Living Without Meat

Today I continue my series of looking into what and where animal sanctuaries are. First, I defined animal sanctuaries as a safe haven that reqires nothing of their residents, and last week I found as many sanctuaries as I could on the east coast of the U.S. Now, I’m heading to the west coast, specifically California:

* Farm Sanctuay has a California campus near Orland. It may be the less talked about one, but it still boasts 300 acres for escued farm animals. Founder Gene Baur grew up in California, so he can visit his othe sanctuary and his parents all in one trip across the country.

* Speaking of Gene Baur … his ex-wife Lorri Bauston, who is a co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, also directs her own farm animal rescue efforts at Animal Acres in Acton.

Beyond Gene and Lorri’s ventures, California is a large state that is home to a lot of animal refuges. These include:

* American Service Horse Rescue Zoo in Chico.
* American Tortoise Rescue in Century City.
* The Gorilla Foundation, home to the famous sign-language learning Koko, in Woodside.
* Shambala Preserve, maintained by the Roar Foundation, is a big cat home in Acton.
* Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary in San Jose is a no-kill shelter for cats and dogs.
* Jack Auchterlonie Memorial Equine Sanctuary (JAMES) is a safe house for horses in 29 Palms.
* C.H.E.E.T.A. Primate Sanctuary (Creative Habitats and Enrichment for Endangered and Threatened Apes) in Palm Springs.
* Coventry Companion Bird Survival Center in Bella Vista.
* Critter Haven in the High Sierra Mountains cares for yaks, donkeys, geese, ducks, goats, emus, and even some cats and dogs.
* The Purple Cow and Friends in Escondido takes in unwanted animals including cows, mules, horses, dogs, and more.
* D.E.L.T.A. Rescue (Dedication and Everlasting Love to Animals) rescues wild cats and dogs in Glendale.
* Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center in Hughson rescues injured and orphaned wildlife - birds, fox, big cats, and more.
* P.R.O.U.D. (Pet Rescue of Unwanted Dogs) in Kingsburg.

This is only a sampling of the animal sanctuaries in California. With the climate and the amount of open land out west, there are lots of great rescue and refuge efforts.

To begin my search for other great animal sanctuaries around the world (as in, aside from Farm Sanctuary), I’m starting close to home: the east coast of the United States.

* Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Poolesville, Maryland must be a biggie - it’s Web site is simply animalsanctuary.org. The 400-acre nonprofit rescues farm animals including mules, chickens, turkeys, cows, pigs, and others.

* In New England, farm animals find refuge at the Mountain View Farm Animal Sanctuary in East Burke, Vermont.

* Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary calls Woodstock, New York home, and was founded by a couple with oots in the film-making business. Comedian and cartoonist Dan Piraro and his wife Ashley Lou Smith, who have been seen around town supporting both Farm Sanctuary and PETA too, call Woodstock their home sanctuary. Woodstock, as detailed in the full name, is home to rescued farm animals including goats, pigs, and chickens.

* New York has more than its share of sanctuaries. Spirit Animal Sanctuary in Boonville cares for dogs, but also currently has a parrot, iguana, and cat. The Catskills Animal Sanctuary in Saugerties offers a safe haven to abused, neglected, and otherwise mistreated horses and other farm animals. Unfortunately, Oasis Sanctuary in North Branch recently had to close its doors, with the founder exhausting all of his personal funds. Oasis still needs help though! All of their farm animals have found a new home, but there are still many dogs that need a home. Plus, Oasis is indebited thousands of dollars for back property taxes.

