What to do with that Placenta You Have Lying Around

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I have mentioned fondly our wonderful friends from New Zealand before, but I must reiterate just how much they mean to us in the short time we have known them. They are without a doubt the easiest people to be around- funny, gentle, and down-to-earth. They are on the same page with us parenting-wise, which is always nice. More than that, I find myself inspired by Kim’s patience with both her boys and her gentle way of mothering. I can and do learn a lot from her each time we are together with our boys… 5 of them when we are all together! They are both exceptionally smart and witty. It’s just good to be around them, and we adore their boys.

When Kim gave birth to her second babe Ezra here in the States, she had a home birth and therefore found herself with a placenta on her hands. As is the tradition in New Zealand, she wanted to plant it under a tree, only they are eventually planning on returning home after Dave’s schooling is complete, so they had no tree to plant it under. We happened to be in the market for a couple more fruit trees on our property… you can see where this is heading!

DSC_0071So last week we got the trees: a peach and a “magic” apple tree (it has four different varieties of apples thanks to grafting branches from different apple tree varieties onto one tree- how cool is that?). We had an impromptu celebratory dinner on our back deck in the middle of the week (perfect!), dug a couple of holes (alright, Andrew dug the holes and accidentally severed our sprinkler line in the process… whoops. all is well now), threw a thawing placenta into one of the holes, and threw plenty of compost down on top of that before planing the peach tree there. And I’m thinking a peach tree was the perfect choice: Ezra is sweet like a peach, he is juicy and plump and fuzzy like one too! Who can resist?DSC_0079

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DSC_0096It was a wonderful experience! Thanks for making this planting such a good memory, dear friends!

P.s.- Hugo is Emil’s bestest friend in the WHOLE world… I’m hoping his behavior rubs off on Emil and not the other way round!

13 thoughts on “What to do with that Placenta You Have Lying Around”
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  1. Thank you so much for this great post! It was right on the spot for me. I took my firstborn’s placenta home with me from the hospital because it’s sort of a tradition here in Germany as well to plant it underneath a tree or in a special spot in your backyard. That’s what we were planning to do, but then we sort of just forgot it in our freezer… and winter came so soon, I guess… and now, 21 months later, it’s still there! I’m 30 weeks along with my second child now and I’m thinking that we’ll just wait for that second placenta and then decide on a tree for both of them.

  2. I cracked up when I saw the title to this post. Oh man your friend’s kids are super cute. 5 boys too? What a riot!

  3. We have a couple of placentas in our backyard too! (I’m glad I’m not the only one!) They were in the freezer for a long time before we figured out what to do with them. Funny, nobody seems to mention that aspect of a homebirth. The midwives didn’t even mention it. πŸ™‚

  4. I love this and so glad you shared it. I have a friend who does consume her placentas in smoothies in small amounts, and it seems to help her postpartum blues. I’ve always loved the tradition of giving it back to the earth, honoring that connection women have with dirt :). Life giving life right in your backyard. Loveliness and great pictures too of such sweet ones!

  5. Captivating title! I was ready to hear that you’d made yours into capsules πŸ™‚ Always intriguing. It seems a lovely tradition, although I am just a little squeamish with all things medical or bloody. My placentas were both autopsied to study any connection to elevated blood pressure. How lame!

  6. I find it interesting (and perhaps a bit ironic) that you’ve incorporated an ancient tradition, burying a placenta, in conjunction with the planting of a scientifically-designed, hybrid apple tree…

  7. Thanks lovelies! (also Dave just chuckled at my ‘patience’ and Hugo’s apparently good behaviour… how rude of him!)

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