Here at the clinic things are growing! Our practices are growing, our vegetables are growing, and our happiness about being Naturopathic Doctors in a city as wonderful as Portland is, of course, always growing!
We are already able to harvest lots of greens with beets and tomatoes just around the corner. Always feel free to stop by and enjoy a bit of salad on us!
At my home, we are perpetually in the garden. Saturdays and Sundays are spent loving it, weeding it, planting, and harvesting (and then sometimes wondering what else we can do!) We came back from a wonderful camping trip to the Oregon coast this weekend, and within 10 minutes, we were out in the garden, checking on our little plant-lettes. We’ve grown plants from starts and seeds, and even potatoes and onions that were starting to sprout in the cupboard!
There is something to be said about growing your own food, especially in these times of rising fuel and food prices. I find that there is almost nothing more satisfying than fresh veggies straight from the yard and right on my breakfast or dinner plate. The taste is the most satisfying aspect, but a close second is knowing that I’m giving energy back to the earth, and not depleting resources.
At my office, we also have a garden filled with spinach, chard, tomatoes, rhubarb, corn, squash, lettuce, peas, you name it. It’s a teaching garden, and it’s in a totally urban environment. You see, naturopathic medicine roots itself in sustainablilty– Meaning the things we prescribe and teach for our patients are often things our patients can incorporate into their lives gradually, seamlessly, and for good.
Sustainability. I know it’s becoming quite the buzzword, but there is a whole lot to it. There is a brand new magazine called Intentionally Urban (in-ur, for short). They just launched their first issue this month. It is a fabulous magazine that covers all aspects of urban sustainability, including urban gardening and urban chicken-raising. You can read the entire magazine online, and I encourage you to check it out.
Stay tuned to this blog for photos of our office garden. You can watch it grow with us, and maybe if you stop by for a visit, you can sample some of our tasty treats. The garden is health and life. We put love into it, and tend it with care. You can taste the difference.
Every once in a while, I’ll be out grocery shopping or doing some other errand and run into a family whose birth I attended. It’s always such a a fun experience to see how the family has evolved and who the baby turned out to be. Family medicine is a big part of what I enjoy doing. In my line of work I spend 9 months getting to know a family and this new person joining their family through mom’s abdominal wall, and often there are aspects of their personality apparent during this time. The family dynamics are already there.
There are the quiet ones, the late-night partiers, the ones who play games of hide and seek when you’re trying to listen to their heart rate, the ones who kick and punch for attention. Oh, how I wish someone could do a study on personality traits before and after birth!
They say that how you come into this life often predicts how you live it. It’s interesting to ask your friends and family members if they were “early” or “late” or right on the due date, and see if that still holds true for them. Informal surveys point to many yes answers. For example, I have a friend who was born exactly on her due date, and she is always exactly on time for everything. Not early, not late. I have another friend who was born exactly one minute before midnight. Can you guess this one? She gets things done right at the last minute, but always just before the deadline. It’s fun to think this way.
Getting back to the whole running into people out in public—there’s just nothing like that sense of community, especially here in Portland. It’s a truly special thing to be able to talk to someone (even if they are only 3 years old) and say,” I saw you take your first breath–and now look at you! You’re running and making mud pies and have oh-so-very strong opinions about what mom is putting into the grocery cart.”
I wouldn’t trade my job for anything.
It’s been a busy couple of months in my practice as I have relocated from NE Portland to SE Portland. I’ve joined a Naturopathic practice with 3 other ND’s. We have varied interests from natural childbirth to holistic pediatrics, women’s health, diabetes management and prevention, autism spectrum disorders, and pain management. Below are a few shots of my office space within the clinic. We’re in a great old Victorian house in the Sellwood neighborhood. Drop by anytime if you’re in town!
