We just donated to Sea Shepherd to help get the 'Steve Irwin' back

 Our family just donated to the fund to help get back Sea Shepherd's ship 'Steve Irwin'. Our children are asking lots of very excited questions about the 800 apparently illegally netted tuna which were released by Sea Shepherd divers- so good to think of them once again wild and free. Awed by the bravery of Sea Shepherd crew. Please donate what you can to help- there are only 30 days before the ship can be permanently impounded and sold by the British authorities and the balance held pending the outcome of a court case. Sea Shepherd WANT to go to court- they maintain that the Maltese tuna fishing ship was poaching and they want to have the opportunity to expose their illegal activities in court. In the meantime,though, they need their ship back, so they can go on saving lives- 863 whales this year alone! To help, please go to www.seashepherd.org and give what you can as soon as you can!

Homeopathic Remedies for Vegans

Our homeopathic remedies arrived today and they are all listed and on our shop website at www.veganation.co.uk so now we can share homeopathy with the vegan nation! We have been using homeopathy for over twenty years now, really starting when I worked at a Blue Cross shelter and saw the then manager using homeopathy to great effect on wildlife. This was done, as much as anything, to keep the wildlife costs down because the management at the time were not especially interested in helping wildlife. I saw things that amazed me and I guess, settled, for once and all, the question as to whether homeopathy is actually just the placebo effect or 'faith healing'...I really don't think that an injured hedgehog that overcomes  abcesses  and infection using homeopathy is doing so because of the power of suggestion..
 So, as of today, you can buy homeopathic remedies which are totally vegan at our online shop and the best bit is that if you do (and Boots don't do this!) we will donate 2% of our profit to Hillside Animal Sanctuary (you can visit this wonderful sanctuary at www.hillside.org.uk ), so please stop by.

 

Black Salt!

Hooray! Our order of black salt arrived today. If you are vegan and you miss fried eggs at all (it's ok, you can tell me..I can help!) then you absolutely MUST buy some black salt!  You can stock up at our online vegan shop www.veganation.co.uk.
 Then get a block of tofu and drain it well, then slice it so it's no more than about a centimetre thick- a block of Cauldron tofu should do about eight slices. Then fry until golden and crispy on the outside in Pure margarine, sprinkle with black salt and serve between two pieces of bread- You're Welcome!
 
 

 

Another visit to Feline Care, near Thetford

  We went back to Feline Care today to see the animals we have been helping with. We were very pleased to see that the little cat with the sore, itchy skin and hair loss is looking a lot happier and her skin is drier and calmer and  much less red and is off the steroids completely now. She didn't stop purring the whole time we were visiting her and really wanted to cuddle and have a fuss; when we met her the first time she was very withdrawn and apathetic and was completely uninterested in us, so it's a really contrast to see her now.
  As soon as we got out of the car we saw Harry the Turkey stalking about, and he looked so much better too. The big soft swelling over his joint was completely gone,and his heavy limp has reduced to a slight 'saving' of one leg; he's moving about so much more easily. Paul said that he'd been chasing volunteers all weekend if he saw they were carrying food! He only started his remedies on Friday or Saturday so we are thrilled with his progress. Harry is on one remedy which was for the immediate pain and inflammation of his ankle and the other remedy he is on is part of a more long term plan to improve the quality of his bone structure and connective tissue which has been under so much pressure with his fast growth.
  We had a lovely time visiting the cats again, and met the resident tortoise as well. It's difficult to find days free to make sure that we get a chance to go and see the cats and check the animals that are on remedies but we have had a brainwave! We've decided that next time we go we will do some reading and maths in one of the feral kittens' pens. This way we get some 'work' done and the kittens get some company as ferals really need as much human company as possible, to get used to being around people. I'm not sure whether it's genius or just completely crazy an idea to expect children to concentrate on maths in  a pen full of cute kittens..?

  Please visit Feline Care at www.felinecare.org.uk to see if you can help. They are doing great work fund raising but still need over £50,000 to reach their goal of £70,000 by October so they can buy the land on which the shelter stands.

                                                                    Photos from Feline Care

Our little vegan shop is finally open!

We finally did it- we've opened our shop at www.veganation.co.uk and we're finally in business! We had our first sale today (still counts even if it was one of our best friends, doesn't it?)- a pack of vegan Cola Bottle sweets- just like the ones you used to buy with your pocket money but not as rubbery because these ones aren't made up of boiled up calves' hooves.. So please visit us and buy something!

Our vegan shop is not yet open!!

