THE VEGAN NEWS 

SUMMER 2002

In This Issue:

• Recipes
• Vegan Product Review
• Don't Miss! This Month's Article - Dairy Products
• In the Veganic Garden
• New! Garden Products
• Readers' Contributions
• Websites
• Book Review(s)
• The Wildlife Database

Shazzie's Sweet Spread

Ingredients

• 1 avocado, peeled and stoned
• 1 banana, peeled
• 1 clove of garlic
• Basil leaves
• Romaine lettuce leaves

Method

1. Chop the garlic and blend the first three ingredients together in a food processor. Serve the spread on big romaine leaves. Put the basil leaves on top and eat it like an open sandwich.

Serves 1

ABC Salad

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups of almonds (soaked)
• 1 cup beetroot, grated
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1 and a half tsp of Braggs Liquid Aminos (or tamari)
• 1-2 tbsp of * tahini
• 1 and a half tsp of ** nutritional yeast

Method

1. Soak the almonds for at least 2 hours, drain and slice.
2. Mix the almonds with grated vegetables and seasonings. Refrigerate for 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 4

Spinach Salad

Ingredients

• Spinach leaves (as many as you like!)
• 1 grapefruit, peeled and segmented
• 1 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced

Salad Dressing:

• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 1 tbsp of oil (preferably flax, hemp or extra-virgin olive oil)
• 2 tsp of lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp mustard

Method

1. Wash and drain the spinach leaves.
2. Chop the grapefruit segments into bite-size pieces.
3. Mix the orange juice, lemon juice, oil and mustard together in a cup.
4. Place the spinach leaves on a plate and arrange the grapefruit pieces and kiwi slices on top. Pour on the salad dressing and serve.

Serves 1

Top of Page

Summer Product Review

Cheatah Running Shoes - 

Cheatahs - (Updated in February 2009 - This Information was removed as this product is no longer available.

I also tested out Vegetarian Shoe's moisture absorbing insoles (£3.95) and was quite impressed with these too. Although they were far too thick to be comfortable in my Cheatahs, I found that they were excellent for use inside my walking boots. They are made of a thick fleecy material and really do keep your feet snug and warm. (Updated in February 2009 - This product is still available.  Plus some new waffle insoles for £4.95.) In fact, I must get another pair to go inside my winter boots! Incidentally, if you are looking for some black, vegan shoe polish, then this product is still available from Vegetarian Shoes for £1.95 per tin.

You can obtain more information on newly released Vegetarian Shoes and up-to-date information on the above products at the Vegetarian Shoes site.

Top of Page

• Sowing and Planting

  June
  Tomatoes can be planted out in a sunny, sheltered position, anytime up until mid-June. Make sure that frosts are not still being forecast before you plant them out, though! And if you have some, rake some wood ash or leafmould into the soil before planting. Space the tomato plants about eighteen inches (45 cm) apart and stake and water well after planting. After two or three weeks, or when the plants are well established, I usually place a mulch of home-made garden compost around each plant as this gives them a real boost. Comfrey solution makes an excellent tomato feed when the fruits start to form and it's also ideal for peppers and many other plants too. It can be purchased ready-made from the Organic Gardening Catalogue (Code: LICC, ring 01932 253666 to order), or you could order some comfrey plants instead and make your own comfrey solution each year, which works out a lot cheaper. Try sowing a row of basil next to your tomatoes.

  The end of May/early June is also the best time to plant runner bean seeds. These usually take about two to three weeks to germinate and should therefore be quite safe from frost. If you have any spare room in your beds, try sowing some sunflower seeds early this month. Sunflowers are very attractive to bees and hoverflies and of course make a wonderful sight in the garden with their lovely, large yellow heads. Get the kids to plant and water them! After flowering, use the ripe sunflower seeds to produce sunflower greens indoors, or leave the heads on the plants for the birds to eat.

  Don't forget to make sowings of spring cabbage, carrots and further sowings of lettuce, beetroot and salad onions this month. Little Marvel peas can also be sown in June and should provide you with a good crop of peas by late summer.

