Last night we attended our first birthing class and were shown around some of the hospital where baby will be born.
Every country has different protocols and facilities., so it is important to get as much information as possible. Here a woman has a team of midwives and baby is born in a birthing suite in the hospital.
Apparently you can bring movies, and music and your favorite pillow and snacks and kind of set up camp in the birthing suite with low lighting and the midwives.
When I was in labor with my children I was a walker. I could not bear to be closed in. If we were counting our steps in those days I racked up thousands of steps walking through hospitals – quietly laboring away. The invitation to bring a bag of distractions is a wonderful offer. And extends the input of the birthing partner. Me in this instance.
This is the first of four birthing classes over the next month. They cost $200 dollars in total. Even though that is a lot of money I believe that knowledge is power and with a first baby a person needs all the knowledge they can gather for this very important day (or two) in your life.
Daughter has three weeks of work left and then a month to her due dates. We will see.
We have another scan date next week which will give us more information.
In the meantime I am fretting about the problems our farmers and millers in Illinois are facing with the tariffs hitting our small businesses in Illinois hard.
So many components of simple everyday machinery such as tractor tires and specific machinery that runs the stone ground mills is imported – even packaging is imported – and the previous round of tariffs were already digging into our small business stability. Many of our little businesses were running close to the line anyway. It is a very real worry.
Hopefully clear heads will win out.
The surge will hit us out here in Australia and New Zealand too. The ramifications will not stay hidden for long. But it is a good reminder to take stock of our local economies, gather our communities close, tighten our belts and grow as much food as we can and reuse and repair.
I take solace in gardening. Growing food. And flowers now too but mostly food.
The gardening is the best bit.
I am already harvesting greens daily.
And here in Melbourne I can grow greens and harvest them all year round.
My daily thinly sliced salad is back in the kitchen.
I go around the garden with my trusty bowl and pick every leaf that is edible including silverbeet, red beet leaves, nasturtiums, cabbage, lettuce, spinach – the lot – green onion tops, parsley and a little mint. Everything that is a certain size. Then roll the collection of leaves up like cigars and slice them thin. Really thin. Then wash them in the lettuce spinner and seal into a container with a damp T towel on top. Do not dress the salad until plating. That way the greens can be stored and stay crispy to be served for a few meals.
I add nuts and seeds and dried fruit for extra fibre and protein. (I miss my farm eggs!).
A great simple dressing this season is a mashed avocado. Yesterday I poured lemon oil over the plated leaves.
The sheer joy of having my own lemon tree cannot be underestimated. It is like small magic.
Take care and Talk soon
Have a lovely day.
Celi
Another reading is up on our BedTime stories page.
Take a break with me.
The Kitchen's Garden 
12 responses to “back to school”
Oh, the magic of your own fruit trees! I miss the beautiful Bowen mango trees at our last house, but here I have Ducasse bananas and passionfruit. I keep agitating for more trees, but the Husband likes to keep the mowing simple. I will win at some stage!
I love the idea of passionfruit! But that whole fence will probably fall over.
Lettuce is amazing, it grows all year round, though mine keeps bolting.
We have some hot days on the way so I hope it does not set mine off!
Fingers crossed!
I’d love to have a lemon tree! how great that you are harvesting the greens already and the yard is coming along beautifully. back in the states, things are up and down to put it mildly and at the whim of the orange one, and I am busy protesting, walking daily, getting my tiny garden ready, and working on working with groups who make lasagnas and salads and breads and desert, for families who need a home cooked meal for a variety of reasons , along with making cakes for foster children who have never had their birthdays celebrated, who are now with families caring for them. it’s the least I can do to help others, and I prefer to do hands on helping for real people rather than just throwing money at things.
This is fantastic work Beth. Proud to call you friend. I have a friend with two foster children in Texas – and the stories I hear make me cringe. Doing something for those kids in such overcrowded facilities is stunning.just stunning.
cooking for people in need is work up there with the angels.
it’s the least I can do –
It’s interesting how birth protocols and preparations vary by country. I watched a fictional series on Netflix (called The Letdown) about a new mum in Australia. The post-partum mothers’ groups there seem like a good idea for supporting new parents who may not have other support networks. I can’t remember what they’re called, I assume they’re a state-provided resource(?)
Your salad pictures and descriptions of the dressing are making me hungry!
Coffee groups. In NZ too. Since we were babies! Hope we can find one. They can be such fun.
I am catching up, C. So glad you are with your daughter, awaiting a new grandchild. My second daughter had a baby in mid-January. Everett. He is beautiful in every way. We video chat nearly daily. He lives in Madison, WI., a four-hour drive, perhaps closer to you than to me. He smiles and “talks” every time he sees me come on the screen. Gotta love technology. Be well. I totally get your concerns about what’s happening here in America.
There’s nothing like fresh lettuce pick and eaten. Enjoy!