Why would you wear leather?
It’s cow skin you know,
Or goat skin or calf skin,
Or even kangaroo.
Why would you want to wear someone else’s skin?
Isn’t it a yucky thing to put your body in?
Everyone should have the right, if they have no other,
To keep their own skin fully attached, not have it worn by another.
Music courtesy of TelevisionTunes.Com
***
The Rebel Gang and the Number Ciphers available here to read in silence and at your own pace 😉
This book is absolutely beautiful.
Treat yourself to a copy or borrow it from the library – that’s where we found it 🙂
First these little gems by the lovely Barry Wax:
“You will eat anything,” said the cow to the Billy Goat.
“Not at all,” the goat burped with the flavor of the shoe on his lips.
The cow munched on the cud and thought the remark over.
“I am not sure who is worse in habits, you or the pig?”
The pig looked up offended. “I admit I eat slop but the goat will eat the buttons off a coat and then the coat.”
“I have you all beat said the human. I will eat the goat, the cow and the pig.”
The three nodded in fear for they realized the human was the worse and hoped he would not pick one of them for dinner.
Fortunately goosey came by and within seconds became the bon appetite for the night.
****
The vegetable from outer space never eat meat.
And so the human race was not the dish it meant to eat.
The vegetable from outer space was reddish in color,
It had seven eyes, four ears and a dozen tiny, tiny feet.
The vegetable from space had blood the color of blue,
It breathed oxygen and gave out CO2 and in the air flew.
The vegetable from space had a high IQ and came for peace,
It landed in the city and a homeless man fined him and did eat.
No more vegetable from outer space, no more savior of mankind,
For the homeless man the vegetable from outer space was food and there was no meal line.
****
What is an olive?
It is a fruit from an evergreen tree.
It has yellow flowers.
It makes olive oil.
There are green olives and black olives.
It has the good fat.
It fights heart disease.
I like it in my salad.
I like it on my pizza.
Olives are great.
****
The pair of pears were juicy.
The melon ripe and moist.
The watermelon was sweet.
With the fruit we rejoice.
The energy flowed through us,
It was vital and strong.
We harmed nothing in this post,
We are like the earth reborn.
****
A salad is on my mind.
Crispy lettuce of any kind.
Cucumber sliced and scattered around.
A few placed olives to be found.
A celery stalk on both sides.
A cream sauce moving like the tides.
A slice of pickle.
To make my mouth tickle.
My taste buds tingle and wait,
Got to eat that salad, it looks first rate.
Thanks Barry 🙂
And this next poem, about the joy of the world around us and our connection to it,
was written by Tokoni Uti who also wanted to join in.
Earth Poem
We are eating from the womb of the earth.
We are celebrating the patriots of birth.
We are dancing in her familiar rain.
And harvesting herbs for the healing of pain
The wrath of the sun kisses our shoulders.
And the caresses of the wind are getting bolder.
The whispers of the wind cries in our ears.
The call of the sea embraces our fear.
Thanks for your contribution Tokoni 🙂
‘Twas the night before the weekend,
And something was in the air.
His face looked concerned when he told me,
Though he tried to hide his despair.
****
“The internet’s stopped working!
I don’t know what to do!”
To ease his mind by distraction I said,
“The hot water’s stopped working too!”
****
He reached for my hand and squeezed it,
Breathed deep and smiled at me.
“At least after your cold shower,” he said,
“You can still have a hot cup of tea.”
****
[Inspired by an internet-free 3 days which turned out to be very liberating and enjoyable. Internet’s back but not the hot water – that’s ok, cold showers are very refreshing 😉 ]
Cheep, chirp, tweet, caw,
These sounds we make, and more.
Quack, squawk, gobble, cuckoo,
We’re saying something worthwhile, twit twoo.
****
If you don’t follow, if you don’t know,
What we’re saying or why we crow,
That doesn’t mean there is no reason
For our calls and conversation.
The gamekeeper walks, shotgun in hand,
A frown on his face, he litters the land
With barrels and bags of game bird feed,
With cages and wire, and bodies that bleed.
****
The bodies of animals killed by his gun
Are hung on the tree, one by one.
