Obama (again)

It's so easy to get complacent in our comfortable lives here in the US - to forget the harsh daily realities faced by so many people elsewhere in the world - and I admit to a certain guardedness in my Obama-optimism; after all, how much can one person really do in this screwed-up world? But reading this today helped put things in perspective for me. With the simple signing of a document, Obama has made the world a better place for a whole lot of people.

I know he's not the answer to every problem in the world, but he brings a sense of hope to my world-view that has been sorely lacking for pretty much all of my adult life. And he inspires me to try to do my part. And for today, that's enough.

New Work

Garnet, amethyst, emerald, and recycled sterling silver ring trio
{ custom order; sold }

Pink tourmaline, recycled 14k gold, and recycled sterling silver ring
{ stone supplied by customer; custom order; sold }

Fair trade Nyala ruby and recycled sterling silver ring, size 7.5

Labradorite and recycled sterling silver ring, size 8.5

Amethyst and recycled sterling silver ring, size 1.5*
{ custom order; sold }
*that's not a typo; it's for a four-year-old - cute, huh?

Labradorite and recycled sterling silver ring, size 7.5

Amethyst and recycled sterling silver ring
{ custom order; sold }

Making Responsible Food Choices, Part Two (aka, 'Oh No! Cocoa?')

Yep, that's right. This second installment in my four-part series* focuses on our beloved chocolate. But wait - before you cover your eyes and run screaming from the computer - calm down. Sit, relax, and read. Don't worry, I'll show you how you can enjoy this delicious confection with a clear conscience.

* In case you missed it, you might want to read part one first.


Consumers in the United States alone spend $13 billion per year on chocolate, an understandable indulgence given its luscious flavor and its unique power to calm many of us in times of crisis. :-) But what are the hidden costs of our love affair with chocolate? Let's take a closer look.

70% of the world's cocoa is supplied by West Africa, a country where poverty is widespread and child slavery and labor abuses are rampant. A major contributing factor to these horrible problems are the low prices farm workers are paid by companies like M&M/Mars, the largest chocolate company in the world.

West African cocoa plantation laborers are paid between $30 and $108 per year; these astonishingly low wages, combined with the lack of human-rights standards enforced by the large chocolate companies, has resulted in a huge exploitation and abuse problem for the most vulnerable workers - the children.

According to the US State Department, there are currently 284,000 children in abusive child-labor conditions in West Africa. Thousands of these children have been trafficked into the area and live in slavery.

What can you do to help? Well, the answer is the same as for bananas; money talks, so be sure that your hard-earned dollars are only being spent on fair trade certified cocoa and chocolate products.

Aaahhh... Sjaaks organic, fair trade, vegan chocolates

(made right here in lil' old Humboldt County)

"The key to Fair-Trade-Certified cocoa is that it is grown by small farmers, enabling them to build a better future for their families," says Adrienne Fitch-Frankel, Fair Trade Campaign Director of Global Exchange. "The Fair Trade system gives [workers] the pride and dignity of being independent, sustaining their own farms. This is a quantum leap from being a worker on a plantation."

According to TransFair USA, Fair Trade Certification assures that the following responsible, sustainable business practices are in place:

• Fair wages
• Better labor conditions (safer conditions, no enforced child labor)
• Direct trade, eliminating exploitative middlemen
• Democratic and transparent organizations
• Community development
• Environmental sustainability
  

Beyond reflecting your ideals through your dollars, there are lots of other ways to get involved, and with Valentine's Day quickly approaching, this is the perfect time of year to educate friends and family about the importance of fair trade chocolate. And while you're at it, why don't you make sure that chocolate you're eating and gifting is vegan? After all, cows don't deserve to be slaves either!

Once again, the information in this post came from the Jan-Feb '09 issue of VegNews magazine (see Food, Inc., beginning on page 40).

Turkey Eggs

We recently enjoyed a couple of weeks of unseasonably warm weather, and I think it fooled the chickens into laying eggs again (they had stopped for the winter a while back) - and we got our first turkey eggs too! They are so pretty, all speckly and huge.

