Vegan Endurance Athlete: Inspiration:

At the age of 40, overweight and feeling low energy, this man changed his whole life by going vegan. Wonderful story.

Deer in the city of Toronto:

Well it's been quite a week here in Toronto. I arrived to the office of my physiotherapist only to find the entire building blocked off by police, several camera crews and about a hundred people. I asked someone what the hell was going on and he said "There's a deer over there". A live deer in the city? Yup- there she was, beautiful. How very sad that we never get to see wildlife because we've covered every square foot with concrete. She seemed very tired and just lay there for the longest time. I went to my appointment, which was an hour long, and when I emerged from the building she was still there. Why was it taking so long for the animal rescue people to do anything? They were enjoying the press too much.

I watched with the others as police in bullet-proof vests (you never know right?), stood around with nets, and then a man with a long tranquilizer gun got into position for a shot. It was horrible to see what happened next. When the deer was hit she jumped up immediately and tried to run in every direction, but there were people everywhere. She jumped the police tape (great blockade guys), and landed on the wet pavement only to slip and fall directly onto the red dart that was sticking out of her. The needle must have broken off for sure and it looked so painful. The police and animal control moved in with the nets and the I saw them TASER her! I kid you not. This lovely creature convulsed violently for a long moment and then went limp.

Tasered? Really? Now that's caring about animals. The thing already couldn't walk. It slipped because it's hind legs went numb from the tranquilizer, and they already had nets around it on the ground. Of all the places in this city I could have been and at all the times... why did this incident happen in exactly where I was headed that morning? It really made me think about what we're doing as a species. We spread out like a parasite and destroy everything in our path only to create artificial impressions of nature- we choose the wildlife that is acceptable (our pets), The vegetation that is tolerable (our flower gardens), and pave the roads so we don't get mud on ourselves or our cars. Time to move out of the city. *This photo was taken from The Globe and Mail Toronto website because I didn't have my camera on me at the time.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you lovely people in the United States!

Click here to see some of my favorite recipes for the holiday:
Oh, and James took this photo while we were hiking.

Mass animal sacrifice begins in Hindu festival in Nepal; 200,000 animals to be killed

We couldn't believe what we were reading in The Metro News Paper yesterday- I had no idea about this "festival" where 200,000 animals like pigs and buffalo are hacked to death with machetes in a massive slaughter. Did you? Hindus? Really? Hindus are vegetarian right? That's what I thought too, but after they kill the animals they have a big feast where they eat them.

So it doesn't really matter if they are vegetarian for the entire year because about 200,000 people show up to this event, which means that each person is responsible for the death of one whole animal - probably more than some meat eaters would consume in a year.

The image is horrifying. There is a less public mass slaughter going on every day in the world- it's called factory farming. The images are equally horrific, but they are hidden from the public view and people all over the planet pick up the remains at supermarkets, wrapped in neat little cellophane and styrophoam packages.
Click here for the full article.

One of my paintings: The Ritual (after)

I'm in a show starting on December 5th at a gallery on Queen Street here in Toronto called The Beverly Owens Project. The show is the first of seven, with the theme of The Seven Deadly Sins, Lust being the first. So it should be a juicy show for sure. I'll post more about it when I have the fliers. (Lyn)

Creamy Parsnip soup with Pine Nuts and Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Raw!)

I just made this and it's wonderful- very delicate flavours and a little spicy. Here is how you make it:

Creamy Parsnip Soup with Pine Nuts and Sun-Dried Tomatoes:
2 cups shredded parsnips
1/4 cup of pine nuts
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh garlic (very small piece)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground mustard seeds
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground chilli powder
4 cups hot water

1. Mix the above ingredients in the blender until smooth and creamy.
2. Shred another cup of parsnips to add to the soup when you are ready to serve it.
3. Cut up a several pieces of sun-dried tomatoes to top it off.
4. Take a spoon and drizzle olive oil or chilli oil over each bowl to make it look pretty.