* Florida is home to numerous wildlife sanctuaries: Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary in Gainesville, Peace River Rescue & Ranch in Zolfo Springs, and Sanctuary Animal Refuge in Clewiston. Big Cat Rescue houses all kinds of exotic large felines that should be living wild and free, including jaguars, tigers, cougars, ocelots, and more. The rescued cats from performing situations, fur factories, exotic pet dealers, and any other situation that humans have tried to confine them to. Jungle Friends offers a permanent safe home to monkeys that come from labratories, exotic pet traders, and situations requiring confiscation by police. Peace River saves exotic animals from any potentially harmful situation. Their residents include big cats, wolves, bears, pimates, and even bats. Sanctuary Animal Rescue takes in any animal - though primarily dogs and cats - that is considered fearful, agressive, old, or ill. They run as a no-kill shelter, rehabing the residents and adopting out those who are ready.

* Blind Cat Rescue in St. Pauls, North Carolina is exactly as it sounds - a place for unwanted cats that can’t see to feel safe and wanted.

* In Louisa, Virginia, Project Perry is the Central Virgina Parrot Sanctuary. Lucky Parrot Sanctuary, Inc. is the birds’ safe haven in Naples, Florida.

* Shepherd’s Green Sanctuary in Cookeville, Tennessee has 30 acres open meadow and woods, with 2 additional acres sectioned off for special needs residents. Shepherd’s is all about and for the pigs.

* And we can’t forget the shelled ones in need. Turtle Homes Rescue in Merrick, New York takes care of turtles and tortoises. They also have sanctuaries across all regions of the U.S., and Canada, Asia, and the U.K.

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This list is by no means comprehensive, but rather covers the larger ones, and those that are accredited. Most accept volunteers, many have blogs, and all are always in need of financial support.

Stay tuned for another region’s sanctuary run down next weekend!

Since discovering Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York, I have been interested in learning more about animal sanctuaries of all sorts. I want to find some that are closer to home, as well as just educating myself in general about how many and what kinds their are nationwide.

An animal sanctuary is any facility that rescues any animal and provides a safe home for them to live out the rest of their natural lives. Animals live at a sanctuary without owing anything - entertainment, food, fiber - to people. The animals do not work, they are not bred or sold, and they are not put on display in a zoo-like manner. Some are specifically for farm animals like Farm Sanctuary is, while others focus on stray cats and dogs, victims of animal testing facilities, circus performers, primates, elephants, horses, and nearly every othe imaginable species and area of mistreatment.

As with most industries, there are specific national and international organizations that supervise, accredit, and provide support for established sanctuaries. One such group is the American Sanctuary Association, which provides a comprehensive list - by species or alphabetical - of the numerous sanctuaries across the U.S. that they support (including both of Farm Sanctuary’s location). The ASA ensures that animals in accredited sanctuaries are well taken care of and that breeding does not take place.

Next up, find out where there are sanctuaries for which species. And please feel free to leave any special requests or questions in the comment section - I will do the research for you!

Very Good Taste is the name of a blog about eating and drinking. Recently, they posted The Omnivore’s Hundred, a list of 100 things foodstuffs that every omnivore should try in their lifetime. Of course the list is replete with cruelty, including foie gras, venison, sea urchin, milk products, and more. The blogger is asking other bloggers to repost the list, denoting which ones they have tried and which ones they will never try. Instead, I am creating my own list: The Vegan’s Hundred. And it is for everyone, not just vegans.

These are the foods that I think everyone should try at least once. And, of course, even if it’s not specifically mentioned, I mean “a vegan version” where the item is normally made with eggs or milk or such. The last five are empty for now - I will fill them in with your suggestions as to what I forgot!