Here's a turkey egg with a chicken egg, for size comparison.

Awww... Hazel wants an egg.

What a sweet face - doesn't she look so innocent?

She has cute paws too.

New Bloggity-Blog

I don't know how many local readers I actually have here, but for anyone who's interested, I'm co-authoring a new blog called Humboldt Vegans. As the name implies, it's a blog for vegans (and aspiring vegans) living in Humboldt County, California. There may be some overlap in posts between this blog and the new one, but I'll try to keep it interesting...

Review: Chooka Degrade Fade Rain Boots (The Saga Continues...)

If you are a devoted reader (or an obsessed stalker), you may recall my big decision last fall to splurge and order a pair of these adorable rain boots. Well, I am sad to report that after a few short months, they are already giving out on me. The outer layer has begun to crack in more than one place, which kinda undermines the main function of the boots - you know, the keeping your feet dry part???

Unfortunately, Amazon's craptastic return policy means that if I go to the trouble of packing them up and paying to ship them back, I may get a percentage of my price back but not the whole amount. Grr. So I guess I'm back to square one. I'll probably just go buy a cheap pair for $15 at the local feed store and they will last for ten years. Figures.

Making Responsible Food Choices, Part One

As a vegan, it's easy to walk around in a haze of self-congratulatory bliss, feeling proud knowing that our food choices are helping to protect animals, improve our own health, support the planet, and make more food and water resources available to the people of developing nations. Yay you! You're vegan! Everything would be perfect in the world if everyone went vegan, right?

Right? *

Well, not so fast - as it turns out, there are a whole host of problems associated with many staple vegan foods, and several in particular deserve our closer attention. Today I will begin with a discussion of one of our contry's favorite fruits. Watch for three more installments in the coming days or weeks... I have lots to say.


Let's start with bananas.

Did you know that when bananas first became available to US consumers, just after the Civil War, they were considered a luxury item, and were sold wrapped in foil, peeled and pre-sliced to protect those gentile 19th century citizens from embarrassment over the fruit's indiscreet form? (Thought I'd warm you up with a little entertaining banana trivia.)

Anyway, on to the serious stuff... in order to transform bananas from an expensive indulgence into an affordable snack for the masses, large companies (i.e. Dole, as well as the company that has come to be known in modern times as Chiquita), identified Central America as the ideal place to supply us with inexpensive, delicious bananas. Then they proceeded to clear-cut the rich forests of Nicaragua, Columbia, and Guatemala, and transform them into banana plantations.

In addition to the obvious environmental problems associated with clear-cutting native rain forests and shipping bananas thousands of miles from Central America to wherever you happen to reside, other problems have come to light -

• In the 1950's, Central America's first democratically elected leader, Jacobo Arbenz, was ousted in a US-sponsored coup. His offense? Asking United Fruit (now Chiquita) to pay fair prices for land and obey the Guatemalan constitution.
• For decades, this kind of intervention in Central American politics has been commonplace as a means for keeping bananas cheap and plentiful. It has also been instrumental in keeping plantation workers overworked and underpaid.
• As recently as 2007, Chiquita was fined $25 million by the US government for giving $1.7 million to a right-wing death squad organization in Columbia.

So what, you ask, is a compassionate gal (or guy) to do? Must we give up our beloved banana-laden breakfast smoothies? Fear not, my friend - fair trade is the answer! By purchasing fair trade bananas, you can rest assured that plantation workers are paid a living wage, receive benefits, job security, and better treatment. Fair trade certified farmers are also more likely to use sustainable, traditional growing methods (whether or not they have yet obtained an organic certification, which can be a difficult and costly process).

Although I find myself wondering - how much can the fair trade certification help in ending the massive deforestation in Central America? I mean, if the demand for bananas remains strong, they are going to continue clear-cutting to make room for more farms, right? Even if the workers are treated better on those farms... so maybe we should give some thought to at least moderately reducing our consumption of bananas overall, in addition to buying fair trade.