With hardness of heart, and misery of soul,
The gamekeeper’s is a grotesque role.
****
Day after day, and year after year
He does his job with no guilt and no fear.
What he doesn’t know is that someone is watching
And when the storm comes … his clock will stop ticking.
****
Land Rover won’t start, the engine’s kaput,
The storm closes in as he trudges on foot.
He strides for the castle, to find some shelter,
He’s whipped by debris as the wind rises higher.
****
It’s darker now as the rain lashes down.
The ravens watch the sinister clown.
He’s soaked and he’s angry, he yells at the sky,
And the lightening yells back “And now you must die!”
“Dear Giovanni wouldn’t eat a bird.”
“He wouldn’t eat a bird?”
“No, haven’t you heard?
Lovely Giovanni wouldn’t eat a bird,
Because he loves them dearly.”
****
“Dear Giovanni wouldn’t cook a bird.
He wouldn’t cook a bird
In his restaurant, take my word!
Kind-hearted Giovanni, beloved restauranteur,
Wouldn’t cook a bird, no sir!”
****
“Giovanni has a motto,
I don’t know if you’ve heard it,
He says ‘Don’t hurt friends,
Or friends of friends,
Because none of them deserve it.'”
****
I had fun painting this cityscape and the name for the restaurant, Giovanni’s, just popped into my head. Then, because I wanted to make a post in keeping with this week’s theme – birds – I wrote a quirky poem to go with it. Then I thought – wouldn’t it be great if there really was a vegan restaurant called Giovanni’s? So I googled and, guess what – there is! What are the chances???
Giovanni’s Pizza Grill, 100% Vegan Organic Restaurant, Rock City Rd and Tinker St, Woodstock, NY 12498, United States
The Margherita
The Benedetta
Poppy’s Potato Croquettes
“meatballs” (made with whole grains and seeds) covered in a flavourful tomato sauce with onions
Sausage with peppers and onions
Fantastic tantalising pictures pinched from The V Word.
Click here to read the full restaurant review. Ooh, I wish I lived near Woodstock right now 😉
Thanks Rhea 🙂
STOP PRESS:
Since posting this, Rhea has been in touch (see comments below) and she, in turn, told Giovanni who also dropped us a line (see comments again). Anyway, I thought you might be interested in Giovanni’s fascinating story about how he became a vegan chef which is revealed in his interview with Green Door Magazine, so click here
Hey boy! Pay attention to me when I’m talkin’ to ya!
What, I say what’s the big idea? Don’t stand there gawkin’ sister!
Nice girl, but more mixed up than a feather in a whirlwind!
Pay attention to me boy! I’m not just talkin’ to hear my head roar! Get down, I say get down to Raystede and support the good work they’re doin’! Any of this sinkin’ in???
It seemed appropriate to leave this one ’til now because inevitably people will start thinking ahead to Christmas once September gets here. And really, Big Blue Sky is a pre-Christmas story as opposed to a Christmas story because, since people tend to order their turkeys early, if they’re buying direct from the farmer, it would be good if they read this beforehand.
Anyway, if you fancy a copy for yourself or someone else, why not enter the Goodreads Giveaway?
Good luck 🙂
Just wonderful 🙂
Earlier in the year, in March, I wrote about meeting the couple behind the Historical Vega Humantiarian Mission. Captain Shane Granger and Meggi Macoun were the most inspiring and passionate people I have ever met. I met them when they docked at Straits Quay Penang to collect donations for schools in the remote areas of Indonesia and East Timor areas. They were looking for school bags, school supplies, musical instruments and medical supplies. They had a list of things that people could donate. They didnt want money, they wanted specific things which involved people having to go out to buy or donate from their homes or schools. It gives people a sense of involvement. It surely did for me. I got a few of my friends to donate money so that I could go out to buy musical instruments for the school band.
School and medical supplies aboard the…
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When Emily was 8 and Eve was 5, Emily said one day, while we were eating tea,
“Eve uses words that even I don’t know.”
And Eve replied, “Yes, like tonsillitis.”
Emily said, “No, I mean real words, not made up ones.”
My husband and I smiled at each other and assured Emily that tonsillitis was a real word.
