Porridge every morning (add: banana, maple, sultanas, almonds); stirred while I drink tea.
Leaves are turning, the air is cooler, a few chimneys have started puffing smoke.
The kids limped to the end of the school term and I’m relieved I don’t have to make lunchboxes for two weeks.
The little spindly craft chickens — you know the yellow ones that always look slightly dishevelled — seem to appear in my house every Easter and I keep finding them in odd places: in a straw hat, on top of a picture frame, under a lamp.
Community service as a postpartum doula:
I think one of the most challenging parts of writing my new book was knowing that the mothers who really need support are the ones who don’t have strong social networks and can’t afford a doula (and likely don’t even know what a doula is). If we’re being realistic about the reach of postpartum education and the cost of living, that’s hundreds of thousands of women every year.
This week I put on my doula hat to practise what I preach in the book:
There’s a new mum in town and I only discovered this because I already followed her on instagram and she posted a video from her garden that looks out to the very same mountain that I do. Since I first sent a message welcoming her, we’ve met for coffee, my teenager is now her babysitter and I’ve made her two dinners and some nourishing snacks because she’s freshly postpartum with her third baby and all new mums need food — more than onesies or teddy bears or flowers. Let that be a rule for life (this postpartum cookbook is my go-to).
First Foods is Australia’s first not-for-profit postpartum service and it’s rolling out in my little corner of Tasmania. The pilot program starts in the coming months where each mother involved will receive a week’s worth of nutrient dense meals and snacks delivered to her door at absolutely no cost (all ingredients seasonal and sourced from local farmers). The big plan? Within the next three years, every mother who births in Tasmania will receive this vital service; roughly 6000 mothers a year. Postpartum is the most vulnerable time in a mother’s life but there’s a strong link between good nutrition and milk supply, emotional stability and physical healing. All new mothers need and deserve care but they’re also expected to ‘reach out’ to their ‘village’ when they need help. First Foods will reach in. It’s an incredible honour to be involved.