* Just to be clear, of course I agree that the world would be a much better place if everyone went vegan right now. But I think it's important to continue to explore food choices, and not just rest on our morally superior laurels while we eat our tofu and nutritional yeast. Agreed?

The information in this post came from the Jan-Feb '09 issue of VegNews magazine (see Food, Inc., beginning on page 40).

New Work

Faceted labradorite, 22k gold, 14k gold, & sterling silver ring, size 6
(all recycled metals)
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

(another view to show the flash colors a little better)

Australian boulder opal, 22k gold, & sterling silver pendant
(all recycled metals)
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

I wish I could capture the true nature of this stone better in photos; it's so much prettier in real life - it actually seems to glow... by far the prettiest opal I've ever seen.

So. Much. Hope.

Wow, what a day. I watched a lot of the lead-up to the swearing-in today, but sadly, I had to leave the house before Obama's speech, so I need to go watch it on the internet ASAP. And where was I off to so bright-and-early in the morning, you ask? Well, I enjoyed my first morning of leafleting today at our local junior college. A friend and I handed out around 400 brochures in under four hours - we gave out Compassionate Choices, Why Vegan, Even If You Like Meat..., and Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating. It was a little scary at first, but overall pretty fun and fulfilling. I met quite a few fellow vegans and vegetarians, and only encountered a few mildly rude people.

Isn't it amazing the way this election has galvanized so many people to become more involved and give back to their communities? My work of choice is vegan outreach. What's yours?

New Work

Just a quick post today - I finished this custom order wedding band today, a simple brushed sterling silver band on the outside, with polished 14k gold on the inside (all recycled metals of course!)...

Say it Ain't So, Arnie!

(Is there an apostrophe in 'aint'???)

Anyhoo... just saw this reported on the Animal Place blog. I'm off to go call Arnold! Fellow Californians, please join me. This would be disastrous for animal rescue organizations, as well as an unnecessary burden on everyday people who are already having a hard enough time putting food on the table in these tough times. We already know that animal relinquishments to shelters are skyrocketing due to this darn economy; I can only imagine how much worse it might get if caring for our companion animals becomes even more costly.

CA: Don't tax vet bills

Governor Schwarzenegger wants to define taking your sick, diseased, distressed animal to a vet as a "luxury" item, imposing a 10.5% tax on veterinary medical services.

Since when is being a responsible guardian considered a "luxury"?

There are 15 million dogs and cats in California and dog and cat guardians spend nearly 2.75 billion dollars on veterinary services. Animal Place is no stranger to vet bills - we spend tens of thousands of dollars a year to provide optimal care to all the animals at the sanctuary. This isn't a luxury, these costs are a necessity for us and for the millions of people who choose to welcome animals into their homes.

We appreciate that times are tough, that we need to look at creative ways to stimulate our state's economy. But taxing necessary medical care for the 15 + million animals in the state is not only unfair, it's cruel. With unemployment rising, people should not have to make a difficult choice between what might be an affordable medical procedure for their companion and killing/relinquishing their animal because of the extra taxation.

You can help:

Please make a brief, polite phone call to Governor Schwarzenegger at 916-445-2841 and urge him to remove the Fido Fine from the budget proposal. When you call, please select your language choice, then press 5 to leave your opinion on a current issue, then press 1 to select the issue of extending the sales tax to veterinary services, and then press 2 to oppose this proposal. After calling, please send a follow-up email to your state legislators and urge them to reject the Governor’s proposal.

Contact your representative; tell them to remove the Fido fine from the budget proposal. (You can find out who your legislator is here.)

Ewwww.

One more reason to stick with natural foods...

Posted today on the Eco Child's Play blog:

“Grub” Is Literal: Bugs in Your Food

Written by Cate Nelson

The Food and Drug Administration never ceases to amaze me. “Bugs in your food? Sure! But don’t worry, we’ll have manufacturers label it now.”

After a decade of pushing by the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest, the FDA will finally require that manufacturers label that there are beetles in your favorite foods and cosmetics.

Here’s the controversy:

Carmine is a coloring made from the female cochineal beetle or her eggs. They dry ‘em and squish ‘em. It has been used for centuries as a coloring for fabrics, and it makes lovely shades of yellow or orange, and especially red, purple, and pink.