“Yes, it’s a dinosaur.” Eve agreed.
Once when we were on holiday, Eve was only a baby and Emily must have been about 4 years old, we were in a public toilets, washing our hands, when another lady came in.
Emily said to her, with genuine interest, “Are you a vegetarian?”
The lady replied, “No, I’m afraid not.”
Emily thought for a moment and then said, “Nanny ate fish once but she didn’t mean it.”
My children were brought up vegetarian from birth but when they were very young I didn’t make a fuss about gelatine in sweets that were given to them by other people. However, one day when they were choosing some sweets at the corner shop after school, I decided to explain to them what gelatine was after they’d both chosen sweets containing it. Emily, who was 7 years old then, immediately returned the sweets to the shelf and chose some without gelatine.
I turned to Eve, who was only 4, and asked her “Do you want to change yours or are you not old enough to understand?”
She looked thoughtfully at her sweets and then at me and said,
“I don’t think I’m old enough to understand.”
Thus she made the difficult decision to quit gelatine another day 😉
There was a time, long long ago
When they thought the world was flat.
They worried if they sailed the seas
They’d fall off the end of that.
In centuries past, in primitive times,
They demonized herbal healers.
They’d label such gifted folk a witch.
Fear and ignorance led to murders.
1908, the Siberian tundra
Was struck by a freak fireball.
Theories abound, though no cause has been found.
Was it meteorite or black-hole?
10,000 crop circles in various forms
Have appeared since ’72
Caused by UFOs, wind or rabbits or hoax?
Who knows who knows? Do you?
And now here we are, Twenty-Fourteen,
A much more enlightened era.
The experts tell us as the ice starts to melt,
That we should try to live more greener.
Thoughtful, conscientious, sensible types
Recycle their plastic and drive less.
They walk or take the bus to work;
Use low wattage bulbs; try to redress.
But in 06 The United Nations
Found that animal farming’s the trouble,
Causing land degradation and water pollution,
Gas with high global warming potential.
The experts gathered and consulted and planned
What to do to solve the problem
Of global warming, pollution, disease
Caused by human animal-consumption.
“Urgent action is required,” they said,
“To remedy the situation.”
We need cows that don’t fart, recyclable manure,
And more efficient irrigation!
“Thank goodness for experts!” the populace cries,
“What would we do without them?
When scientists develop unflatulent cows
That will solve the global warming problem.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier,” a schoolboy asked
“To solve that long list of crises
By giving up meat and dairy and leather
And planting more veggies and fruit trees?”
“The experts would tell us,” his teacher replied,
“If there was anything we could do in a hurry.
There’s no need to resort to radical extremes,
Just recycle what you can and don’t worry.”
****
Click here to look at the report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Be aware, you might do a double take when you read that their proposed solutions to the problem are as indicated in the poem. See Remedies including “Improving animals’ diets to reduce enteric fermentation and consequent methane emissions”
The Goodreads Giveaway of Where are you going Deidra? has begun!
For a chance to win a signed copy of this paperback click here
😀
Remember the No Bake Blueberry Flapjacks? Well, I didn’t have any blueberries so I decided to improvise with something wild – the blackberries are ready!
So many blackberries and we only needed a few so we left plenty for others 🙂
And we saw plenty of others enjoying them.
I did sustain a nasty bramble injury – ouch!
But we got what we needed 😉
*****
No-Bake Sugar-Free Apple and Blackberry Flapjacks
You’ll need:
4 small apples, peeled and chopped.
Washed, freshly-picked blackberries
Fresh dates, pitted and soaked for 1 hour.
I didn’t measure how many blackberries I had but you can tell from how they look on the plate (it’s a small sandwich plate). The dates weighed 200g before they were pitted and soaked.
Put the apples and blackberries into your food processor together and whiz for a few seconds until well blended.
Then add the dates and thoroughly blend it all together.
Transfer the delicious jammy mixture into a bowl – then lick the spoon – mm mmm 😉
Mix in enough rolled oats to make a stiff mixture
and then transfer to a square tin. Flatten down so that it’s smooth and even. Put in fridge.
Get some lovely vegan organic fair trade chocolate.
Melt it.
