Holistic Birth & Parenting Consultants
Helping You Get Excited to Giving Birth Naturally!
earthmother
The Story of earthmother (established 2002)
The story of earthmother began over 8 years ago, when a group of new mothers gathered in Winnipeg, MB, Canada to share their interests in attachment parenting, whole foods and natural living. It was here at this holistic moms group that Sherry and Jen began a new friendship. Soon after we began to co create a vision for getting the needs of new mothers met in the local community.
The earthmother Store
It was apparent to us, that there was little in the way of businesses or services that catered to families that were looking for natural products for pregnancy, birth and mothering in Manitoba. Out of our love for all things natural we conceived, gestated and birthed earthmother accessories, Canada's first store providing both products and services for natural mothering in a child-friendly environment. We became a holistic and natural parenting hub that catered to pregnant women and young families. We brought in qualified practitioners who offered massage therapy, pre-natal yoga, body rolling, Birthing From Within classes and much more. Congruent with our intention to provide a family friendly shopping and work environment, we created a mother-child friendly shopping experience including space to run and play, and a natural toy area with a resource library including comfy seating for moms! Our store layout was unique with product shelves (which we resalvaged from cupboard doors!) strategically placed 4 feet off the floor so that moms could shop without stress and allow their children to just be themselves.
earthmother was a place where new moms gathered to learn, share and make new friends. It became a wonderful resource for the community and we ourselves also grew to embrace many of the customers as our close friends. While the business was a financially viable project that continued to grow and serve the community, we were forced to close our doors due to insufficient start up capital which could not compensate for the excessive square footage, per inventory ratio. More than a few families shared with us that they felt devastated by the store closing, and many more offered us their heartfelt condolences for what they felt had filled a real need in the community. We have always felt just as blessed by the loving presence of those beautiful friends and families who essentially supported and co-created a foundation to support what earthmother has become today.
The Evolution of earthmother
earthmother was conceived out of our love for sharing our many faceted passions dedicated to the realm of childbirth and mothering; so while we were sad to let the store go, we immediately picked ourselves up and continued to look for other ways to contribute to the community. Originally, part of our business plan was to develop and teach our own birthing classes yet we found that managing the store (with our babes in arms!) took up all of our time, leaving no space to write and develop the courses that were asking for our attention. In the meantime, we attended an exciting and inspiring doula training seminar offered by DONA (Doula's of North America) after which we began to passionately attend women in birth! Naturally, earthmother evolved towards a service oriented business and moved away from retail. This transformation led to the creation of our own series of birthing classes and inspired us to further gaining birth wisdom by attending many other workshops and seminars on the subject of birth, breastfeeding and parenting.
The focus and aim of those first few years of teaching our birthing class series was to educate families about the many varied choices, politics and controversies that surround the field of birth, enabling parents to make informed decisions and thereby create a gentle birth experience for their babies while ensuring an empowered birth experience for them selves. Today, we continue to authentically be in service to all families regardless of their choice of care provider and place of birth. We have remained true to our calling and yet offer an education that is as relevant to the masses as it is to those looking for something unique or different.
Since moving on from Winnipeg, we have both continued our pursuit of birth wisdom and while embarking on varies paths of learning within the paradigm of holism and instinctive birthing. Sherry moved to Vancouver to study with the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition while also attending Gloria Lemay's Midwifery Study Group in Vancouver, BC, while Jennifer apprenticed with a midwife in Mexico and also undertook a clinical midwifery internship in the United States.
Currently we have with much gratitude landed our families together once again, this time in Edmonton Alberta, Canada where we currently offer many classes and services for the childbearing years.
earthmother Acknowledgements
This story would not be complete without acknowledging the Traditional Midwives that we have had the great pleasure of learning from and who inspire us to no end! Our first experiences of pregnancy, birth, postpartum and motherhood impressed us so deeply with the sense that there was something more to be excavated, that we felt a sense of urgency to find out exactly what was missing before it was long forgotten and hidden from sight. That inspiration called us forth on a pilgrimage to learn from those very small number of teachers and grandmother midwives who continued to hold the wisdom of old, along with an expansive, sacred and evolutionary vision of birth's future. We acknowledge Whapio Diane Bartlett, Gloria Le May and Sunni Karll who have not only taught us in many capacities but who also continue to unconditionally offer their guidance, love and support for the work that we do. Finally, to Jeannine Parvati Baker who walked her talk during her life here on earth and whose spirit and wise teachings continue to live on. And a special thank you as well to Dr. Michel Odent and Dr. Sarah J. Buckley, who continue to provide evidence based research that supports the undisturbed paradigm of birth. Thank you all, for the beautiful inspiration and depth that you have breathed into our work and for continuing to live your truth even if that truth is independant of the good opinion of others.