It’s also used as one of those “color added” ingredients in foods. Good & Plenty, Yoplait, Dannon, and even Ben & Jerry’s have used carmine for that perfect shade of deliciousness. And I’m sure that’s just the tip of the creepy crawly food coloring iceberg.

The problem is, some people are highly allergic to the cochineal, something that they don’t find out until they wind up in the ER with tight airways and red splotches. Yeah, I’m talking EpiPen allergies, here.

In 1998, the CSPI lobbied the FDA to ban the coloring outright after reports of those harsh reactions. They argued that not only would the extermination of carmine in food help those with allergies, but it would also be beneficial to those who have strictly regulated diets, such as Muslims, Jews, vegetarians, and vegans.

So far, the coloring has been hidden under the “color added” or “artificial coloring” blankets. The new rule will require that manufacturers clearly label products with “carmine” or “cochineal” so well-informed consumers such as yourself might avoid crushed bug juices. Delish!

But what the FDA has stated clearly that they will not do: ban carmine and cochineal entirely, require the [insect] origin of the coloring on labels, or undertake or require any scientific studies on the adverse reactions.

Buggy about critters in your food? Check those labels, as always, and avoid those with “carmine” and “cochineal” colorings.

I love Blossom.

Blossom is the coolest turkey ever. She is so sweet and sociable; she truly enjoys being around people, and is curious about the world around her. Today she was really enjoying hanging out with me in the warm sun. I got a bunch of good pictures of her, and I thought about spacing them all out into a bunch of separate 'Turkey Pic of the Day' posts, but I'm too lazy, so you're getting them all at once. Enjoy!

New Work

Grape garnet (fair trade) & recycled sterling silver ring

{ custom order; sold - but I have another identical stone left }

California green tourmaline (fair trade), recycled 14k gold, and recycled sterling silver ring, size 7

...and more of the same.

Recycled 14k gold and lightly oxidized sterling silver wedding band...

...to be listed soon in my Etsy shop and my 1000 Markets shop!

And lastly, I had a customer recently ask about setting a moissanite stone on an oxidized sterling ring. I was curious what it might look like so today I propped a stone against a darkly oxidized band - I think it looks kind of cool and I should try it soon for real - what do you think?

Turkey Pic of the Day

More Foodstuffs

Aren't I chatty today? :-)

One of our Humboldt Vegans, Bella, brought this tasty dip to the potluck last night, and I really enjoyed it so I made some today for myself and Carlos. It makes a great dip for sliced apples, and I can also imagine it being fabulous tossed into a fruit salad.

Bella's Apple Dip

1 box silken tofu (I used firm, light silken tofu)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend all ingredients in blender and chill. That's it!

Tonight for dinner, I made FatFree Vegan's North African Chickpea and Kale Soup, but because I am a carboholic, I added dumplings. I was quite pleased with the result, and I'm thinking about possibly replacing the two cups of water with soymilk next time for a creamier effect. (Yes, I know, I went and fatted up a fat free recipe, so shoot me.)

To include the dumplings, while the first simmer is happening (the one without the kale), combine 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a mixing bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons soy margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, then stir in 3/4 cup soymilk. Just after you add the kale and two cups water, spoon the dumpling batter onto the soup. Simmer for 10 minutes covered, then remove lid and continue to simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

1/12/08 update - I just heard from Bella and her original recipe was a little different - 1 cup silken tofu, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 cup maple syrup. However you make it though, it's bound to be delicious! :-)

I want.

Look what I found today... the coolest custom vegan shoes! Tony Price (a fellow member of Vegan Etsy - how have I managed to miss him until now???) takes plain old Vans and creates wearable works of art for your feet. I am so in love... I'll have to save my money for a pair with a turkey motif. :-)

Vegan Potluck Deliciousness

I don't think I've mentioned it here yet, but I recently set up a Yahoo group for vegans in Humboldt County (California). Humboldt has a reputation of being really pro-vegetarian, but I've been frustrated up until now with my inability to find any other vegans. Well, all of that changed last night, when our online group got together in person for the first time. We had about twenty people at our house, including several kids, and we all enjoyed a huge spread of amazing vegan food. My contributions were cupcakes, marinated tofu sticks, and these spinach cups, a recipe I made up myself (this is unusual; I'm usually a follow-a-recipe kind of cook).

