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Sitting at her computer and typing away at her new book, a heavily pregnant Francesca Price smiled to herself. With just a few more pages to write and a week until she was due to give birth to her third child, the former presenter of TV3’s Wa$ted had timed things perfectly. Then her waters broke.
“I remember thinking, ‘Why do children never do what’s expected of them?’ and I carried on writing,” laughs Fran (40). “But after a while, I realised I had to start concentrating on this baby or else I was going to end up with complications!” Fortunately, nothing went wrong and gorgeous wee Saoirse (pronounced “Sir-sha”) came into the world in a textbook water birth, after just a little acupuncture and some homeopathy to induce labour.
“Despite the early arrival, it was my most straightforward birth experience yet,” says the eco-journalist, who has two elder daughters, Madeleine (8) and Eve (6), with her partner Stephen McQuillan. “You never know how it’s going to go, but I did everything I could to get the baby out naturally and I was very lucky.”
Fran was also lucky in getting a month’s extension on the deadline for her book, The Good Life, and says her local West Auckland community was invaluable when it came to finishing the project while looking after a newborn.
“For three weeks after I had the baby, all my meals were delivered to me by friends and neighbours who rocked up with food much better than I could cook,” she smiles. “People I hardly knew brought me muffins – I didn’t have to leave the house for almost a month!
“Everyone here is just so generous. Most people have vege gardens and we swap produce, tools and children whenever we can. That certainly wasn’t my experience in London.”
It was that community spirit and a longing for a “simpler, greener” life that brought Fran and her family back to New Zealand after 12 years in the UK. “But,” she says, “when I got here, I found it difficult to access the kind of lifestyle I wanted to live. I couldn’t find where to source cheap organic produce or meet like-minded people.”
So, while working as a journalist and TV host, Fran found out what she needed to know and decided to write a guide for others which covers everything from reducing the toxins in your household to buying eco-friendly toys.
“There’s a growing number of people who want to live like this,” she explains, “and I wanted to show that a green lifestyle is not all about being cold and miserable while eating odd-shaped vegetables. My experience has been so fulfilling and added so much to my life.”
Practising what she preaches, Fran was determined to use cloth nappies on Saoirse, who is now eight months old. She explains, “My other two girls were raised in eco-friendly disposables, but they still have to go into a landfill.
“Cloth nappies are always going to be more environmentally friendly. They’re relatively easy to wash and they’re funky too – she’s even got some zebra-stripe ones! But the best thing is, Saoirse’s never had nappy rash, while my other two did.”
With three young girls, Fran admitsliving a green lifestyle isn’t always easy. She is pretty good when it comes to feeding her family organic food, however, her vege patch is “looking a bit sad” and she can’t use public transport as much as she’d like.The big thing, Fran says, is raising her daughters to respect nature. “It’s getting them out there, getting their hands dirty and showing them where food comes from. My eldest is now showing a real interest in cooking. She’s trying to replicate Jamie Oliver and that’s really rewarding to see.
“The girls are always on the lookout for something to recycle too. The other day, we went to the beach and they made us pick up all these dirty plastic bottles. I had my hands full with a picnic basket and I thought, ‘Do we have to?’ But, of course, we did.”
Fran does acknowledges that “as far as environmental crimes go, you can’t go much bigger than having another child. Increasing the population isn’t exactly good for this planet.”
However, Saoirse is one seriously cute child and, as the proud mum bounces the sweetie on her knee, Fran promises, “She will walk everywhere and eat only locally produced food. She will probably be the greenest girl ever!”