1. Quinoa
2. Bakery-made vegan cupcakes
3. Homemade vegan cookies
4. Humus
5. PB&J
6. Seitan meat
7. Coconut milk
8. Well-prepared tofu
9. Tofu smoothie
10. Fresh avocado
11. Spinach – raw and cooked
12. Wheatgrass juice
13. Fresh juice from a juicer
14. Strawberries
15. Oolong tea
16. Tomato pie
17. Rice and beans
18. Fig
19. Hemp milk
20. Truffles
21. Collard greens
22. Banana french toast
23. Trail mix – your personal mix
24. Sweet potato fries
25. Blended white beans
26. Portabello sandwich
27. Freshly baked bread
28. Sprouted bread
29. Stuffed mushrooms
30. Gazpacho
31. Angel hair pasta
32. Seaweed
33. Gnocchi
34. Peanut butter and banana
35. Pomegranate
36. Pomegranate juice
37. Vegan ribs
38. Grilled corn
39. Veggie burger that’s never been frozen
40. Lentils
41. Cashews
42. Tempeh
43. Wasabi soybeans or peas
44. Sushi roll
45. Toasted pumpkin seeds
46. Kale
47. Properly cooked asparagus
48. Beets
49. Beet greens
50. Dark chocolate
51. Blueberry juice
52. Wasabi mashed potatoes
53. Mashed cauliflower
54. Pez
55. Take-out Chinese food
56. Eggplant
57. Grilled cheese
58. Something you grew yourself
59. Sundried tomatoes
60. Roasted red pepper
61. Filled crepe
62. Brussels sprouts
63. Couscous
64. Edamame
65. Tempura vegetables
66. Acorn squash
67. Spaghetti squash
68. Crock pot stew
69. Soft pretzel
70. Nut butter other than peanut
71. Fresh-picked berries
72. Rita’s water ice
73. Bok choy
74. Swiss chard
75. Baked pear
76. Bruschetta
77. Sorbet
78. Tabbouleh
79. Anything served in a bread bowl
80. Spinach nuggets
81. Vegan Gourment cheese, mozzarella flavor
82. Artichoke – not just the heart
83. Properly prepared broccoli rabe
84. Blackberries
85. Every kind of apple
86. Good jelly beans
87. Macadamia nut
88. Mango
89. Real vanilla
90. Fresh pineapple
91. Rice ice cream
92. Freshly squeezed lemonade
93. Guacamole
94. Carob chips
95. Freshly roasted and ground coffee
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97.
98.
99.
100.

Curious about the truth behind common vegetarian and animal rights misconceptions and full out lies? Wondering how liberated free-range chickens are, and how cheerful happy cows are?

Enter the Humane Myth busters.

Humane Myth is a new animal advocacy group made up of “former farmers, animal rescuers, animal sanctuary founders, educators, and artists working to create a just and nonviolent future.” Their goal is to make sure you know the truth about the highly propagated “humane” meats. They seek to encourage “truth, transparency and integrity in animal advocacy.” They are the animal rights myth busters!

Check out the MythWatch section to see the insides of actual free-range chicken coops. Browse down the left side of the screen to find definitions and common misuses of terms including “humane slaughter” and “sustainable.” Learn about how the meat industry does effect your health, the environment, and wildlife. Watch slide shows, read farmers’ testimonies, and generally become a better informed consumer.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary has added over 100 new words to their newly published edition. Two of the words that have been very popular (that is, mentioned in every press release and article about the new words), are vegetarian-related!

edamame: immature green soybeans

pescatarian: a vegetarian whose diet includes fish

phytonutrient: bioactive, plant-derived compound (as resveratrol) associated with positive health effects.

Plus, it’s not just the fact that the dictionary people are acknowledging these words, but rather that they are doing so because they believe the words reflect “current societal trends.”

Other words or phrases added include air quotes, mental health day, subprime, and Texas Hold ‘em.

This weekend I met up with my mother and sister, with her two tots, to have a picnic in a park before a Johnny Cash tribute concert.

As we sat down at the picnic table, and began setting out the food that we had each brought, my contemplative 3-year-old nephew speaks up:

Nephew: Aunt Sally? Mommy says that you don’t eat anything from an animal.

Me: That’s true, I don’t.

Nephew: Well, then, you can eat … this, and some of this, and …

Apparently he reminds my sister every time she is cooking and I am coming over of my diet. I also noticed that it is apparently an instinctual response to tell a veg*n what food they can eat. It was super cute!