Vegan Spinach Cups

1 loaf frozen bread dough, defrosted (or make your own)
1 tub firm tofu
~ 1/3 to 1/2 container Tofutti cream cheese
juice of 1/2 lemon
~ 1 teaspoon dried basil
~ 1 teaspoon dried oregano
~ 1 teaspoon garlic powder
~ 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
~ 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
~ 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
a few tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and liquid pressed out
~ 1/3 block of Follow Your Heart mozzarella
marinara sauce for dipping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 12-cup muffin tin.

To make the filling, combine tofu, cream cheese, lemon juice, spices, olive oil, and nutritional yeast in a food processor and blend until well incorporated. Add spinach and pulse to combine. (This was a very improvised recipe, and I ended up with extra filling, sorry - you can use it for pizza topping or mix it with some pasta the next day.)

Cut defrosted bread dough into 12 equal-ish pieces. Form each piece into a thin, flat round (about 4-5" in diameter). Place each circle into a greased muffin cup, pressing into place, with some dough coming up the sides of the tin (it doesn't have to come all the way to the top; it will rise while baking).


Spoon filling into bread cups, about flush with the top of the dough, or maybe just heaped up a little bit. Finely grate the mozzarella onto the top of the spinach cups. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until crust is lightly browned. If the mozzarella hasn't melted, you can try spritzing it with water and placing the cups under the broiler for just a few minutes (be careful not to burn).

Serve with prepared marinara sauce for dipping.

Here is the cutest of my cupcakes - I used the basic chocolate cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and made the 'peanut butter bomb' variation listed after the basic recipe. SO good.


Now, don't you wish you had been at my house last night? :-) Wherever you were, I hope you were enjoying your own bounty of good friends and vegan yumminess.

Fun New Shopping Site!

I just discovered 1000 Markets yesterday, and I love it! Much like our beloved Etsy, it's a site where independent artists and craftspeople can sell their wares and connect with other artists. So far I've noticed several things that I prefer over Etsy. The look is a little cleaner and prettier (which is saying quite a lot, since I generally approve of Etsy's overall appearance) - I think this is mostly due to the fact that 1000 Markets staff reviews new shops before allowing them in. As far as I can tell, they aren't actually judging artists' work, but rather the quality of their photographs, banners, descriptions, etc. Another feature that is a lot of fun is the markets themselves; in addition to individual shops, you can also shop virtual marketplaces. These are groupings of artists organized around a theme - either a geographical area, or a style, or lots of other things (wedding products, luxe items, etc.) - it's kind of like being able to visit a bunch of different craft fairs all in one day from the comfort of your couch. :-) Anyways, go check it out, it's a lot of fun. I set up a shop there but I haven't loaded too much yet.

Turkey Pic of the Day

Blossom's got her eye on you.

New Work

Variscite & recycled sterling silver pendant
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

Faceted turquoise & oxidized, recycled sterling silver ring
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

California pink tourmaline, recycled 14k gold, & recycled sterling silver pendant
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

Holley chalcedony & recycled sterling silver ring
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

Doing my vegan civic duty...

Here I am, once again, to warn you of culinary danger. I implore you, from the deepest corners of my joyful little vegan heart, not to cook the Vegan Alfreda recipe from Vegan With A Vengeance. You will regret it. Consider yourself warned.

Unfortunately, I had high hopes for this one, expecting against all odds to create a rich, delicious, dairy-free white sauce with fettuccine noodles, which made reality all the more painful. What I ended up with was a strangely brownish-orange, oddly spiced, impossible-to-choke-down pile of crap. Shocking, really, since normally I am thrilled with Isa's recipes. I guess even the best among us have our bad days (fortunately for me, mine don't end up on the pages of a best selling book to haunt me for all of eternity).

