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The EVERgreen Trail to Oregon

One step. One meal. A path toward flourishing.

At the edge of the evergreens, a lamp lit only a little of the path. It did not reveal every turn or promise an easy road. It showed enough ground for one step. Somewhere beyond the trees was a much larger world — water, a garden, and people who knew how to keep a light burning across a long distance. You don’t need to see all of it to begin. You only need the next step, and the next meal.

See your first trail stops →

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The First Light

This trail begins on the Oregon Coast, where forest meets ocean and weather moves in fast off the water. In The EVERgreen Chronicles, a ship remembered as the Peter Iredale is reimagined as KENSPEED — a piece of the story’s own mythology, not a history lesson — carrying the memory of a grandfather across distance and years toward Hawaii. An owl keeps watch from the evergreens. Overhead, a flock of seagulls grows, in the telling, from a scattered Aloha into something more like Ohana — family that chooses to stay together.

None of that needs to make full sense yet. It’s enough to know this: the Lamp you find at this trailhead belongs to a much larger world, and the world was built to be entered slowly, one story and one step at a time.

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Where the Trail Leads

You don’t have to see the whole trail. Find the light for the next step, bring the people who help you stay anchored, and tend what can grow today.

Stage	What It Means	Where It Stands
The Lamp — find the next step	Book I: The Book of the Lamp. Guidance and the courage to continue. The light doesn’t promise every difficulty disappears — only that it reveals a path, one step at a time.	Published — free to read on Kindle
The Anchor — travel with community	Book II: SAIL: The Book of the Anchor. The journey reaches the Salish Sea — islands, ferries, and companions who help a traveler navigate. An anchor can be a person, a practice, or a boundary; it never means staying tethered to harm.	In development
The Garden — tend what can grow	Book III: The Book of the Garden: Nursed to Flourish. What people and places need in order to flourish — nourishment, care for caregivers, honest repair, and time. Its center is one question: who nurses the nurse?	In development

Book II carries its own constellation of themes — nourishment, movement, rest, mindfulness, relationships, purpose, community, stewardship, and faith — taking shape, in the story, as something like nine pearls of the Sound. Their exact names are still being written. Book III holds harder, gentler questions too: how someone acknowledges harm, apologizes sincerely, sets a boundary, and finds repair without being forced into reconciliation — and how a person can flourish while living with lasting pain or disability, without needing a story that demands a miracle cure.

Want the fuller world, with the Nine Pearls of Flourishing, the Six Paths, and all three books? Explore Books & Stories. This page stays focused on getting you to your first step.

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A Guide for the First Miles

In the Chronicles, a seed can become a symbol of hope. In a kitchen, it can also become dinner. If the next step you can take today is preparing one meal, the trail is open to you right now — no story required.

A note before you cook: this is general cooking and nutrition information for learning, not personal medical or nutrition advice. If you have kidney disease, diabetes, food allergies, are pregnant, or take medicines affected by diet, a registered dietitian or your care team can help you tailor these ideas to you. Please consult your doctor or other healthcare provider before making any lifestyle changes, including changes to your diet or physical activity.

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Choose Your First Trail Stop

Jump in anywhere — you don’t need to take these in order.

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Pick One Recipe for the Road

The guide defines “plant-based” broadly — some recipes include eggs, dairy, or cheese. None of these are labeled vegan, dairy-free, or gluten-free; check the full ingredient list for your own needs.

What Sounds Doable Today?	Recipe	Open It
A simple breakfast	Cinnamon-Raisin Overnight Oatmeal	Open (p. 28)
A quick breakfast	Microwave Blueberry-Walnut Oatmeal	Open (p. 29)
A bean-based lunch or dinner	Black Bean Vegetable Tacos	Open (p. 41)
A straightforward dinner	Simple Vegetable Stir-Fry over Rice	Open (p. 44)
A hearty pot of food	Green Lentil and Vegetable Soup	Open (p. 60)
A snack or spread	Lemon-Garlic Hummus	Open (p. 84)

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The Real-World Mission

Kitchen Monk™ grew from a conviction that people deserve an invitation into flourishing, not a verdict on how they’ve fallen short. It connects nursing, lifestyle medicine, culinary medicine, and community into one everyday practice.

The documented journey: years before Kitchen Monk, Nathanael learned hands-on whole-food, plant-based cooking in Chef Robin Jeep’s kitchen, because advice only helps when people know how to live it. Robin tells that story in Women’s Wellness / OptiMYz. Read Robin Jeep’s article ↗

Flourishing Nursing is a developing approach that asks how nurses can help people — and one another — find the conditions for a fuller, more supported life. It’s still taking shape as a model: nurse-led support alongside registered dietitians, health coaches, community health workers, culinary collaborators, and peers, working toward accessible group experiences that respect where each person is starting from. Nourishment is one entrance into that larger life, not a checklist of nine things to master this week.

The Garden is also growing a culinary companion of its own — The Book of the Garden: The Cup of Flourishing, co-authored by Chef Robin Jeep and Nathanael — connecting the Garden’s story to hands-on clinical culinary medicine. Robin is also leading an effort to bring Kitchen Monk to a community college in New Mexico. The book is still in development; more will be shared as it’s ready. Meet Chef Robin Jeep

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People Who Keep the Lamp Lit

No one walks a trail like this alone. This work carries the fingerprints of family, first mentors, teachers, and collaborators — among them Barbara Porter, RN, who gave Nathanael his first nursing opportunity and, in the spirit of the Chronicles, has something of a Lampkeeper’s quality: someone who keeps a light burning for the next traveler. Their fuller stories belong on deeper pages as the Chronicles grow; here, it’s enough to say that the Lamp was never lit by one person alone.

Not sure where you fit into any of this? Put your light on the Community Map and see where interest and support already exist near you.

• Nathanael on LinkedIn
• Nathanael on Instagram
• Nathanael on Facebook

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Where the Chronicles Go Next

A garden is tended one small act at a time. A meal can be one of those acts. In The EVERgreen Chronicles, the path continues through stories of light, storms, community, and renewal — the kitchen is simply where those stories meet everyday life.

SAIL: The Book of the Anchor and The Book of the Garden: Nursed to Flourish are both in development — no purchase links yet, but their place on the trail is above.

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The trail does not ask you to know every turn before you set out. Read a page. Prepare a meal. Reach toward a person who helps you feel anchored. Tend one small thing within your care. The Lamp is still lit, and there is room for you on the path.