  Our shop was supposed to open and you were all supposed to be stopping by to visit us at www.veganation.co.uk and buying loads of stuff!! Feeling really fed up about it as actually had a couple of days in the diary free for the website 'going live' and now it still isn't. We are going to go and put the stock away now and I think it'll be awfully tempting to cheer ourselves up with an Organica White Chocolate Bar or two!! We are all desperate to get at the Tartex, Yeastflakes, Chocolate Footballs and all that other good stuff but we bought it to sell not to eat so we're going to have to be very strong!

 We had a family birthday recently and planned to make vegan Vanilla Slices but then didn't get around to it, so maybe we'll do that today instead!

 

'Feline Care' cat shelter near Thetford under threat- please help!!

  On Saturday we visited a wonderful cat shelter near Thetford, in Norfolk called Feline Care. You can find it at www.felinecare.org.uk if you want to get the feel of the place or make a donation. We visited because we have offered to donate some homeopathic advice and remedies for one of the cats who has very sore inflamed, itchy skin and hair loss, so we went to meet her and the other 140+ cats!
  Molly and Paul who run the place are amazing and the shelter is a credit to them and the team of volunteers who help out.  The cats are mostly kept in groups which seem very peaceful and relaxed and must be much more interesting for cats than living in a run by themselves. The cats look happy and well, with lovely shiny coats and bright eyes and seem very content. Molly and Paul work hard on matching cats with homes and in order to adopt a cat from the shelter you can visit on the last Sunday of the month or any other day by appointment- this means that someone has the time to show potential adopters cats who are likely to suit them and be happy with them, so it really is a true adoption service, not just 'shopping' for a cat.
  It was a lovely outing for vegan children- we don't go to zoos, so it was quite an experience for the children to be surrounded by quite so many animals: cats and kittens, dogs, hens, and a huge and very grand turkey. In fact, the turkey is one of the animals that needs a bit of help- he has a sore, swollen ankle and is limping quite badly.
  They aren't bred to live long healthy, active lives- they are bred to grow very rapidly and put on a great deal of weight, especially in the breast area, very quickly and then to die horribly in a slaughterhouse at 12- 16 weeks, while still effectively babies. This unnaturally fast growth is very unhealthy and puts enormous strain on the turkey's heart and joints, and every year 2 000 000 young turkeys die of heart attacks before they even reach 'slaughter weight'. Harry is a survivor,one of the lucky ones-  but Harry's joints are having difficulty with supporting his weight easily- he weighs about 17 kilos, so we are going to try and help him improve the health of his joints.
  The bad news is that this wonderful shelter is under threat of closure- if they can't raise £70,000 by October this year the shelter will have to close and the wonderful care that Molly and Paul are offering the cats of Norfolk will be forced to stop. Please help by visiting their website and see what you can do to help; if you are able to donate money, or provide some service or goods that they need that would free up some of their money to buy the land, and keep the shelter open. You can download a poster from their website which you could put up at work or in a local shop or vet surgery to raise awareness of the crisis facing Feline Care.

Our vegan shop is opening soon!!

 Today was a very exciting day as we had our first stock delivered! I wasn't actually dressed yet when it arrived so not feeling very business-y but it was still a special moment!
 So now we are within a couple of days of finally opening our online shop at www.veganation.co.uk - it's hard to believe as it's taken over a year to get to this point. I'm not exactly sure WHY it's taken so long, but now we're finally nearly there.
 There are still a few little things that need tweaking with the website- when I was testing it this evening and did a search for yeast flakes (yum!) the search results came up as two flavours of Tartex and a packet of leek and potato soups so that's going to need to be sorted out. And there are still a few listings to write, pictures to upload etc but I think the shop will be opening at the end of this week, beginning of next week at the latest.
  It feels like great timing: I was looking at one of the books I bought for the shop, 'Life on the Line' which is about the life of Vicki Moore, the heroic animal rights campaigner who was gored by a bull in Spain while protesting Spain's 'blood fiestas' and I read the most distressing account of cruelty to an animal that I think I have ever read, illustrated with photos. It makes me feel even more awed by the courage and strength of the late Vicki Moore and her husband Tony in choosing to confront and challenge this evil, but, this may sound silly,  it also made me want to do something to help a bull in some way. And that is what our website will be doing, I hope, by helping to promote veganism and helping support new vegans by making hard-to-find products available to them. When you visit our shop, make sure that you read the Story of Fergus the Highland Bull, saved from slaughter in Cambridgeshire. Fergus is now a very contented resident of Hillside Animal Sanctuary (www.hillside.org.uk ) where he is the leader of his own small herd.