America’s Heartland

The sun rises right outside my front door on the Kansas prairie in the heart of America, where I’m staying as part of the global WWOOF program while traveling Round America with a Duck via bikes, buses and trains. I do my Vinyasa flow of warrior poses before heading to my chores — helping care…

Have a Ducky Day! (April Newsletter)

Greetings from rural North Carolina! I’m currently traveling at the speed of bike, buses, trains and working on organic farms (WWOOFing) as experiential research for my new book, Round America with a Duck. In addition to cute daily videos on TikTok and Instagram (#RoundAmericaWithADuck), I’m sharing a quick-read newsletter across my communications platforms each month….

Cover Crops

I have pounds of them left, the cover crop seeds for legumes and grains and greens and deep-digging Daikon radishes. The plants they grow are not only beautiful but they also scavenge for nutrients, convert nitrogen from the air into a form usable by plants, build organic matter, aerate the soil, and improve soil tilth…

5 Things I Did to Prepare to WWOOF across the USA

Here are 2 minutes of tips from my last seven months of preparation, in case it is something which you are interested in doing as well (or whatever your goal is — just take the next step forward). I leave Monday for my 7,000-mile trip across the USA via bikes, buses, trains and WWOOFing on…

“Berry” Last Email to City Hall before I Leave for My Journey

Hi, Mayor and City Council. I see on the city council meeting agenda for Monday mention of the specific public street trees and bushes intended for the Winters Chapel Path (and presumably other paths in the future). Just a reminder that the incorporation of edible landscaping such as fruit trees and berry bushes increases the…

You Are Enough

So I bought a sweatshirt I saw on TikTok that I thought would be great to wear while traveling Round America with a Duck, specifically during the many bus and train trips. Lots of line-standing and midnight transfers ahead of me! Why not spread positive messages with people with whom I share space and time in…

Whittling

This was my fave piece of art at the High Museum in Atlanta, in the Folk Art section I visited often (via bike). It was large, enclosed in glass, and had moving parts. Next to it, there was an accompanying video interview with the self-taught artist. I would push the button and watch it over…

Persistence of Hope

I painted this a little less than a year ago. Shortly after the war in Ukraine started. Where it became clear that President Zelensky had the “it” ingredients. Grit. Leadership. The persistence of hope. And when, as usual, I needed to process the barrage of feelings I was experiencing and turned to art. And so…

Life-Changing Tip

Here’s a useful (warning: life changing) exercise. I heard once that if you write your own aspirational obituary and then work backwards, you can create a pathway to the life you really want. Years ago, my desired obituary started: “She lived on a lavender and llama farm.” Guess what farms are in my Round America with…

Statistic Chat

So I’ve been chatting every day with Chat GPT (that mind-blowing AI bot currently pilot-testing for free) about a wide range of things. This morning, I asked it: What are some environmental statistics since 1963? That’s when I was born, by the way. I’m a 1960s/70s child pedaling my way to age 60 this year (final stop…