MM Friend: Carter Were

Carter Were’s beautiful, simple and plant-led food has been a favourite since she owned a cafe in Auckland’s Grey Lynn. Now, the mother of two is based in Federal, New South Wales where she keeps an impressive garden, horde of chickens and hosts guests at the Banana Shed. We love and turn often to her cookbook she created with her twin sister Harry, and are honoured to see colourful Milou Milou linens in her home. Carter answered a series of questions about her life and shot a series of images on film, enjoy.

We begin the day with a stovetop coffee at about 6am. But really, I begin and end my days with my babies, Patience and Dorothy. One of them sleeps in my bed and the other one wakes up throughout the night. We all shower together before bed (to save water because we rely on rain to fill the tanks). I am looking forward to the day I can wake up in my own bed with only my partner, Jack, read a book and have a long shower by myself.

Our room looks out onto a lot of really high eucalyptus trees, a big cactus and some tropical plants I don't know the names of. It is quite noisy where we live, there's a lot of birds, possums and insects.

We eat omelettes for breakfast most mornings because we get about 15 eggs a day from our chooks. I have a three egg omelette because I'm always hungry while breastfeeding and it keeps me going for a few hours. 

 

Don't get too hung up on what you aren't doing, just do your best! But for me it starts with eating vegetables, fruit and eggs from the garden.

I am drawn to bright and primary colours. I am a twin, and growing up I was always the blue twin and Harry was the red. My brothers were one green and the other yellow. Maybe that's why I am also drawn to them. The garden is bright with lots of colours and Jack is in a band called the Babe Rainbow. I guess we both like colours.

How do you manage living in two places, having your heart in Aotearoa and Australia —

I enjoyed going between the two before the year of Covid. But right now I am missing home terribly. I hope that it all goes back to normal soon and I can travel between the two with my family soon. New Zealand winters are a bit long and cold for me, but I like that there's no spiders and snakes there too. 

Australia is home for now since both the girls were born here, but maybe one day we will live there again. It would be my dream to live between the two.

Before the pandemic and having a second baby it was pretty easy for me to go back between the two every few months. I would book the cheap fares and stay at Harry's place in her spare room. We used to work on the cookbook whenever we were together, over  the course of a few years. Since having a second baby and now that Patience is two and Harry no longer has a spare room, travelling home will be a whole lot harder. Hopefully we can go back each year and take the girls camping.

 

All images by Carter Were.

For more Carter you can follow her on Instagram, buy her cookbook or best of all, go and stay at the Banana Shed.