Meet Morgan Lynn | Doula, Cook, Gardener

We had the good fortune of connecting with Morgan Lynn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Morgan, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?

Right now I’m working with

“soft, flexible mind”

Creativity in craft, in relationships with others, to me is all about flow, movement, space, chaos to order. And with the process of birth, contraction leads to expansion for the birth of something, be it a baby, a song, a new idea or something else. Grieving is a part of the process when something is coming through, so a big part of the work I do, in the kitchen or in the birth space, is about keeping the mind soft and flexible, so that there is space for the creative flow to happen.

What should our readers know about your business?

Wow, thank you all so much for having me. Reflecting on it, I’ve noticed a pattern in my life and practice of always organizing things in groups of three. I guess it’s just my lucky balance method. For my doula practice, my offerings cover three pillars of support for women through the phases of pre-conception, pregnancy, labor and the postpartum time. I offer a form that helps women integrate food practices, self-care, and evidence-based information on the physiology of this time. This is a complimentary model of care to the medical model, which primarily offers the medical management of this time from fertility through birth, but is lacking in the areas of support I provide. How we care for ourselves throughout this time has a great impact in improving outcomes.

I have a background in organic gardening in the Biodynamic French-Intensive Method, and I’m a cook and a long-time student of Soto Zen Buddhism. What I offer women is an inspired set of daily practices for selecting and preparing the foods we eat and how we take care of ourselves to support the way our bodies function. I cook through the lens of functional nutrition layered with Ayurveda and seasonal/local sourcing. I want to slow everybody down during this time of conscious intentionality – taking good care of the body, quieting the mind, using a daily form of routines to help support us in this creative time of bringing a baby into the world. And my hope and prayer is that the journey strengthens our collective trust in the miracle it is to be in a human body and to be able to create and nurture new life. For me it’s a blessing that my work is to honor and nurture this process.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.

We would absolutely start on Sunday morning at the Hollywood Farmers Market. I hope this trip is in December because holidays at market are divine. I always drop my knives off first thing with Gary for sharpening and then wait in line for the first bread drop at Bub+Grandma’s stand. I love their sesame sourdough – natural ferments are much easier to digest so I always have a loaf around the house. I always pick up bone-in meats for slow cooking – soup bones and short ribs from Rocky Canyon, goat or lamb shanks and whole chickens from Jimenez Family Farms. If it’s Christmas time, Mr Bautista will have his boxes of the most perfect, enormous Medjool dates from Indio. I buy plant starts – pineapple sage, lemon basil or paper whites to pot up for gifts. I always have a half dozen oysters on the half shell for breakfast at market. I love the Fair Market Band which plays next to the oyster stand. It’s the best scene. I have my preferred produce farmers – Jacob Grant, Finley Farms, JJ’s Lone Daughter.

If a friend was in town we’d pick up a couple pounds of clams, a head of garlic and some lemons to go and head west to the beach. I love cooking seaside on my Iwatani burner and clams are, in my opinion, the most under-rated mollusk. I love to steam clams in garlic butter by the ocean while my friends explore the tide pools, then we hang around with wine and soak up the clam sauce with pieces of grilled sesame baguette from Bub’s.

The next morning I’d take them to Courage Bagels for the best bagel in the world – we’d definitely do this if my friend was from New York – and then head to Vermont Canyon for some tennis, my favorite sport. For lunch I’d take them to Great White Melrose, it’s one of my favorite spots in town, I could eat every meal there, high-five to Chef Juan!

We would definitely take a short road trip – probably to the Ojai Valley to visit my Mom and other close friends, have dinner at Rory’s Place, see Lara Elliot for a healing session, ride bikes through the orange groves and go to the hot springs. Or we might pop up to Santa Ynez for the vineyards and dinner at Bell’s in Los Alamos. If we had a longer time we might even drive up the coast through Big Sur to Marin Country, where I trained as a farm apprentice and zen student. It’s a special, magical tour I reserve for the people I’m closest too. I love California so much, there is so much diversity and beauty here, I fall more in love with it the longer I’m here.

Back in LA – have we had enough mollusks in this trip? Never, ever. No trip is complete without a visit to Found Oyster or Queen Street, and as a Southerner (I’m from Kentucky originally), I love Dunsmoor for a special occasion. My boyfriend took me there recently and we had the best time over cornbread drowned in butter and honey and the biggest ribeye I’ve ever seen.

I wouldn’t let them leave without doing some shopping for some special things from LA – I take everyone to Toiro on La Brea to shop for the most divine Japanese cookware and pantry items. Everything Naoko stocks is total magic, and we would not miss a stop into Nickey Kehoe Household on Beverly. If we’re lucky, maybe we would catch a Rebekah Miles pop-up there for some hand-painted ceramics – and I would also take them to Now Serving in Chinatown, a cookbook shop that hosts a lot of food and writing events. I can always go there for kitchen inspiration.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My life mentor, garden teacher, and best friend Emila Heller. Thank you for walking beside me in patience, love and gratitude for so many years.

Website: www.cottageinside.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cottageinside/

Image Credits
Photographers: Shelby Moore Carson Meyer Chelsea Prestin Stylist: Anna Patrikian