cliffs and peninsulas of the western and northern coasts of Ireland. Two of the three farms where I volunteered recently during Round Ireland with a Duck were very close to it…
12 Days of Bikemas — #10: Atlanta, Georgia
After traveling Round America with a Duck and then Round Ireland with a Duck, I can confidently say that the City of Atlanta is still one of my very favorite places to ride my bike — and it keeps getting better. During the times I was gone on my journeys, even more best-in-class bike infrastructure got added…
12 Days of Bikemas — #9: Long Island, New York
A 126-mile long/24-mile wide island off the coast of New York City (and, in fact, including two NYC counties — Queens and Brooklyn — on its land mass), Long Island (specifically Nassau and Suffolk counties) was a bastion of suburbia during the 1950s and beyond as potato farms got converted to subdivisions for returning soldiers…
12 Days of Bikemas — #8: Salt Lake City, Utah
I hopped on the Frontrunner train, Utah’s commuter train, at Salt Lake City and took it along the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains to Provo, about half of its 83-mile total route. It has the best bike car I’ve experienced in the USA. A fabulous multi-purpose rack system holds not just cycles of any…
12 Days of Bikemas — #7: Macon, Georgia
I tossed my folding bike in the cargo bay of a Greyhound bus and spent the day just two hours away in Macon, Georgia. I was pilot-testing the bus, bike, and rain gear (it poured all day) for Round America with a Duck two months before I left on that journey. Pictured is my route that day….
12 Days of Bikemas — #6: Los Angeles, California
Art, including poetry, can be life-changing, especially when it reminds us how precious life is. Having the opportunity to stop and appreciate art like this is one of the greatest joys I have when I’m traveling at the speed of bike. Being in cities that allow art is critical. By the way, there’s a story about that…
12 Days of Bikemas — #5: Boulder, Colorado
I wrote a whole chapter about Boulder, Colorado in my book, Round America with a Duck ( I lived there for three weeks during my 10,000-mile journey across the USA via bike, buses, trains and working on organic farms), if you are interested. For the sake of quick-to-implement ideas that other places can do right…
12 Days of Bikemas — #4: Back to Dublin (for a very important reason)
Most people driving motor vehicles who hit people riding bikes hit them from the back. My friend, Paul, just wrote a very hard-hitting and moving email to my local Mayor and City Council about his broken back following a person hitting him with a car (from the back) while he was on his bike. The…
12 Days of Bikemas — #3: Ellis, Kansas
After Greyhound stranded me while I was traveling Round America with a Duck, I got to spend what I called my Bonus Day in tiny Ellis, Kansas. Many good — and maybe even life-changing— things happened that day but this simple intersection mural was enough to make the list for 12 Days of Bikemas. That’s because…
12 Days of Bikemas — #2: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
I had a brief Greyhound bus break in Harrisburg, PA during Round America with a Duck, but it was enough time to catch this photo of a bike rack showing rare female representation in our public spaces on bikes*. I think I squealed out loud when I saw it. (Yes, I’m the person who rides my…
12 Days of Bikemas — #1: Dublin, Ireland
As my holiday gift to you, I’m going to share some of the wonderful ideas relating to bikes that I’ve seen while traveling Round America with a Duck and Round Ireland with a Duck. Consider them gifts*. Here’s number 1, from Dublin, Ireland — an e-cargobike-sharing pilot test! Absolutely brilliant. (If you are thinking of gifting Round…
Disco Duck now at Harvard!
Yep! It’s true! My little duck traveling companion, Disco, can now be seen on the Harvard Book Store website! Check it out!
Featured on Rough Draft Atlanta
Wow! What a cool surprise today to find this fun article on RoughDraft Atlanta by staff writer Cathy Cobbs, featuring my little duck’s journey. Thank you!
Featured on the Agri-Tourist podcast!