We had a delicious spread that was “accidentally” vegetarian (and completely homemade). With one veg head and four meat eaters, our dinner included:

* vegan version of tomato, basil, mozzarella salad
* hummus with whole wheat pita and carrots
* gazpacho
* eggplant parmesan
* water

No soda. No packaged, processed foods with unpronounceable ingredients. And no meat. I was in heaven … and continue to be, as mom gave me the leftover hummus and gazpacho!

Lunch yesterday was hummus, carrots, and whole wheat pita. Today I’m having a baked potato with gazpacho. And that potato? It comes from my dad - he’s working a delivery route for a local farmer and sent me a box full of fresh-picked, local, organic vegetables!

My family sure knows how to spoil a vegan!

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For more great vegan picnic ideas, check out the recent post over on the Urban Vegan titled “101 Fast Recipes for Inspired Vegan Picnics.”

In all that you choose to do (or not do) in life, it always helps to have a support community of like-minded people. I’ve been enjoying searching for new vegan blogs to read in my quest for such. One of my new favorites is Vegan Soapbox, and, thanks to the writers over there, I have a new list of ones to check out: VegNews magazine’s VegBloggy award winners.

* Abolitionist Approach
* An Animal Friendly Life
* BitterSweet
* The Conscious Kitchen
* FatFree Vegan Kitchen
* Hezbollah Tofu
* Let’s Get Sconed!
* Post Punk Kitchen
* Ramblings of a Vegan Man
* SuperVegan
* The Urban Housewife
* Veg Blog
* Vegan Dad
* VeganEtsy
* Vegan Talk
* Vegan Yum Yum
* Vegans of Color
* Vive le Vegan
* Walking the Vegan Line
* We Like it Raw
* What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway?

Check them out, let me know if you find any particularly interesting or fun … but do come back, ya hear?

Pick up the next issue of VegNews - the music issue - to read their review of each site.

Recently I came across an archived article, titled “Should You Become a Vegetarian? Think Before You Eat,” from Ebony magazine’s July 2003 issue. It’s a good read, and good press coverage of a vegetarian diet, but I’ve devised a quicker way to decide if you should become vegetarian or not.

Answer each question with a yes or no:

1. Do you want to be healthy?

2. Do you like living animals?

3. Do you respect your body?

4. Do you believe that you are what you eat?

5. Do you feel that no creature should live a life of torture, confinement, abuse, and general mistreatment?

6. Do you like to eat delicious, nutritious, colorful food without feeling guilty?

7. Do you want to feel physically, mentally, and emotionally better?

8. Do you hate touching and preparing raw meat?

9. Do you want to be trendy and jump on the green-friendly or educated-consumer bandwagon?

10. Do you want to be in the company of celebrities like Paul McCartney, Carrie Underwood, Kristen Bell, Emily Deschanel, and Tobey Maguire?

If you answered yes to at least one of these questions, then you should become a vegetarian! (And if you answered yes to all of them … what are you waiting for?!)

Looking for some more recipe and meal ideas? Over at Allie’s (Green) Answers you can find a regularly scheduled, weekly meal inspiration through Allie’s Meat-Free Mondays. Full-time vegetarian or not, Allie doesn’t consider a meat-free meal to be two side dishes: a veggie and a starch. She dives head first into trying tofu, quinoa, and fresh organic seasonal crops.

Maybe it’s because I see the potential for a great conversation starter. Or maybe I can blame it on my parents again (I mean, I did play with models of wombs - removable babies included - at the various stages of gestation as a child). But for some reason I can see past the morbid reality of Etsy artist Jellibat’s crocheted vivisection victim bunny rabbit and find it utterly, darkly, funny.

Unfortunately, the only posted “Test Bunny” is already sold. I have hopes for more to appear soon; however, until then browse her shop! She has plenty of monkey love, licking dogs, dust bunnies, two-faced lions, cats, bats, and “jelli things” dressed up like Marie Antoinette, burlesque dancers, and robots.