Kombucha Tea

Well I'm going to be making kombucha tea for the first time ever, even though I've been meaning to for years now. I found someone in the city (Toronto) who is selling their starter 'mushroom' (the scoby) for only $10, so if anyone else is interested in doing this thing with me, or finding out where they can obtain one, just drop me a line at beautiful-vegan@hotmail.com, or leave a comment under this posting.

I will be posting more about this process and videos and links to good sources of information later on so stay tuned!

Off The Grid: Documentary:

Here is a documentary made by the infamous Less Stroud (commonly known as 'Survivor man' and having a show by the same name): Watch Off The Grid. He and his family try their best to go Off The Grid and live more sustainably. I don't agree with everything they chose to do, but it's a good example of what is possible.

There are more affordable, sustainable, simpler, stronger and esthetically pleasing ways of building an off the grid house, such as Earthbag Building insulated with straw bales and rammed earth tires (go to the natural building section of the blog on the right hand column). Much of what Less decided on was not actually very eco-friendly, but it's a start. I found the film inspiring for sure.

James took this beautiful photo of a horned owl (I think that's what kind it is).

The Cost of a Coke: Documentary:

Watch this Documentary: The Cost of a Coke on-line for free. Everyone should know what they are getting into when they open a bottle of Coca Cola. Who are you giving your money to?

You need to see this: I am blown away.

This is not just an American problem, but artist Chris Jordan starts there. You may have seen his work before, but watch the video because what he says is very effective.

Food Inc. Documentary:

watch the documentary Food Inc. for free here: Food Inc.

Vaccines: 2 Documentaries to watch:

Click here to link to and watch 2 documentaries on vaccines we all should see. Very interesting indeed.

It is now believed that 51% of the world's human-caused greenhouse gas emissions come from raising livestock!!!

Read this article which links to the full report and it's new findings. This is astounding and I'm blown away. Of course it will make all the meat eaters of the world freak out and get angry because they refuse to change. And if we refuse to change something as simple as our own diets, something that is in our hands and that we do three times a day, how can we change anything on this planet?? It's not going to happen.

Of course I'm preaching to the converted, as most of you awesome folks out there are already vegan, but maybe a few of you are considering the lifestyle and to you I say WELCOME! You are the courageous souls that are not blinded by the stereotypes and misconceptions about veganism, and you are not as selfish as the meat eaters who simply will not budge from their rigid pedestals. For them we will ALL pay the price. One person at a time, please go vegan.

*I took the photo above while we were visiting a working farm at Fort Williams in Thunder Bay. It's clearly not from a factory farm, as it would look and smell very different if I was inside of one of those.

Vananda Shiva on Seed Saving- very powerful talk:

James and I went to see Vananda Shiva speak at the University of Toronto a couple of weeks ago and she is one of my greatest heroes. She moves everyone who is open and offends those who are guilty.

The courage she has in speaking out all over the world for diversity of seeds, water security, and the importance of organic food is astounding. I am so inspired by this woman and feel strongly that I have to get her message out to everyone who hasn't heard her words before; so here is a full video (it's and older one) that needs to be watched. There are so many videos on youtube that you can see and all of them are very moving and educating.

Here is a link to Vananda Shiva's website where you can "join our more than 85,000 members across the country saying no to industrial agriculture, and yes to True Food! It's free to join, and you will get updates and action alerts on simple things you can do to make a difference".

Colloidal Silver Generator: Make it yourself!

So many people have been asking about colloidal silver and it's many many uses for health... so I found this video that explains a very simple and really inexpensive way for you to make a generator yourself, to see what all these claims are about. I will be making one too, so write and tell me about your successes or failures and I'll write about mine! Oh, and at the end of this video he says that if you drink too much colloidal silver your skin will turn blue- but let me say that that is ONLY if you are drinking ridiculous amounts of it every single day. So take that comment with a grain of salt.