These Little Piggies Had Tofu

Links and a Deleted Scene

2012-01-28T10:30:00.000-06:00

Hello! How are you?

Us? Oh, we're fine. Just living life. Anna's doing pretty darn good in Kindergarten. No problems to report on the vegan front.

Liam's coming along. He just turned three, still plays guitar a lot and loves drawing and playing with toys.

I should really post some videos and photos. But today I'm going to just throw up a few links.

---

Here, read this piece about raising kids vegan over at Our Hen House.

That's a guest post written by Robyn Moore. Robyn is the author of the blog, Raising Veg Kids.

And over on Raising Veg Kids, my friend Celeste has written a guest post about our VegKins group: The Power of Getting Together With Other Vegetarian/Vegan Families.

"Frankly I can't tell you how much it means to our kids to interact with vegan peers. The supportive nature of the group has been amazing. We share advice on handling difficult situations, school activities, as well as recommend books and movies to each other."

I've been meaning to write about VegKins for a few years now. But Celeste sums it up nicely in this piece, so just go read that!

---

Finally, I'm going to post something I cut from the essay on vegan parenting that I wrote for an animal rights anthology due out later this year. I cut quite a bit of passages just because they hindered the flow of the essay, not because I didn't like the ideas expressed within them. So I saved them in a different document because I have a hard time throwing away ideas. I'm calling them deleted scenes. Here's one:

Zoo apologists contend that zoos are instrumental in teachingour children about animals from around the globe. This contention comes intoserious question in light of books referring to those animals as “zoo animals,”and when books intending to teach our young about animals tell them what thoseanimals eat in a zoo instead of in their natural habitat.

I'll add that the problem, linguistically, is that those captive animals aren't referred to as "animals in a zoo," but are instead viewed as "zoo animals." As a result, books say things like, "Pandas come from China and Tibet," as opposed to, "Pandas live in China and Tibet."

---

Well that's it for now. I'll occasionally put up more deletes scenes in between now and when the book is published. And once it's published I'll probably pull some paragraphs out of my essay to give you more of an idea of what I wrote about. And don't worry, I will totally let you know how you can get your hands on a copy of the book once it's released.

Southernish-Style Vegan Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T17:50:00.001-06:00

We had Thanksgiving on Saturday this year, and it doubled as Christmas with Jen's mom. I figured I'd put the menu on here, because it was a darn good meal. I, as per usual, didn't take any photos of anything I made. But you can be sure that it looked completely professional and gourmet. Yeah.

The main dish, I guess, was the VegNews Mac 'n' Cheese. It turned out as expected. That's a pretty solid recipe. If you haven't tried it yet, I suggest it.

I also made Southern Fried Cauliflower and a bit of Southern Fried Seitan. I use this recipe, which is just written for seitan. When making it with cauliflower, I roast the cauliflower at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes and let them cool off before proceeding with the rest of the recipe as written.

Some vegan blue cheese dressing to dip the deep-fried goodness into. And some Franks Red Hot sauce.

Collard greens 'n' rice.

I also made these baked sweet potatoes that I like. I've never written the recipe down, but basically it's cubed sweet potatoes baked with margarine and pretty much equal parts chili powder and cinnamon (but maybe a bit more cinnamon). And then put marshmallows on top during the last ten minutes or so. But I forgot the marshmallows at home, so it wasn't nearly as good as it usually is. Oh well.

For dessert, I made pumpkin soy cream. For second-dessert, I made the VegNews/Chloe Coscarelli creme brulee.

It should be said that my sister-in-law helped with a bunch of prep work and I would have had to start a few hours earlier if I didn't have her help. She also gave me one of her two kitchen torches, so I'm thinking creme brulee might be a more regular thing at our house (which means once or twice a year, probably). Ooh, or torch-roasted marshmallows for kitchen-s'mores (which is just s'mores without the campfire).

Strumming Liam

2011-11-02T19:47:00.000-05:00

Here's a long video of Liam playing the guitar. The second song is a version of Twinkle, Twinkle as sung by his ECFE teacher (who plays guitar in class). You can hear that version here.

So yeah, the kid likes guitar. Also, we're pretty up-front with our children about death.

---

For those of you in the Twin Cities metro, the Riverview Theatre is showing Vegucated this coming Monday at 7pm. I haven't seen it, but it looks interesting. Anyway, more info is here.

---

Speaking of the Riverview Theatre, Liam went to his first movie back in September. He, Anna and I went to the new Winnie the Pooh flick. It was fun and he did pretty great.

Here they are before the show:

And in their seats waiting for it to start:

Halloween Photos

2011-11-01T21:22:00.000-05:00

Some Halloweenish photos.

Carving a pumpkin with auntie Jessica.

Carving pumpkins with Lisa and Dan.

Halloween night. The squirrels added their own little touch to the pumpkins.

The neighborhood gang.

I forgot to "Boo!"

2011-11-01T15:19:00.000-05:00

For the past four years, I've written a Halloween post in which my children dine on the flesh of innocents. This year, I apparently took a break. I'm sure the innocents will thank me later.

At any rate, you can read the previous years by clicking on this here hyper-text.

Speaking of holidays, Nathalie VanBalen, author of "Garlic Onion Beet Spinach Mango Carrot Grapefruit Juice" has a new coloring zine out called "Happy Thanksliving." Here's a sample page from her blog:

You should order it now so it will arrive in time for your kids to color it for Thanksgiving.

And speaking of "Garlic Onion Beet Spinach Mango Carrot Grapefruit Juice," VanBalen often puts free coloring sheets on her blog, often of the characters from the book. I printed out the two she made for Halloween this year and the kids colored them. Here are a couple that Anna did.

Thora:

Yellow Spotted Snails:

Both of these are unfinished. Pretty much everything of Anna's is unfinished unless every single speck of white on the paper has been colored in.

And here's Liam's Thora:

So yeah. Good times.

And a happy belated Halloween to all.

VegKins Halloween Party!

2011-10-26T14:30:00.001-05:00

OK, so I forgot my camera. I didn't get any photos of our Second Annual VegKins Halloween Party, but my friend (and fellow VegKins coordinator) Celeste did. So go check out the photos over at her blog, Growing up Veg. It was a blast.

You know what? I've never actually explained what VegKins is on this blog. I should really do that some day.

Cat on the Playground

2011-10-12T14:36:00.001-05:00

Anna told us about her school day yesterday. The highlight of the day, apparently, was the cat who was hanging around the playground. He was there in the morning and for after-lunch recess.

Anna said that a bunch of kids were circling around and chasing the cat because they wanted to pet him (she said she thought he was a "him"). She chased the kids who were chasing the cat, imploring them to leave him alone.

I asked if they were trying to hurt the cat. She said no.

"So you just wanted them to leave the cat alone because you thought he might be scared?"

"Yes," she said. "He just wants to live his life."

- - -

I wonder sometimes whether or not Anna will choose to be an animal advocate when she grows up. It seems that she's already dabbling in advocating for animals, and I'd be lying if I said that didn't make me happy. But there's a part of me that worries that she might end up caring too much.

I know, I know. That sounds callous.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if she cares sooooo much and wants sooooo much to help animals and get others to see how they can also help animals ... well, she's in for a life of disappointment after disappointment ... punctuated by a few instances of joy and hope for the future of humanity.

I've managed to keep my distance. I advocate on behalf of animals in my own way, sure. But I rarely feel as much as many of the advocates I know. There are days when this concerns me and there are days when I see this as a blessing (bestowed upon me by genetics and environment).

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for advocating loudly and proudly on behalf of other-than-human animals. I guess I just cringe a bit at the prospect of Anna being sad all the time because her peers don't give two figs about the animals she cares so much about.

Anyway, we'll see how it pans out. One day at a time, right?

MoFo 2011

2011-10-06T21:46:00.001-05:00

Wow. I've been pretty much nonexistent in the blogging world as of late. But I have a good excuse! I've been writing an essay that will appear in an animal rights anthology, due out next summer. That's all I'll say about it for now, but you can be absolutely certain that you'll hear much more about it in the near future.

Anyway, I thought I'd post today about Vegan MoFo (that's Vegan Month of Food, in case you didn't know). I love Vegan MoFo. This year there are 658 blogs participating, all planning to blog about vegan food five days a week for a whole month. If they were all successful, that would be 69,090 blog posts about vegan food in a single month (not counting the vegan blogs not participating in MoFo).

How fucking cool is that?

My friend Celeste is doing the MoFo this year. She just posted a recipe for a veganized juicy lucy. Do you know what that is? It's a burger with cheese inside of it. I don't remember if I ever had one of these in my pre-vegan days, but damn, I want a vegan one. In my belly. Like right now.

Celeste is also doing a bunch of giveaways this month, so be sure to check out her blog. She currently has two giveaways going:

1. $25 gift certificate to Vegan Essentials. (giveaway ends Oct. 8th)

2. 9 Eli's Earth Bars (candy bars) and the cookbook, Vegan Lunch. (two winners, ends Oct. 12th)

It seems like this year is the MoFo Year of the Giveaway. Or maybe it's always been that way and I'm just paying more attention this year.

Anyway, Vegan Heartland is doing a giveaway too. Enter over there to win the cookbook, Vegan Slow Cooker. (And yes, me linking to that blog earns me an extra entry into the contest. I'm shameless and I don't care.)

One more giveaway: Chicago Soy Dairy is giving away a year's supply of Dandies Marshmallows (12 bags ... though I don't know in what crazy marshmallow-deprived universe a mere 12 bags equals a year's supply).

So yeah, get your blog-reading butt over to those blogs and enter.

And then peruse the 658 blogs participating in Vegan MoFo by following this link that I will title awesomeness: AWESOMENESS.

Flabbergasted

2011-08-23T16:26:00.000-05:00

I was talking to Anna (and Liam too, since he was in the car, though I don't know how much of the conversation he grasped) about adopting animals instead of buying them. We've had this discussion before, but I like to revisit concepts now and again, especially when new contexts for the conversation arise.

So anyway, Anna was saying that we would never buy a cat because her mom's allergic to them. I replied that we would never buy a cat, period. We would adopt.

I explained that we would adopt because there are animals who need adoption. I explained that there are places where people take lost or unwanted dogs and cats, and those places are only so big and that they feel that they have to kill them to make room for more (all while breeding continues unabated). I was sure to say that it doesn't have to be this way, and that there are places where people don't kill the animals they are sheltering. In fact, tomorrow we're going to drop off some clothes and stuff the Animal Ark Thrift Store where they use all proceeds to fund Animal Ark, a no-kill shelter.

Then Anna said, "But people who aren't vegan would buy a dog instead of adopting."

I said not necessarily. I said a lot of people who aren't vegan still really care about cats and dogs and they don't want them to be hurt and killed.

"What?" she said, incredulous.

"Yeah," I said, "a lot of people love cats and dogs, but eat cows and pigs."

She was utterly flabbergasted.

I know the feeling.

The School Year That Was

2011-06-16T10:25:00.001-05:00

Anna's last day of school was on Tuesday. She's both happy and sad for it to be over. As she said, "I'm happy because I get to spend more time with you, but sad because I won't get to see my friends all the time."

It makes me happy and sad, too.

The year was awesome, by the way. Anna learned a ton, and she made friends.

Some things of note, as far as the vegan stuff goes:

We talked to her teacher (let's call her "T") at the beginning of the year about Anna being vegan. T immediately understood everything we said, and there was never any confusion about it from then on. We gave T a list (incomplete, but a list nonetheless) of snacks that are vegan, since she does the shopping for snacks for the class. As far as I know, the class always had vegan snacks, or if they didn't, there was always a vegan option for Anna.

---

Kids have birthdays, of course, and they bring in non-vegan things. For the first few months, I just let Anna go treat-less. She would come home and say that so-and-so had a birthday and they brought such-and-such, but it wasn't vegan so she just had a snack. She never complained and never seemed sad about it. Except once. She said she wished she could have one of the cookies. I asked her if it was vegan. She said no. I asked if she wanted to eat things that aren't vegan. She said no. I asked if she wanted to eat the cookie. She said no, but that she wanted a cookie like that, but vegan.

So I bought a package of Candy Cane Jo-Jo's from Trader Joe's and sent them to school with her. From then on, whenever a kid brought in a non-vegan treat, T would give Anna a Jo-Jo. She loved it, and from the sounds of it, the kids were often jealous that she got a special treat.

---

Anna's teacher told us at the beginning of the school year that she has, in years past, kept a cockroach in an aquarium in the classroom. When she told us this, I mentioned that Anna may say something about the cockroach not wanting to be in a cage. I didn't ask her to not have the cockroach in class, mostly because I'm the kind of person who generally avoids conflict. But lucky us, after thinking about how Anna might feel about the cockroach, T decided to not have one this year. Yay! We feel pretty luck to have a teacher who respects, understands and even encourages our daughters empathy.

I know that some classes do a caterpillar in a jar in the spring. I don't think T usually does that in her class, which makes me happy. I don't like the idea of confining animals for the education of our kids. It might teach them something about life science, but the untaught lesson is that it's OK for us to confine and control the living conditions of our fellow beings.

And besides, who wants to see caterpillars and chrysalises in a jar in a classroom when you can see them outside?

It's a Montessori school, which means that pre-K and Kindergartners are in the same classroom. So Anna will have this same teacher next year. Woot!

UPDATE: Upon further thought, I realized that the white thing in the above photo isn't actually a chrysalis. But they were all over the place and each had a caterpillar in them. So what are they? Google is failing me. If anyone knows, let me know.

Anna's on Vegansaurus

2011-06-14T16:43:00.001-05:00

Vegansaurus is a blog, for those of you who don't know, about vegan dinosaurs. Except actually it's just about vegan stuff.

Anyway, they're doing a series called Happy Veggie Kids and Anna is featured today.

Check it out.

And read all of the Happy Veggie Kids posts here.

And to those of you coming over from Vegansaurus, hi! Welcome to my sort-of weekly updated blog. Feel free to have a look around. A few of my favorite posts here are:

My Daughter the Monkey Eater (on pretending to eat animals)

We're All Made of Meat (on explaining what meat is to Anna)

Happy Feet (a review of the movie)

This is Not a Post About Milo & Otis (on Anna trying to understand others who aren't vegan)

The Life I Did Save (about a squirrel I brought into a rehabilitation center)

Anna's First Correction of "It"

One More Dead Wolf

2011-06-10T08:00:00.161-05:00

On the morning of June 8th, a Mexican gray wolf escaped from his cage at the Minnesota Zoo. He walked slowly on a path, and people quickly moved away from him. The zoo staff decided that they should shoot to kill instead of tranquilize. Their rationale was that the wolf was a danger to zoo patrons and a tranquilizer dart, according to zoo officials, "can take 10-15 minutes to fully take effect on an animal."

So a choice had to be made by the zoo: either tranquilize the wolf and risk him injuring or killing patrons, or kill the wolf and deal with the negative publicity that would be sure to follow. They chose to kill.

I have often said that if a tiger broke into my house and seemed intent on eating my children, I would not be opposed to killing her if that's what it took to save my kids. (I should note here that I would do the same if a human broke into my house and she seemed intent on eating (or just killing, I guess) my children. What I would do in this situation says nothing about what we should routinely do to animals.)

My point is, I'm not sure that the zoo necessarily made the wrong choice in this specific instance, though I think they should have more ways to catch an animal unharmed than by just using tranquilizer darts. The process they have in place for things like this should rule out killing an animal except for in the most extreme cases. Their emergency reaction plans don't take the non-human animal lives at the zoo into as much consideration as they should. But since they didn't have adequate protocol and their options were truly kill or tranquilize (as the zoo claims), I can understand why they chose kill.

The big wrong choice the zoo made was when it chose to be a zoo. Zoos are inherently unjust places, tiny pale facsimiles of animals' natural habitats, places where animals go senile, places where animals are merely a commodity to be used to entertain and, ostensibly, educate.

So in my view, the real question isn't whether or not the zoo should have shot the wolf, it's whether or not the wolf should have been there in the first place. It's obvious to me that the answer is no. We can't justify imprisioning these animals for our entertainment or even for (again, ostensibly) our education. And the fact that they escape (and they do quite a bit ... oh and let's not forget this), and then zoos are often caused to weigh the non-human animals' lives against the potential of harm to paying customers ... it seems like a recipe for disaster.

Of course, news outlets jumped all over this story. And there were plenty of outraged citizens, saying the zoo acted rashly and should have done more to capture the wolf alive. I agree. But I think it misses the point of the institutionally entrenched problem of speciesism, which allows horrible situations like this to happen.

---
That's an It. He's an It. Not a He.

