Babs wanted you to know that we’ve got some postcards up for grabs, although they’re disappearing fast!
If you like sending postcards through the mail, or if you like this website and would like to share it with others by leaving them in library books or some such, then drop us a line using the contact form below and tell us your name, address (anywhere in the world) and how many you’d like – up to 24, that’s as many as will fit in the envelope 😉
‘One farmer says to me, “You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make bones with;” and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying his system with the raw materials of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plough along in spite of every obstacle.’
Most enlightened people have become that way only after working hard to un-learn “facts” that they were taught as children, such as ‘humans are omnivores’. That’s why it is so wonderful to find an early learning book which tells the truth.
How many friends could a Bibbolybob make if a Bibbolybob came to Earth? (aka Wibbolywub and the Earthlings ) is one such book by Edward Benn, illustrated by Juliet Mahoney.
This book is first and foremost an engaging story, full of bright, colourful illustrations, about an alien visitor to Earth who is eager to make friends. It is secondly a lovely, friendly way to introduce the numbers 1 to 10 to young children. Numbers (digits) appear throughout the illustrations as Wibbolywub counts his friends and the readers can count with him. Once he has made ten friends, they play a few counting and measuring games which show how much fun numbers can be.
And thirdly it is an honest and straight-forward illustration of the simple truth that omnivores, carnivores and herbivores have recognisable anatomical attributes appropriate for their particular diet and, as an alien with no previous knowledge of Earthlings would clearly deduce, humans are herbivores.
There is even a fun post script at the end, in the form of a peak inside Wibbolywub’s notebook, which contains three of the charts (those with numbers in) from Dr Milton Mills’ The Comparative Anatomy of Eating – the work which inspired the story.
A lovely big book with a lovely big story that would delight any child and sit proudly on any bookshelf.
Steven the Vegan – a picture book by Dan Bodenstein and Ron Robrahn about Steven’s school trip to a farm sanctuary and the questions it naturally inspires from his classmates 😀
Here is another lovely yoga book for children from Michael Chissick and Sarah Peacock. This one is designed to be used by teachers and parents to help children use yoga relaxation to cope with stress, grief, bullying and lack of confidence.
The book begins with guidance for teachers and parents, explaining the aims of the book, how children can benefit from and enjoy Ladybird Relaxation and giving advice on how to teach it to children. Then the story begins.
Ladybird’s friends are all stressed or unhappy about different things – stress from a heavy workload, bereavement, bullying and feeling they’re rubbish at something. Ladybird sympathises and tells them she is going to give them a special gift that will help them all.
Beautifully illustrated, it is a joy to read and makes you feel more relaxed as you turn the pages 🙂
The final part of the book explains how to teach Ladybird Relaxation including a script to read while using a ladybird puppet or little bell (outlined in the guidance at the beginning) to symbolise the ladybird landing on different children as they relax on their mats with eyes closed.
It sounds really therapeutic and I can’t wait to try it myself.
Frog’s Breathtaking Speech is a gorgeous book for children – and teachers, and parents – to help them cope with tension and stress.
Michael Chissick is a children’s yoga teacher and Sarah Peacock is a primary school teacher and they have both found the frog’s story very useful when helping children to relax.
This beautifully illustrated story is about a frog who is very sad because he is worried about a speech he has to give at school the next day. When he explains this to his friends, they all tell him about their own special ways of breathing which release tension and anger and enable them to feel happy and relaxed.
At the beginning of the book there is guidance for teachers on how best to use these techniques to help children and at the end there are simple instructions, accompanied by lovely illustrations, about the yoga postures which accompany each type of breathing.
At Raystede Animal Welfare Centre in East Sussex they take in around 1500 animals every year who need to be found new homes. They work hard to make sure that each animal is matched up with the right family to give them the best new chance in life and they provide advice on how to take the best care of the animals.
This is undoubtedly the case for so many animal rescue organisations which is why it’s so important, if we are able to provide a happy home for a companion animal, that we rehome abandoned, neglected, rescued animals rather than buy from breeders and perpetuate the problem.
