Well, here we are, our last two weeks of Nourish. I can still vividly remember all the preparation my mom and I were doing at this time last year from coming up with the domain to customizing the site to planning out the recipes, then baking and photographing them. It’s fortunate we’re both extremely organized, or else this project could have had a very different outcome!

We’ve wanted to share our recipes and story with the world for years now and the pandemic, as awful and unforgiving as it has been, gave us the perfect opportunity to do so. We were both stuck at home with not enough to do to occupy our free time. My mom needed a distraction; I needed a creative outlet for my stress. We felt a desire to produce something positive and helpful amid an exceptionally negative and destructive period. Nourish accomplished all of that—and then some.

I’ve learned and gained a lot from creating this little blog and I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of my greatest takeaways. This might be the last year I’m living at home, and it was important that my mom and I do something together to commemorate the incredible bond we share and all that we’ve gone through. What better way to do that than to combine her passion for cooking with my passions for writing and mental health advocacy? Nourish took the beautiful relationship we had and elevated it to a whole new level. Despite a few inevitable creative disagreements, it’s been awesome to work with her and come together in brand new ways.

I’d like to think watching my mom whip up recipe after recipe for Nourish sparked my current love of cooking. After years of having little to no interest in the hobby, I began to dabble in cooking a few months ago and have been experimenting with recipes and refining my kitchen skills ever since. There’s something so powerful and freeing about being able to create delicious meals and snacks for yourself with the most simple and wholesome ingredients. I used to fear the kitchen and avoid it at all costs, and now I’m in there multiple times a day, oftentimes alongside my mom, preparing beautiful plant-based dishes that nourish our bodies and nurture the planet.

A few months ago, as we were finishing making the recipes for Nourish, I adopted a vegan lifestyle. A lifelong vegetarian, I’d thought about going vegan for a while, but it wasn’t until I learned about the horrors of the dairy and egg industries that I realized I had to make the change. I couldn’t bear the thought of another innocent animal being needlessly exploited for my sensory pleasure, nor could I genuinely advocate for environmental protection while I continued to support an industry that significantly contributes to climate change. As important as it was to share the recipes that saved me from starvation, it’s just as important to share those that sustain the life I currently lead in recovery. With recovery comes the freedom of choice, and I’ve chosen life not only for myself but for the animals and our planet as well. I encourage anyone reading this to do the same.

Also to anyone reading this, thank you for supporting our blog. Thank you for trying our recipes and reading our stories. Thank you for making this experience so wonderful and meaningful for my mom and me. Over the past year, I’ve learned more about blogging than I’d ever thought possible—including how much of a commitment it is! I have the utmost respect for all my fellow bloggers who have been doing this for years and continue to create outstanding and thought-provoking content for readers to absorb. Though Nourish is ending, I’ll continue to post to my personal blog about my recovery, veganism, major life updates, and more. You can follow my blog here.

As Nourish grew from a small, uncertain project into an online cookbook and recovery resource with over 1000 followers (how did that happen!?) I too have grown in my personal life. One year ago, when we launched our blog, I was not the person I am now. I was nowhere near as confident in my recovery, as comfortable around food, and as capable of leading a fulfilled and independent life. But like the little seeds in my mom’s vegetable garden, I’ve pushed out of my comfort zone, embraced the sunlight on my skin, and am flourishing. Nourishment does that. By nourishing my body with food, my mind with positive thoughts and ideas, and my life with new hobbies, pursuits, and ambitions, I’ve been able to reach this place of health and happiness.

The world is finally opening up again, and I can’t wait to explore it.

– Julia