On Minnesota Public Radio, they wrote:

"Zoo officials said no people were in immediate danger but they decided to shoot the wolf because they couldn't predict where it would go or whether it would hurt people visiting the Northern Trail." (link)

Elsewhere in the story, Tony Fisher, the zoo's "animal collection manager" refers to this wolf as a "he." I can't for the life of me understand why MPR would refer to him as "it." The rest of the news outlets, of course, also referred to the wolf as "it," even though he was identified as male within their stories.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press managed to gender and neuter the wolf in the same paragraph:

"The 8-year-old male wolf slipped through the gaps of a fence in the keeper area of its exhibit into a secondary enclosure where it jumped an 8-foot fence, said animal collections manager Tony Fisher." (link)

And the Star Tribune did the same thing (in fact, the combination of the words "male that" is the shortest distance possible between gendering and neutering):

"The wolf, an 8-year-old male that was born at the zoo, is one of an endangered subspecies with only a few dozen living in the wild. There were three Mexican gray wolves at the zoo, but this one was not on exhibit because it didn't get along with the other two, Fisher said." (link)

The AP went there, too. They did correctly attribute one gendered pronoun to the wolf, but then decided to neuter him anyway:

"Tony Fisher, MN Zoo animal collection manager, told KARE 11 the ordeal began around 10 a.m. when the male wolf escaped his primary display area. Vets and zookeepers armed with tranquilizers started gathering and preparing to recapture the wolf but it jumped a secondary barrier and ran out among the public walking on the zoo's Northern Trail." (link)

I've got to hand it to Tony Fisher though, in all the quotes I saw from him, he referred to the wolf by the proper pronoun. I wish the reporting media would have followed suit. I don't have my AP Style Guide handy, but I wonder if there's something in there that says you have to refer to a non-human animal as "it" even if you know his or her gender. Any reporters out there want to help me out here? Are there style guidelines on this?

This bothers me, as you can tell. Animals are not its, they are hes and shes (or in the case of hermaphroditic animals, the generic, but non-objectifying, "they"). By routinely refusing to attribute a gender to them, we reduce them to the level of things. Things are "its." We don't have to care about things. We don't really care about animals so we refer to them at "its." And we refer to them as "its" to make it easier to not care about them.

It's pervasive, it's insidious and I really, really want it to stop. Regardless of how you feel about animals, you should at least recognize them as beings who are not mere things. That recognition should be reflected in your language.

---
Precious Species, Worthless Lives

The Minnesota Zoo released a note on their Facebook page which explains why they shot the wolf instead of tranquilizing him. One of the comments on this note sums up what I think a lot of people are feeling:

"I am disappointed that this extreme action had to take place. A precious life had to end today because the zoo we support did not do its job to keep the animals safe. While I don't want to see any humans injured better safeguards should have been in place. I have been a long time member and contributor but am rethinking my support."

First of all, this extreme action didn't have to take place. This is a dilemma that was created by the zoo. If there was no zoo, this dilemma would not have existed.

Secondly, this wolf's life is no more precious than the chicken's life which became your last meal of McNuggets.

Thirdly, support for the zoo should not occur if you truly regard the lives there as precious. I know that this wolf is a member of an endangered species, but that doesn't mean his individual life is intrinsically more precious than any other animal's.

And let's not forget the reason this species is on extinction's door: human hunting of wolves. Speciesism feeds speciesism. On the one hand, humans have nearly eradicated Mexican gray wolves. On the other hand, humans are confining Mexican gray wolves in hopes of saving the species.

But what good is a species? A species is a concept. A species doesn't have feelings. A species doesn't care if it's extinct.

What matters - who matters - are the individual members of species. But it's the individual members who are routinely confined, abused and killed. We confine them in zoos. We further encroach on their habitats with urban sprawl. We clear-cut rain forests so we can have cheap cow flesh (and we kill cows for flesh). We kill 23 million individual chickens per day in the United States alone.

Looking at the patterns of abuse and disregard, it's obvious that the overwhelming majority of we humans could care less about individual members of species. It's almost comical to me then, that we go to such lengths to save species.

---

Anna and the Aquarium

Needless to say, my family doesn't go to zoos. The potential for escaped carnivores doesn't really come in to play when we make that choice; the right of animals to live free from ownership and exploitation does. Our sense of justice does.

That said, a few weeks ago Anna's class took a field trip to the Mall of America's underground aquarium, Minnesota Sea Life. We talked with Anna about it before hand and told her that she could go if she wants, or she could stay home. She said she wanted to go. She said she thought fish shouldn't be in cages, but she also wanted to go to see what it's like. She said she would maybe ask the people who worked there if they could let the fish go.

But she was sick that day. So she didn't go after all.

Her teacher and I were talking about it today and she said she was glad Anna wasn't there. There were a lot of dead animals that the kids could look at up close. Like a dead turtle, for example.

How many kids wondered what the turtle's life was like? What lessons did they learn by gazing upon this deceased individual's lifeless form?

What lessons did they learn by looking at the living beings trapped behind glass?

---
Further Reading

After writing this post, I looked online for critiques of zoos from an animal rights perspective. The following pieces are worth taking a look at (note: I don't necessarily endorse all views expressed on the sites at the other end of these links):

Should Zoos Keep Endangered Species? by Doris Lin
What's Wrong With Zoos? by Gary Yourofsky
Zoos by Wanda Embar at Vegan Peace

UPDATE: The Animal Rights Coalition has released a statement in regard to the shooting of the wolf. You can read it here.

Liam Sings Annie

2011-05-25T08:47:00.000-05:00

I wasn't kidding about Annie. At any given point in our house you can hear a song from the movie coming from one of my kids' mouths. Liam hardly watches the movie, but he knows the songs because Anna sings them all the time. Here he is singing the medley Anna and I sang for her talent show.

Activism of the Waffle and Educational Kind

2011-05-23T21:17:00.001-05:00

The Global Vegan Waffle Party is nearly upon us. The Animal Rights Coalition is putting it on again this year, and if it's anything like it was last year, it'll be awesome.

The event will take place from 10-12 at Fuller Park on 48th St. and Grand Ave. (indoors at the little rec center there) in Minneapolis. The Facebook invite for the par-tay is here.

But maybe you don't live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Check out the Global Vegan Waffle Party page here to see a list of parties across the world.

And check out this collage they have on their site:

Anna's there in the far upper right corner. She is now famous.

I'm of the mind that having community pot-lucks and parties like this are a great way to open people up to delicious food that doesn't involve the oppression of other animals. It's a legitimate form of activism.

Events like this also foster community within the animal rights movement, which I think is important. Almost all of us want to belong to a community of some sort. The reason for that (at least in this instance) is not to insulate ourselves from the outside world, but instead to get our bearings, get refreshed, share ideas and commune with those who have, in their own time and way, come to view the world as we have. It's not essential, but it's damn close.

---

Speaking of the Animal Rights Coalition, I've been volunteering for them for a while now and I keep meaning to write about how I came to do that, but never get around with it. I won't it in this post, either. But soon...

---

After the waffle party, I'm co-facilitating a workshop called Help! I'm going vegan! with Dallas Rising, ARC's program director. We've done this once before and it went really well.

So now we're doing it again as part of ARC's Vegan University program, which includes these workshops, grocery tours and ongoing mentorship for new vegans and people who are transitioning to veganism.

Cool logo, huh? 'Like' the Vegan University page here if you've been wanting to find the vegan you.

The workshop will be on May 28th from 1-3 at Ethique Nouveau, ARC's store where all proceeds from sales go directly into their animal advocacy programs.

Anyway, this is the type of volunteering that I simply adore: Helping people go vegan. If I could do nothing but this all day (when I'm not taking care of my kids and cooking, going out with my wife, etc.) I totally would.

Talent Show

2011-05-16T08:56:00.000-05:00

The talent show at Anna's school was on Friday. Here's our number:

Art and Annie

2011-05-11T21:46:00.000-05:00

First of all, this blog now has a Facebook page. You can click here and like it if you want. I'll mainly use that page for linking to these blog posts as well as to other things related to veganism, parenting and vegan parenting.

All right, now on to the art.

Anna has produced a lot of art this year at school. We have kept most of it, recycled very little. I was going through it all with her the other day and picked out some of my favorites to scan in.

I really like the color and composition of these first two. She started doing things like this half-way through the school year. She was talking about missing us while she was at school and we suggested that she could draw us pictures when she feels sad about it. I can't remember if that's what these two are about, but here they are anyway.

Here's one of our family. Left to right: Daddy, Anna, Mommy, Liam. This is an earlier one, I think. She's now adding big boxes on the arms and legs for clothing.

Here is a page full of hearts (I think she said it was a hundred hearts, but I counted and it's more like 120). She said, "This is how much I love you."

Here is Venus and Outer Space. The word "venus" is written in there, but it's hiding. You could always click on the photo to view it larger if you really want to see it.

And last but not least: Annie. Anna has become obsessed with Annie. She loves the movie and the music. She sings it all day long. Hell, I sing it all day long. We have become an Annie family. When Anna draws pictures now, sometimes she'll sign them "Annie," and laugh hysterically when she shows us what she did. She loves Annie so much that this Friday, at her school's talent show, her and I are going to perform an Annie medley duet. I'll post video on the blog, assuming all goes well. This will be her first time singing in front of an audience.

Wish us to break a leg!

Oh yeah, she added hearts to this drawing. Because really, what's anything without hearts? Also, the writing there on the right says "4 and she turned 5," which is something that her little head just came up with and wanted to write down. Cool, huh?

Trampoline

2011-05-07T19:56:00.001-05:00

Jen (my wife) had this great idea last fall. She thought that the kids would be playing less outside once the snow started flying, so she bought a trampoline. The kids love it. Their mom is super smart.

So here are a couple videos involving the trampoline. The first is Anna doing a routine that she and Jen worked out. The music is from Yo Gabba Gabba, here.

I know this video pretty dark, but you get the gist.

And here's a video of them flipping over the safety bar. Isn't it great how kids do that? Take something that's meant to make things safer and use it to make it more dangerous?

This flipping business was Liam's idea. I just looked over one day and he was flipping over the bar. I, of course, encouraged more flipping.

Anna's First Correction of "It"

2011-03-23T16:30:00.001-05:00

So Anna's starting to read. It's really exciting.

Yesterday she was reading a Biscuit book, which are early reading books about a dog, Biscuit, who does things and says "Woof!" (I should write ad copy for children's books.) The one she was reading had a frog hopping on a log.

"The frog hopped on the log," she read and turned the page.

"It was..." she stopped, "Wait, that shouldn't say 'it,' it should say 'he.' I'm going to change it. He was hot on top of the log."

I told her she's right that we shouldn't refer to animals as "it", but corrected the change in this specific instance, since it was analogous to saying, "It's hot outside." The "it" in the book referred to the temperature of the log, not the frog. (Yes, she understood. And yes, I'm the son of an English teacher.)

But still, I'm pleased to see that she's understanding that animals aren't "its" and that they are, in fact, "hes" and "shes," or if you're unsure, "hes or shes," or the always generic but useful "theys."

I have, of course, talked to her about this subject before. If we lived in a world that didn't use words like "it" to describe sentient individuals, I wouldn't have to talk with her about it. But we do. So I do.

When I read a book that refers to an animal as "it" I will change the word to either "he" or "she" often without mentioning that I'm doing it. She knows that I do it though, because I will occasionally tell her when I make the change.

I will also change, for example, a mention of eggs (if they're being eaten by someone) to tofu. Again, I don't mention it to her every time I do it, but I have told her that I do it and I've explained that I change the words because I don't think the way it's written is nice to animals.

The time will come pretty soon when she will know exactly when I do this, and soon after that she'll read them on her own, and she'll realize just how many of her books refer to animals in this way. She may be surprised or dismayed, but I doubt it. She's very used to being the only vegan in a situation (for example, her class at school) and she knows full well that most people aren't vegan. She seems to be comfortable with those facts (though if you ask her, she'll tell you that she'd like everyone to be vegan).

She probably gets that from her dad.

Anyway, to make this long story shorter, she hasn't even fully learned to read yet and she's already correcting speciesist language. Go vegan kids!

Veggie Nugget #33

2011-03-15T19:49:00.001-05:00

"Some people feel threatened by the prospect that in recognizing and upholding the dignity of other living beings, we betray our own dignity as a species. It should rather be asked how the human species gains dignity by creating worlds such as this for anyone to live in. Can one regard a fellow creature as a property item, an investment, a piece of meat, an "it," without degenerating into cruelty and dishonesty towards that creature? Human slavery was brutal. Does anyone really believe that nonhuman slavery operates on a higher plane?"

Karen Davis, from her book Prisoned Chickens Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry (REVISED ED)

(Note: I would make a few cents or something if you bought this book on Amazon by clicking on that link. If you would like me to not make money on your purchase of this book (and seriously, I'm totally OK with that) just go to Amazon via a different route and buy it that way.)

Squirrel: Episode III

2011-03-08T14:48:00.000-06:00

Well, the squirrel was released last Thursday, thus bringing the saga to an end, at least as far as I'm concerned. For all I know, he has a few years left of being a squirrel.

My friend Threse, who volunteers at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota and was nice enough to coordinate his release with me, took this photo of the squirrel shortly before his release.

Looks way healthier than when I saw him a month ago.

Here's video of the release. Anna got to watch. Liam was taking a nap.

So yeah, I'm thinking of donating and/or volunteering at the WRC at some point in the near future. Seems like a place full of hope.

A ... video! And Pictures. And another video.

2011-03-02T18:01:00.000-06:00

It seems like it's been a while since I've posted a video of the kids. Here you go.

In it, they talk about our upcoming trip to North Dakota to celebrate their youngest cousin's first birthday. Then they sing. Then we talk about the gash in Liam's lip, which he got when he fell down at an indoor playground. I didn't see it happen, but I assume his upper teeth cut into his lower lip. There was blood everywhere. He was playing again about 20 minutes later.

The Kids Talk and Sing and Stuff from Al Nowatzki on Vimeo.

Here are some photos of Liam's lip, just because.

I swear, I did not tell him to make this face.

Or this one.

Liam thought that since I was taking photos of him, he should get a blanket out and lay down on it. Then he asked me to take photos of him lying on the blanket. I obliged.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the squirrel I brought in to the rehabilitation center is going to be released this Thursday. Possibly photos and/or video to come.

Bonus video:

Rock and Roll! from Al Nowatzki on Vimeo.

Squirrel Update

2011-02-16T15:36:00.001-06:00

I received an email from my friend who works at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in regard to the squirrel I brought in last Friday. It turns out that my completely random guess at his gender was correct. He's a boy. She said that there was an abcess on his back that was drained. The redness I thought I saw on his hands turned out to be nothing. She also said:

I looked in on him and he was lying in his hammock and growled at me. Good sign.

I'm cautiously optimistic that as long as the antibiotics do what they should, this case will have a positive outcome.

Yay!

The WRC actually had an open house this last Sunday. Anna and I went. Upon arrival Anna got to pick out an "injured" stuffed animal and take it through the various steps an animal would go through when they are treated.

She picked out a duck. It had a fractured leg and wing. We went to radiology and saw what an x-ray of a fractured leg would look like, had a bandage put on the ducks wing, made a quick visit to parasitology to rid it of fleas and such and finally brought the duck to the ward to get it all set up in a cage.

I really hate that word. Cage. But that's what they are. And I explained to Anna that the cages are there so that the people at WRC can help the animals heal and eventually be released to their home. I also told her that the animals may not realize that, so they might be scared of the cage and of the people trying to help.

Anna decided to call them kennels instead.

We watched a slide-show about how the place works and it showed the various animals they rehabilitate. Whenever the presenter would say how many animals they take in (for example, something like 2,000 rabbits, if I remember correctly) Anna would say, "Wow, that's a lot!"

I agree with her. That is a lot. They take in thousands of animals every year, rehabilitate those they can and give a painless death to those who don't have a chance of making it. I feel lucky to have this place in my backyard.

Oh, and we didn't get to see any of the animals currently being rehabilitated there, because of an agreement that the WRC has with the DNR. As much as I wanted to see them all, it makes sense. That many people walking around would scare most of them, and it's not really the intent of the WRC to showcase live animals. It makes me respect them even more.

My friend at the WRC said she'll let me know when they release the squirrel, and they'll do it right where I found him. There's no way to know how long the rehabilitation will take, but when he's released I'll post another update, hopefully with photos of the little guy running back home.

The Life I Did Save

2011-02-11T17:02:00.001-06:00

I saved a squirrel today.

Well, I don't know for sure that I saved him. He may have lived without my help, but it didn't look like things were going that way. And I'm not sure of the gender, but in my head the squirrel is a "him," so that's what I'm going with until I find out differently.

Anna carpools to school with our neighbor. It was their turn to drive, so I watched Anna as she crossed the street, but then I looked down toward my neighbor's house and there they were, Anna's friend and her mom, standing on the street with a cat and a squirrel.

It's important to note that the squirrels in the Twin Cities are not fans of humans. When my wife and I were in San Francisco, at Golden Gate Park, squirrels walked right up to us, stood on their hind legs and basically begged for food. I assume it's like that in some other metropolitan areas as well. But not in the TC. Squirrels cannot run fast enough from humans. If I look in my backyard in the summer, I'll usually see a couple squirrels running around, but when I go out there with the kids, they are nowhere to be seen. So it's a big deal that this squirrel was just walking slowly around two humans on the road.

