27 January 2013

SAINTs

SAINTs is an organisation that is run by an inspiring bunch of people and it specialises in raising funds for animal welfare.

They host kickass book-sales at Northriding Square every first and last Saturday of the month in aid of selected animal organisations. They have an incredibly wide selection of new to almost-new books that sell for great prices and, best of all, 100% of the profits go towards animal welfare. 

During the course of 2012, the SAINTs Animal Charity Shop was opened as well. The merchandise consists of pretty much everything from pet products, to books, to clothing, to homeware and, again, all of the profits go towards animal welfare. They rely almost exclusively on public donations to stock the shop and what's great is that if you donate some (quality) goods to the shop, then you can stipulate that the profits from the sale of your donations go towards your nominated charity.  

I went to Northriding Square yesterday to drop off some donations but ended up buying so much cool shit and SO many books. This is the best kind of shopping; where you get awesome stuff but all of your cash goes towards a super important cause! 




Awesome African Jungle top - ten bucks baby. ten. bucks.

22 January 2013

Quote for the Day

 

 

 

“Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”

- Martin Luther King












 

21 January 2013

Cranberry-Date-Quinoa Muffins

This recipe is a variation of one that I found in Veganomicon, which is like the Bible of Vegan cookbooks; because it's not very simple, it doesn't have pictures and it takes a lot of dedication to work through. These muffins are a great way to increase you daily fiber and protein content whilst eating freaking-nice-freaking-yummy-guilt-free baked goods. 

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup soy milk 
  • 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed (optional)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 agave nectar or maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1.5 cups self-raising flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp all spice 
  • 1 and 1/4 cups COOKED quinoa
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped cranberries and dates
Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees Celsius. 

Whisk together the soy milk, ground flaxseed, oil, vanilla and syrup. 
 
In a separate bowl sift together the flour, salt and spices. 

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry and then slowly fold in the cooked quinoa, the cranberries and the dates. 

Grease a 12-cup muffin tin and distribute the mixture evenly into each cup. 

Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown, or until a cake tester comes out clean. 

Voila, you have mid-morning muffin snacks ready for the whole working week! 

*NOM*



13 January 2013

N-Y-E (2013)


It consisted of...

train rides and taxi trips
hotel suites and flaming lips
late night promenades
Zebras and Giraffes
 Civil Twilights and men with cigars
wish lanterns and
 broken bi-lingual conversations about:
 escalators and huis-bakke and house-baking and kissing-your-sister
the Mario brothers and a man named Biko
the  merits of Buddhism and over-coming the EGO
techno-dancing and chair diving
a lot of laughing and a lot of high-fiving
Swedish talking and spontaneous moon-walking;
a lot of strange looks.
a lot of pursed-lips.
a lot of thinking "yeah, but we don't give a sh*t."
Action-shots and soccer-plots
and 
2012 shouting "forget-me-not"

Oh, and coveted transsexual water bottles. 
  











11 January 2013

CANADA: Beyond Mountains, More Mountains








Ready to Fall for Rise Against


Rise Against- Ready to Fall

With Ramfest coming up in the next couple of months (woop woop), I started sorting through all of my old CDs and pulling out my Rise Against albums so that I could get into the mood and reacquaint myself with their music. I wasn't their biggest fan in my "youth", but a lot of their songs struck a chord with me and I was super excited when I heard that they're coming over to South Africa.

I started YouTubing their music videos and realised two very important things: 

1) Tim McIllrath is SUPER fine [how could I only realise this now(!)]; and

2) the band's music videos have become SUPER environmentally/politically/ethically conscious. 

Number 2 above led me to my next question, namely, "I wonder if they're vegan"...so I started to do a bit of research and, holy-hell, it turns out that the whole band is either vegan or vegetarian (as those of you who are vegan know, being vegan often becomes a bit of a lonely business so its always SUPER-DAMN-OH-FREAKING-MAN exciting when you "discover" other vegans).  

I read a great review of their "Appeal to Reason" album wherein the writer referred to their being "anti-establishment". And that label got me thinking about what it means to be anti-establishment today. For me at least, the first image that springs to mind when I think of that label is Sid Vicious, self-indulgently slashing himself to pieces on stage for the sake of being anti-establishment; no real thought behind it, shock for shock-value. 

But, I think that when you look at the term literally, the biggest anti-establishment movement of today is environmentalism; and that label gets attached to it out of necessity, since it's  the counter to established and entrenched mass-consumerism. 

It blows my mind that trying to live an ethical life makes you "anti-establishment". It's like we're living life through a prism that turns everything upside down- maybe we're all just characters in a Kafka novel. 

09 January 2013

Compassion in World Farming: Sow Stalls


I recently read an e-mail from Compassion in World Farming about the proposed phasing-out of sow stalls in South Africa. This would be a major step forward in the ethical treatment of commercially farmed animals and as such, I think it is a cause that needs all of the support and publicity it can get. While I'm vehemently opposed to commercial farming, it's not going away anytime soon and as such, I think the farmers who are no longer using sow-stalls should be commended.

Once you had a look at the article, please also contact your local supermarkers to request that they start sourcing ethically-farmed meat. I think engaging the supermarkets on Social Media platforms would have more of an impact. It will only take five minutes of your time but is likely to make a huge difference. Having said that, here's the e-mail:

"Pregnant sows all over the world are being given the right at last to use the legs they were born with!  Now 60 000 pregnant sows in South Africa need your voice to help them gain their freedom too.

On 1st January 2013, keeping pregnant pigs in stalls/crates longer than the first four weeks of pregnancy, was banned throughout the European Union.

This means that pregnant sows in the EU will have the chance, at last, to trot around instead of being confined in metal cages which, for the last 50 years, have prevented them from moving forwards, backwards or sideways.

Sow stalls are already banned in the UK and Sweden and are being phased out in Tasmania, NewZealand and Australia.

Compassion in World Farming (South Africa) needs your voice for the 60 000 pregnant sows still confined in stalls in South Africa! These are the breeding sows – the ones that provide the piglets used for ham and bacon. See the torment of their confinement in this video clip taken on the Wine Route in the Western Cape: http://www.animal-voice.org/category/quick-clips/page/2/
  
The South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO) wants 2020 to be the deadline for a  phase-out of sow stalls in this country.

Compassion in World Farming (South Africa) suggests that with your help, we can open the stall gates much faster than that!

Some 40 000 sows are already out of stalls in South Africa as a result of consumer pressure (Thank you, Thank you, CIWF supporters for helping us achieve this!)

According to the latest issue of Farmer’s Weekly (4 – 11 January 2013, pages 54, 55 and 56), farmers who are now keeping their sows in small groups on deep litter, instead of in stalls, report that:

·         The sows’ legs are stronger and healthier as a result of being able to use them (!)
·         They look more contented and enjoy socialising (!)
·         There has been no decrease in productivity as was feared and predicted (!)

Please congratulate farmers Rob and Ian Butt who feature in the Farmer’s Weekly article and who have shown that it can be done! Their email address is:  buttfarming@bundunet.com

If you eat pork, please ask your supermarket to be in touch with the Butt brothers to source higher-welfare pork."