Cover your flapjacks.
Put them back into the fridge to set. Done!
These are good! And just so you know what that means coming from me I’ll be honest and say that I don’t normally like blackberries. I so want to like all berries – I love the look and smell of all of them, I love picking them, but blueberries are the only berries I like the taste of. I have previously not even been able to enjoy apple and blackberry pie or crumble with sugar on. Just don’t like ’em.
Until now. These flapjacks are yum. Wholesome, beautiful, wild fruit and I love ’em.
This is quite a momentous occasion for me. I hope you like them too 🙂
Going to the library is fun. Browsing the books, choosing something you like and taking it home for weeks at a time. For nothing. This is something to be truly appreciated and not taken for granted.
If we don’t use it, we might lose it 😮
If you live in the sticks like us, miles from the nearest library building, there might be a mobile library that visits your area. They usually come by every couple of weeks. Contact your local county council to find out where and when your mobile library is coming next 🙂
****
If you’d like to go for walks in your area, the following are some sites that could point you in the right direction:
and here you’ll find more information about why walking is good for your health:
and here is detailed information about getting enough vitamin D
Goodreads is such fun! I’m really starting to get into it and have just entered several giveaways for new books. I will go back when I’ve finished here – there’s so much to choose from and since it’s free to enter, I might as well have a go 🙂
And while I’m on the subject, our third giveaway is now underway. I intended for it to begin yesterday but I have just discovered that it actually went on at the same time as Edmund’s Lunch, a week ago.
As I write this the Vegan Nursery Rhymes giveaway has 369 entrants; the Edmund’s Lunch giveaway, which started a week later, has 317 entrants; and “I’m not dinner!” has 343 entrants so far 🙂
So if you want it – get in the game!
Pop over to Goodreads and enter.
Click here for “I’m not dinner!”
Click here for Edmund’s Lunch
And/or click here for Vegan Nursery Rhymes
Go on – you deserve it – it’s free! 😉
Two days later …
Why don’t you see what types of wild flowers are in your area?
It would help if you had a field guide like this one, which you could probably borrow from your local library or, if you’re lucky, you might be able to get one cheap at a charity shop.
****
Pictures by Miranda, Words by Violet 🙂
The Edmund’s Lunch paperback giveaway is now live on Goodreads, so if you want it, get over there and enter!
Good luck 🙂
Want to join Violet’s Vegan Comics Club?
Just make one of these cards and then send us a photo of it with your name –
or your secret alias 😉 – and get a free vegan comic (while stocks last!)
On the advice of the lovely Heena of The Reading Bud, we have joined Goodreads and that has led us to the fun of giveaways!
Goodreads provides authors with the opportunity of promoting newly published work by offering the chance to win a free copy to members who enter a prize draw. Of course we couldn’t wait to join in so we have listed our 5 new paperbacks, one by one, for a giveaway.
First up is Vegan Nursery Rhymes. It’s easy to sign up with Goodreads if you’re not already a member and then, if you would like to try to win a free copy of the book, signed by Miranda and myself 😉 , you can enter here
The closing date for entries is 26th of August.
I’ll keep you posted each time a new giveaway listing of our books goes up and also when the closing date is approaching.
Good luck 😀
For those who don’t know who the Andersons are, they are characters in one of our stories – a vegan family who live in an old bus. Look here
Anyway, I had such fun building a model of their bus last week that I didn’t want to stop there – I had to furnish it! Now, before I show you what I did I want you to bear in mind that I have no previous experience of doing anything like this and I just made it up as I went along. So forgive its many imperfections and picture how much I enjoyed doing it – that’s the main thing 😉
First I re-opened the cardboard model and carefully cut out its windows with a tiny pair of nail scissors
Then I cut out some clear plastic from an old fruit punnet and stuck it on the inside. Now my windows have ‘glass’!
I covered the inside with decorative paper …
… and stuck on some cupboards and a woodburner on one side, and drew some storage racks above the windows.
I found some boxes of matches in the drawer and decided my husband wouldn’t mind if I used the boxes – I left him the bit with the striking strip!
I made one of them into a bookcase and used the other two to raise the bus floor so that it was above the wheels.