I walked over there with Anna and checked it out. The cat was just following the squirrel around. Not swatting at him or trying to eat him, as far as I could tell. She was just watching, probably weirded out as we were by the fact that he wasn't running away.

The squirrel seemed to be limping a bit, and after a while we noticed that his hands (or at least one of them) were swollen and red and he had a large lump on his back. Anna and her friend got really close to him and I was worried about rabies, what with our bat experience in the fall. (Holy crap! I forgot to write about our bat experience! I should totally do that.) I suggested they stay a bit further away, but I couldn't blame them for wanting to get close. He was cute and squirrels always run away. Hell, I even wanted to pet the little guy. But instead I ran to my house, got our recycling bin and a piece of an apple. (Do squirrels eat apples? I don't know.)

I was sort of expecting him to run away from me when I approached, but he just sat in the middle of the road and didn't move a muscle. I put the bin on its side on the road and asked him nicely to get in. He didn't. So I moved it right up to him and gave him a gentle pat on the butt with my boot. He crawled in and cowered in the corner. He didn't make an attempt to climb out or anything.

The cat watched all of this from the side of the road.

I brought him into my porch and gave him a little piece of bread, just in case he wanted some carbs. He just huddled in the corner of the bin, scared shitless.

He almost didn't even look like a squirrel to me, he was so still. I went inside and called the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. They said to bring him in, so I did.

On the way there, I kept glancing in the rearview mirror at the recycling bin, scared of two things happening:

1. The squirrel dies en route.
2. The squirrel, refreshed by the heat in the vehicle, jumps out of the recycling bin and starts tearing shit up.

Luckily, neither of these happened. I brought him into the WRC, they said they'd take a look at him. While I was there a woman came in with a box. "Squirrel?" I asked. "Duck," she said. I filled out a form and left.

Here's how I felt: Heroic.

You'll hear vegans say they save lives just by being vegan, but that's not really accurate. We reduce demand, but that doesn't mean there are animals on farms who won't be killed because of someone's vegan choices. Instead, the reduction in demand that vegans create would ideally cause a lessening in demand, thus lessening the amount of animals bought into existence for the sole purpose of being used as a resource. Unfortunately, animal consumption is still on the rise, so the 1% or so of the US population who are vegan don't actually create a net reduction in animals brought into existence for the sole purpose of being used as a resource. It's less of more of the same, instead of less of an equal amount of the same.

I don't feel, on a day to day basis, like I'm saving lives. And I'm not. So bringing this squirrel in has created a much different feeling in me. I'd imagine it's similar to what those involved in open rescues feel when they free animals from farms. "You were going to suffer and die, but because of my actions, you have a much better chance at living a longer life with less suffering."

It's gratifying and alluring. I also feel that it's also sort of ... I don't know. If we're serious about respecting animal interests, then I think the best thing we could do right now is to challenge speciesism on a daily basis with our every-day actions. If we want to built a serious movement, then we need to show that a life without animal exploitation is possible and help people to take the view that animals are moral persons to whom we have obligations, chiefly among them the obligation to not use them as as resources.

This is not to say open rescues and wildlife rehabilitation aren't important. Indeed, to the lives they save, they are the most important thing (since they result in the lessening of suffering and the continuation of life). I guess I'm just trying to say that as long as we live in a society which so routinely devalues non-human animals and treats them as things instead of beings, we probably need to place most of our focus on educating others that, as Joanna Lucas from Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary (an organization that saves lives and educates the public on veganism) has said, "The value of a sentient life is not measured in its utility to others, but in its immense, irreplaceable value to the being whose life it is."

Another angle of thought that this all brings up: I've had a problem in the past with fully supporting wildlife rehabilitation. There's a part of me which thinks that if a wild (or to use a term more accurate: free living) animal is harmed, then that's just part of the life cycle and some predator somewhere will be better off for it. I have felt that by interfering, even to save these animals, we potentially harm ecosystems.

But those thoughts sort of flew out the window when I saw this little squirrel who was obviously injured. I just wanted him to be OK.

I brought this point up to one of the people at the WRC and asked her how she felt about it. She said that there are cases where it's obvious that we shouldn't interfere. She said someone once brought in a mouse that she saved from a hawk who was attacking him/her. But, she said, when a rabbit is hit by a car, or a squirrel is injured by a cat (which may well have been the case with the squirrel I brought in), the injury is due to our interference. By trying to save these animals, we're negating a very small portion of harmful effects our presence has already created.

Because we kill squirrels all the time. About four years ago I ran over one with my car. I can still feel the crunch of his bones. Last year a squirrel died after falling into our chimney. I still remember the smell of death when a nice man came out to remove the carcass (we found out about it because we heard a grinding noise when we turned on our furnace ... and yes, I've since wrapped chicken wire around our chimney). We're responsible for so much unintentional harm to animals. When we have the opportunity to save one of those animals, even when we don't know how they arrived at the injured state they're in, I say go for it.

I'm even thinking of keeping a box in my car in case I come across any more injured free-living non-human animals.

And in case you're wondering, I'll post an update on the blog once I find out how the squirrel is doing. I hope to know next week.

Being

2011-01-26T21:40:00.000-06:00

I was explaining to Anna why we don't call an animal an "it" today and I said something like, "This pepper grinder is a thing, so we say 'it' when we're talking about it. But a dog, let's say Bonnie [our friend's dog], we know that she's a girl and she has a brain so she's a she and not an it. She's a ..."

"She's a being," Anna said.

I don't remember defining "being" for her, but I must have a long time ago. Anyway, I just got a kick out of it. I actually wanted to say being, but wasn't sure if she would know what that meant and if it would lead into another ten minutes of explaining concepts. Not that I don't love those conversations. I do. But it was almost nap time.

Snow Fun

2010-12-22T10:32:00.000-06:00

Dug a cave last weekend.

Show and Tell

2010-11-23T13:56:00.000-06:00

Anna brought this for show and tell. The letter of the week was C, so she brought a collage. She cut out pictures from a Farm Sanctuary magazine, arranged them and glued them to paper. All by herself (with some help).

As always, click on the photo to see it larger.

The Halloween That Was

2010-11-22T15:32:00.000-06:00

Well, it's the middle of November. I've failed miserably at VeganMoFo, my son is sick with the pukes and I have a folder on my desktop titled "Halloween" that's been staring me in the face for a while now.

I'm officially bowing out of VeganMoFo. It was fun while it lasted, but it didn't last long enough. Maybe next year I'll go back to a more traditional food-based theme.

So, here are some photos from Halloween. Get comfortable. There's a lot.

Vegkins had a Halloween potluck party the weekend before Halloween. I didn't have much time to take photos, so here are the two that I got of Liam in his bee costume:

And this is the only one I got of Anna in her duck costume. The thing on her back is the duck head that she wears like a hood. You'll just have to trust me that it was cute.

We went to North Dakota for Halloween to celebrate my eldest brother's 40th birthday. It was a surprise party, Star Wars themed.

Here's my family. Leia and 3PO made some cute kids, huh?

My costume was ... um ... a little tight.

And the kids when wild.

Cousin Joe rocked the lightsaber.

Cousin Zach rocked the blaster.

Cousin Ella rocked the hair and the lightsaber.

There was a time, not too long ago, that the blasters and light sabers would have bothered me. But I'm fine with it now, and I actually see it as a potentially positive outlet and exploration. Which reminds me, I need to finish reading Killing Monsters and then write a review of it.

Zach and his dad, Jango Fett.

My sister-in-law is nothing if not creative. Check out the ice in this punch bowl.

Cousin Henry was one of three Yodas.

My brother Mike won the award for most creative costume.

And his daughter Kate (the newest addition to our ever-growing brood), won the award for cutest. There's a cat in Star Wars, right?

Henry regards Kate.

Henry kisses Kate.

Ella tickles Anna.

That night, the brothers rented some ice time and played hockey. We're not a big hockey-playing family. Our school was too small to have a hockey team. But we all enjoyed skating growing up, and tried to play hockey on the small slab of ice the volunteer fire department would make beside the firehouse.

Anyway, it was fun and exhausting and now I sort of want to start playing hockey for fun again.

The next day (which was Halloween), we drove back to St. Paul, but made an extended stop at cousin Zach's to go trick-or-treating. This was in Buffalo, which is about an hour north of St. Paul.

You may or may not remember back in September when I posted photos of some pumpkins in my dad's garden. He carved the kids' names into them with a nail. This is what they ended up looking like. Pretty cool.

Liam really got into trick-or-treating. We pulled him around in a wagon and he wanted to get out for each house. It was really fun.

In case you're wondering, the kids traded candy at the end of the night. Anna and Liam gave all of their non-vegan stuff to cousin Zach and Zach gave most of his vegan stuff to Anna and Liam.

Anna still doesn't really seem to care about not having non-vegan stuff (and she's not one to keep her feelings hidden, so if she cared, we would know about it). I keep waiting for that to change, but maybe it won't. We talk every once in a while about why we don't eat non-vegan food, and who knows, maybe she actually understands and genuinely doesn't want to eat it.

This is what our pumpkin looked like when we got back home (the one in the middle has a hole in it, created by an industrious squirrel, I think). It was a wet and warm week in the lead-up to Halloween. Now it's freezing and there's snow on the ground. What a difference a few weeks make.

And just the for hell of it, here are more photos of Liam in his R2-D2 costume.

You can see his fake smile in these first two.

I don't think I'll be posting anything else before Thanksgiving, so have a happy one!

VeganMoFo Day 11 - Oatmeal and Applesauce

2010-11-11T21:58:00.000-06:00

Most of these songs I'm posting on here were recorded when Anna was a baby/toddler. She loved oatmeal and applesauce, so of course I sang songs about it.

Liam liked/likes things too, but I don't sing as much as I used to. It might have something to do with having less time. Or maybe he doesn't react to them in the same positive way Anna used to. Or maybe I've just died a bit inside after having a second kid? Who knows?

VeganMoFo Day 9 - Potato Masher

2010-11-09T14:35:00.000-06:00

The kids especially liked this one.

But it hurts my throat to sing it, so they don't get to hear it much.

VeganMoFo Day 7 - Mashed Potatoes

2010-11-07T10:29:00.000-06:00

Here's Anna singing a song about mashed potatoes a year and a month ago.

Here friend Ella was over. She did not want to sing along.

I'm actually making mashed potatoes today. I don't have a recipe to give, but I can say that the ingredients I find really make mashed potatoes are green onions, garlic salt and cream cheese. A friend of mine tipped me off to cream cheese in mashed potatoes last year and holy crap is it good. I use this stuff.

He also suggested I use a hand blender to fluff them up. It works brilliantly.

VeganMoFo Day 4 - Apple Butter (Song and Recipe)

2010-11-04T21:33:00.001-05:00

Oh, apple butter.

Nothing says autumn quite like it. I usually make enough in the fall to at least get me to the first big snowfall. This year I made a double batch, 11 pounds' worth of apples, which should get me there even though I've given quite a bit of it away.

I don't usually make conscious efforts when choosing the style my songs will be in (in fact, my song "writing" process is pretty much unconscious from start to finish), but I'd like to think that subconsciously I sang this song in a monotonous tone in order to signify winter's slowly yet steadily approaching march.

It just gets colder and colder here and we all sit around waiting for the snow, wondering how we're going to deal with it when it gets here. And then all of a sudden, plop, down drops a few inches and it seems to only take one time leaving the house to get used to the new snow-covered reality.

Anyway, apple butter:

Here's the recipe my mom gave me a few years ago. My mom prefers to cut back on the spices so she can taste the apples more, but I really like that cinnamony clovey taste, so I put in the full amount.

All Day Apple Butter

5 1/2 pounds apples, peeled and finely chopped (no bigger than one inch)
4 cups sugar (or a cup less, if you want)
2 to 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon (or less if you want)
1/4 tsp. ground cloves (or 1/8 tsp.)
1/4 tsp. salt

-Place chopped apples in crock pot.
-Combine sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt; pour over apples and mix well.

-Cover and cook on high for 1 hour.
-Reduce heat to low; cover and cook for 9-11 hours or until thickened and dark brown, stirring occasionally (stir more frequently as it thickens to prevent sticking)
-Uncover and cook on low 1 hour longer. If desired stir with a wire whisk until smooth.
-Spoon into freezer containers, leaving 1/2 inch head-space.
-Cover and refrigerate or freeze.

Yield: 4 pints.

This freezes and thaws really nicely, so don't worry about making too much.

This year, I used an immersion blender. It really smoothed out everything, which actually was a bit of a drawback for me. I don't like my apple butter to be chunky, but I do like it to have a bit of texture. I think next year I'll stick with just letting the apples dissolve, helping them along with a whisk.

Oh, and I use Haralson's because those are the apples that, until this year, my dad grew in his yard. He used to have five trees, I think. The last one had to be chopped down last fall (or was it this spring?), so this is the first year I've had to buy the apples I make apple butter with. The money doesn't bother me, I just liked the idea of using apples from the trees I grew up with.

I suppose this is just a small reminder that I'm actually aging. Outliving the trees from my youth and all...

VeganMoFo Day 3 - Mommy Didn't Clean the Bib

2010-11-03T16:14:00.000-05:00

Here's another song from when Anna was a baby/toddler. There would be times when I'd have her all ready to eat and I'd reach for her bib and it would be dirty (we had one really good bib, and a bunch of crappy ones). Sometimes, it was Jen's fault that the bib was dirty.

The song that follows is what went through my head whenever I saw that dirty bib. In a way, I'm making fun of myself here.

So yeah. I'd see that bib and the first place my mind went was some sort of melodramatic, tragic Meatloaf song or something. Which is ridiculous, right? I mean, it was just a dirty bib.

But I love the kitchen. And I like things to be the way I want them to be. But reality is, and a dirty bib isn't the end of the world.

I need to constantly remind myself that the little annoyances in my life aren't really worth getting worked up over. A messy eater? Big deal. Some playdough got worked into the carpet? That happens. The garlic press wasn't soaked immediately after use? Meh.

These things aren't really worth the seconds that I spend worrying about them. Especially when there are more pressing matters for me to get worked up about (like racism, sexism, speciesism and the downward spiral of my nation's political landscape ... just to name a few).

That's not to say that we shouldn't look for ways to make our everyday lives run more smoothly (for example, labeling your spice jars so you don't have to smell them to see what they are ... which reminds me that I should do one or two Obvious Kitchen Tips this MoFo). I'm all for working smarter, not harder.

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't sweat the small stuff. It's not all small stuff. But some of it is. So ... try not to sweat it.

Side note: I want to make sure everyone knows that I don't think these songs are actually good. I don't even like most of the styles of music I'm singing in. They're just stupid little songs that I sing to make my kids laugh.

VeganMoFo Day 2 - Avocado

2010-11-02T10:38:00.004-05:00

Avocados were a staple of Anna's diet when she started to wean. She loooooved them. So much so, that I wrote this little ditty. Then I added some Garage Band music which I played with the keyboard (the computer keyboard, that is). I don't really know how to play music, so it was all done by ear, which took some doing.

Anyway, most of the songs I post this month won't have instrumental accompaniment, so don't worry.

Liam doesn't eat as much avocado as Anna did when she was his age. Which is sort of a bummer. But he does eat tomato sauce and Anna never did (and rarely does now). So that's nice.

VeganMoFo Day 1 - Waffles for Everyone

2010-11-01T08:07:00.029-05:00

VeganMoFo is here!

VeganMoFo is a month-long on-line festival of food where participants from around the world blog about food at least five times a week for a whole month.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that posting five times a week is not my forte. So we'll see how it goes this year.

I had this idea a couple years ago (which was the last time I did VeganMoFo) that I would record a song for each day of VeganMoFo and post it on the blog.

Being a stay-at-home dad, it seems like I spend at least half of my day in the kitchen making food for the kids, or thinking about food for the kids or cleaning up food from the kids. And in order to break up the monotony, keep my sanity and entertain the kids, I often make up little songs about the food I'm making, or the utensil I use while making it (I have this great ditty about a potato masher that you'll hear at some point this month).

So here it goes. Day 1. Song 1. This is the first song I ever recorded on my MacBook when Anna was a year old or so. I originally titled it Waffles, but have since decided to call it Waffles for Everyone. Has a better ring to it.

I tried to go for an Elvis Costello feel for this one, in case you can't tell. Oh, and Anna was sitting on my lap when I recorded it. She sang along.

So yes. Prepare for a month of ridiculousness courtesy of These Little Piggies Had Tofu.

Boo!

2010-10-30T13:35:00.003-05:00

Each year on Halloween we here in the Piggy household dine on the flesh of innocents, and this year is no different.

In past years, the kid(s) have feasted on a free range backyard human, conventionally raised store-bought human from the supermarket (2008 was a tight year for us financially) and last year it was backyard cats.

