I’m Pinky

Hello. Welcome to Pinkfarm.- your Real Food Culture. I’m Amanda affectionately known here as ‘Pinky’.
I live in a green leafy suburb on the north shore of Sydney. Although I have lived in cities in the US and Australia for the last fifteen years, and absolutely love the city for all it has to offer, I am originally from the Atherton Tablelands, Far North Queensland. The creation of Pinkfarm gives me many reasons to go ‘home’ and I am so very thankful for this as I have a deep connection to this part of the world; scenery and friendships that are the roots and foundation of who I have become.

I am a teacher at heart. I knew this was going to be my career and passion from a very young age and I had a wonderful fourteen years as an educator; not only as a primary school classroom teacher but also a Literacy Coach and Literacy Consultant, teaching other teachers. I am blessed to have had a ‘job’ that never felt like work; dedicated to guiding children and teachers to be the best they can be and inspiring them to be intrinsically motivated life long learners. The energy and passion I have been giving to children is now being re-channeled as I cherish every moment as a mother and now a real food advocate.

website teacher pic

Becoming a mother almost six years ago was my inspiration to get even more serious and conscious on my food journey. This started as a very bumpy road; one with twists, turns, potholes and speed bumps but recently has become smoother and with direction.

Growing up, I had very little connection to food in a cultural sense. I can remember dinnertime battles and my food repertoire was very limited. I was a sugar baby, a sugar child. My addiction to sugar was one I was completely unaware of. It was where the bar was set as my ‘normal.’ My physique didn’t notice all of the sugar I consumed and neither did I.

I valued exercise as the authority; the be all and end all to health. I have been working out in a gym, committed to weight and strength training for over twenty years and in recent years only realised the connection between food and health as the key factor far above exercise.

My Dad’s diagnosis with cancer 12 years ago was the start of this understanding. I began madly researching and looking into ways that I could help him through diet. I was a novice and I felt overwhelmed and shocked to learn how toxic food could be.

This was the first awakening I had that food could be friend of foe, medicine or poison. I quickly learned about sugar and it’s devastating effects on the body but didn’t properly address or even realise my own struggles with sugar at that time.

I developed a love for cooking with wholefood ingredients after an inspirational trip to Thailand. I loved the experimentation of cooking with new flavours and creating gourmet meals. Expressing myself through food was the way I showed love, so exploring and creating with food came naturally and brought much joy. Diet wise, I thought I was doing really well, using fresh ingredients, eating everything in ‘moderation’ however, my sugar addiction still lingered as I consumed sweets or chocolate almost every day.

After having my son I had committed myself to providing he and I nourishing real foods. However, it was his struggle with mysterious skin rashes when he was a baby that finally drove me to wake up and accept that my sugar addiction was now affecting someone else.

This had to stop. And thankfully after quitting refined sugar it did. Read about living without refined sugar every day and my sugar story (here).

Over the past six years my food journey has accelerated and taken a conscious path to specific destinations where I see light at the end of the tunnel. The road is smoother but there are many fuel stops (lots of learning) needed along the way, speed bumps (ideas which still challenge me) and not to mention an inspirational convoy (my food loving community).

I could never be where I am though without my friend Tan, (Farmer). Our friendship is vast having known each other for almost 25 years but is now deeper than ever through our connection with real food. We continue to learn together and question together; challenge, motivate and inspire each other. We wanted to share all of this with others so Pinkfarm was created in the hope that wherever you are at on your food journey, you can be inspired too.