With my bike leaned against a tree in the public park, I sat in the hammock I had dragged across the USA (reminding me of my hangs especially in North Carolina, Kansas and Utah) as Jennifer Ross interviewed me for her excellent podcast The Agri-Tourist. You can have a listen here or wherever you get…
When one door closes, another opens
So there I was right on the brink of canceling my next journey after my plans started unraveling, down on bended knee praying for trust, when the email came. It gets a bit miserable here weather-wise but you’ll have a warm welcome if you care to join us, it said. The bus will drop me…
Plot twist
I’m packed. Ready to leave in just a couple of days, first for New York and then on to Ireland — several full days in Dublin planned, three farm hosts across the country locked in, plane and train tickets bought, the works. And then I get a message last night from my middle host at…
A birthday request
A year ago today I dipped my tire in the Pacific Ocean, after having dipped it months earlier in the Atlantic Ocean as well during my journey Round America with a Duck via bike, buses, trains and working on organic farms. A few days later I turned 60. There were many days I didn’t think…
Arán agus im
So I’m learning a new language, things like please (le do thoil) and thank you (go raibh maith agat). I can order bread and butter (arán agus im). And I’m moved to tears about how feelings are expressed in this other language not as who we are (I am happy, for instance) but are “on…
Practically FREE during America’s birthday week!
Good morning, America! As my gift to you during your birthday week, Round America with a Duck is currently as close to FREE as Amazon will let me make it! Get the digital edition for just 99 cents here in the USA (rising back to its list price of $8.99 by Sunday, July 7). Get…
Duck into an indie bookstore
That bookstore (Word) on the corner in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in front of which I left my BikeBloom earrings as part of #FreeArtFriday during my cross-country journey? Yep. The one (Boulder Bookstore) on pedestrian-only Pearl Street in Boulder, Colorado? Yep. The one (The Last Bookstore) in Downtown Los Angeles with the famous tunnel of books? Yep. …
Featured on the Growing Good podcast!
I brushed off the dirt from my suburban garden and found a spot to talk that wasn’t too loud with birdsong and lawnmowers. Lisa Munniksma called from Wisconsin before leaving for Minnesota and then Alaska. She was the editor-in-chief at Urban Farm magazine when I wrote feature articles for them years ago. She has since…
Emails, dms, texts and taps on the shoulder
Valarie’s email came out of the blue. An email, dm or text comes from someone almost every day. I can’t tell you how much these mean to me. And then, I get taps on my shoulder, especially when I’m in the grocery store. These are related to the tattoo on the back of my arm….
”That’s not gonna work” is not a conclusion — it’s a beginning
“What can I help you with?” Mike, the sales clerk at my local ACE hardware, asked as I rolled my folding bike inside. “I’m looking for about six inches of heavy metal chain and two nuts to go on this,” I replied, holding up a drill bit. He looked at my drill bit for about…
Thank you, Foster Brady Farm — and farms across the USA
I have now had the honor of WWOOFing at eight farms/ranches across the USA — six as part of my Round America with a Duck journey, and two in preparation for my upcoming WWOOF Ireland journey. The first six reviews from my WWOOF hosts are in my book. Here are the other two (above and…
You are less than $300 away from your own folding bike!
Everyone loves this bike — including me! You’ll read many accounts in my book, Round America with a Duck, of amazing interactions I had as a result of this bike. I did not think it was going to make it across the USA with me — but it did! With flying colors (literally). And the…
Lookout Lavender Farm, book club appearance, book signing!
It’s morning in the Airstream. My last cup of herbal tea while I am here WWOOFing on this lavender farm is steeping. I’ll do my Vinyasa yoga flow in the lavender field and then ride my bike to Cloudland Canyon State Park again, as I did last Sunday. I plan to hike down to the…
Greetings from a vintage Airstream
It’s four miles on hilly country roads — South Moore, Plum Nelly and Fawn Dawn — in order to avoid the 55-miles-per-hour main road that would get me there faster and more directly, but I manage and I make it to the Dollar General, my goal. I fold up my bike, pop it into a…
Movie news!
For those of you who like to support local and indie businesses, I have great news for you! Round America with a Duck is now available in the movie-making haven of Trilith, Georgia. It’s at the newest bookstore in the USA, Scholar and Scribe (for the exact same price as on Amazon). You can order…