This year, I've been thinking a lot about the idea that if you couldn't kill an animal yourself, then you shouldn't eat animals. So I thought I'd better teach my kids to kill if we're going to keep going with this tradition. It's either that, or stop the tradition. And since you couldn't tear tradition from my cold, dead hands, I guess I have no choice but to teach the kiddos to kill.

So we cornered this bunny in the back yard. First, I set Liam loose, but all he wanted to do was pet the little guy.

Then I asked Anna to kill him for me (I'm squeamish, I'll admit). She didn't want to at first. She asked me how I knew he was a "him" and that's when I realized a mistake I've been making all this time.

"It," I said, "I meant 'it.' Now kill it please."

Reducing the bunny to a thing by using "it" instead of "he" or "she" seemed to put her at a bit more at ease. So she went after "it" with nothing but her bare hands. After an hour of abject failure, I decided to help her out by whittling a spear out of a fallen branch.

Anna looked on quietly as I shaved one end to a deadly point. She finally said, "Isn't that sort of like cheating, Daddy?"

"No, Anna. It's not cheating. It's natural. Our brains evolved the ability to make tools and weapons, which sort of makes it the opposite of cheating."

Then she said something about nuclear weapons and I told her to be quiet while daddy whittled.

Long story short, we had bunny for lunch. The kids weren't big fans of the bunny by himself, so I made some of him - I mean "it" - into a meat smoothie for Anna:

As you can see, she really got into it. These are the piercing eyes of a daughter whose father made her kill a bunny.

I pureed the other parts into a squash tomato bisque for Liam (you know how kids are with texture):

"My daddy wuvs me so much he made my big sister kill a bunny wabbit!"

Who knows what fleshly delights next Halloween will bring...

Happy Halloween!

For the record, Anna's drinking a banana, soy yogurt, hemp seed, flax oil, strawberry, blueberry, spinach smoothie (recipe here). And Liam's eating curried squash tomato bisque. I'll probably post the recipe for that during next month's VeganMoFo.

Bruce Friedrich Debates Bruce Friedrich’s Monster

2010-10-18T09:00:00.001-05:00

I’m going to start this post with a disclaimer of sorts. I generally don’t write about animal rights theory on this blog unless it relates to my family. Though I frequently read animal rights books, blogs and consider myself well versed on animal rights theory, this blog is about raising my kids. So I don’t tend to focus on theory too much. Also, there are others who articulate animal rights theory much better than I do, and I feel that what I would write in this blog would be a repetition of what they already eloquently say.

But today I'm going to break character and delve into animal rights, specifically the debate within the larger animal activist movement about how best to spend our time advocating for animals. If you’re here to look at pictures of my kids, this probably isn’t the post for you. On the other hand, if you consider PeTA an animal rights organization, maybe this is the post for you.

___

I went to a debate on Friday night and I need to write about it. My thoughts about this are like a raging fire in my brain, actually, and I’m pretty sure the only way to extinguish it is to relate how frustrating the experience was for me, and maybe to help you feel some of my frustration (as Bleeding Gums Murphy once said, “The blues isn’t about feeling better, it’s about making other people feel worse!”).

The debate, titled “Is Meat Ethical?”, was between PeTA vice president Bruce Friedrich and a member of the University of Minnesota debate team whose first name was Nick. I didn’t catch his last name.

I arrived about ten minutes early and a couple members of Compassionate Action for Animals (CAA) were handing out leaflets for their Veg Week. A young woman asked me if I wanted a brochure and I said sure. CAA is a local new welfarist animal activist group.

Hold on. Some of you might not know what I mean when I say “new welfarist”. In a nutshell, new welfarists (like PeTA) focus on the treatment of animals and spend time and money trying to incrementally improve that treatment. They have the long-term goal of animal liberation, but they focus most of their money, energy and time on regulating industry rather than educating the public about veganism.

CAA is a new welfarist organization which focuses primarily on educating the public, though they have also done work with industry and declared incremental changes as victories. They have a “Veg Week” and encourage people to go vegan or vegetarian, confusing the drastic difference between the two and perpetuating the idea that the average person doesn’t have the wherewithal to understand a cogent argument and choose to be vegan without first being vegetarian or without first reducing their meat intake or cutting meat out one day a week, etc.

I’m not picking on CAA here, I’m just trying to convey who they are and what they believe (as an organization).

In regard to the new welfarist ideas on reductions in animal suffering, I personally don’t think that supposed short-term reductions in suffering are anything to toot your horn about.

First, how do you quantify suffering? How do you know that birds crammed onto a floor are suffering less than birds crammed into cages?

Second, when an animal organization declares one type of exploitation as being better than another type, they implicitly encourage people to purchase that “better” product of exploitation.

Third, there has been animal welfare for about a couple centuries now, and we’re using more animals in more horrible ways then we ever have before. Animal welfare doesn’t reduce demand. If it did, demand would have been reduced by now, instead of growing exponentially.

I’m an abolitionist vegan, which means that instead of advocating for bigger cages or no cages, I advocate for no ownership at all. Abolitionism is, as far as I’m concerned, the only logically consistent approach to animal rights.

Dan Cudahy put all of this better than I ever could in his essay, Abolition versus New Welfarism: A Contrast in Theory and Practice. I suggest giving it a read.

And while your at it, read Prof. Gary Francione’s piece, The Four Problems of Animal Welfare: In a Nutshell.

If you’re one of my readers who doesn’t read a lot about animal issues, you might think the differences between welfare and abolition are like the differences between two slightly different religions, where one kneels during prayer and the other doesn't for example, and you’d be excused for thinking so. But for people who think about these things and engage in animal advocacy, it's clear that the differences between abolitionism and new welfarism are quite pronounced and that they have real-world consequences.

___

OK, that was one hell of a diversion, but I wanted to provide some context for the debate.

So the debate started and Bruce Friedrich was introduced and here’s the first thing he said:

“Why do University of Iowa graduates put their diplomas in their car window? So they can park in handicap zones.”

Oh yes he did! He started off with an ableist joke. As VP of a profoundly sexist organization, this didn’t surprise me.

Friedrich went on to say in his opening comments that as long as you oppose being wasteful with food, oppose global poverty and animal cruelty (he presented them in that order), then you’ll agree with him that eating meat is unethical. He didn’t need to talk about the first two points at all to make his case, but he did, which left the debate wide open, unfocused and wasted a lot of time. More time was spent debating the economics of global poverty than debating whether or not animals should be treated as resources.

Friedrich said that the only ethical diet is a diet that avoids meat. He did use the word “vegan” a couple times, but he also used “vegetarian” and he used them interchangeably. Is it any wonder that people are confused about what these words mean?

After closing his arguments about meat being unethical he undercut them by showing the first minute or so of Meet Your Meat.

Meet Your Meat (a video Friedrich co-directed) is a film that focuses exclusively on the animals at factory farmes. So yet again, he left the debate wide open and basically invited his debater to talk about the virtues of “happy meat” and “humanely” raised animals. In fact, there were times when both of them seemed to completely agree on the point that supposedly humane raising and slaughter of animals is commendable.

Part of Nick’s counter-argument, of course, was that the problem isn’t meat, but the way the animals are raised. He maintained that there were ways of doing it that gave animals good lives and that killing them for meat wasn’t necessarily wrong. To buttress this idea, he quoted Peter Singer. He called Singer the father of the animal rights movement, a title that is often attributed to him.

Singer himself is not a rightist though, and he doesn’t actually argue for animal rights (the term appears in his book Animal Liberation, but he later said he regretted ever using it). He’s not vegan, he promotes welfare reforms and maintains that death is not a harm for non-human animals. For a critique of Singer’s views, I suggest reading the essay “Peter Singer and the Welfarist Position on the Lesser Value of Nonhuman Life” by Prof. Gary Francione.

So where would Nick have gotten this crazy idea that Singer, a man who says there’s nothing inherently wrong with killing animals, is a proponent of animal rights? Why, from Bruce Friedrich’s PeTA, of course! When you click on “read more” under “Why Animal Rights” on PeTA’s home page, there’s Singer’s book, Animal Liberation.

(For an analysis of the myriad contradictions of PeTA, I suggest reading Dan Cudahy's essay, PeTA, a Corporate Tangle of Contradictions.)

Nick also said that hunting gives animals a nice clean end to their lives instead of starving to death and that it manages populations which lessens suffering of deer.

Friedrich’s response to this wasn’t that we shouldn’t kill deer because they have an interest in living their lives and that to ignore that interest for unnecessary reasons is wrong. No, instead he said that Nick was wrong on his population point because hunting actually increases populations since deer breed more when under duress.

So … Friedrich’s argument is that people shouldn’t hunt because if they do there will be more deer?

Wouldn’t you expect the VP of an animal rights organization to instead defend a deer’s right to live free from unnecessary harm and death? Me too! Which is why I and many others contend that PeTA should not be considered an animal rights organization.

For all the contradictory messages that come out of PeTA, Friedrich could have just as well debated himself.

Friedrich also kept coming back to the point that if we wouldn’t do something to the cats and dogs in our care, then we shouldn’t do it to any other animals either; that the abuses that farmed animals endure would be cause for legal action if they were inflicted upon our pets. But what he didn't say is that there are plenty of horrible things we can do to our companion animals that are perfectly legal, but would not be so if we did them to our children.

And he should know. You might think that Friedrich would be opposed to killing perfectly healthy cats and dogs just because homes can’t easily be found for them, but you’d be wrong. PeTA killed (they use the term “euthanize” of course) 90% of all dogs and cats relinquished to its headquarters in Norfolk, Va. In 2009.

Given that, you'll understand then why Friedrich’s insistence that we should treat farmed animals as well as we treat our cats and dogs rang just a tad hollow and frightening to me.

Friedrich also maintained that any meat you buy in any grocery store is the product of great suffering. He repeated this several times, which made me wonder about that love letter PeTA wrote to Whole Foods…

___

The debate then moved into the “questions from the crowd” period.

I asked one. It went like this (it was, for the most part, a prepared question):

I would like to read part of a letter to John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, one of those grocery stores you keep talking about, on January 24th, 2005.

"The undersigned animal welfare, animal protection and animal rights organizations would like to express their appreciation and support for the pioneering initiative being taken by Whole Foods Market in setting Farm Animal Compassionate Standards. We hope and expect that these standards will improve the lives of millions of animals."

This letter was signed by, among other organizations, PeTA.

Nick’s defense of “happy meat” is a symptom of organizations like PeTA focusing on factory farms instead of animal rights.

How can you argue that eating meat is unethical when the organization you are Vice President of is actively congratulating businesses for killing animals for meat? To say out of one side of your mouth that killing animals is wrong and then say out of the other side that you appreciate companies who raise and kill animals "humanely" is indicative of some awfully confused thinking. If it's wrong, it's wrong. Just as someone wouldn't say that putting padding on a waterboard makes waterboarding better (note: my waterboarding example came from a Gary Francione post, Ingrid Newkirk on Principled Veganism: “Screw the principle”), or raping gently makes rape better, anyone who takes the interests of animals seriously should not say that inflicting somewhat less suffering on animals while they're alive makes the unnecessary suffering and death of that animal any better. Arguing for better treatment and then patting yourself on the back when a company takes heed only serves to make people feel better about eating animal products.

I ask this question under the assumption that you agree with most policy decisions of PeTA. If you don't, I apologize, though I don’t know why you would remain VP if that’s the case.

Can you explain why your organization supports animal compassionate standards and what those standards are?

He answered my question with three main points (everything in this post is paraphrased, by the way):

1. PeTA, of course, wants to see animal liberation, but incremental reforms in the meantime are important. They are steps toward liberation.

2. He likes to apply the golden rule in situations, and the way he applies it is by asking himself, if he were a chicken and in a small cage, wouldn’t he want to have a bigger cage or not be in a cage at all?

3. He also dragged out the familiar new welfarist assertion that focusing on welfare reforms helps the animals who exist right now.

And this is when my head nearly exploded. I think it was right at this moment. Because I had so much to say in response, but I wasn’t the one on stage with him. My question was over and that was it.

So I’m going to douse my brain fire by responding to Friedrich’s points here in this blog, where people might read it and get something out of it (but even if they don't, I had to write it down somewhere and this seemed like the best place).

1. Incremental reforms are not steps toward liberation. Instead, they further entrench animals into the property paradigm, writing more laws about animal ownership and codifying the ways in which animals can be used to satisfy our every whim. They make people feel better about animal products overall, thereby increasing consumption. And when incremental reforms are touted as victories by organizations such as PeTA, it gives people the impression that, if they eat these products of less suffering, they are off the hook; they’ve fulfilled their moral obligations to animals. Why would an animal rights organization perpetuate this view?

2. The golden rule? If you’re hitting me in the head with a tire iron while kicking me in the shin with steel toed boots, wouldn’t I ask you to stop doing both? Wouldn’t your obligations to me (based upon the golden rule) demand that you stop doing both? If you stopped doing just one, let’s say the tire iron to the head, should I congratulate you? Thank you? Give you an award for your humane kicking of my shin?

Shouldn’t the application of the golden rule demand that we advocate for the end of animal use? Don’t you think the chickens would rather we do nothing unto them?

Should PeTA have given an award to Temple Grandin for designing “humane” slaughterhouses that cause somewhat less stress for animals? How about if these slaughterhouses also increase the efficiency and rate with which animals are killed, and increase the profits of the businesses who run and rely on those slaughterhouses (all of which means more dead animals)? How does applying the golden rule lead you to award and promote a slaughterhouse designer? How does this create anything but confusion and continued slaughter?

3. Friedrich says that welfare reforms are helping animals right now. To not work for welfare reforms now, he says, is to abandon the animals who are alive and suffering at this very moment. But in his answer to another question about "happy meat", he laments the fact that broiler chickens live only seven weeks.

When a welfare reform laws are passed, they don't go into effect within seven weeks. It usually takes years. And more often, they are not enforced or never go into effect. So, by passing reform laws, you’re not helping the chickens who are alive now (remember that they have, at most, seven weeks to live), you’re not helping the chickens who are alive in the future (at the very least, you might be hurting them a little bit less, but you’re not helping) and you’re wasting precious time and resources on further entrenching the property status of animals while you could instead be putting all that effort into vegan education.

What does vegan education do?

Well, it helps a lot of people go vegan. And what does that do?

It reduces suffering in the short and long term.

If Hank goes vegan tomorrow, he removes himself from the demand for chickens to be raised and slaughtered (a chicken not brought into existence doesn’t suffer at all). Hank’s decision to not buy chickens’ flesh immediately starts to have an effect on the pocketbooks of those who raise chickens for meat. And while it’s true that more chickens are always being brought into existence - it’s a market that’s expanding, not contracting - Hank’s refusal to buy animal products causes that market to expand at a lesser rate. And eventually, given enough time and enough Hanks, this rate of expansion will level off and then start to decrease. The more vegan education, the more vegans, the sooner this can happen.

There you go. Short term and long term goals met and there’s no confusion about what we “animal rights people” maintain we owe animals.

Why do you think PeTA disagrees?

North Dakota in September

2010-10-04T14:32:00.000-05:00

We took a trip to North Dakota in early September to visit my parents. Here are some photos.

No late-fall stay at Grandpa and Grandma's is complete without a walk to Grandpa's gardens (and without taking home boxes of fresh vegetables).

I tried to get one of Anna in the corn, sort of like I got when she was just over a year old.

Just for the heck of it, here's the one I took back in September of 2007.

Wow, that's really weird to look at those two together. I forget how long it's been.

Anyway, Liam loved running through the corn, too.

Then the corn attacked him!

I really like this next one. You can see Anna in the foreground and then Liam, but way back there is my dad getting eaten by the corn.

My dad scratched Anna and Liam's name into pumpkins with a pole barn nail (and he did the same for the other 7 grandkids and other people's grandkids in town, too). I talked to him last night and all of the pumpkins are picked and orange and ready to go. I wish we were less than 6 hours away.

This is as busy as it gets when we visit my parents' house. Which is why we love going there.

Then we visited some more family in Carrington, ND.

A good time was had by all.

Bus Ride Conversations

2010-09-22T16:32:00.001-05:00

Anna's loving her bus rides. She has a new friend she sits by, and they figured out that Anna should have me write our address and what our house looks like on a piece of paper so she can find it. Which I thought was pretty clever.

Here's what Anna said about the bus today.

Anna: One girl on the bus said that spinach was disgusting.

Me: What did you say.

Anna: I said spinach was yummy!

Me: Were you all talking about food you like and stuff?

Anna: Yeah.

Me: Like what foods?

Anna: Um, pretzels and popcorn and macaroni and cheese and suckers.

Me: Cool. Did it come up that you were vegan at all?

Anna: Yep, I said, "I'm vegan," and a girl didn't know what that meant so I told her.

Me: And what did she say?

Anna: She said, "Oh."

