Marvellous Mildred episode 4 continues –

Never again

Vigilante vibe

Whoop whoop

Where did the chickens go?

Aaaagh!

Wilful non-compliance

Low bridge

Janeway v Picard – the discussion continues

I rest my case

A matter of opinion? Really?

Reflecto Girl episode 8 begins today!

New Reflecto Girl story starts Monday!

Reflecto Girl and Distracto Boy are back – or they soon will be – and are just one quick change away from another daring rescue 😀

So don’t miss it – every day next week, and if you want even more excitement, look out for Duster the WonderDog, hidden somewhere in the story:

Duster the WonderDog

The first person to tell me they’ve spotted him in the story will get a free copy of the new Vegan Hotdog comic when it comes out 😀

Have a great weekend! ❤

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Violet's Vegan Comics logo

Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, exciting and always entertaining vegan children’s books since 2012

Relinquish, Redirect, Restore

“We cannot wait for governments – we must act immediately – and moving to a plant-based diet is the most impactful thing any individual can do”

Dr Richard Nicholson, Councillor for Haywards Heath
sign the plant based treaty

In July 2022, Haywards Heath Town Council became the first town in Europe to endorse the Plant Based Treaty, this was later followed by the City of Edinburgh Council in January 2023.

Dr Richard Nicholson, Councillor for Haywards Heath says, “The South East of England has endured the highest ever summer temperatures in history and people’s properties have been destroyed by fire and flood. We cannot wait for governments – we must all act immediately – and moving to a plant-based diet is the most impactful thing any individual can do to help address the grave situation we face. I’d encourage all Town, District, County and Metro councils to sign the Plant Based Treaty immediately.”

A coalition of groups is urging town and city councillors up and down the country to support sustainable diets by signing the Plant Based Treaty.

You can read the Plant Based Treaty in full here but, in a nutshell, it is a promise from the towns and cities who sign, not to build new or expand existing animal farms; to promote the benefits of plant-based diets in hospitals and schools; to teach farmers how to transition from animal to arable farming; and to redirect subsidies to fruits and vegetables growers so that everyone has access to healthy food.

Twenty cities have so far endorsed the Plant Based Treaty – in India, Turkey, the USA, and the UK – have you written to your town council? It’s easy to do. The nice people at the Plant Based Treaty have written the letter for you (which you are free to personalise) and have already worked out who the councillors are for each town so all you have to do is add your name 😀

Let’s do this!

There is a big blue sky!

Father Christmas saves the day

Getting out

Just keep looking

A Different Kind of Christmas Story

Easy Vegan Soda Bread

vegan soda bread

*

I’ve always loved bread but it doesn’t love me, so in recent years I’ve had to avoid it. I feel better if I avoid gluten and yeast most of the time but once in a blue moon I just can’t resist a bit of toast. So I decided to have a go at soda bread. Unfortunately, they usually put egg and/or milk in shop-bought soda bread, and anyway it comes in a plastic bag. So I looked online for vegan soda bread recipes and discovered that they include buttermilk, which is made by adding vinegar to milk and makes the air bubbles form in the dough when it’s cooking. The vegan recipes therefore do the same with plant-based milk. But I didn’t have any of that either, so I thought I’d try substituting plain old water. And it worked! Here’s how: First pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 6 (200*c, 400*f).

  1. Weigh out 12 ounces of self-raising, gluten-free flour and put it in a mixing bowl. You can add a couple of pinches of salt if you want to.
  2. Separately, add one tablespoon (15ml) of organic apple cider vinegar to 250ml of cold water and mix.
  3. Add the liquid to the flour and mix well with a wooden spoon.
vegan soda bread
vegan soda bread

4. Then spoon the moist mixture into a lined loaf tin,

and flatten it with the back of a wet spoon.

vegan soda bread

5. The next bit is VERY important – I learned this the hard way and still have a scar on my left index finger. Before you put it in the oven, cover the tin with foil. If you don’t, the top crust will bake very hard and the weight you’ll have to put behind your sharp, serrated bread knife to slice through it, could result in a bloody mess 😮

vegan soda bread

I use if you care foil and greaseproof paper because it’s recycled and eco-friendly. Since this won’t make the foil dirty, you can fold it up afterwards and reuse it 🙂

Oh, I’ve just noticed, on the if you care website, that they have an illustration of a roasted chicken on one of their products, which is very disappointing.

I’ll have to tell them that people who care wouldn’t be roasting chickens. It’s horrible when someone you trusted lets you down.

Anyway, back to the vegan soda bread:

  1. Bake in a medium-hot oven (gas mark 6) for 40 to 45 minutes.

7. Don your oven gloves, hold your head away from the oven when you open the door, take out your loaf, remove the foil and put the bread on a wire rack to cool.

