Mary Gonzalez is a postpartum doula, mother, farmer, and herbalist. She is the co-owner of Sweet Mountaintop, a flower and herb farm in Carpinteria, CA. As well as the co-owner and director of Sweet Mountain Nature School, a preschool program from 2 1/5 - 5 year olds. Prior to farming, Mary worked as an organic plant based pastry chef and co-authored the book The Tiny Mess. She is a natural nurturer who loves tending plants, raising animals, and nourishing her family and community with food and medicine.
Tell us a bit about your relationship with nature and your farm.
I’ve always had a strong connection with nature since I was young. I grew up in Carpinteria, CA near the ocean playing outside all day. My dad bought our farm when I was 9 years old and we would spend time with our family there but had never lived on the property. It was a rural avocado farm. I moved to the farm in my early twenties in a trailer and helped my dad with the avocado orchard. I then started learning how to grow my own food and herbs. After my first year living on the mountain, I never wanted to leave this type of lifestyle and connection with the Earth. I was forever changed.
You have so many inspiring projects. What led you to begin nurturing mothers as a postpartum doula?
My own personal postpartum experience and being a support system to many friends during their own postpartum and new infant time. I’ve also been exploring and working on new herbal remedies for a future mother + child product line. Since I’ve had my son, my perspective on life shifted. I needed to move out of the day to day farming hustle and settle into a nourishing lifestyle.
As a doula and herbalist, what is your favorite herbal ally for postpartum support?
Motherwort is an herb that I’ve grown for many years and have a strong relationship with. Leonurus cardiaca - Lion heart. It works as an adaptogen to new mothers, helping adapt to all that comes forth bringing a new human earthside on the physical and emotional level. It’s also an incredible nervine, supporting the nervous system. Motherwort is also a hormone modulator- helping balance hormones.
Would you share with us a bit about your own postpartum experience?
My postpartum experience was a bit traumatic. I had a wonderful home birth experience on our farm and two days after, my partner Rob got Covid-19. He ended up quarantining the first week of postpartum. Navigating breastfeeding, sleepless nights and feeding myself was hard. Luckily I had a meal train drop off going and lots of herbs and supplements prepped before my birth. I’ve been doing a lot of work sitting with my postpartum journey and realized that if this wasn’t my story, I wouldn't have gotten into postpartum doula work myself.
You started a beautiful nature school on your property. What was your vision when bringing this to life?
The initial idea came to mind when we were looking for an outdoor program for Orion and most programs had a long wait list. That year we stopped farming one of our fields due to scaling back flower production and realized it would be a perfect spot to build a garden space for a children's school. My vision was to create a program that follows the rhythm of the seasons with song, crafts, herbal medicine and a safe place for children to roam free, harvest snacks from the garden and connect with Nature. I then found the most incredible lead teacher Emma Leach, who brought the idea into fruition.
Living on a farm, your life moves in sync with the seasons. What is a ritual you’re integrating with your family this autumn?
As we live out of town on top of a mountain, there is little to no light pollution here. This allows us to sink into the new season with slow cooking, nourishing foods and going to bed early. My own personal ritual is not allowing screen time once Orion goes to bed so I can keep up on my reading and studying on herbal medicine.
As the co-author of a cookbook, what is one of your favorite meals to make at the moment?
As the season is shifting and the days are shortening, my current favorite meals to make are high protein slow cooked stews and soups with homemade biscuits. I use local produce and meat from our friends farms and use fresh herbs and vegetables from our garden.
sweetmountaintop.com
@sweetmountaintop
Photos by Kate Bowen - lightbeaconphotography.com