Anna's First Homework

2010-09-19T22:31:00.000-05:00

Anna gets to hand in her first piece of homework tomorrow. Actually, she gets to share with the class what she drew. She's excited to share.

First Day of School!

2010-09-14T14:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Anna's first day of school and it went great!

Anna likes to sleep in. She always has. And me staying home with her and all, I've always let her. But no more! She probably would have slept till 9:00 had I not woke her up at 7:30 yesterday morning. It took her a few minutes to get out of bed, but once she was up, she was up.

We sat her down to a bowl of granola and some raspberries (from the bush out back! It's been a great year for raspberries in the Piggy household). She ate some raspberries and a couple bites of granola. I suppose the lack of appetite was either from waking up too early or maybe nerves (though she didn't seem nervous at all).

After getting ready to go, we all drove to the school. Jen was able to start work a bit late so she could come, too.

Anna's teacher came outside to gather all the kids and greet more as they come. She immediately recognized Anna and called her by name, even though she'd only met her once (the ability to do this is one of the many mystical teacher superpowers, in my opinion).

Anna's friend and neighbor Sophia showed up a few minutes later and they were happy to see each other. Anna is, by chance, in the same classroom as Sophia and also her friend Cameron. Montessori schools combine pre-K and Kindergarten into one class. Sophia is an "old friend" and Anna and Cameron are considered "new friends."

So the two girls hung out for a while and then another old friend walked up to Sophia and they started talking and, kids being kids, Anna wasn't introduced. (I don't remember ever introducing anyone until I was in my twenties. I still forget to do it all the time.)

So Anna stood there and listened to the girls talk, and after a while there were a couple more girls and they all talked and Anna still stood there, listening, digging the sole of her left shoe into the sidewalk, working the stress and anxiety out with her feet.

After a couple minutes she walked back to me, took my hand and pulled me toward the group of girls. I hung back and let her hold my hand. Then her grip loosened bit by bit until she let go of me. About a minute later she ran up, hugged my leg for a second and ran back to the group without the aid of my hand.

Next, she just looked around for me, saw I was taking a picture and smiled.

Then they got into a line and the teacher led them into the school.

Jen and I said bye, have fun. Liam whined a bit because he couldn't follow them into the school.

About four hours later, her bus pulled up to our house and she got off, all smiles.

Today was her second day. She woke up by herself at 7:00, had a full bowl of oatmeal and was ready to go a full 45 minutes early.

The teacher met them outside again. Anna was clingy until Sophia showed up. Then they started to goof around. Anna noticed a girl wearing her backpack on her front, so Anna tried it out and laughed. Her and Sophia bumped bellies like two sumo wrestlers. Then they got in line and went inside.

Later that day, her bus pulled up to our house and she got off, all smiles.

So far, so good!

The Beginning of a Great Adventure

2010-09-12T21:48:00.000-05:00

Anna starts pre-Kindergarten tomorrow. In Saint Paul, pre-K is done through the public school system. The school she's going to is a Montessori, which I'm sure I'll blog about at some future date.

We're all pretty excited about it. It's about three hours a day in the morning and she even gets to take the bus home. She's in class with two of her friends too, which I think is really going to help her ease into things.

A few weeks ago Anna said she'd probably be shy for the first few days, but that once she got to know the teacher then she would talk and not be shy. "Just like in Spanish class!" she said. (She took a Spanish class once a week over the summer.)

I feel like this is the first Great Unknown for her. I remember my stomach getting tied into knots over the these huge unknown moments when I was a kid (and teenager, and young adult, and adult), but Anna seems to be genuinely excited and ready for it.

But then again, when I think back on my first day of Kindergarten (my school didn't do preschool), I vividly remember my stomach NOT being tied up in knots. I remember being excited and ready for the Great Unknown. I don't know if I can pin down exactly what happened (though I'm sure I can come pretty damn close) that changed all of it for me and caused me to dread change; to fear meeting new people; to stay up late at night practicing potential conversations and replaying old ones.

At any rate, here's hoping the same thing doesn't happen to Anna. Or if it does, here's hoping she doesn't let it get to her like I did.

Yeah.

2010-08-30T15:34:00.000-05:00

Liam and Anna. Here they are.

Jumping and Running

2010-08-24T09:18:00.001-05:00

Some videos from a few weeks ago (2 in 1, because they're so short). I have some from months ago that I never posted. I may at some future date. But for now, here you go.

What The Hell Do I Do With... Carrots? (and a lot of things to do with kale)

2010-08-06T23:54:00.000-05:00

I know, carrots are pretty basic. But hey...

First though, here are some things you can do with kale.

Lisa suggests colcannon puffs and suggests this recipe for kale chips.

Jacqueline says, "Kale chips are great! Just wash, pat dry, tear into chip-size pieces, removing stems, then toss with a tablespoon of olive oil. Lay them out flat on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with a little salt and nutritional yeast. Bake for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees, turning over once mid-way, and watching so they don't burn near the end. Yummo!"

Erin says, "For a super easy side, I tear it off the stem into a boiling/salted pot of water. Let it double double, boil and trouble for a few minutes, drain, and top with Cajun or Chipotle seasonings and/or garlic salt and/or hot sauce! Also tasty with a chopped fresh tomato on top."

Another Erin (the one I know personally and am friends with) said, "Separate the leaves from the tough stem. Simmer kale in a sauce pan with water for about 10 min (depending on how tough it is), drain it in a collander, then in the empty frying pan, heat up some oil (sesame adds the best flavor), add a bit of garlic for about 30 seconds, toss in the kale and saute a bit, until it dries out a bit and the oil has infused the kale. Then treat it with a squirt of tamari/soy sauce (less tamari if you have less kale; start with a little, taste and build from there to avoid really salty kale) and finish with about a tablespoon or so of sesame seeds."

That's actually the recipe that we make all the time. Because Erin gave it to us a few years ago. It's great, we love it and the kids love it. Thanks Erin!

Radioactivevegan suggests the Garlicky Kale With Tahini Sauce recipe from Vegan With a Vengance which can also be found when you click this here text..

Whitehairedveg can only stomach kale with this Mustard-Crusted Tofu with Kale and Sweet Potato recipe from Epicurious.

Samantha made this Indian-Spiced Kale and Chickpeas and it was fabulous.

Patrick throws it in smoothies.

GreensPlease said, "Using whatever kind of kale you prefer (we rotate with whichever looks most fresh at the co-op), chop leaves into medium sliced shreds (like a thick cole-slaw). Chop thinner near the base as you ad more stem - we use as much stem as possible).

We use a very hot wok, ad a bit of grapeseed oil then chopped garlic for a second then half the bunch of kale. Toss fast to keep the garlic from staying on the bottom. Cook tossing constantly for about a minute and a half. Add a bit of white wine vinegar or lemon juice to taste and remove right away to a serving dish. Repeat with the rest of the kale. If you do too much at once, you'll boil it which we would NEVER do. We like it with some crunch and as much nutritional value as possible. Finish with some sea or kosher salt and enjoy!"

And finally, Anonymous said, "I love the Kale-Potato Soup recipe from Laurel's Kitchen. It's just potatoes, onions, garlic, soy butter, kale, water, salt and pepper, but the simple flavors and hearty texture are really satisfying, especially during the cruelest months of winter."

Thanks everyone for all the ideas! Now I'm hungry for kale.

So what's your favorite thing to do with carrots? I usually end up eating them raw with some ranch dill dip that we whip up (I'll post the recipe for that next time). Or I shred a couple and throw 'em in a scrambled tofu or a salad. But we're getting a lot of carrots from our CSA these days and I'd like to branch out a bit, so ...

... what the hell do you do with carrots?

Stats

2010-07-20T21:54:00.000-05:00

I rarely talk about the health of my children. I suppose this is due to the fact that when I post photos and video of them it's pretty obvious that they're healthy. I also assume that in this day and age there is enough information out there about veganism to prove to anyone who cares to know that it's healthy for people in all stages of life.

But it occurs to me that some may think that kids of vegan parents can't be healthy, or that their diets are deficient in some way.

My kids are healthy.

They've consistently been around and mostly above the 50th percentile in measurements of height, weight and head circumference (these are the things pediatricians check to make sure your kid is growing the way they're supposed to be growing).

They get sick sometimes, sure. All kids do. I'd be concerned if they didn't (gotta build up those anti-bodies, ya know).

But they don't get sick that much. This could, of course, be due to the fact that they don't go to daycare. It could also be genetic. I'm not going to say that a vegan diet fends off sickness, because while that may be true, it's not provable. Plenty of kids on non-vegan diets stay healthy and rarely get sick.

The important point to make here is that my kids aren't getting sick because of their vegan diet. The beans, grains, vegetables, nuts, fruit and various processed foods such as soy milk and veggie burgers aren't making them sick and they're not somehow causing them to grow slower or less robustly then their peers who eat animals and animal products. And if the measurements are any indication (and what else could be?), they're growing a bit faster and a bit more robustly than their peers, statistically speaking.

Again, I'm not attributing this to a vegan diet. In fact, I'm fairly certain it has more to do with genetics than anything. The point that I'm trying to make is that there is no measurable negative effect due to their vegan diet. They're happy and healthy.

"The American Dietetic Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics agree that well-planned vegan and vegetarian diets can satisfy the nutritional needs and promote normal growth of infants and young children."

-American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition, 1998; Messina & Burke, 1997

Whenever I read that quote, I always get hung up on that "well-planned" part. What does well-planned mean? Does it mean that we have to keep track of the caloric intake of our kids? Measure every gram of calcium that enters their body? Keep the calipers on hand to make sure they're not losing precious pounds from their chubby thighs?

Or does it mean that we should just pay attention to what we're feeding our kids? Try not to feed them junk food. Stay away from an excessive amount of processed food. Make sure we feed them a variety of whole foods. Be at least a little knowledgeable about the dietary needs of the children in our care.

And if that's the case, don't all diets that satisfy the nutritional needs and promote normal growth of infants and young children need to be well-planned?

"Finish your peas." Were you told that growing up? Me too! That's because our parents wanted us to be healthy. All healthy diets are well-planned.

I read up on nutrition when I first chose to be vegan. I read up again when my wife and I chose to have our first child. I brushed up a little bit when we decided to have our second. I'll occasionally read up on this or that vitamin or mineral. So yes, I did (and do) a bit of research on nutrition. I hope that anyone, vegan or not, would do the same thing.

But to be honest, my kids' nutrition isn't that big of a consideration in my day-to-day life. I just try to feed my them a varied diet with a vegetable, fruit and grain at every meal. Soy milk. Tofu sometimes. Smoothies quite a bit. I very rarely give them juice, since they eat quite a bit of fruit. I try to keep the snacks healthy, or at least not completely junky. Stuff like that.

Today, Anna had her 4-year check-up and Liam had his 18-month check-up. Here are their stats.

Anna:

Weight: 42.5 pounds (90th percentile, which means she weighs more than 90 percent and less than 10 percent of kids her age)

Height: 40.5 inches (67th percentile)

Liam:

Weight: 25.5 pounds (49th percentile)

Height: 33 inches (72nd percentile)

Head Circumference: 48 centimeters (57th percentile)

What the Hell Do I Do With... Kale?

2010-06-29T22:45:00.000-05:00

Before we started doing this CSA thing a few years back, I had never even heard of kale. I'm familiar enough with it now, but I still seem to always make the same thing with it. It's a sesame kale recipe which basically involves boiling it and then frying it up with garlic, tamari and some toasted sesame seeds. It's really good. Sometimes it's even great. But it gets old.

So what the hell do you do with kale? Does anyone have a really good recipe for kale chips? I tried those once this spring and was underwhelmed.

And here are a few ideas of what you can do with turnips, submitted by the awesome readers of my adequate blog.

Erin tried turnip fries, too, but hers were a success instead of a crushing failure like mine. She coated them in canola oil, topped with salt and pepper and roasted for 20 min in 450 degree oven.

Sayward said, "I've only ever done turnips one way - the traditional Scottish 'bashed neeps and tatties', which is basically turnipy mashed potatoes. They were absolutely delicious served with a homemade vegan haggis and whiskey reduction gravy. I blogged about it here."

On Facebook, Bill said the only thing he's ever done with them was put them in a stew.

Donna said that she throws them in stews and soups, too. She also eats them raw. Also, mashed with some Earth Balance. Oh, and the greens sautéed with lots of garlic. She says greens are the best part of the turnip.

I have a horrible habit of never getting around to using the greens on top of things like turnips. Note to self: change that bad habit.

Heidi suggested Irish Colcannon.

And Kris said, "Roast them in olive oil with potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, garlic and rosemary for a rockin' root vegetable medley."

Thanks for the suggestions!

We did get turnips in our most recent box (still no radishes though), and tonight I made bashed neeps and tatties for two reasons, 1) It's easy and I already love mashed potatoes and 2) I really like saying (and writing), "bashed neeps and tatties." I didn't make Sayward's vegan haggis and gravy though. Maybe next time.

All right. Now kale. What the hell do you do with kale?

What the Hell Do I Do With... Turnips? (And a lot of things to do with Radishes.)

2010-06-21T16:52:00.000-05:00

So, Turnips...

Actually, first of all, I'm going to post everyone's ideas on what to do with Radishes from last week. Unfortunately, I ended up eating all of ours raw before getting the chance to try any of these out, and then we didn't get any in our most recent box. Hopefully we'll get some this week (if you were to tell myself 10 years ago that ten years in the future I would want to eat radishes, I would have called you a crazy liar).

Jacqueline did this: "Just very thinly slice them up, toss with a tad of olive oil, lay out a single layer on a baking sheet and bake them at 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes, watching that they don't burn." I think this is the one I'm going to try first if we get more this week. I love chips of any sort and these sound really good. I'll probably end up adding a bit of salt.

Achim had this recipe for radish soup: "Mainly the green leaves are used. Peel and dice 2 potatoes and 1/2 onion. Cook for some 20 min in 2 c vegetable broth. Chop radish greens, add it to the soup, blend it in a food processor or something, add 1/2 c soy milk and some salt (if necessary). Let some thin radish slices hover on the soup."

Lisa makes dressing, "with a couple radishes, some, olive oil, agave, garlic, and red pepper flakes whirred up in a blender. Spicy!"

Tara (or Nate?) at Vegan Piggy made a tabbouleh out of The Kind Diet and blogged about it here.

Hase likes them raw.

Mangocheeks (great name, by the way) also enjoys them raw, dipped in salt and chili powder.

The Voracious Vegan likes them roasted, but also raw and in a salad. I like that idea. Salads don't usually do it for me, so then I have to smother them in dressing in order to get the level of flavor I like. But I could imagine radishes doing that trick, too.

A couple friends on Facebook also said they love radishes roasted.

And finally, my friend Heidi on Facebook said to, "Smear them with fresh butter and sprinkle with coarse salt." I'll opt for soy butter, of course, and it sounds delicious.

Thanks for all the ideas!

And now on to turnips.

Here's what I did with the turnips we got:

Don't those look delicious? Well, they weren't. They tasted way to turnipy. Yes, turnipy.

I used this recipe online and I don't know, maybe I didn't bake them long enough. They weren't crunchy at all and they didn't taste that great.

So hit me with it. What the hell do you do with turnips?

My Daughter the Monkey-Eater

2010-06-17T10:41:00.000-05:00

"I want a rubber band, Daddy," says my almost four year old daughter.

"Why?"

"For my monkeys."

"Why do you need a rubber band for your monkeys?"

"Because I'm going to kill them."

Calm down. Deep breath. Aaaaaand, overreaction!

"We don't pretend to kill animals," I say, knowing full well that we do, indeed, pretend to kill animals. I pretended to kill animals (mostly humans) all the time when I was a kid. It's what kids do.

Did you have a cap gun growing up? Did you pretend to have shoot-outs with your siblings and/or friends? It's make-believe. It's dragon slaying. It's, "I'm Luke Skywaker and you're Darth Vader." It's (not necessarily, but often) a developmentally appropriate part of childhood.

Kids explore taboos, danger and the idea of good vs. evil through make-believe. It's an important way they process the unfamiliar things that they see and hear.

A couple weeks ago, Anna went on a boat ride. Before the boat ride, two of her uncles were fishing. She asked on the way home what they were doing on the boat when we weren't there, so we told her. I get the feeling that her knowledge that these two uncles she loves were out trying to kill fish before they took her on the best boat ride of her life has something to do with her recent pretending to not be vegan. It's a safe, harmless way for her to process the idea of killing animals to eat them.

As an aside, I realize that many vegans probably think that killing animals isn't an idea that kids should have to process. We oppose it, so why should we allow kids to pretend to do it? Well, I think we should for the same reason that we should let them play cops and robbers; for the same reason there's no harm in them picking up a stick and battling a tree that they're pretending is a mean person or a monster. Kids need to learn the difference between make-believe and reality, and they need to process all that they see. They're either going to internalize everything or they're going to express it. I think expressing it (in a way that doesn't hurt anyone) is the healthy way to go.

