Biking the Village Mossyrock

My Well Used Santa Cruz Mountain Bike- My Most Cherished Gift from Donn

Past an inquisitive two point buck I shooed off the road, “flying” alongside a robin for a good many yards neck to neck, nickering to the herd of horses and pack mules feeding with their head stretched over the barbed wire fence…

That's Lilly (in black), Sold By Our Medical Vision Center Manager to These Folks

this is the sweet simplicity of biking from Adytum to the village of Mossyrock.

It’s about an hour's bike ride if I explore the back roads and side streets. We have no bank here, no supermarket except a wooden floor general store. But we have the basics and the rest can be found ten miles east in Morton.

Have You Shopped In A Grocery Store With Wooden Floors?

The cats are hunting this early morning. I’ve never seen so many. They multiply like the ancient cars piled around many properties that seem a prerequisite for country life here.

 Cattle stream to the fence line thinking I am there to feed. 

No one is up yet as I pedal along.  I capture the innocent essence of country life on an Indian summer morning when the fogs and mists rise up out of the valley to envelop the spires of Adytum in their mystery. 

The spiderwebs I break as I pass are a portent of chill mornings to follow...

So many regain their youth listening to songs from high school. I regain mine staying connected to joy through my old Santa Cruz mountain bike. “It is”, I say without jest, “my $2000 cellulite treatment formula and my endorphin fix…” And laughingly I add...I traded in a car worth less than this bike!

My '98 Toyota Tacoma...If I Get "Newer/Bigger" I Can't Throw My Bike Into The Back of the Bed...

Alongside my natural progesterone and dietary changes implemented in my mid 30’s, biking is my core program for staying balanced and looking “lean and mean”….Combined with a largely vegan/raw diet (but not exclusively by any stretch…) it will get me in shape within two weeks for what I laughingly call “Donn’s bikini trips” – Optometry continuing education in the Caribbean, South America and Belize. And I’m sure it will do the same for you too.

Getting Ready for some Joy Time

What I haven’t written much about is the intense spiritual feeding that occurs as my legs do their rhythmic strokes without ever stopping and my breath comes in even draughts. My mind is free to soar

, to commune not only with the intensity of the natural world around me but with God…All the visual stimulus and fresh mountain air,  the hayfields ready for cutting feed my spirit and refills my inner well.

The Buses Carry the Workers In

Hola and Gracias...I eat them every morning!

Now past bright yellow school busses on the right that bring the Latino laborers into the Pan American blueberry fields. I have purchased 150 pounds so far and harvested our own blueberries from 30 bushes at Adytum, some beginning to produce now. It’s not an easy life for them but perhaps they find their own rhythmic dance and meditate on all that is good while they work under blazing sun and oftentimes soft rains. I nod my thanks and pray over them as I stroke past.  I get the blessing of a nod in return, acknowledgment we are all one.

Buenos Dias!

And on the left I zip past the DeGoede’s workers harvesting bulbs and hoeing between the rows of bright red alstilbe plumes that wave with the summer breeze. We wave to each other and I yell, “Hola!”  I can always tell the few white workers with naked arms at work that haven’t the innate wisdom apparently to cover up against the ravages of a day in the fields. What a life…to be under the great blue sky that puts Montana’s Big Sky logo to shame…to hear the whinny of the horses and watch the hawks collecting mice that shelter under the Dahlias. To breathe clean air and work honestly with one’s hands…to stand firmly grounded on the famous Cinebar Loam, some of the finest soil in the world.

Safe Passage Under Highway 12 for the Workers and I

I come off Birley and take my Santa Cruz along the frontage road, now more colorful reds, oranges and yellows splashing in a rising wind on my left. Past the trailers that house permanent workmen and their families, I take the viaduct under Highway 12, built to safeguard the field hands as they pass over to the fields and greenhouses on the other side.

So Many Old Barns and Many Still In Active Use

DeGoedes owns 500 acres in all and their cousins run the Mt. Vernon Bulb fields further north. Pumping hard up the rockstrewn dusty road, I pop up to street level with a blaze of orange-red Diablo Croquisma rewarding my effort. Left now on the road I see Mossyrock in the distance, but I always lengthen my ride and divert past another privately owned blueberry field or head up to check on the Osprey nest on top of a phone pole overlooking the rest of the Degoede lands.

Osprey Nest

Past lazy dogs, dozing in the early morning sunshine, past crumbling old farmhouses, past barns and silos and all things country I suck this village life deep into my lungs. 

We all need to add a little country to our “city” and we in the country need to add a little city to our “country”. Like the progesterone, the bike and the diet, it keeps us balanced.

My morning bike rides set the tone for my day. I stand on the pedals up the hill toward my truck, mercifully parked at the bottom of the hill that leads to Adytum. I’m not there yet- and may never be- where I bike the last half mile straight up. But I’m breathing hard. I’m well prayed. I’m well exercised. I’m well in my heart, mind, body and soul. I’m in Joy

Adytum and the new Pinot Noir Vineyard Growing in the Sun

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Upper Caribbean Creamy Grits With Roasted Plantains- With Adytum Signatures

Leave me alone long enough with a recipe and the inner chef keeps whispering in my ear, "Add some marsala to get more complexity into those plantains and caramelize them- too dry if you roast them...Crush and toast hazelnuts to add some crunch to the topping....toast some unsweetened coconut to wrap around the plantains...."

