VegaNation Works Outing

  Before I say anything else I would like to express my horror and outrage about the execution late last night (after a THREE HOUR delay) of Troy Davis by the State of Georgia, USA. It is sad and terrible that, in this day and age, there are still countries which use the death penalty, and even worse, when, as in this case, there seems to be some doubt as to the safety of the conviction. We are supporters of Reprieve www.reprieve.org.uk which supports the human rights of prisoners on death row.

 We went to a drumming workshop today, lead by one of the Home Ed dads. A couple of  people had Djembe-type drums made of wood and rawhide but the other children were banging on an interesting selection of pots, pans, upturned buckets and plastic lunchboxes! It was an excellent session- I love it when you get the chance to learn from someone who is sharing a passion of theirs; enthusiasm is so infectious.
   We had to rush off and do our weekly shop after, and in order to save time (as we had our 10 week old kittens shut in one room while we were out) we did our shopping in a completely different shop from usual.
  I asked one member of staff if they had a list of which of their wines were vegan. She didn't know so she referred me to a more senior member of staff. When I politely asked him the same question, he answered me quite forcefully ''I have absolutely NO idea- I have no idea if there even IS such a thing as vegan wine!''. The fact that I seemed to be asking for a list of vegan wines, didn't apparently lend any credence to the idea that such a substance might actually exist... er ok...BUDGENS!!
  So, we didn't get any wine today, but since we do occasionally like to have a drink to chill out after the children are (finally!) asleep in the evening, we bought some Brothers Toffee Apple Cider, which we haven't tried before. Our excitement about it (we LOVE trying new vegan things!) was only slightly tempered by meeting our raw vegan friend at the checkout, with our bottles of cider and (cringe) a pack of sliced white bread on top of all our other shopping.
  We've never pretended to be raw vegans- although always happy to eat vegetables  raw, we like cooked food, but, having said that, I guess, no-one actually wants to give their raw friends the impression that they subsist entirely on alcohol, and ready-sliced white bread..

  While entirely in your rights to buy whatever you want, and it really is no-one's business but your own, you can't help wanting to explain that you always bake all your own bread normally (which I do!) and only EVER buy sliced white when you fry up tofu to make vegan 'fried eggs' etc etc etc
  The sequel to that was that we had promised the children chips so we were loitering outside the chip shop, waiting for it to open, when our raw friend appeared again, clearly now mentally adding 'chips'to the list.. Actually, her children wanted chips so she ended up buying some too!
   On the way back we had to stop for a woodpigeon which didn't look quite right as it stood by the side of the road. I got out and sprinted back up road, as several more people roared past the bird. We always refer to these people as 'heart surgeons' as we assume that they are all rushing to operating theatres to perform live-saving surgery and thus are too important and in too much of a hurry to stop for a mere bird.. Anyway, as I got to within 50 yards or so the bird flew across the road. It still looked a bit sluggish to me, but it was obvious that I wasn't going to be able to catch the bird, so I went back to the car and we came home.
  When we got back, there was an email from our newly vegan friend Jan asking for guidance as to what we think about faux fur. I haven't yet answered her, but I'm wondering what YOU think?? Tweet us @VegaNation1 and let us know what you think!
  If you mostly eat healthily but would be embarassed to meet your lovely raw vegan friend at the checkout, then there is a solution- buy online!! We have an adorable little 100% vegan shop VegaNation www.veganation.co.uk, so stop by and stock up!!