All of this was running through my head after I said we don't pretend to kill animals. And I decided that she can, indeed, pretend to kill animals. You'd think I would have been prepared for this, since Jen went through this same scenario with Anna about a week ago and we talked about it and said that it was OK. But when your daughter says to your face, in that cute little voice of hers, that she wants to kill monkeys, well, I think I'm allowed an overreaction here and there.

A few minutes later we sit down to the dinner table and Anna pulls out the pretend food. I get an orange with ketchup, Jen gets a lemon with ketchup, and Anna gets a barrel of monkeys (no ketchup). She startes tying them up, one after the other, with a rubber band and then never really pretends to eat them, but says she's eating them.

"So, what's the deal with the rubber band? What are you doing to them?

"I'm tying it up," she says.

"It?" I say, "Don't you mean her? Or maybe him?"

"Her. She's a big sister! She has a little brother."

"How do you think her little brother will feel about you eating his big sister?"

"I'm going to eat him too! I'm going to eat all of them!"

Jen and I just laugh. I try to say something about the monkeys' cousins in the next town, but it's a lost cause.

"We don't actually eat monkey's though, right?" I have to check. Just to make sure.

"I know. I'm just pretending," she says with that little shoulder shrug and slight pursing of the lips that says, "Chill out Dad. This isn't a big deal."

The other day she "prepared" a veggie burger for her, Liam and me. Mine and Liam's were both vegan with vegan sour cream, but hers had non-vegan sour cream on it.

There's a book that I own, but haven't read yet, called Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, And Make-Believe Violence. It will be next on my reading list.

I think we're just going to roll with all this stuff for now (as if we have a choice). It's either that, or kill make-believe. And we don't want to kill make-believe.

What The Hell Do I Do With... Radishes?

2010-06-13T00:27:00.000-05:00

We got our first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) delivery this week. In the box was:

Spinach

Radishes

Kohlrabi

Scallions

Baby Dinosaur Kale

Arugula

Head Lettuce

Broccoli

and an Herb pot

So I thought that each week I'd pick something from the CSA box and write about what I do with it, how it tastes, why it's good for you. You know, stuff like that.

I'm going to call this project, "What The Hell Do I Do With..."

And this is going to be as much for me as it is for you, dear reader (can I call you "dear reader"?). This is the third (or is it fourth?) year we've done this CSA thing, and I still have no idea what to do with, for example, kohlrabi. Seriously.

So I'm going to say what I do with stuff, but then I want YOU to tell ME what YOU do with it.

So first up: Radishes.

Honestly, I just eat these raw. Wash them off. Scratch off any dirt that doesn't wash off (unless you like dirt, which hey, more power to you if you do). And then eat them raw with nothing on them (though I suppose a smidgen of salt might be nice).

This is how my family ate radishes growing up. I don't remember them served any way other than a bunch of raw radishes, straight from the garden, washed and in a bowl on the table.

I hated them.

I hated most vegetables and fruits growing up. I don't know why, and I'm thankful that my children don't have the same aversion I did. Though if I could grow up passably healthy eating nothing but meat and grains, I'm sure my kids could grow up healthy eating nothing but beans and grains. And then in their twenties they'd start eating fruits and vegetables again once they they realized that they were missing out on a WHOLE WORLD OF FLAVOR (I'm in an all-caps (and parenthetical) mood. Sorry.).

So, radishes. They're high in vitamin C, folate and potassium. And they have this really great spice thing going on, sort of like wasabi (which makes sense, since they're both members of the Brassicaceae family, thankyouverymuch Wikipedia). It's the kind of spiciness that doesn't hurt your mouth, but sort of makes your nose tingle.

I love them.

And while I'm sure that eating them raw is the best way to make use of their nutritional value, I wouldn't mind actually preparing radishes in some way that doesn't just involve running cold water over them.

So please let me know what you do with them in the comments and I'll post some or all of the replies along with next week's installment of ... "What The Hell Do I Do With..."

Photos at the Children's Museum

2010-06-08T15:51:00.005-05:00

Here are some photos from yet another trip to the Children's Museum of Minnesota.

Pony tail before we leave the house.

The first thing the kids usually see is the face-painting station. Anna really took to it this time. Liam, too.

There was a dinosaur exhibit this time around. I thought Anna might be afraid, but she loved it. I think the reason kids love dinosaurs is that they aren't around anymore. They're these huge monsters, basically, and you'll never ever see one in real life (well, I probably won't, but she might if they're ever brought back a la Jurassic Park). But they were real!

If you stand perfectly still, he won't be able to see you.

And here it is again, my favorite window in Saint Paul, MN.

If I can digress for a bit here, I've always loved taking photos of the kids in front of this window. I just love the big circle and the fact that it's so much lighter outside than it is inside. It's a pain in the ass, because the kids are always back-lit, but I see it as a challenge. And I never seem to face that challenge the same way as last time. Here are some other photos of them in front of the window, not from the most recent trip.

This is Anna in August '07.

Anna in October '07.

Liam in November '09.

Anyway, that's just a taste of them. There are a lot more, but I'd have to crack open the external hard drive and, well, there are more photos to show from our most recent trip. So, back to present day:

The water room is always a hit.

Dead Birds

2010-06-06T01:06:00.005-05:00

I wrote a long post about this and it somehow got deleted and I don't think I have it in me to write it all out again. I'm going to sum it up now.

Photos of the birds suffering and dying in oil are horrible. I agree.

I've seen these photos linked on Facebook quite a bit recently. It makes me sad too and I understand the urge to post the photos and make sure others know what's going on.

It's important to share in the communal outrage.

I feel that outrage. But I also feel something else.

On one hand, it's frustrating to see outrage over the photo on the left and silence when it comes to the photo on the right.

On the other hand, the amount of concern for the animals affected by the oil leak proves that people can and do care about animals even if they don't personally know them. This gives me hope. I wish that everyone could connect the dots and realize that the animals we exploit on purpose are every bit as sentient, thinking and feeling as the Brown Pelican drowning in oil.

There is no moral distinction between the bird on the left and the birds on the right. Both deserve the right to live free from unnecessary suffering and death. Both deserve our consideration and sympathy and empathy. Both live(d) brutal existences (one accidental, one intentional) caused by humans.

The big difference between these two situations is that one is an accident and other is on purpose. Billions upon billions of animals unnecessarily suffer and die every year on purpose.

Which do you feel worse about? But more importantly, why?

Happy Feet

2010-05-27T07:21:00.002-05:00

Mumble the emperor penguin, in a zoo, yelling at humans: "Hello! Hello from Emperor Land. Good afternoon. Why are you taking our fish? I'm sure you don't mean to, but you're causing an awful lot of grief. Am I not making myself clear? I'm speaking plain penguin. Penguin! Don't you understand? You're stealing our fish! Please! Anyone! Talk to me! For pity's sake, you're stealing our F-I-S-H!"

Voiceover: "After 3 days he would lose his voice. After three months, he would all but lose his mind."

And that right there is when I fell in love with the movie Happy Feet. It took the movie over an hour to get there, but this scene... Whew! The protagonist, Mumble, is in a zoo, put there after he's found on a beach. A beach he ended up on after swimming after a fishing barge. A fishing barge he swam after because he wanted to tell the "aliens" to stop taking their fish. The "aliens" who were taking their fish because, well, why do we eat fish again?

Right after the voiceover tells us Mumble all but lost his mind we see him with the other penguins, swaying back and forth with a vacant look in his eyes, mouth open as fish are thrown over a ledge and down to the penguins.

Anna was watching this scene with a friend of hers the other day and she said, "This is a happy and sad part."

I asked her why it was happy and sad.

"It’s sad that he’s in a cage and it’s happy that he gets fish."

I was pretty proud of her for recognizing that something could be happy and sad at the same time. And yeah, free fish falling from the sky could be seen as a positive aspect of zoo life. But at what price? Penguins can't really be penguins when they're stuck in a zoo.

And of course, the movie (being a kid's movie) gives us a simplistic view of things. The fish in the ocean aren't any more the penguins' as they are the humans'. Nobody owns the fish. The fish aren't possessed by anyone (that is, until they're captured or eaten).

Here's how I explain it to Anna:

Penguins need fish to live. Without eating fish, penguins would die. They have no choice. Fish don't want to be eaten, but penguins have to eat them to live.

People do not need fish to live. Without eating fish, people live long, healthy lives. We have a choice. Fish don't want to be eaten and we don't have to eat them to live.

She understands this. In fact, she seems to completely grasp the concept.

At the end of the movie the "aliens" decide to stop fishing (at least in the area around Antarctica) and the fish's numbers grow and the penguins' famine is over.

When this happens, Anna's gets happy. She has no aversion to carnivores. She sees nothing wrong with a penguin eating a fish and I see nothing contradictory about that fact.

It's all about choice and the ability to choose. And I'll write more about this in a future post. Specifically, I'll write about how I've explained non-human omnivores to her. For example, bears eat plants and fish. But if they can live on plants, then why do they eat fish? It seems like we intuitively know the answers to questions like these, but try explaining it to an almost-four-year-old.

It's not easy, but it sure is fun.

Anyway, a little more about Happy Feet. There's a part where a leopard seal chases Mumble with the intention of eating him. This is a little harder to explain to Anna, since she's rooting for Mumble to escape. Here we get into the complexities of narrative a little more. The leopard seal is portrayed as a "bad guy", but on the face of it, he's just trying to eat what he needs to eat to live.

Leopard seals eat penguins, penguins eat fish. Who we root for is dependent solely on the story. In a few years, Pixar will come out with a touching movie about leopard seals and we'll all root for them to catch the penguins.

My point is that accepting and appreciating the need for some animals to kill and eat other animals to survive does not contradict an animal rights position. The animal rights position is dependent upon the fact that we as humans do not need to exploit animals in order to survive. We don't need to eat or wear their flesh, we don't need to drink their lactations and we do not need to scramble their menses every Sunday morning. It's all unnecessary.

If it were necessary; if we needed animal products to survive - if we could not survive without them - then there would be no animal rights movement. There may still be an animal welfare movement though who would say (as they pretty much do now) we should still own, rape, exploit and kill animals because we have to ... but do it a little nicer, m'kay?

Luckily for us and for those exploited non-human animals, there's another way. We can live just fine by eating plants.

But this was supposed to be a review of Happy Feet. Let me just say that there are a couple overtly and covertly sexual parts to this movie. Just so you know. I mean, it's nothing that big. Just stuff like one penguin saying, "Gloria! Gloria! I want to see more of ya!" And there's some talk of making love. There's this one quick scene where, no joke, two penguins are stumbling over each other on the ice and manage to hit all the major sexual positions. I don't think Anna picks up on a lot of that stuff, but even if she does I'm not too worried. We're open about the biology of sex with her.

In fact, just the other day I heard her saying to Liam, "Do you see birds outside, Liam? Are they having sex, Liam?" Then she asked us what sex was again, I explained it to her and she then explained it to her baby doll.

Oh, and there's a nice "rational thinking trumps superstition" theme that comes into play at the end of the movie. Have I mentioned that I love Happy Feet?

It's a musical, too. There's a ton of music and dancing in it, which is why I think Anna considers it her favorite movie. It's a movie and a work-out for her. I'm actually quite sad that they don't make more musicals these days. And I'm looking forward to the day when she's old enough to watch West Side Story. Mambo!

Well, I'm rambling. I'm going to reward you now for sticking with me for this long. Here's a video of Anna dancing to the end of Happy Feet. The video didn't pick up the sound of the movie, so I threw in a song by Malajube.

So, have any of you seen Happy Feet?

Vegans, how have you talked about the movie with your kids?

Everyone else, same question.

A Zerbert

2010-05-16T18:37:00.001-05:00

Things have been busy here in the Piggy household. Lawns being mowed, house being cleaned, volunteer work being worked, kids being fed.

So ... here's a zerbert:

Some Light Earth Day Reading

2010-04-22T21:54:00.001-05:00

There are only a couple hours of Earth Day left in my time zone. I meant to post this earlier, but oh well.

And not all of it's light reading. I'll start off with the lightest and get heavier from there.

First, there's 10 Kid-Friendly Earth Day Tips from Ruby Roth, author of That's Why We Don't Eat Animals.

Then there's, Want to Go Green? Eat Less Meat, which focuses on Gene Baur and his organization, Farm Sanctuary, an organization that I have my qualms with. I love Farm Sanctuary's sanctuary program, but have my problems with their focus on improving animal welfare instead of abolishing animal use. I met Gene a few years ago and he's a nice guy. We had a good discussion about my qualms and, while I didn't leave convinced that welfarism is a valid way to advocate for animal rights, I came to realize that his heart is, of course, in the right place. We don't necessarily differ in regard to our goal, but in the way in which we advocate for that goal.

Anyway, I liked most of what he had to say in this article.

"Switching to energy-efficient light bulbs, carpooling, recycling — these are all great ways we can lessen our carbon footprint," says Baur, "but when compared with the difference you can make simply by eliminating or reducing meat and animal products from your diet, other aspects of green living pale by comparison."

Next, there's This Earth Day, Go Vegan from The Guardian which, unfortunately, repeatedly links to PETA. But other than that it's pretty good. Some highlights:

In Livestock and Climate Change, the Worldwatch Institute estimates that raising animals for food actually accounts for 51% of all greenhouse-gas emissions.
-
A totally vegetarian diet can be produced with only 1,100 litres of water per day, while producing a diet that includes meat requires more than 15,000 litres of water per day.
-
Our meat-based diet is partly to blame for world hunger, because land, water and other resources that could be used to grow food for human beings are used to grow crops for farmed animals instead. It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just one pound of meat.

And here's Veganism: Morality, Health, and the Environment, a post from Gary Francione that illustrates how we can't really separate our caring for the environment and our caring for animals, including ourselves.

And finally, Livestock and Climate Change by the Worldwatch Institute, an independent research organization that, "focuses on the 21st-century challenges of climate change, resource degradation, population growth, and poverty by developing and disseminating solid data and innovative strategies for achieving a sustainable society."

Some of you may remember the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations paper called Livestock's Long Shadow. It was a page turner, let me tell you. Well, what the Worldwatch Institute did was take the FAO's paper, apply reality to it, and come up with different numbers.

Livestock are already well-known to contribute to GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions. Livestock’s Long Shadow, the widely-cited 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), estimates that 7,516 million metric tons per year of CO2 equivalents (CO2e), or 18 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions, are attributable to cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, camels, horses, pigs, and poultry. That amount would easily qualify livestock for a hard look indeed in the search for ways to address climate change. But our analysis shows that livestock and their byproducts actually account for at least 32,564 million tons of CO2e per year, or 51 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions.

And they back that up with a lot of numbers. Be warned. There are a lot of numbers. But it's worth the read, at least up until page 15. After page 15 they get into marketing stuff and focus too heavily on soy as the supposed magic bean to save the world. Don't get me wrong, I like soy. And I guess from a "way to convince people to stop killing the earth" standpoint, soy is pretty versatile. What with the analogs and all.

At any rate, I personally don't think that there's some sort of line you have to draw in the dietary sand when it comes to being an environmentalist. These things are all graded on scale, and a drastic reduction in your animal and animal product consumption would, without a doubt, translate into a drastic reduction in your carbon and water footprint. So, for the environment, I would say that we should all drastically reduce our animal and animal product consumption, preferably to nill.

For the the non-human animals we eat and wear, on the other hand, I'd have to say that we should go vegan.

Veggie Nugget #33

2010-04-16T08:24:00.001-05:00

I'm not afraid,
I'm not afraid,
All of us are different.

But we can still,
We can still be friends.

-The characters of Yo Gabba Gabba. Video here.

Really Good Photos

2010-04-13T21:10:00.000-05:00

Our friend Britta took photos of our family a few weeks ago. They are awesome. Here's one:

Take a look at the rest here.

And while you're there take a look around at the other posts. She's an amazing photographer and a great person and we're super lucky to count her as a friend.

Oh, and for more of Britta's photos of our kids, see here (Anna in March '08), here (Anna in May '08) and here (Anna and Liam in April '09).

Winners!

2010-04-07T08:00:00.003-05:00

Well, 36 people answered the question of why they are or aren't vegan. That's a pretty good turnout. Thank you to all who answered.

To be honest, I was hoping for more, but the responses I did get were all civil and mostly thoughtful, which just goes to show you that vegans and non-vegans can coexist in an online public place without jumping down each others' throats.

We have honest differences, to be sure. And those differences do matter (indeed, they're a matter of life and death). But the point is that we can and do discuss these differences with each other without resorting to name-calling and/or pie-throwing. I think the hardest part of starting a civil conversation about veganism is convincing both sides that it's a conversation worth having civilly (which can include speaking openly and honestly and not stifling our ideas simply because someone's sensibilities might be offended).

Anyway, a pat on all your backs.

Now on to the winners!

(The new camera does widescreen and I haven't figured out yet how to embed that correctly, so I suggest just clicking on the video and viewing it on the YouTube page.)