Your inner chef will whisper in your ear too as you play around in the kitchen with these new dishes more too. Every guest who makes a special request urges me out of my box and  helps me to expand in my cooking skills. Ultimately they help me to see that there is so much more out there-  Like the chef who taught me to "try one new thing a week, from the produce section and from the jar/can isle" Get familiar with capers, arugula, new spices, and on and on.

Here are some pictures of this morning's breakfast in the making:

This really "makes it"  The coconut creams it up, the ginger and cinnamon make it decadent...luscious....

Now it's time to top after a long, much stirred simmer~and taste (:

We served this with Apple Quinoa Banana Muffins, Maple Smoked Sweet Potato Oven Roasted Fries, and Eggs- and non-eggs - on the Half Shell.  If a vegan has to watch others eating a dish - like my guest says, "Oh, I'm used to passing things along" - well there's something inherently wrong about that. So I came up with an alternative that I'm anxious to try with grilled polenta  under the sauteed mushrooms, garlic, sweet onion and red bell pepper~

"Is Everybody HAPPY?"

Upper Caribbean Creamy Grits With Roasted Plantains

As promised, here is a new vegan recipe that dedicated meat eaters will enjoy too.  Since I have a very well established southern heritage, this caught my eye. Only I’m using Polenta…the “new” grits. 

Adytum is full of great, like minded guests this weekend as always and one which happens to adhere to a pretty tight dietary plan:  no sugar, no gluten, no animals- even casein in some vegan cheeses… (welcome Daiya; lactose and casein free)   So in anticipation of feeding Kat…yes- another Kat who is dating a Bastyr student who may very well be YOUR naturopath one day I decided to check with the experts – Oly Vegan, a Facebook page recently shared with me by my hair stylist who does a vegan/GF diet plan herself. Like the lady who shared this recipe, her dad too was lost to cancer and the vegan diet has some pretty amazing stats if you’re looking to avoid that potential…

I did a test run with this recipe for our breakfast this morning and will make some modifications. I like a little more natural sweetness and will caramelize the plantains in a skillet with some coconut oil and pure maple syrup instead of roasting them. Additionally I toasted some unsweetened Bob’s Red Mill Coconut and topped the dish with the plantains and toasted coconut. Oh yes…now we’re talking…

I just bought 25 pounds of polenta from Bob’s Red Mill in Oregon and that is what I used in the recipe. It came off really creamy  - reminiscent of Cream of Wheat. It is, in short, comfort food. You could add chopped dates, some nutmeg, maybe even some pineapple. Play with it and you’ll find, like I did, your own unique combination that works to start your day. Amazing, too how far ¾ cup of polenta goes. It really does serve 4-6…

We appreciate the collaborative effort that happens on Face Book when we ask for a fresh idea…a favorite recipe…and someone comes forward with theirs. Lesli really came through for Adytum’s guest, Kat, and may it all come back to you, Lesli!  By the way, Lesli is issuing an open invitation to join their FB page:  Oly Vegan for even more great recipes, even if you aren’t a dedicated Vegan.  For those of you that haven’t been to the capitol city of Washington, Olympia is an eclectic blend of progressive people. Free thinkers, original…which is why we keep a second home there. Never know, we might become Vegan and move back (:

This recipe is from the book “Vegan Soul Food” by Bryant Terry 

Upper Caribbean Creamy Grits with Roasted Plantain Pieces

Yield- 4 to 6 servings

1 large ripe yellow plantain, ends cut off, peeled
and cut in half lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch pieces width-wise

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Coarse sea salt

1 1/2 cups coconut milk

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 cinnamon stick

4 cups water

3/4 cup stone-ground grits

5 tablespoons maple crystals or organic raw cane sugar


-preheat oven to 450

-in a small bowl, toss the plantains, olive oil, cinnamon, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. 
Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet and cook, stirring a few times to ensure even browning, until crisp on the outside 
and starting to turn golden brown, about 45 mins. Set aside.

- In a small sauce-pan over medium-low heat, combine the the coconut milk, the ginger, and the cinnamon stick. Simmer for 5 mins., stirring often
and ensuring that the coconut milk does not boil. Remove from heat and strain the coconut milk into a small bowl. Set aside.

- In a medium sauce pan, combine 3 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Whisk the grits into the liquid until no lumps remain,
return to a boil, then quickly reduce the heat to medium low- and simmer, stirring often to prevent the grits from sticking to the bottom of the pan,
until the grits have absorbed most of the liquid, and are thickening- 10 to 12 mins. Stir in the remaining cup of water, and cook for another 10 mins, stirring occasionally, until 
most of the liquid has been absorbed. Stir in the reserved coconut milk and simmer, stirring frequently , until the grits are soft but not runny, 30 to 35 mins.
Stir in the maple sugar. 

- Right before serving top each serving with some of the roasted plantains.


I hope your guests enjoy this as much as i do! 

All the best,

Lesli Baker
Oly Vegan