He is such a sweetheart and anyone from the UK wishing to adopt him should comment on this post suggesting a name for him. Then, on Friday, we will put all the suggested names in a box and draw out a winner. The rescued bunny will be trusted to the loving care of the lucky prize winner to whom he will be promptly delivered 😀
UPDATE: Lancashire county councillors have rejected Cuadrilla’s application to drill for shale gas at Preston New Road. Fantastic news and a huge relief! Thank you to everyone who signed the petition. Stay in touch with Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth because this is just the beginning. According to the Guardian article, Cuadrilla will certainly appeal the decision and our Conservative government is extremely pro-fracking. But we can stop them if we stick together. A big thanks goes out to all the councillors on the committee who stood strong and voted against Cuadrilla’s application.
A critical decision on fracking is taking place in Lancashire. County councillors are set to either slam the doors on plans to drill for shale gas, or give way to the fracking industry.
After an initial vote, councillors have hit a deadlock. Seven have come out in support of fracking, with seven other councillors standing against.
A final has been scheduled for Monday, 29 June. So between now and then, we need the councillors on the committee to know that if they take a stand against fracking, we will stand with them.
Please go to the Greenpeace site right now to sign the petition – it only takes a few moments and it could mean the difference between letting the frackers in or seeing them off for good.
I think sudokus are fun but someone I know hates maths so numbers make him panic and he just won’t try them. I told him they have nothing to do with maths but he is adamant!
So I’ve made a fruit sudoku for those who, like him, are panicked by numbers.
For the uninitiated: the idea is to fill each box with one of each fruit while making sure that there is also one, and only one, of each in every vertical and horizontal line.
You don’t need to print this out. Just copy/save the picture and open it on your computer in ‘Paint’ or similar picture editing program. Then zoom so that you can see the whole thing on your screen and copy and paste fruits into the empty squares as you solve the puzzle.
This is a brilliant short story by Vivian French with gorgeous, vibrant illustrations by Alison Bartlett.
Basically, Oliver’s mum has the common problem of not being able to get Oliver to eat his vegetables. The only one he will eat is potatoes, in the form of chips.
But when he goes to stay with Grandpa and Grandma for a week, everything changes.
Grandpa tells him he can have chips if he finds the potatoes in the garden, but while he’s searching, if he finds something else, he has to try it.
Highly recommended bedtime (or any other time) reading which will make you hungry.
And the best and most productive way to stand for trees is to adopt a plant-based diet. These forests are being felled at an alarming rate to provide grazing land or grow fodder crops for farm animals.
It got to that time of week again – the day before food shopping. The cupboards were looking quite bare and Miranda and I were feeling very peckish. We’d finished off the last flapjack the day before and there were no munchies left in the house. There must be something I could make, I said to myself, but what? I had no flour left.
But I was determined.
What I did have was some rolled oats, some sugar, some olive oil, some cocoa and some sultanas.
*And this is what I did:
Weighed out 8 ounces of rolled oats and put them through the food processor to make a rough oat flour. Put the flour in a bowl, added 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 ounce of cocoa, a generous load of sultanas and 4 ounces of sugar, and mixed it all together thoroughly. Then I added 4 fluid ounces (120 ml) of olive oil and 5 tablespoons of water to the dry mixture and combined to form a very moist cookie mixture. I put heaped teaspoons of this onto lined baking sheets and baked at 180°c for 20 minutes.
Oh wow!
These are amazing!
Even better than when I make them with spelt.
So quick. So easy.
So beautifully crisp on the outside, moist on the inside, chocolatey, delicious, fair trade, organic,
vegan,
and gluten free 😀
* Adapted from the chocolate chip cookie recipe in the brilliantUnqualified Education
I never got around to telling you about our visit to Pendennis Castle when we went to Cornwall last year. I have mixed feelings about castles. On the one hand I love the feeling of history, picturing how people used to live at the time the castle was built. I feel amazed at the architecture and how such big, strong, heavy, impressively crafted structures got built in the days before motor vehicles and cranes.
On the other hand I recoil at the violence they remind me of – the dungeons, the canons, the holes in walls for shooting arrows through and holes above the gates for pouring boiling oil through.
But at Pendennis Castle at least there is one thing I’m not in two minds about – the cake!
Here there was not just one, but two different types of vegan cake! The lemon cake you see above and the flapjack pictured below. I eat a lot of flapjacks and I can honestly tell you that this was the best I’ve ever eaten!
Of course we told the cook how much we loved it and how pleased we were that there were vegan options on the menu and the lovely lady said that they always make sure there is something for every dietary requirement and she invited us to return to the cafe for lunch as she was making a delicious vegan soup.
Violet's Vegan Comics 