Of course all animal lovers are against fur and in this case Fur Free have asked that we write to the establishment head office politely expressing our disgust at the shop selling these items.

But this got me thinking: I have been to this particular pet shop quite a few times and when you enter you are greeted with large ostrich bones, hooves and other animal product chew toys. The pet food certainly isn’t vegan so can we really write to them expressing our disgust at one item when there are shelves of products which are the result of animal cruelty and suffering?

Can we really complain about products with real animal fur being sold in a shop which has always sold real animal flesh and bones?

Question posed by Lesleigh Harnwell

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Just as the trees shed the last of their dying leaves and sprout new green life, we too clear out the old to make way for the new, and with the arrival of Spring we welcome the abundance which our gardens can bring. Not only do we tend to our gardens but we also take into consideration what havoc cooked and fatty foods may have reaped on our bodies during winter and, with the warmer weather upon us, eating mostly raw food is a cinch and almost certainly as enjoyable as our winter treats.

Some of us may have recently visited the natural and organic show and one of the focuses, something which you may have been considering, was to grow your own veggie garden. With the warmer weather, new growth and weaving weavers, there is no better motivation to get out there and plant something. And if you don’t have the space, pot gardens are equally as rewarding and somewhat easier to maintain.

Some good nutritional veggies to plant this spring are carrots which give you vitamin A and B, and spinach – a great source of calcium, iron, vitamins A, C and K, iodine and more. I would definitely say pop some tomatoes in your garden or pot as these are very hardy plants and are a good source of vitamin B and C. Also plant some dwarf or runner beans. These are very appealing to the eye and will give you your protein and zinc provisions. And another hardy vegetable to plant, the ever so popular potato and sweet potato, which as we know is a great carbohydrate but also provides other vitamins such as B and C, and some minerals such as phosphorus, sulphur and potassium. A great nutritional and often forgotten herb which we should definitely consider for our delightful dishes is parsley, which is a source of calcium, iron, vitamin C and D.

Growing your own veggie garden will ensure you get the correct foods at the correct time of year and adapting a raw vegan diet will ensure you receive good plant-based nutrition. The benefits are immeasurable and with a growing awareness toward healthy eating in South Africa, there are plenty of raw eating resources which can help push you in the right direction.

If you are unable to grow your own veggie garden, your local organic market will be more than adequate and if you are willing to give the growing a go, the most sustainable and eco-friendly way of growing organic is with permaculture principles. I strongly recommend that some information on growing with permaculture principles is acquired before starting your garden, or even as a guide for an already established garden, as this will only benefit your garden plants and soil quality and help alleviate the need for commercial pesticides or excessive water use.

As we celebrate the joys of Spring with the cleaning of our houses and planting of new life. We disperse the toxins from our bodies with fresh produce and replenish the dry bark of our souls with lively new green leaves of friendship and the outdoors.

We as South Africans embrace the warm weather with welcoming arms and flourish under our nourishing sun. And for Jo’burg resident,; we anticipate our first rain so it may wash away all the dust and smog. Green will prevail again, the season has changed. Hooray spring is here!

Written by Lesleigh Harnwell

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Additionally, it is now accepted by most scientists that human moral behaviour has developed from prehistoric times, when our less evolved ‘forefathers’ lived in social groups and developed bahavioural patterns that best allowed them to succeed in their own clans, i.e. helping out other members of their group often lead to later and reciprocal rewards.

Given the above 2 factors, what would you do in the following scenario:

- You see a man out walking his dog down a busy street. You see him about to cross the road and he clearly hasn’t seen the car rapidly approaching. It seems that unless you act then both will surely be killed by the rushing car. But you can only reach one or the other – dog or human. Which one would you save, and why?

- If you had chosen to save the dog, would you then be guilty of a crime punishable by law?

Question posed by Sheldon Hey

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These guys were great, they ensured they were not easily evicted by building a tripod, and chained concrete barrels around themselves. While squatting, they drummed, ran vegan workshops on cooking, animal rights and others. They received vegan food from the locals and managed to stand their ground. The owners of the land and police were gobsmacked as they had no legal right to evict them. I am unable to find out what happened with the squat, if anyone can read German or knows please let us know. For some great pictures of the ‘chicken squat’ please visit http://antiindustryfarm.blogsport.de/fotos/

There are many brave activists out there who go out on a limb for animals, and although we do our bit by being vegan does it stop there? Would you squat for the chickens?

Questions kindly posed by Lesleigh Harnwell

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Meat that’s grown in a lab might be the next new craze … “eat without guilt”, but at what cost? When will we know the side effects of lab-grown meat and would you try it (assuming animal cells can be ‘harvested’ in an ethical way)?

