Break out!

We had some visitors yesterday. As we were going about our daily activities at home, Matthew told me to have a look in the garden. Upon doing so I saw four cows wandering around, enjoying the grass! The had found a gap in the fence at the back of our house and thought they would take a little trip. As our garden has nothing that the cows could have done any damage too we left them to it. Heidi and Miller had a great time stood on the balcony mooing at them and the cows mooed back each time! They hung around for most of the morning and when I looked out in the afternoon they had gone. Not back to the field. Just gone. Maybe moved to a different field, maybe dead ready to go on someone's plate. I feel such affection for cows, even more so when I get in close contact. They are beautiful animals, such gorgeous eyes and lashes and such soft skin (much preferable when still attached to the cow). I took a video which I will post when I can figure out how to do it on my new camera! One of them was very curious about our old Volvo and kept circling around it giving it a good sniff, the others were out exploring and seemed to be having a jolly good time.
I notice cows everywhere. Maybe other people do not see what I see - well I know they don't! A few days ago I drove past a field where I saw one cow with such full udders. It looked so uncomfortable and the cow could hardly walk properly. It reminded me of when I began breastfeeding Miller and how sore I was when he missed a feed or when I woke in the morning if he had slept for longer than usual. I wanted to stop and get out of the car and do something but what do I do? Do I go in the field and try and milk the poor thing, what do I do? I did nothing and I felt so bad for my inability to act. Yet this is just one animal and this is an animal in what I would could a good situation (not that there is such a thing in truth), out grazing on grass for one thing unlike the majority of dairy cows who never see a field now....
I have to stop this blog post now, it's too upsetting...

Our neighbours

These adorable cows have been moved into the field opposite our house. Yesterday Heidi and Miller were playing in the paddling pool on our small balcony and were overjoyed to see the cows and spent the first ten minutes mooing at them from across the road. The cows are so friendly and come down to see what you are upto when you go to collect the post. I am not going to spend this post talking about what may or may not happen to them later, I guess I will leave that upto you. What I will say is that Heidi and Miller are becoming even fonder of animals.

The other day I was looking in a dog manual to see if I needed to take Paris, our black 11 year old Labrador to the vet about a sore she has on her leg and Miller was fascinated by the book which has pictures of all different dogs in it. It has since become his favourite thing ever (apart from potato & veggie cakes and dark chocolate rice crackers - much to my sofa's dismay!) he carries it around everywhere, cries if Heidi takes it off him and points at the dogs and says 'der'.

I also now have acquired some bumper stickers for our cars and I put one on my old beat up volve that says 'Love animals, don't eat them'. Matthew (my husband) says it makes me look like a drifter but frankly I don't care. I am feeling rebellious!

My parents arrive on Thursday so I must have a clean up soon, considering my mum once said I was the messiest person she knew! Oh well, you can't have everything! x

Why go vegan?

I thought it might be an idea to write a little about why I have made the decision to turn from a vegetarian to a vegan. Firstly, I'd like to recommend a book I received yesterday which I had ordered from Amazon. It's called 'The Peaceful Palate' by Jennifer Raymond and I can't put it down! It's full of gorgeous recipes even I could handle! There is so much choice and it makes you hungry just flicking through it!

So, why vegan? I am sure there are many vegetarians out there, maybe you, who think 'Why vegan? I'm not eating animals therefore I'm not contributing to suffering'. Unfortunately in most cases this just isn't true. Not to say being a vegetarian isn't a wonderful thing and I thought exactly that same thing before becoming aware of other issues surrounding the animals for food issue.

I became what I classed a part vegetarian when I was 25, no red meat or chicken but I ate fish. My reasons being that it was not my right to cause pain to animals. I still ate fish, believing fish felt no pain and often said I could catch and kill a fish therefore that's ok, I could not catch and kill a cow. My argument soon fell apart upon further research. So I gave up the fish. There, so now I'm not causing any animal to suffer for my food choices. Wrong. And before I go on I want to say something about awareness. A lot of people don't want to be aware. A lot of other people know that the way they eat is wrong but close their ears to the facts because they know that if they really learn about what goes on then they will have no choice but to stop their consumption of animal products. People ask why you are vegetarian or vegan but are really asking what you do for nutrients and dishes, they do not seem to like it so much if you actually use the words 'animal', 'dead', 'flesh', 'corpse' etc. That they don't want to know.

My recent decision to adopt veganism as a way of life came around after my willingness to actually listen to the facts. The main ones that made me so adamant never to eat dairy was that of the dairy cow. A dairy cow lactates just as a human does, basically, after childbirth. A cow is made pregnant, carries her calf and gives birth to it. She is a mother and there is a bond between mother and calf. She is usually given 24 hours to milk her calf (and that's not for her benefit as the colostrum or pre-milk is of no use to the dairy industry and the calf gets rid of that). After that time spent with her offspring, the calf and mother are separated. A female calf is raised as a dairy cow, a male calf is taken to the veal industry, where it is usually murdered before it is 6 weeks old. If you believe there is no bond between cow and calf you are hugely mistaken. Calves in rescues centres who are lucky enough to have a mother there, still nurse sometimes age 3 years old (by which time the calf is ridiculously big due to growth hormones - given so they can be slaughtered at around 6 months of aged for normal beef cows). After this, the milk is pumped (for you to drink and eat in cheese etc) until it runs dry. Then the cow is impregnated again and the cycle continues. When a cow can no longer produce calves and therefore milk, she is sent to slaughter. Doesn't this just make you want to cry? If you are a mother you may have suffered mastitus, a painful infection of the breast. Many dairy cows suffer many bouts of mastitus. As mothers, we may put it down to a negative side effect of nursing but at least we are nursing our babies, the cow does not have this basic right.

I do believe in the future, all people we see the consumption of animals and their byproducts a moral injustice, just as most people now know the wrongs of slavery and equal rights for women. To be aware of the mass disrespect for animal life happening all over the planet is just hurtful but change is not gradual, it follows a upward curve so hopefully that time won't be too far away.

If you're not already on the path, please at least don't hide from the truth about what you are eating and what that choice means for those who have no voice.