Vegan Ventures - What Would Prot Do?

I've a few reasons for going back to the vegan way of life. Before my life of smallholdings and never ending mountains of eggs I had flitted between vegetarianism and veganism since my mid teens. The way animals are treated in our industrialised farming system bothers me, it always has.

chickpea and mushroom burgers

My great aunt was a smallholder who worked for the milk marketing board with many friends in the farming community. I visited a lot of farms throughout my childhood, some were better than others. So my opinions are not born out of some cosseted, city born ignorance. 

The choice of eating meat/dairy free is made from a position of privilege. I get that I can afford to choose not to eat these things many cant. However, meat and dairy isn't particularly good for me and I'm trying to loose weight so bingo!  

curried tofu, spinach, pepper and pea scramble

My main reasons for choosing veganism are environmental. I don't know how anybody on earth can refuse to identify as an environmentalist when our lives depend on not totally knobing up our ability to survive on this planet. The meat and dairy industries are devastating the natural environment due to the absurd scale they are now conducted on to satisfy our overindulgence. From greenhouse gases produced by stock and the processing of them; to the inefficiency of using up natural resources required to feed animals that could have fed many more humans.

“If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million,” reports ecologist David Pimentel of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He adds that the seven billion livestock in the U.S. consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the entire U.S. Population.

The same goes for water use. If you give the slightest shit about people starving and thirsty in the world then this should be an issue

red onions, peas, peppers, harrisa cous cous with home baked dinner rolls

                               

I'm not in denial that we as a species are omnivores, of course we are and the eating of meat has been pivotal in our evolution. However, we are far from obligate carnivores and as long as you don't try to live off just bread and potatoes you can find everything you need in a vegan diet. Dark leafy greens are a better source of calcium than dairy and there is more protein per calorie in broccoli than there is in beef. Coupled with fortified soy milk and lobbing nutritional yeast in pretty much everything, nutrients sorted! Besides, when your diet has started to poison you it's probably time to evolve again. 

coconut yoghurt, banana and mixed berry smoothie bowl with chia seeds

                               

In my previous existence as a small holder our main sources of meat were what we had raised our selves and game that my partner caught. The welfare of the animals as always a paramount concern however something a friend said to me recently really got me in the feels, "You can't kill something humanely if it doesn't want to die."

                       

                                                  chicken-less chickpea nuggets

Am I going to cock it up on occasion? Yep! I went out the other night for a meal and ordered the veggie burger without the cheese and mayo, well done Kath.  I did however completely overlook the fact it was served in a brioche bun. Doh! Meh, next time I'll remember (hopefully).  

In a few weeks I've dropped a couple of dress sizes, which is probably a couple of stone but I find weighing too depressing so I'm not going there. 

What would Prot do?

Illness and plans.

It's been aaaaaaaages since I last posted. In my defence we've all been horribly ill for about a month.  As soon as one of us gets over it another goes down with it and once it's gone through us all then Spike brings back some new and more exotically horrible the next time.  By the time the day has been done and I've got the boys off to bed I've not had the energy to think let alone organise thoughts to words and then type them out. I think spud summed it up best with....

Snotty, gunky eyes, coughs, chapped lips and cheeks, temperatures, aches and pains the works. Tis the season!

So we've had St David's day, Spike and me made welsh cakes and a massive mess.

Spike really enjoys baking and it's always a great opportunity to get them counting by recognising the numbers on scales, counting how many spoons of flour/sugar etc you put in, how many cakes we cut out, the points on the Stars etc.  It is however, awe inspiring how much and how far one child can dispense flour across a single kitchen. 

I try and get the crayons and pens out for Sam everyday. He loves having a scribble. I also try and get the paints, glue and things to stick out 2-3 times a week. He definitely has artistic aspirations and likes to "sing" atonaly at the top of his lungs as he draws. 

My bargain of the month has been this bundle of play mobil. I got a police station and emergency vehicles, a farm, a big Noah's ark and animals and a vets for £40. Cash back! The boys love them but the bits get EVERYWHERE!

I also got myself some toys this month. The aim is to join a local brass band or jazz workshop band and... *ahem*.... Socialise or something ridiculous like that. I also have my eye on an Autoharp and some music recording software. Just stay in and make music all by myself? Yes yes, a much better idea.

On the subject of music I'm going to see PJ Harvey at the field day festival in June. Yay! I saw her years ago supporting Morrissey in Birmingham. It was the uh huh her era, fantastic. I hands down and heart out adore every single song/video/poem/everything this woman has ever produced and am super excited. I also aim to get Spike and me in a tent at the Greenman festival this year. Groovy.

I leave you with these poorly boys cwtched up under the "bettermaker blanket". I wasn't aware this was a bettermaker blanket until my cousin pointed it out but a bettermaker blanket it is.