So now I am left with a haunting emptiness in my soul - a chasm aching to be filled with rich, creamy white sauce and noodles. Can anyone help? Are there any truly yummy vegan alfredo recipes out there?

New Work

A couple of quick things...

I made this one yesterday - the pendant is blue tourmaline and rainbow moonstone, and the necklace is vessonite. I'm not sure how I feel about this one... the color combo with the necklace stones worked in my studio light last night but in daylight, not so much. I think I might just put it on a simple sterling silver chain instead. Also, the larger blue tourmaline got a little chipped as I was setting it (argh!), so it may be gifted to someone instead of sold. Frustrating!

This is a custom order vegan 'pearl' bracelet, made to match this necklace.

Wow.

Seven Random Facts

Okay, okay, I'll play, but you may be sorry you asked. :-) I was tagged quite some time ago by Roni to play the 'Seven Random Facts' game, but I honestly couldn't think of anything random, weird, or interesting to say about myself. Now I've also been tagged by Contrariwise, so I will have to try really hard to come up with seven things worth saying about little old me. Part of the problem is that I've played this game before, plus another similar one, and I'm attempting not to repeat the same things about myself...

First, these are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here goes -

1. My first car was a 1952 Ford pickup. It was painted in blue primer. No power steering. The gas gauge didn't work (you just had to fill up every 200 miles). I loved it.

2. I started dating my now-husband around my 18th birthday. We were engaged within a year and married at age 20. When I consider these facts now, at age 32, I am somewhat amazed that our marriage has worked, but it has. Lucky us! :-)

3. This one should come as no surprise to anyone who follows my blog at all, but I dream of rescuing more and more animals throughout my lifetime. Right now we have two dogs, three rats, eight chickens, four ducks, and two turkeys, but I want more. Lots more. Someday I hope to be able to have a mini-sanctuary for more chickens, ducks, and turkeys, and when Carlos is older, I want to do foster care for dogs again (we used to do this years ago and I miss it). I look at adoptable dogs online all the time even though I know we can't take any right now.

4. Right now I'm sporting these two stickers on my rear car window:



The marriage equality sticker just recently replaced my 'Kucinich for President' sticker; I had a hard time letting that one go.

5. This one is embarrassing. In high school, I was a big Garth Brooks fan. One day during science class, my friend's mom came and got us both out of school because she found out that tickets were going on sale for a Garth Brooks concert in Sacramento, and you could show up that day to draw a number to determine your place in line to buy the tickets when they went on sale. We each drew a number and I was number one! On the day the tickets went on sale, there was a big long line of people waiting for the store to open so they could get their tickets, and I showed up at the last minute and sauntered up to the front of the line. I think the tickets we ended up with were about 15 rows from the stage. Swoon. Wow, I can't believe I just admitted all of that. (I'm working very hard to resist deleting this paragraph.)

6. Matt's nickname for me is 'Damara' - he said it one day hoping to annoy me but I liked it and it stuck; in fact, he now has it tattooed on his inner arm. Awwww.....

7. I have man-hands and truck feet. It's true. My hands are quite small but awfully manly, with fingers that manage to look sausagey even though they aren't that big/fat; my nails are always cut super short, and my fingertips are often stained with polishing compound and covered with callouses. Dry skin... the whole shebang. It's quite embarrassing actually. I moisturize a couple of times a day, and even bought a paraffin wax dip thingy recently, but they persist in looking and feeling manly. As for my feet, my best friend in junior high dubbed them 'truck feet' one day and the name stuck. Like my hands, they are quite small, but very flat (no arch) and kind of rectangular looking.

Yippee, that's me. Aren't you glad you asked? ;-)

Okay, I know I am supposed to tag seven people now, but I think the majority of the blog world has already played, so I'm just going to tag all of you who want to play but haven't yet. If you play, leave a comment here so I can go read yours too. :-)

Oh wait, I do want to tag one person specifically - my brother, since his blog is new and he hasn't had a chance to play before. I wonder if he'll participate?