vagina to-do list

hold on to your vaginas, folks, because DoulaHara is about to take off. once i can tackle this to-do list, that is...

- order the missing cord for my sewing machine, so i can start on several new product lines (hehe, i'm super excited! don't you wish you knew what they were? stay tuned...)

- finish designing the new website, which will include this blog, a studio tour, press kit, and tons of uterine fun .

- continue marketing DoulaHara wares nationally, so you can run out to your favorite weird-o shop and take a look instead of staring at your damn computer screen all day.

- start booking space at 2010 anarchist bookfairs, zine fests, and maybe a craft fair or two. any suggestions from folks in or around colorado?

Now Available in Portland, OR!

You can now visit In Other Words Women's Books & Resources in Portland, Oregon to pick up a set of our Menstrual Beads or Fertility Charts.
You can also reserve a copy of CUNTastic #1 at any of the 5 branches of the Multnomah County Public Library in Portland.

Thanks to both of these fantastic venues for offering Portland women an opportunity to celebrate their lady parts!

featured on BabyMakinMachine Blog!

my new 'earthy necklace' set of menstrual beads was featured as a prize for the 400th follower giveaway on the BabyMakinMachine blog!

Future Mama is a married, childless, and non-pregnant woman blogging about motherhood and her long journey toward it, somewhere in the future.  help celebrate the success of her blog and her wonderful community of mamas and mamas-to-be!

tabling success!

tabling at the Portland Anarchist Bookfair was a great success this weekend! we sold a few items, and made fantastic connections with radical shops & distributors all over the region. hopefully this'll translate into DoulaHara & CUNTastic merchandise being sold in a store near you, pretty damn soon!

portland anarchist bookfair!

on thursday im leaving for portland for the weekend, to attend the portland anarchist bookfair! the infoshop i co-own (confluence books) will be tabling at the bookfair, and my vagina-crafts will be available for all to see (and buy!). if you're in the portland area, make sure to check us out:

June 6 & 7, 2009 (Sat & Sun)

Liberty Hall - 311 N Ivy Portland, OR 97227

503-516-9220

axiom.infoshop@gmail.com

The Axiom Collective is hosting the first annual Portland Anarchist Book Fair. This two day event will feature over 20 collectives and organizations offering a a wide range of radical, feminist, and revolutionary literature, art, and ideas.This event is FREE to attend. Childcare will be provided.

illegal placentas?

i read an article this morning about a Miami birth center being raided by federal agents, based on allegations that they had been encapsulating patients' placentas for use to ward off postpartum depression.

yes, i acknowledge that it is illegal to distribute "medicine" that hasn't been approved by the FDA. and no, i do not believe that the midwives at the Miami Maternity Center were doing all the things they are accused of (drying and powdering multiple placentas together at one time, etc.). but take a step back here and think about this for a second...the federal government intervened in a group of women helping other women to use a part of their OWN bodies for their own benefit.



the MMC states that they have never encapsulated placentas for their patients, let alone in an unsanitary manner. instead, they attempted to provide women with the opportunity to benefit from their placentas, without breaking the law, by drying the placentas and then turning them back over to the patients, who can do with them what they choose--encapsulate, bury, eat, throw away, whatever.

is there no space in this culture for traditional medicines, or self-determination, for that matter? i have personally done placenta encapsulation before (check out the pictures and how-to here) and hope to do so again. it's unfortunate that one has to risk their freedom, for the freedom of women to use their placentas as they choose.

pendants have arrived!

yes folks, the long awaited vintage ephemera pendants have arrived! check em out, they speak for themselves...

each pendant begins as a vintage wooden checker piece, and is carefully transformed into a handcrafted, one-of-a-kind pendant. the pendants feature illustrations from vintage anatomy books, and are sealed and coated for protection.

Utera Maxima

my dear friend at VulvaLoveLovely has brightened the world with her new uterus plush, Utera Maxima. these oversized ovaries span a whopping 69 inches--this uterus means business! right now i am fantasizing about both cuddling up to this cushie monster, and using it as a punching bag during that crampy week of the month. well done, Vulva! way to celebrate your lady parts!

coming soon: pendants!

make space in your jewelry box! my new line of handmade pendants feature vintage illustrations of lady parts (and boy parts too) that you won't want to miss out on. each pendant is 100% unique, one of a kind, and unlike anything you've seen anywhere. the newest way to celebrate your lady parts! they should be available by mid-May at the latest. stay tuned...