So that's what eight minutes of my day looks like. If you felt rushed, confused and pulled in different directions while watching it, then you know what my days are like. Let's just say I appreciate concurrent naps.

A note on the video, we had picked names (two of the three, to be exact) one time before what you see in this video, but the camera wasn't recording when I thought it was (it's a new camera that I'm not used to, as is evident by the sound being muffled now and then when I put my finger over the microphone area). So I decided to do it all over again. The same person was picked first both times! Crazy.

And toward the end of the video I give my reason for being vegan. To elaborate, I'm vegan because I don't need animal products to live a long, happy and healthy life. Since I don't need these products, I'm presented with a choice of whether or not I should continue to consume them. I can find no good argument to cause suffering and death when that suffering and death is not necessary ... so I choose veganism.

I'm vegan because animals are sentient beings who should be extended the basic right to not be treated as things; as property. The property status that we place upon animals is what allows we humans to cause the aforementioned suffering and death for reasons such as tradition, convenience and pleasure (not necessity).

Simply and more concisely, I'm vegan because I agree with the majority of humans that it is wrong to inflict unnecessary suffering and death on another sentient being.

For a great introduction to this view visit this page and spend a few minutes reading the pamphlet.

OK! Well thanks again to everyone who answered the question. And to the three who won, Alafair, Ashlee and PL&V, just click on the "email" link on my profile page and send me your address. Then wait patiently for the goodies.

And thanks again Go Max Go Foods for donating the candy bars! You're the best.

Hold on...

2010-04-02T00:31:00.000-05:00

So today (or, I guess yesterday, since this is posted after midnight) was supposed to be the day that I did the whole contest drawing (hopey changey) thingey. But, honestly, my brother-in-law and nephew are in town for the week and today my nephew and I built a spaceship.

Uh-huh. A spaceship. So, yeah, we've been busy.

My nephew and I are in pre-production for the third movie in the "Awesome" trilogy. (I still need to post the second installment of the trilogy on this blog, but just in case you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, here's the first installment.)

Today we took a trip to Ax-man Surplus to pick up some circuit boards and what-not (for the spaceship to fly, ya know) and some silver spray paint at Menards (to make the spaceship silvery and all). Because space ships have to be silvery, ya know.

In short, it's all worth it and the new movie is going to be epic (so much so that it may not be done for another year or so).

Anyway, because of my dereliction of duty, I'm extending the giveaway deadline a few more days. Look at this as your second chance to make a first impression (or at least more time to figure out why you are or are not vegan).

The new deadline is April 5th (Monday), which means I'll do the drawing on Tuesday (and post the winners either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning).

Don't worry, those candy bars are waiting patiently in my fridge (so as not to melt in our crazy March/April heat), and the books are waiting patiently on my bookshelf.

Answer a Question and Maybe Win a Book! (And now candy bars!)

2010-03-22T07:43:00.008-05:00

UPDATE! This may be the first time you're reading this post, but I already have a kick-ass update for you. The fine people at Go Max Go Foods have agreed (after I shamelessly asked them on Twitter) to kick in some candy bars to literally sweeten the deal! More info at the end of this post.

The time has come for a giveaway. I haven't given away anything for a couple years. And last time I did it, we all had a lot of fun.

This time around, the subject isn't going to be quite as light-hearted as eternal damnation.

But first, the prize: The Vegan Monologues by Ben Shaberman.

I'm going to be honest with you, I simply did not like this book at all.

First off, the title is misleading. Most of the essays have absolutely nothing to do with veganism. Taken individually, the essays collected in this book are OK. They're fine, but far from great. Toss them all together in one book though and one is left wondering, "Why?" Most of these essays have nothing to do with each other. The only continuity comes from the fact that they're all written by Ben Shaberman. That's about it.

Who knows, maybe you would like it. For you non-vegans out there, you might like that it's not really about veganism at all. For all you vegans, you probably would like that it's free and the word "vegan" is on the cover of the book.

So... I feel like I should add something to the prize. Sweeten the pot a little, ya know? How about this?

Naked Pictures of Famous People by Jon Stewart.

I haven't even read this. Picked it up at a garage sale last summer for a dollar. I'm sure it's good, I just haven't had the time to read it.

Anyway, here are the questions:

For those who are vegan: Why are you vegan?

For those who aren't vegan: Why aren't you vegan?

And here are the rules:

1. Answer the question that applies to you in 25 to 100 words (or more if you must).

2. I want the comments on this blog to stand alone. I will refrain from starting a dialogue within the comments and I ask that all commenters do the same (just this once). I want every reader to feel free to answer their question without trepidation.

3. If you're reading this on Facebook, please click on "View Original Post" and comment on my actual blog. I really want all of the answers in one place for everyone (not just my Facebook friends) to read.

4. If you comment on this post without using a profile, please at least sign your first name (assuming you want to be entered into the giveaway).

5. If you comment, but have no desire to read the book, let me know and I won't enter your name into the giveaway.

6. The Piggy household has not budgeted for international shipping, but oh well. Giveaway is open to anyone anywhere (except for, maybe, the International Space Station ... I haven't checked rates to the ISS yet, but I assume they would be prohibitive).

7. The winner will be chosen at random by my daughter on April 1st (UPDATE: April 6th). I will probably post a video of the drawing. Should be fun. I'll notify the winner in the comments and (probably) in a new blog post.

So there you go. I look forward to reading all of your comments. This is a perfect opportunity to de-lurk, by the way. Come on lurkers, you know you want to answer. Come on.

And if you have a blog (or are on Facebook or Twitter or Chatroulette) and want to spread the word about the giveaway, by all means do that. Thanks!

UPDATE CONTINUED: So yeah, Go Max Go Foods totally rocks. The first time I took a bite of their Jokerz candy bar, which is a vegan version (and a damn close one at that) of Snickers, I nearly cried. I didn't go vegan because I didn't like the taste of candy bars, or hamburgers or cheese. In fact, I loved the taste of all those things. (In case you're wondering, I went vegan because I don't think that animals are ours to use.) So when I can get my hands on food that closely resembles something I cherished before going vegan over 7 years ago ... well, it almost makes me cry. Especially when it's a candy bar like Jokerz (and the rest of them are awesome, too).

So they're sending me three of each of these:

So the rules are changing a bit. Now Anna's going to pick three (3) winners at random. The first winner picked will get both of the books, plus four candy bars (one of each kind). The second and third winners will each get four candy bars (one of each kind).

It's been two years since I've had a giveaway. What can I say, I'm feeling generous.

Other People's Posts (and my thoughts on them)

2010-03-09T19:48:00.006-06:00

Hey there. I read a lot of blogs. A lot of them, I'll share via Google Reader, but every so often I'll want to blog about them.

First off, my friend Celeste wrote a great post about her and her husband's attempt at redefining the meaning of "milk" with less than desirable consequences.

The first paragraph of the post:

Since our eldest was young we made a conscious decision to "take back" the word milk. After contemplating it, we thought it would be good to refute the common acceptance of cow's milk taking the all-encompassing title of "milk". While this seemed like a good idea, it turned out to be unhelpful for our son.

Now go read the rest of it and then come back here.

This is something I think most vegan parents have to deal with at some point (or many points). I know that we try our hardest to give foods names with modifiers in front of them. Milk is "soy milk", "chicken" burgers are "veggie patties", and cheese is "soy cheese". Anna's pretty good about asking people if something's vegan, and if they don't know what that means then she'll clarify, since she knows (as much as a 3 1/2 year old can know) what "vegan" means.

Last night at Early Childhood Family Education she asked her teacher if the freeze-dried peas they were having for snack had cow's milk in them.

And by the way, Anna does not hesitate or feel awkward in asking questions like this. It's all matter of fact with her. The teachers tell us that she never complains about not having the food other kids eat. There was even one time when someone brought cupcakes for their kid because it was their birthday and she didn't care about not eating them because she knew they weren't vegan. Her vegan upbringing is as mundane and ordinary as anything else in her life.

That may change as she gets older, of course. But it's not going to change because of Anna or Jen or me. It's going to change because of non-vegan kids and adults making her feel embarrassed and awkward and ashamed for asking if something is vegan. Do I worry about this? Sure I do. But I'm sure I don't worry about it any more than same-sex parents worry about their kid or interracial parents worry about their kid or... You get the point.

Our job as parents isn't to follow the status quo at all costs in order to ensure that our child has an upbringing free of teasing and being ostracized. Our job is to raise our children the best way we know how and to grow them into confident adults who do what they believe to be right regardless of how others may view them.

--

There's a new vegan parenting blog out there called Spawn Better. The blog, run by Jason Douchette of the Better Network, utilizes the experiences and opinions of a Council of Vegan Parents, which now has over 30 members (including yours truly).

Spawn Better's recent post titled Vegan children, meaty world: dealing with overlap, is a good sampling of what the blog has to offer.

Note: Spawn Better might seem boring or possibly even annoying to non-vegans. So, warning to non-vegans, this blog really isn't for you. Unless, of course, you're considering going vegan (come on, you know you've thought about it). If you want a window into the types of things vegan parents talk about amongst themselves, then go have a read.

One more post from Spawn Better. Veganizing Children's Songs features a video of Anna at the end. She's a star now.

--

Finally, the post Clarifying the Meaning of a Right by Gray Francione at Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach is definately worth a read. If you're perplexed and unsure of what we're talking about when we vegans argue for animal rights, this post spells it out as clearly as I think is possible.

Happy reading.

My Last Name

2010-03-03T22:09:00.000-06:00

Nowatzki. That's my last name.

If you're a close reader of this blog, you may have come across my last name before (not that you'd remember or care). A couple of the things I've linked to in the past (the essay I read on Minnesota Public Radio and a story about blogging stay-at-home dads in the St. Paul Pioneer Press) have included my last name. But that's about it.

I've been reluctant to put my last name out there, for some reason. There's a vague notion about the need to maintain privacy that I've been clinging to and I'm not sure why. I suppose part of it has to do with the fact that this blog isn't just about me, it's about my family. It's one thing for me to make the choice to put my life out there for all to see, but to make that choice for my kids is ... another thing.

But parents make choices for their kids all the time.

I think another reason I haven't come out with my last name is that I've wanted to keep my personal life separate from my vegan activist life. This doesn't seem practical to me anymore, but it did when I started this blog.

These Little Piggies Had Tofu is my vegan activism. Sure, it's a blog about my family and not every post is about veganism, but the original intent of the blog (and one that I keep in mind every time I write a post) was to show that here's my vegan family and we're all healthy and happy and here are some things that we deal with and conversations we have as a result of being vegan.

So yes, Al Nowatzki. That's me. Google it, sure. You'll find my photography site, a neglected MySpace page, some crappy columns from my college newspaper days and some other stuff. Seriously, don't google me. It's mostly crap.

Anyway, I'm on Facebook and Twitter.

Here's me on Facebook:

Al Nowatzki

Create Your Badge

If you read this blog regularly then I'd love to be your friend on Facebook if you'll have me. Just add a short note to the friend request to let me know who you are.

And I'm on Twitter, too, as Al_Nowatzki. I don't tweet that much, but I could see that changing soon.

All of what you just read was meant to be a lead-in to an actual topic, but I think I'll just stop typing now and leave it at that.

When Are We Going To Die?

2010-03-01T11:11:00.004-06:00

Just now, a conversation with Anna. Out of the blue she asks...

Anna: When are we going to die?

Me: We can't know when, but it will probably be a long time from now.

Anna: Do you know what day it's going to be on?

Me: It's going to be a long time from now, probably.

Anna: Yeah, we'll be old or we'll get hurt in the water and we'll sink and die like that mommy did in Ice Age.

On a related note, I just signed Anna up for her second round of swimming lessons.

Her Mother's Daughter (and other Slices)

2010-02-28T10:22:00.005-06:00

We went to IKEA yesterday and Anna went to this little play land they have there. It's kids-only. We drop her off and she has up to an hour there and then we come and get her. It's pretty cool.

Anyway, there's this loft that they can climb up to and watch a big screen TV. After she played for a while, she took a break and went up to watch TV (I know all of this because she told me). Here's the conversation we had about it:

Anna: I went to watch TV and there was a girl and she said, "This show is not for you."

Me: So, did you say anything back to her?

Anna: Yes, I said, "This show is for me!"

Me: That's great! And did she say anything back to you?

Anna: Yes, she said, "No! This show is not for you."

Me: Oh. Well did you say anything back to her?

Anna: I said, "Yes! This show is for me."

Me: Did it keep going like that? Or did one of you stop talking?

Anna: I stopped talking.

Me: And you watched the TV?

Anna: Yes.

Me: Because it was for you.

Anna: Yes.

Then I told her to give me a high five and commended her for sticking up for herself. She's assertive like her mom.

This is the kind of confidence I don't remember having as a kid. If I was in that situation I would have said, "Oh. OK. I guess it's not for me," and walked away.

I was never able to separate the concept of confidence from cockiness. I always felt that people who were sure of themselves were also full of themselves. I know now that I was wrong.

And I don't doubt that people will be wrong about Anna too, if she keeps up with this confidence stuff. She'll be called bossy or pushy or stubborn, instead of assertive and ambitious and strong willed.

But screw those people. She's awesome and I'm going to keep giving her high fives.

---

Before nap and night time, we talk about happy thoughts; things that Anna can think about as she's going to bed. Usually, it's something that she did that day, like going sledding or eating something she really liked. Stuff like that. We usually supply the happy thoughts, but lately she's been wanting to determine what they are, which actually makes a lot more sense.

Yesterday, one of her happy thoughts was flossing (which is something she just started to do).

Tonight, one of her happy thoughts was, "getting bigger and stronger."

---

For supper tonight: Toasted Sesame Kale and Veganomicon's Blueberry Corn Pancakes, which are my new favorite pancake. So easy and so fucking good.

I don't swear a lot on this blog. Maybe you've noticed. But I just did there. That's how good the pancakes are. I'm not going to say it again. Once is enough. But really, they're that good. For an approximation of what they look like, check out the photos here (mine were bigger than these, because I like big pancakes).

Anyway, Anna and Liam both loved the kale and the pancakes (which, oddly enough, went together really good). It was Liam's first time eating kale and he didn't even flinch. He just starting eating it like it was something he'd always eaten. And then he asked for more. He's a good little eater.

---

Do I brag about my kids too much?

---

I was trying to explain the concept of glasses to Anna; how some people can't see that good and so they have to wear glasses. I could tell it was hard for her to understand so I took a couple photos to illustrate.

This first one is how it looks with my glasses on.

And this is what it looks like with my glasses off (and no, this isn't an exaggeration):

So now she probably still doesn't get it, but it might make a little more sense.

Random Photos

2010-02-25T22:10:00.012-06:00

So I have photos. And I want to post them. So here you go.

We made cinnamon buns last weekend. We used this recipe at Vegan Yum Yum. We didn't use a big enough dish and didn't bake them long enough so the inside rolls were kind of gooey and not fully cooked (I think it's mostly because they didn't have enough room to expand, but then agian I'm sort of a bread novice), but the outsides pieces were pretty damn good. Definitely going to try it again with a bigger pan (or 2).

Here they are basking in the yellow glow of our stove light.

Liam's first birthday was in January. At first, we were going to have it at our house, but enough people RSVPd yes that we decided to move the party to a hotel near our house. All we had to do was rent a room for the night and they let us use the pool area the next day. There you go. A cheap pool-party birthday.

Liam wasn't actually too into the cake. He ate some, but like any food, he tired of it after a few bites and wanted something else (this is a blessing in disguise because it means he loves eating new foods).

Sledding in the back yard.

And I made a snow angel.

This was Anna's idea. I thought it looked cool.

She still loves her stuffed friends. George is laying on Rocky (the dog) who is laying on Buddy (the bear).

Anna's frosty window in the morning.

Jen and Liam.

Anna likes to help in the kitchen.

And I suppose the secret is out now. That's right. I'm pregnant.

OK. Not really. Seriously though, my gut is not usually that pronounced. But it is what it is. What can I say? I like food, beer and I don't regularly exercise. Sue me.

Actually, I sort of wear my weight with pride. I haven't lost a single pound since choosing veganism over seven years ago. That's not to say that you can't lose weight by going vegan, but ... well, look at me. I'm not exactly wasting away over here.

I'm still watching Ella on Friday's, much to my kids' delight. Liam has taken quite a shine to her. He even wants to hug her now when she comes over. It's awwwwwdorable.

We're All Made Of Meat

2010-01-29T10:33:00.000-06:00

I had the strange experience last night of using my arm to illustrate to Anna what meat is.

I had her squeeze my arm and told her that all animals have skin and muscle and fat like we do and that's what people call meat. The animals are killed and then their skin, muscle and fat are cut off of the animal and that's meat.

I think her expression during this explanation (which I tried to strip of overt emotion (not that there's anything wrong with emotion)) could accurately be described as grossed out. I actually grossed myself out while explaining it to her.