***In all seriousness though, this is only comical to me as a light-hearted step aside from the truth and harsh reality of the pain that these animals endure “in the name of science.” If you are not aware that vivisection - animal testing - occurs every day, every where, and effects every one, please educate yourself (it’s okay to click: this site is NOT gory! Hooray for being able to find the facts without seeing visual gore!).***

Today’s the day that middle school students actually enjoy going to math class (though my sister and I always loved it!). It’s Pi Day!

In mathematics, the Greek letter pi = 3.14…..and then like one trillion more numerals. Today = March (3) 14. Hence, today is Pi Day!

But why do middle school students like it? Well, my friends who missed out, cool math teachers order pizza pies or bring in dessert pies to celebrate!

So have it; bring a little math into your life! If you make and bake it all from scratch then you are using math, too!

Just remember, make it vegan!

Vegan pizza recipes:

* Watch a YouTube chef put together a pizza pie from complete scratch, crust and all!

* By a crust (check the ingredients), slap on some sauce, sprinkle with casein-free soy cheese, and add all of your favorite toppings.

* Order up a tomato pie for delivery.

* Check out Recipezaar - there are 51 recipes that have both “vegan” and “pizza” as keywords.

Vegan Pie Recipes:

* The Almost Vegan drooled over a pie crust and filling recipe back in 2006.

* Whoa, forget the pies … VeganYumYum’s dessert section is way better. Just call it a pie, or bake it in a pie-shaped tin or something.

P.S. While I’m talking about pies … I highly recommend the movie Waitress with Keri Russell.

In addition to making myself into a healthier version of the same great me, I have also been working hard to follow another new trend for this new year: I have been turning my laptop off every night.

That’s right, this earth-loving modern-day hippie used to leave her laptop on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

I’ve been inspired to take on this - and a few other little green habits here and there - by a new favorite Web site: Green Is Sexy.

Take a gander around the pages of the eco-conscious peek inside the mind of three girlfriends - shown here, from left: Rachel, Didi, Megan. You may just recognize one of these lovely ladies of an unplugging mindset!

I get excited when I see an animal-rights or vegetarian article in a public newspaper or magazine, such as the Wall Street Journal did last week with its headline: The 247 lb. Vegan.

The press is catching on, and the animals are being given a voice!

So imagine my excitement over the past week when all of these articles fell into my e-mail inbox:

* From a delicacy, a delicate situation: Foie gras on Baltimore menus spurs protests made the front page of the Baltimore Sun, Monday, January 28.

* Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler was in the week in review, in the world section, of the January 27 Sunday New York Times.

* Last Sunday, January 20, one of my hometown papers - the Philadelphia Inquirer - featured Learning to eat, and like, his veggies by a regular columnist. A recipe is included for Walnut-Mushroom Pate.

* CNN reported that Chips could put lab rats out of work with an Associate Press-written science article this Monday, January 28.

* Lansing State Journal answered a reader’s concern with Weigh benefits of vegan diet for kids, also on this Monday.

vegetarian news, vegan news, vegetarian newspaper coverage, animals in the news

Annually, PETA staff members get together and dole out Proggy Awards. What “Proggy” means … well, I can only guess that it has something to do with frogs. But the awards themselves, which are in their 5th year, are less of a mystery. They recognize top companies, organizations, people, Web sites, products, books, and much more in the vegetarian world. Many of these are not necessarily vegan in and of themselves, but are being recognized for their vegan-friendly nature.

Topics vary slightly from year to year. Those just released for 2007 include Most Vegan-Friendly Coffee Chain (Peet’s), Best Cruelty-Free Household Product Line (Mrs. Meyer’s), Most Progressive Chef (Wolfgang Puck, shown), Most Improved National Food Chain (Burger King), and even a top prog Company of the Year (Garden Protein).

Check out all of the winners, a review of each, and links to the winners’ Web sites through PETA.

This was not my Project Blog entry, but I am still in the competition! Click Here to vote and check out all the contest-ual goodness!