When it’s cool you can use it right away, or freeze it, but what I do at this point is slice up the whole loaf and put a small piece of greaseproof paper in between each slice, wrap it, put it in a container, and then freeze it.

vegan soda bread

That way, I can take my bread out of the freezer a slice at a time, keeping it fresher for longer.

I prefer mine toasted, so it goes straight from the freezer to the toaster, add some peanut butter, Marmite and baked beans for a delicious nutritious meal in minutes. 😀

vegan soda bread
vegan soda bread

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Violet's Vegan Comics logo

Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating vegan stories, vegan comics, vegan poems, vegan things-to-make-and-do, and vegan children’s books since 2012.

Marie Canning – vegan ceramicist

Manchester Pig Save

*

I was so moved by a post I read this week that I wanted to share it with you. Since there was no reblog button I am copying and pasting, so please go over to Marie’s site to LIKE and comment on the original post, it’s such a … what word am I looking for? I am lost for words. All I will say is that I’m so grateful to Marie for sharing her experience and lighting a fire under me. The following are all Marie’s words (and photos):

On Tuesday last week, in the pouring rain, I headed to Manchester for a peaceful vigil outside a slaughterhouse. I have never been to one before, and honestly, I never believed it would be something I could manage. But recently I’ve felt ready to step forwards much more with my animal activism.

The slaughterhouse is in Ashton-under-Lyne and activists there have been peacefully protesting for years. Animal Saves are done in cities and towns all over the world. After some time the activists here have developed a good relationship with the security guard who allows the trucks to stop for a few minutes before going in.

I pulled up right in front of the group to ask for directions of where best to park and saw a slaughter truck at the gate. I had been feeling strong but immediately felt myself break. After I parked up I walked to meet the small group. The last slaughter truck had gone in. Annoyed at myself I didn’t even manage a hello before becoming upset. Thankfully this didn’t seem unusual behaviour and everyone welcomed me with open arms.

Another slaughter truck pulled in. The driver stopped at the gate. The activists moved forwards to the truck. Many had bought stools to stand on as the open section is quite high. Someone kindly offered me theirs. I stood on it and looked into the truck. It was crammed with young pigs. The heat and the smell was intense – I know they could have been in that truck for hours without food or water. They were very quiet and barely moved. I didn’t want to look in their eyes but I made myself. I could only see fear and it was beyond intolerable to see an animal that frightened. The driver beeped his horn. We all stepped back. The truck drove into the slaughterhouse. Just before we did I managed to stroke one of their ears with one finger peeking through the bars and tell them it would all be over soon.

This process repeated itself I think 7 more times in the 2 hours I was there. I can’t say it got any easier. The other activists told me about themselves, everyone introduced themselves to me, someone bought a bunch of vegan snacks. I politely nibbled mine, I couldn’t stomach it. I was struck by their friendliness though. Occasionally while you were chatting you could hear screaming in the background. I declined to go closer to the area where the animals are killed to be a witness to the screaming. But maybe I will be ready for that another time.

It may seem like quite a pointless thing to be doing for some of you reading. As of course you can’t stop what is happening to those animals you lock eyes with. You just have to step back when the driver beeps his horn and let the animals go in. The answer to why is to simply bear witness to an injustice, to document it and to share it. With the hope that this may help more and more people connect with farmed animals and consider to not be a part of their exploitation. This blog post explains what you are trying to achieve way better than I am as well as providing self care to activists and is well worth a read – https://www.dominionmovement.com/self-care

For myself – although I know what happens to animals in animal agriculture and am horrified by that – seeing part of the process was another level of knowledge. It was obviously extremely tragic and upsetting. But I know now that I can be extremely upset and act at the same time. I feel like the least I can do is look into their eyes and acknowledge and witness what is being done to them, even if I can’t stop it.

I am still processing that day, thinking about the pigs I met, the ears I stroked and the backs I rubbed. I hope they’re at peace now. I’m grateful for the kindness of the other activists, how gladly they welcomed me. Many cars beeped their horns and waved as they drove by seeing the signs – it feels like all hope is not lost.

Marie Canning – Manchester Pig Save 15.11.22
Manchester Pig Save

Make Raystede Vegan!

Hold on tight!

Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from Wednesday. For the story so far, click here 😀

funny vegan comic for kids

Sindyyy!!!!! 😮

Why is the Flat-Capped Menace taking baby Sindy to a ship?! Will our heroes get there in time to stop him?! These questions and more will be answered when this story continues, which will happen as soon as Miranda finishes drawing it.

For now – have a great weekend! 😀

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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.

This comic was created with ComicLife by Plasq

Violet's Vegan Comics logo

Violet’s Vegan Comics – making funny, exciting and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books since 2012.

“The next stage of my genius plot!”

Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from Monday. For the story so far, click here 😀

funny vegan comic for kids

Blast that Flat-Capped Menace and his robots! Hurry Mildred – they’re getting away!

Come back on Friday to see if our heroes can stop them before they reach the ship 😀

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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.

