In July 2008, we purchased a 20 acre farm 40 miles south of Knoxville. My daughter never asked for a pony, she always asked for the whole farm!  I have witnessed ducks/chickens/guineas hatching from eggs, doubted my own instincts when our cow ended her pregnancy with a stillbirth, and watched our little goat give birth to the cutest little girl goat.  Seeing animals birth gives me huge insight into our own process.  Even goats cry out during the ring of fire! 

Prior to our farm purchase, we traveled extensively, including a 6 month family sabbatical to Costa Rica.  We spent 1 month living in an eco-community off grid on the Caribbean coast.  We spent two months recovering from our off-grid experience living in an on-grid beach apartment. We spent the remaining time on a delightful dairy farm owned by an Amish midwife, which was our favorite part of our time there.

On our return to the US, we chose to caretake for a Michigan  lake community based on Quaker principles.  For the summer of 2007, we lived in a modified log cabin built in the 1800’s – and yes we had to use an outhouse just as they did back then!

All of these experiences taught me a lot about what I am willing to sacrifice and what things are really important to me and my family.  I appreciate the small things in life, like indoor plumbing, so much more now. I am willing to let spiders live in the outhouse if that means the mosquitoes have less chance to bite those “exposed” areas.

During our travels, I did not teach. But everywhere I went, I ended up talking about childbirth.  I couldn’t help it.  I would hear birth stories from moms who had the choice of an “illegal” homebirth or a nightmare bus ride of 3-5 hours to get to the nearest hospital. (The hospital was the only one on the entire Coast Rican Caribbean coast!)  An afternoon would be spent in relaxed conversation among women at the dairy farm as the midwife would share a birth experience that would bring goosebumps to my arms.

For the nitty gritty, I completed my childbirth education certification in 2005.  I’m married to a green beret/farmer/chemical engineer from Zimbabwe. Some days it is like being married to 3 men!  My 2 children [ages 9 &11] were born at home attended by midwives.  I breastfed for 5+ years. And because this is so relevant, I have a BS in Computer Science and Math from Colorado State.