it's all about the cupcakes

This Weekend: Poplar Springs, Thanksgiving with the Turkeys

This coming weeked is Poplar Spring’s Annual Thanksgiving with the Turkeys. Join their eight friendly turkeys and all their friends in celebrating a cruelty-free Thanksgiving potluck. Please bring a vegan (no meat, dairy, or eggs) dinner or dessert item to serve 8. $10.00 suggested donation to benefit the animals. No charge for children under 16. The event is from 12pm-4pm on Saturday November 22nd.

Click here for directions to Poplar Spring’s

See you there!!!

November 17, 2008 | Filed Under Animals, Benefit, Events, Farming, Food, Kids | Leave a Comment 

Prop 2 passes: Yes we can give animals more room to move!

Nov. 4, press release from the Humane Society of the United States

Californians Make History by Banning Veal Crates, Gestation Crates, and Battery Cages

Voters in California approved an historic ballot measure to halt the inhumane confinement of animals on factory farms—by an overwhelming margin.

Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, said, “California voters have taken a stand for decency and compassion and said that the systemic mistreatment of animals on factory farms cannot continue. All animals deserve humane treatment, including animals raised for food.”

As of 11 p.m. Pacific time, Proposition 2 was ahead by 62 to 38 percent.

Space To Move

Proposition 2 ends the practice of confining certain animals raised for food in crates and cages so small the animals can barely move. Prop 2 requires that factory farms provide enough space for animals to stand up, turn around and extend their limbs. It applies to breeding pigs, egg laying hens and veal calves.

Prop 2 goes into effect in January of 2015, giving factory farms six years to shift to different housing systems.

The Yes! on Prop 2 campaign received donations from 25,000 individual contributors across the country. Thousands of volunteers worked to collect signatures, distribute campaign literature, and rallied to get out the vote for Prop 2.

Prop 2 attracted support from a broad coalition of organizations and leaders, including the California Veterinary Medical Association, United Farm Workers, State Humane Association of California, the Center for Food Safety, and the Consumer Federation of America, to name a few.

The opponents of Proposition 2, agribusiness companies from throughout the nation, spent $9 million to try to defeat the ballot initiative.

November 5, 2008 | Filed Under Animals, Farming, News, Not DC | 1 Comment 

Hope

Benjamin and I attended the Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary’s Farm Tour and Yard Sale yesterday.

Despite my idea that it would be a rough drive up there and back, the baby boy slept both ways–the entire 45 minute drive! Very nice. I was quite happy to not have to pull over in the back country with no cell phone service to feed the little guy.

Tim and I are committed to raising Benjamin vegan–no doubts. The fact that he will be challenged by some people, ostracized by others (not only children but parents of friends and teachers as well) is something that makes me sad–but he will be stronger for it, and I believe that for every child who misunderstands him, there will be another who learns from him about animals being our friends.

As cheesy (or cheezly, or another dairy-free brand of cheese–what have you) as it is, this song popped into my head at Poplar Springs yesterday–”I believe the children are our future…” you know the rest. I think it had something to do with the fact that at work 97.1 (sing it: wash eeefff eeeemmmm) is always on and they feel the need to play that song once every two hours or so. But it also had to do with the fact that there are just so many families at Poplar Springs events. Whether or not they are vegan or vegetarian when they go home–when they are at the beautiful, sprawling sanctuary they are learning about the animals that live there, interacting with the pigs and cows and sheep, and most importantly, subtly learning that the animals were rescued from places that didn’t treat them well–which makes kids ask questions. Case in point: the little girl who went with us, she’s seven, asked her dad why the animals need a sanctuary. I didn’t hear his answer–but I know that when I was seven I had no idea that a human could possibly treat an animal in any other way than nicely, and I blindly shuffled the chicken nuggets from (shudder) good ‘ole Mickey D’s into my mouth on a daily basis.

Maybe if I had been exposed to a place like Poplar Springs I would have had more questions, inklings. Maybe I would have become a vegan at a younger age.

Poplar Springs, schools offering soymilk as an option and beginning the process of improving their menus–among other things, is so hopeful to me.

While I was waiting in line for my veggie hot dog, a little boy (maybe five years old) ran up to his mother (with whom I was chatting) and she asked him what he wanted on his “hamburger”. He looked at her and said “No, mom, VEGGIE-burger, not HAM-burger!”

Pretty cool.

Sing it, Whitney Houston.

-Megan Meinberg

July 27, 2008 | Filed Under Animals, Benefit, Events, Farming, Kids | Leave a Comment 

Veganic Farming

I came across this artical in the Washington Post, I actually never really thought about what is used to grow my lovely vegetables, like manure. I did’nt even know that organic farming can use animal by byproducts to grow vegetables. Instead of using the traditional manure veganic farmers use “green manure”, which is composed plant matter. According to the Veganic Agriculture Network there are only two farms on the East Coast and United States that are Veganic Farms. One of them is in New York and other in Florida. Maybe this will be the next organic or local, but with only 2 farms in the whole country its going to take some time.

Much like certified organic farmers, veganic farmers use no synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or genetically modified ingredients. Veganic farmers take it to another level by not using any manures or slaughterhouse byproducts. They don’t even use organically approved pesticides.

Here are some good resources to learn more about Veganic Farming:

Veganic Agriculture Network: http://www.goveganic.net

Vegan Organic Network: http://www.veganorganic.net

Certified Naturally Grown: http://www.naturallygrown.org

Michael Fields Agricultural Institute: http://www.michaelfieldsaginst.org

June 21, 2008 | Filed Under Farming | Leave a Comment