This comic was created with ComicLife by Plasq

Violet's Vegan Comics logo

Violet’s Vegan Comics – making funny, exciting and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books since 2012.

Here goes nothing

Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from Friday. For the story so far, click here 😀

funny vegan comic for kids

Uh oh. This is not going well at all. Poor Sindy Snowdrop is getting further and further out of reach! Come back on Wednesday to see what our heroes do next! 😀

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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.

This comic was created with ComicLife by Plasq

Violet's Vegan Comics logo

Violet’s Vegan Comics – making funny, exciting and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books since 2012.

Plan B?

Watch yourself Gerty

There they go!

Catch that tram!

For previous episodes of Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, click here. Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from yesterday:

funny vegan comic for kids

😮 Pedal fast girls – that baby’s life depends on it!

Have a great weekend but don’t forget to come back on Monday to find out what happens next 😀

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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.

This comic was created with ComicLife by Plasq

Violet's Vegan Comics logo

Violet’s Vegan Comics – making funny, exciting and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books since 2012.

Heeelp!

Fiendish plan

Marvellous Mildred episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – starts today!

Marvellous Mildred episode 4 starts tomorrow!

Quiet

Looking for this?

Aaaagh!

Agitated Mitisites

Megan’s in trouble!

Locked in

More cake?

The Locals

The Landing Party

Crossing the asteroid belt

Violet and Miranda on TV!!!

We were absolutely thrilled to be interviewed last year by Supreme Master TV for one of their kids’ programmes. Being long-term fans of The Loving Hut, her vegan restaurant chain, we knew the Supreme Master Ching Hai, but never in a million years expected to be invited to share our work on her vegan TV channel. We were very, very excited, but also very, very scared!

Then, after doing the interview, we were told that the kids’ show for which it was filmed was being shut down 😮 So that was that 😀

But then, yesterday, more than a year after the interview was filmed, I got a message from Supreme Master TV saying that our interview was going to be on a different show. They showed us the finished video and it’s so much more than just the interview.

Thank you to all the lovely people at Supreme Master TV for the huge amount of work you’ve done on this. We love it!

By the way, in the video Miranda is dressed as Claudia – one of the Girl Scout Twins. I was supposed to dress up as Reflecto Girl but I wimped out 😀

Claudia - from Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, a vegan comic for kids.

And, to avoid any misunderstandings, it should also be noted that, though the artwork from the wonderful Oliver’s Vegetables is featured repeatedly in this video, that is only because we have read it in one of our Storytime videos. It’s not one of ours. It is written by Vivian French and the brilliant artwork is by Alison Bartlett.

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Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, enlightening and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books, poems and things to make & do, since 2012.

RED ALERT!

The Briefing

Swimming in Outer Space

Up, up and away!

A bit of Scrabble before you go?

New Megan & Flos episode starts Monday!

Megan & Flos vegan comic for kids

They’re back in space again!

For those who’ve never met Megan & Flos, Megan is an ordinary vegan girl and Flos is an ordinary Summum Esse (from the planet Summum). They’re telepathic, have telekinetic powers, and wear gravity-adjusting belts which enable them to get around on dry land. Pop over to their page to catch up on the history of these extraordinary eco-warriors before Monday gets here. You don’t want to miss this – there’s trouble ahead!

vegan comic for kids

Megan & Flos is a vegan adventure comic for kids by Violet’s Vegan Comics.

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Violet's Vegan Comics logo

Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, enlightening and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages since 2012.

Today I saw the sunrise

Image by Sara Vaccari from Pixabay
Today I saw the sunrise
For the very first time.
I forgot to take my camera
So I'll describe it in this rhyme.

When we left home, the sky was dark,
Dark blue, pin-pricked with stars.
Everywhere was quiet and still,
On the road no moving cars.

We walked towards the pebbled beach,
My four-legged friend and me.
The sky was lit with orange
Along the edge, across the sea.

South along the shingle, looking
Back so I could see it,
I walked and turned and walked and turned,
I didn't want to miss it.

By the time we reached our walk's end,
The sky wore early morning light.
Its orange trim was retreating
But there was still no sun in sight.

Then a bright zigzag of orange
Painted plane trails in one spot.
It was coming!  It was coming!
Glowing light and burning hot!

So we sat down on the pebbles,
Glistening wet still from the sea,
And we watched the orange zigzags,
Well, my friend didn't, only me.

And it came then, just a little,
Glowing golden, almost white.
Just a tip above the ocean,
Smooth and fast now, gaining height.

Without dark shades, it was too bright,
So I shielded my eyes with my hand,
Peeked at our star between my fingers,
And blinked orange spots on the land.

The thing I've learned, and should have known,
Is really worth a mention -
Never attempt to view the dawn
Without ample eye-protection!

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Violet's Vegan Comics logo

Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, enlightening and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books, poems and things to make & do, since 2012.