I drew shelves and books on the shelves …
… and coloured them with coloured pencils.
Looking at the pictures I’d drawn of the inside of the bus in episode 1, I wanted to make furniture to match – ish. So I needed a driver’s seat with a partition behind; a table and chairs behind that; and a settee behind that. I made these out of cardboard and stuck them to another piece of cereal box, the same size as the bus roof, covered in decorative paper for the floor. They are very basic, and too wide which is why I only had room to draw the furniture on the other side of the bus, but it doesn’t matter, I can still get a feel of how things are laid out in Old Red.
I see now that the driver’s seat is waaay too big! Oh well.
Then I re-closed the outside of the bus and slotted it over the inside.
And you can see the furniture through the windows
And look – there’s people inside! Denzel is cleverly disguised as a spaniel and Casey is also in fancy dress as a knight – but honestly, it is them!
Old Red. What fun! Why don’t you make one?
We are very excited to tell you that we have now published some of our stories in paperback!
In addition to “I’m not dinner!” and Where are you going Deidra?, we have also published Edmund’s Lunch and Vegan Nursery Rhymes, and Big Blue Sky (A Christmas Story) will be available, as a Kindle book and a paperback, in a matter of hours.
Pop over to our page on Amazon – it’s all there 😉
Take a look at Old Red in The English Family Anderson and have a go at making a model bus just like it 🙂
You’ll need:
some cardboard, a pencil, a rubber, a pen, some paint, some scissors, a ruler and some sticky tape.
First measure out the shape of the bus. Using a cereal box made it easy because I could use the side as the roof (so it already had neat folds). The front needs to be the same width as the roof; make the length at least twice the width of the bus. Mine came out a bit short but you can make yours as long as you’ve got room for on your cardboard.
Once you’ve got the two sides, roof and front measured out you can draw in the details. My bus is open at the back because I want to be able to furnish the inside later, but if you’ve got a long enough piece of card you can draw a back too (see the video at the bottom for how it should all be laid out).
When you’ve got it all mapped out, go over all the good lines in pen.
Then rub out all the untidy planning lines you don’t want anymore.
Then paint it 🙂
When it’s dry, cut it out:
Now you’ve just got to fold it and stick it. If you’ve used a box like I have, you should already have good tidy creases between the sides and roof, but you’ll need to score a neat crease where the front folds to meet the other side. Carefully place a ruler on the wrong side (inside) of the bus, along the line where you want to fold it, and score a line with your scissors.
NB: If you want to furnish the inside of the bus then take a look at this before you stick it together. Then put a piece of tape on the top and side edge of the front of the bus (again on the wrong side)
Then you can fold it and stick it to the top and other side of the bus.
It’s a bit fiddly but you’ll get there 🙂
And there you have it!
I got this idea from Dylan Bryan.
Watch him do it (especially look out for his mum interrupting) I love this video* 🙂
* sadly, Dylan’s video is now deleted from youtube 😦
If you want to furnish your bus, go to Part 2 🙂
Remember I wanted to make a new hat
With the yarn from old hats I’d unravelled?
Remember I said Random Rose made a hat,
A beret with ridges she cabled?
****
Well I followed the pattern that Rose kindly shared,
Though the yarn had lost elasticity.
The needles I used were not quite the right size,
But I wasn’t going to let that stop me.
****
So I finished my hat and I’m pleased how it went,
Cream and purple go well together.
I admit it turned out bigger than it was meant,
For my head is decidedly smaller.
****
As luck would have it, Miranda’s got a big head,
Though not the metaphorical kind.
So I decided to give it to her instead,
And I honestly really don’t mind.
It’s time you met the beautiful birds of Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare! Raystede rescues and re-homes chickens. They have a lovely big garden to live in filled with places to play and have fun or rest and relax. As well as chickens they have two magnificent turkeys who inspire awe wherever they go.
What are you looking at?
Come closer. I want to see what it tastes like.
Maybe you could take a picture of me looking to the right? I think my left side is my better side. What do you think? Don’t I have beautiful eyes?
If you just come a little bit closer… that’s great.
Are you still here? I thought you’d be gone by now.
Violet's Vegan Comics 