2. If you kept chickens and they left unfertilised eggs at your kitchen door would you eat them? My boss keeps chickens and one hen secretly lays eggs which she protects (my boss cannot eat them) and will lay another egg in my bosses bedroom almost as if to say “here you go you can have this one, but not my precious ones hidden beneath the bush” ~ would you eat them?

3. Would you eat an animal if it died of natural causes and lived a healthy natural life? If you would then could you prepare the meat or would you only consume it if someone else cuts it and nicely presents the flesh on a platter, bone- and skin- free?

What are your views on “alternative” meat?

Questions kindly posed by Lesleigh Harnwell

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Were you vegetarian first and then later became a vegan? At what age did you become vegan and how long have you been vegan for?

My own story:
I was a vegetarian at 19 a result of my body just not liking meat, and then gradually I let go of other foods like fish and eggs. Finally, milk was the last item, which was the only item that I actually gave up for animal rights reasons; all other animal products and by-products just made me sick. I have been a non-meat eater for nearly 7 years now and vegan for about 3 years.

What made you the vegan you are today?

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It’s very hard to keep an even temper because we feel we are being attacked. We feel very strongly about what we believe in and when people attack our beliefs, we feel they are attacking us … and in some cases they are! This makes it very hard to feel the same way about that person before they charged at us with their archaic beliefs and uninformed insults. So how do you deal with ‘attackers’? Obviously we inform them of the truth and enlighten them on the subject. This too can sometimes have devastating effects with more attacks been hurled at you, and the ending of friendships.

But in cases where the friendship has survived, or as is the case with family who won’t just disappear from our lives, the relationship may still be strained. How do you expel that feeling of betrayal, the feeling which comes with no support from those whom you have always relied on before?

Do you simply shrug it off as naivety and continue as if nothing ever happened?

Do you make it your purpose to convert that person, to change their ways so the conflict does not happen again, realising that there will be a lot more conflict before the change may or may not happen?

Do you cut all ties until they apologise, realising this may never happen and the family brunch awkwardness has escalated to catastrophic levels, and that disowning your family seems the next available best bet?

It seems like such a simple thing but feeling strongly about something which your loved one does not agree with, can be heart wrenching and somewhat stressful, how do you cope?

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Yes we all make a small difference in our own way by not consuming animal products, being more environmentally friendly and more conscious in what we do and buy, but is this really making a difference? There’s only a handful of us vegans, granted growing, but there are millions of them (meat eaters/ media minions).

Yes, you would still need to be be advocating, converting and changing minds in order to get the anarchy movement moving forward, but I feel people are a lot more open to change that benefits them despite their dietary choice (they’ll get over that). Once they are over the sheer shock of having a different governmental system, they will see that anarchy changes everything that we know for the better of everyone; because anarchy is not just about making a difference in the lives of the animals, it’s also about making a difference in the lives of everyone and the environment.

This thinking is based on the understanding that a majority of us are not happy with what is going on in our societies. And those who defend government and, as is often the case, the world banks’ actions, are ill educated on the subject and, more than likely, a prime example of systematic brain washing which has lead nations for decades.

So if we start getting people to question how their world is run maybe they’ll also start asking questions on how their meat is grown?

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So what are challenging issues and circumstances that challenge you in your own life? And where do you lie – what are your own personal boundaries and limits when it comes to vegan issues when there are no right answers?

Would you:

• eat food that was cooked on a grill that had been used (but scraped down) to cook meat on?
• dine at a steak or burger house (surrounded by steaks and beef burgers)?
• cook meat for friends/family?
• buy animal products for friends/family?
• buy ‘cruelty-free’ personal care items that contain dairy or egg produce?
• buy goods that are animal product free but are made from a culture that was grown on dairy milk (e.g. Woolies soy yoghurt)?
• wear leather shoes?

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We have decided to switch media platforms within Facebook. We have now created a new Facebook Fan Page. We have already been assigned our new easy-to-remember username: http://www.facebook.com/vegansa.

Our blog news feed will be displayed on our new fan page wall. Our fan page will also be used to host any other Vegan SA news and features as well as general discussions about issues related to veganism.

To receive our blog newsfeed direct into your Facebook News Feed in the future, all you have to do is become a fan of our new Facebook page. You can do so by clicking on the link above… and then clicking on the “Become a Fan” button on the new Vegan SA page.

Our existing Vegan SA Facebook Group and ‘Vega N SA’ user ID will both be made inactive from 31st January 2010.

Hope to see you all on our new Vegan SA Facebook Fan Page soon!