a commercial for home birth??

no, in fact, it's actually a commercial for mattresses! a commercial that happens to use real, actual footage of a family's home birth to depict how wonderful their mattresses are!

made in spain, the commercial is from a region and a culture where home birth is not seen in anywhere near the same light as here in the u.s. many parts of europe boast high rates of midwife-attended home birth that put the u.s. to shame.

really, i'm jealous. i wish the commercials that interrupted my weekly dose of grey's anatomy (yes, i admit it. i'm a junkie.) were this beautiful and serene. and i wish my culture accepted home birth enough to use it to sell mattresses.

placentophagy

setting the scene: i spent some time last night in a friend's closet, cuddling her kitty who just became a mama. she had 4 kittens latched onto her, blissing out on the hormone rush that comes along with nursing new babies. their eyes still closed from birth, feeling around with their tiny paws, they wiggled and writhed.

getting to the point: i'm describing this scene at the risk of sounding like a 12 year old girl who likes kittens and puppies and flowers and jumprope. what makes that risk worthwhile, is what i noticed on the kittens' tummies: their umbilical cords still attached, drying up and getting ready to fall off. noticing their umbilical stumps set off a chain of realizations...
1) umbilical cords are connected at one end to the kitten, and at the other end to the placenta.
2) placentas are born after the kittens/babies/whatever.
3) most mammals eat the placentas of their young after birth. this is called placentophagy.
4) human cultures throughout time have been observed doing the same, and many folks still do.



placentophagy: the more natural-birth-leaning subculture in north america is getting pretty big on the practice of placentophagy, either with the mom eating a part of the placenta after birth, or having it encapsulated and using it as a supplement for weeks or months after the birth. it's generally believed (no, i don't know of any scientific studies) that the hormone rich tissue of the placenta can help to ward off postpartum depression and help the new mom feel more balanced and more quickly recovered. many women save whatever placenta pills they hasve left over and use them as a supplement to bring hormonal balance during menopause, later in life. as a doula, i've encapsulated several clients placentas, and all the mamas have raved about having access to their placentas and their benefits.

watching these kittens and realizing that their mama probably stiill had a tummy full of fresh placenta was really neat. whatever you think of the idea of placentophagy, and whether you would do it personally or not, it's a reminder to us all that we, at a base level, are animals too. imagine our earliest ancestors, chillin' in a cave somewhere, giving birth and then having this fantastic protein packed snack afterwards. yummmmmm.

fertility charting sets

i've been using fertility charts since 2005 to chart my cycle, sometimes to avoid pregnancy, sometimes to achieve it, and sometimes to just keep track of my moon.  it's been a fantastic experience for me and my body--yes, my body has enjoyed the extra attention.  i'd never seen my cervix or paid attention to my mucus before, and now the three of us are best buds : )

which brings me to my point.  that's right folks, the fertility charting sets in my etsy shop have been re-designed!  you can now purchase a medical grade speculum, a digital basal thermometer, and 12 months of fertility charts for a teeny weeny $25!  or get the "deluxe" set for $35, which includes a copy of Natural Family Planning by Kippley--the ultimate guide to fertility charting.

don't mean to brag here (or shamelessly promote my wares...) but seriously, this set would cost mucho more dinero if you were to buy the items yourself.

surgical steel speculum $17

digital basal thermometer $9

12 months of fertility charts $9

The Art of Natural Family Planning $19.95

over the top mucho dinero price >>> $54.95

nuf said.

'build your brand!' they say

'build your brand!' they say. well, i'm working on it.

my big problem right now is that i originally opened my etsy store and had my logo designed under the name 'DoulaHara' but (like any goodhearted eccentric) have totally changed my mind and want to change to the name CUNTastic.

the problem: you can't (of course) change the name of your etsy shop without losing all of your listings, your fans, and your feedback, AND the designer of my logo has since fallen off the face of the planet. so here i am, with great stuff to sell, a reasonably successful etsy shop, and an expensive-ass custom designed logo, all under the wrong name.

all dressed up and nowhere to go. if i do change the name, i'll have to find a new graphic designer who can create a kick ass uterus, start my etsy shop over (????? SERIOUSLY?????), and reassure myself the entire time that it will all work out. hmph.

to change or not to change?

start your engines...

ready, set, start your engines and hold on tight!  the DoulaHara blog is off and running, and the world will never be the same.  i wonder how many more racing cliches i can come up with?  rev up your uterus...vroom vroom goes the coochie...