Anyway, this reminds me of a photo series I recently saw by Ashley Watson. Check it out. It's not safe, but it's safe for work.

Last Friday Liam #31

2010-01-29T07:52:00.000-06:00

Sometimes you've just got to throw your kid in the snow with his sister's boots on.

Veggie Nugget #32

2010-01-26T09:26:00.001-06:00

"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."

-Bertrand Russell

I came across this quote over at Dan Cudahy's excellent blog Unpopular Vegan Essays, in his post On Chance, Choice, and Character.

And, by the way, I have shared that post via Google Reader.

Just in case you haven't noticed, there's a box in the upper right of this blog which contains items I've recently shared. These are other peoples' blog posts that I think are great. Not whole blogs, just individual posts.

Feel free to take a look every once in a while. You can also view my Shared Items page here, and, if you're feeling so bold, subscribe to the feed in your reader.

One more thought: I firmly believe the above quote should be applied across the board. I've been vegan long enough that it's something I take for granted now. It helps to occasionally question the foundations upon which my veganism rests. It's a good exercise. One that I think we should apply to every aspect of our lives.

This doesn't have to mean constant questioning of ourselves, of course. I think that's why Russell chose to include "now and then" in his statement. Constant self-questioning would drive anyone crazy. Even philosophers.

1 year.

2010-01-21T08:24:00.002-06:00

Liam's a year old today.

Here's a video. He walks.

This is Not a Post About Milo & Otis

2010-01-20T07:30:00.001-06:00

Anna was given the movie Milo and Otis some time ago. She watches it once or twice a week and loves it.

The first time we sat down to watch it I was mortified. It was obvious to me that the animals were at the very least put into some pretty horrible situations. They threw a cat off a cliff. Seriously, there's no other way to get that shot.

There is no concrete evidence out there that animals were harmed and/or killed in the making of the movie, but there are plenty of rumors and I'd be surprised as all hell if some of them weren't true.

At any rate, it was given to Anna and she watched it and now it's one of her favorite movies and I'm conflicted over it and sort of wish we never watched it in the first place.

But we did. And there's a part where the cat wonders if a crab is something he could eat.

(Here is what this post is really about.)

The last time we watched the movie, Anna said, "I wonder if Tony eats crabs."

Tony is one of our best family friends. He eats meat, milk and eggs, but I honestly didn't know if he ate crabs. So I told Anna that she could ask him next time he came over. She said OK.

So he came over, and I reminded Anna that she had something to ask him. She got all shy and said she didn't want to ask. I said that's fine and changed the subject. I was tempted to ask for her, but decided to respect her decision.

Later that day, I asked her about it.

Me: Why didn't you ask Tony if he eats crabs?

Anna: I just didn't want to.

Me: Why didn't you want to?

Anna: I was afraid that he wouldn't say that he didn't.

Never mind the double negative, this is some pretty deep stuff from my daughter.

First off, I am positive that she didn't mean afraid as in "scared". She meant it more in the sense of, "Oh, I'm afraid that the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive."

She might have been saying that she just didn't want to know whether or not Tony ate crabs. But I think the more likely interpretation is that she didn't want to start a potentially uncomfortable conversation. So she opted not to bring it up.

This makes me proud and sad at the same time. I'm proud because she's starting to get some social graces. Back in September, this exchange occurred between Anna and her aunt:

Anna: Is that vegan?

Jessica: No.

Anna: But you’re drinking it?

Jessica: Yes.

Anna: Oh. You not be vegan?

Jessica: No.

Anna: Oh. That’s wrong.

So not saying anything is an improvement. She's learning to function in a non-vegan world.

Of course, that's also the reason it makes me sad. I don't want her to be silenced. I want her to ask anyone any question whenever she wants. But then, that's what her parents are for. She asks us anything and everything and we always try to give her honest, age-appropriate answers.

Anna: Do you know if Tony eats crabs?

Me: I don't. But I do know that he eats meat, milk and eggs. You know that he's not vegan, right?

Anna: But why isn't he vegan?

Me: I'm not sure. But we still love him no matter what. Just like our other friends and family who eat animals. You know that almost all of them eat animals and milk and eggs. They aren't vegan, but of course we still love them and they love us.

Anna: It makes me a little bit sad though. But just a little bit.

Then I told her about how her mom and dad used to eat animals, milk and eggs and how different people think differently about it. Some people don't think it's wrong to kill animals, so they're not vegan. Some people think it's wrong, but eating meat, milk and eggs is what they've done their whole lives and it can be really hard to change when you've done something your whole life. And some people, like mom and dad, think it's wrong and decided to change.

This is oversimplifying things, of course. But I think it's about as complicated as she's able to understand at this age. She knows the basics of why we don't eat animals, cow's milk and chicken's eggs. And now that she has the basics down of why we don't eat those things, she's just trying to understand why other people do.

What do you think?

To my vegan readers: What do you tell your children when they ask about your non-vegan friends and family.

To my non-vegan readers: what would you like me to tell Anna when she asks why you aren't vegan?

Song, Cuddle, Monkey Pile

2010-01-19T20:40:00.004-06:00

Liam's almost a year old! Here he is with his big sister.

Now that he has, for the most part, stopped pulling Anna's hair, they tumble around a lot more. Monkey piles are now regular occurrences in the Piggy household.

One Planet - Animals and Us

2010-01-15T15:13:00.000-06:00

The BBC program One Planet recently aired a two-part series called Animals and Us by Victor Schonfeld.

Schonfeld produced The Animals Film twenty-eight years ago.

I've never seen The Animals Film, but it looks like it was one of the first of its kind. It seems to me that it was Earthlings before Earthlings was Meet Your Meat.

So now Schonfeld has produced a two-part radio series, "to give a very personal view on what, if anything, has changed since then."

Listen here:
Part 1
Part 2

Gary Francione (who is interviewed in each broadcast), Roger Yates and Elizabeth Collins did post-show commentaries which can be listened to here (review of part 1) and here (review of part 2). I have to admit I haven't listened through both commentaries yet, but I know Gary's podcasts (not to mention his guests) are always insightful and thought-provoking, so I feel confident in linking to them here.

I felt that Animals and Us was well done. Shonfeld, largely by virtue of interviewing Francione, gave quite a bit of air-time to criticism of the use of animals (as opposed to just focusing on the treatment).

Schonfeld is clearly taking an activist stance in these broadcasts, which I find refreshing. He states early on in each broadcast, "Be warned. This is not balanced dispassionate journalism. I'm opposed to animal suffering for human needs and pleasures, as are most of the people we'll be hearing from."

Given his activist stance, my main qualm was that there was too much of a focus on lab animals in the second broadcast (pretty much the whole thing). The overwhelming majority of animal exploitation occurs within animal agriculture. That's not to say that we shouldn't also care and talk about vivisection, fur, circuses and zoos. But when all you have is two 28 minute broadcasts I think the most productive angle to take, from an efficient activist point of view, is to focus on the use of animals for food.

Not a huge qualm, but a qualm nonetheless.

Did you listen to Animals and Us? Have you seen The Animals Film?

If so, what did you think?

Anna's Original Music

2010-01-11T10:10:00.003-06:00

Liam's almost one year old already. When Anna turned one I made a 15 minute slideshow of photos and video. In my attempt to give Liam as much media-exposure as his big sister, I'm putting together a slideshow of him, too.

There is significantly less time to do stuff like this these days, but I'll be glad I did it down the road.

Anyway, while going through the video from the past year I came across this and was shocked that I didn't post it at the time. Here's Anna singing a made-up song back in June.

Anna (First) Wednesday #30

2010-01-06T23:26:00.002-06:00

Anna and her cousin Zach at my parents' place, all dressed up and ready to go on their first snowmobile rides.

Fun was had by all.

To the Future!

2009-12-31T08:44:00.002-06:00

These Little Piggies Had Tofu has slipped into stagnation. A spurting feed of photos of my adorable, adorable kids.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure you all love my adorable kids. But it's not what I envisioned when I started this blog.

Part of the stagnation is due to the simple fact of having two kids. Part of it is because of the time-suck that is Facebook.

So here are the changes that I'm making. Anna Wednesday and Friday Liam are going to become Anna First Wednesday (to be published on the first Wednesday of each month) and Last Friday Liam (on the last Friday of the month).

This will hopefully prompt me to write more substantive posts and not rely on the twice-weekly photos of my adorable, adorable kids. I want to post more recipes, photos of food, animal rights-based arguments and thoughts, and stories about raising my kids vegan.

My 2010 resolution is to get back to a quality over quantity mindset. This means less overall posts, but more posts of substance.

I'm also, in the near future, going to create a fan page for the blog over on Facebook. All the cool kids are doing it.

I am also open to suggestions for topics. What do you, dear reader, want me to write about? Anything about vegan parenting you've always wanted to know? Is there an argument for or against veganism that you'd like to see addressed? Hit me up. I'm pretty insightful when I want to be.

That is all. Here's hoping you all have a happy 2010!

Friday Liam #30

2009-12-18T14:18:00.003-06:00

Liam is now a master stair-climber. He's so good, in fact, that I felt reasonably confident in staying at the bottom of the stairs to get this shot.

He's also learning how to back down stairs and has managed to get a few steps down before starting to climb back up again.

Anna Wednesday #29

2009-12-16T14:16:00.000-06:00

Anna eating broccoli.

Friday Liam #29

2009-12-11T08:07:00.000-06:00

Anna Wednesday #28

2009-12-10T15:38:00.003-06:00

Anna, mere minutes after waking up yesterday morning.

Friday Liam #28

2009-12-06T14:13:00.001-06:00

Anna Wednesday #27

2009-12-06T14:00:00.000-06:00

Friday Liam #27

2009-11-28T14:00:00.000-06:00

Anna Wednesday #26 ... and Happy Turkey Day!

2009-11-25T23:44:00.003-06:00

Click on the photo up there and you should be able to read Gideon's details (where he's from, what he likes to eat, etc.).

Anna "adopted" a turkey from Farm Sanctuary this year, as she has the previous two years. This year was better though, because she actually picked out the turkey, Gideon, from this page, and she waited and waited for his photo to come in the mail.

When we got the certificate she got all excited about, "the turkey that we feed." We hung it up in her room.

For the Piggy household, it's "Happy Turkey" day, instead of happy "Turkey Day."

And of course, we're still going to gorge ourselves on all sorts of deliciousness (which may or may not be detailed in an upcoming post).

Happy Thanksgiving! (To those of you in the US, that is.)

Friday Liam #26

2009-11-24T10:39:00.002-06:00

Liam with his cousin Jacob (they were born on the same day).

It's Friday, right?

Veggie Nugget #31

2009-11-21T10:55:00.001-06:00

Mt. Rainier, Md.: I want to care about the health and well-being of cows and chickens and pigs. Really, I do. But I don't. How can you convince me to eat less meat if I could not care less if 10,000,000,000 chickens or cows are tortured?

Jonathan Safran Foer: I couldn't. You are on the periphery of society---96% of Americans think animals should have legal protection. But you have every right to be.

Perhaps the environmental arguments mean something to you? Perhaps you like breathing good air, drinking good water? Perhaps you don't want E. Coli or campylobactor. Perhaps you like your antibiotics to work when you're ill? Perhaps not.

-From an online discussion at the Washington Post on Thursday with Jonathan Safran Foer.

His tone could be less snarky, but the substance of his answer couldn't be more spot-on.

Anna Wednesday #25

2009-11-18T14:51:00.001-06:00

She wanted to carry all the heavy stuff out to the car today.

Friday Liam #25

2009-11-13T10:58:00.002-06:00

I'm back-dating this one. I don't know how, but I forgot to do a Friday Liam two weeks in a row.

Anna Wednesday #24

2009-11-12T14:36:00.003-06:00

Anna playing with her friend, Cameron (well, not really playing in this photo, but they did play for almost 3 hours straight) .

Halloween

2009-11-08T02:08:00.000-06:00

Halloween seems like a month ago already. But it was just last Saturday. Weird.

Liam didn't have a costume this year. Just this "My 1st Halloween" shirt and another shirt with an alien on it that says "Be Green."

For the third year in a row, Anna was Yoda.

Here she is two years ago:

One year ago:

And this year:

She hasn't seen any of the movies and has no idea what the force is. I tried to briefly explain it, but didn't want to say too much because a) I didn't want to freak her out, and b) it's rooted in spirituality and religion and I don't feel like it's my place to instill those in her (seeing as how I have neither). And yes, I know, it's pure fiction. But I'm not sure she'd understand that at this point.

This year was Anna's first year of trick or treating. Obviously, a good deal of the candy given out at Halloween isn't vegan. That's a problem for us. But we want Anna to have the experience of going house to house in her neighborhood, saying trick-or-treat, taking whatever is given to her and saying thank you.

We really want Anna to grow up partaking in the same (or, at least similar) cultural experiences as her peers. We don't want to deprive her of trick or treating any more than we would want to deprive her of partaking in a Thanksgiving feast. On the face of it, it may seem like veganism would preclude us from these experiences or make them super difficult. But in reality, it's easy. It just takes a little bit of extra thought. Most decisions in parenting do.

So we decided that Anna would go trick or treating and she would then trade the non-vegan items for vegan ones. Her cousin isn't vegan, so he was willing to trade quite a bit of his vegan stuff for her non-vegan stuff. But he wanted to keep some vegan candies of his own, which left Anna with some non-vegan treats in her pumpkin. Of course, we had plenty of back-up candy for just such an occasion. We actually picked up a huge bag of assorted vegan candy at the Animal Rights Coalition.

So there you go. Vegan kid during Halloween problem: solved. Barely even a problem, actually.

Anna's cousin Noah didn't dress up as a scarecrow, he dressed up as The Scarecrow. From Batman. The face paint was applied after this photo.

Anna's uncle, cousin and uncle's girlfriend flew in from Colorado for my father-in-law's 60th birthday party, which was on Halloween night.

Where did that third kid come from? That's Sophia, daughter of our neighbor friends.

Here we are at the birthday party. I went as a Target employee, in case you're wondering. I used my old Target name tag from when I used to work one-hour photo there eight years ago.

Anna was up until 12:45 on Halloween night. I think that's the latest she's ever been up. From 10:30 on, she got more and more delirious. About a half hour before we left the party, she crashed (but didn't fall asleep) on a chair, staring blankly at a televised baseball game (is there any other way to watch baseball?).

So that was Halloween.

Friday Liam #24

2009-11-06T14:24:00.002-06:00

Liam Laughing Again

2009-11-05T18:52:00.003-06:00

So yeah, this laughter blows his previous laughter out of the water (another thing better about this video is that he doesn't spit up at the end of it).

He doesn't do it in this video, but he's actually started to initiate peekaboo now. It's great.

Anna Wednesday #23

2009-11-04T10:50:00.004-06:00

Her idea to cut a face in the box (because of the pumpkin carving she did a few weeks ago). My idea to put it on her head.

Halloween photos to come.

Boo!

2009-10-31T08:41:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year again!

Guess what she's eating!

For the last couple years, we at the Piggy household have dined on human flesh for Halloween. A couple years ago, it was a free-range human, Timothy. He was treated well and ... well, I'll just pull a quote like I did last year:

Little Timothy was fed a natural diet free of growth hormones and antibiotics and was allowed to leave his cage and go outside and play for sometimes up to a few hours per day! And he lived four happy years before he was shipped off to the slaughter house and took a bolt gun to the head (really, the most humane way to kill a human raised for meat). We're pretty sure the bolt gun was painless. So don't go getting your undies in a bunch. He lived a good life. We're compassionate people here in the Piggy household.

Here's a photo of Anna feasting on the lucky little guy way back when.

And last year, we didn't have as much time on our hands, so we just picked up some human liver at a supermarket.

But this year, we've been trying to be more compassionate and eat more locally ... really adopt a back-to-the-land attitude toward food. So we raised some backyard cats. Here's Anna feasting on rice krispies and cat eyeballs.

Liam looked on in shocked horror. But he'll learn soon enough: If you don't finish your cat eyeballs you don't get any dessert.

Finally, here's Anna just taking it all in. She's such a foodie. She's my little Bourdain-in-training.

Have a Happy Halloween! I'll post some costume photos in a couple days.

Friday Liam #23

2009-10-30T22:36:00.002-05:00

That's a skinned apple. He shaved some off with his teeth, but not too much. As with all things (especially food), he got bored with it after about a minute and wanted to do something else.

Anna Wednesday #22

2009-10-29T15:13:00.002-05:00

Friday Liam #22

2009-10-23T22:25:00.002-05:00

Fall in the Back Yard

2009-10-23T07:43:00.000-05:00

The tree out back usually has some nice colors in the Fall. We didn't get the bright red this year that we have in years past, but the yellows are spectacular.

The kids are pretty freaking cute, too.

Anna loves pushing Liam in the swing, but I think he likes it even more.

And of course, some shots of the kids in the tree.

Yes, I had Liam sit on the tree, too. Don't worry. I had a hand on him.