  July/August
  A good time to sow some winter radishes. Try Belrosa, Black Spanish Round or Minowase (Mouli). All of these radishes are available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue and should do very well, especially if we get another wet autumn again this year! Mouli radishes often grow very large. They store well in the fridge and are ideal for stir-fries, or they can be grated and eaten raw in salads.

  Young leeks should be planted out by mid-July and so should any winter cabbage, cauliflower, kale or sprouting broccoli plants that you have grown. These should provide you with an excellent supply of vegetables over the winter months and well into spring. It is also worth considering planting some Oriental vegetables, many of which can be planted in July. You will find a good selection of Oriental vegetables in the Organic Gardening Catalogue. Some Oriental vegetables grow very quickly and can be ready in no time at all, but unfortunately some varieties can be quite popular with slugs! It is also a good idea to sow some parsley at the beginning of August, so that you have a good supply of this nutritious herb to last you through the winter months. I prefer to grow parsley in a trough indoors over the winter, but it usually grows well outside too.

Crops Available this Summer:

• June: Asparagus, broad beans, broccoli, lettuce, peas, potatoes, spinach, gooseberries, rhubarb and strawberries.
  
• July/August: Broad beans, runner beans, beetroot, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, peas, potatoes, spinach, currants, raspberries, plus sweetcorn, cherries, plums and onions in August.
  
  

Top of Page

• Vegan Mix (Now called VGrow - Information updated February 2009)

  If you are finding it hard to obtain a suitable compost mixture for seeds and cuttings, then this product could be just what you are looking for! It's available from Devon-based Tamar Organics by mail order. V Grow is a fine grade coir compost and is produced by the Fertile Fibre People. This soil-based product contains top quality loam and of course it is completely free from animal products. A 35 litre bag of this potting compost costs just £8.50. (February 2009 update: This 35L bag is no longer available - This product is now sold in 60L bags for £15.50.) And of course it has the advantage of being delivered straight to your door. The code for this product is VEGA. To order or find out more phone: 01579 371098 or email: sales@tamarorganics.co.uk.
  

• New! Bumblebee Nest

  Available from the Oxford Bee Company via Buckingham Nurseries. This nest box will attract nest-seeking queen bumblebees in early spring. The kit comes with complete instructions on how to use it and also contains information on the life history of these fascinating creatures. It costs £19.95 (information updated February 2009). If you want to find out more about bumblebees, then why not order a copy of Chris O'Toole's book Bumblebees to go with it? This book details their natural history and describes how you can attract these excellent pollinators into your garden and use artificial nests to provide them with homes. A real bargain at just £3.95!

• New! Ladybird House

  Ladybirds are ideal for controlling garden pests such as greenfly and blackfly. This ladybird house is made from environmentally friendly and weatherproof plastic and will provide hundreds of snug roosting perches for ladybirds to use in winter and on cold nights. Why not order one today and encourage these useful predators to live in your garden! Price £24.95. If you want to find out more about ladybird gardening order a copy of Darren Mann's book Ladybirds:Natural Pest Control. Price £4.95. (Product information updated in February 2009)

• New! Wildflowers for Wildlife Book

  Find out what to plant to make your garden more wildlife friendly. Jenny Steel's book reveals all. Price £4.95. This book is also available from the Oxford Bee Company. (Product information updated in February 2009)

Top of Page

Readers' Contributions

The next method they employed was a biodynamic technique, ancient, sickening and uncompassionate. They would trap one squirrel, kill it, then boil it's remains creating a juice which would then be sprayed onto the vegetables used to feed to the vegetarian population. They hoped that the effect would scare off the squirrel family. But since they were on a five-hundred-acre, natural squirrel habitat, where thousands of tunnels lined the underlayer of the soil, this did not prove feasible. They set traps, tried drowning them with water, everything but using the harmonious technique. We were fired with protest and went on with our lives, notifying anyone we could, but especially the vegetarian/vegan restaurants who were purchasing the food from these folks to serve to karma-conscious folks, who thought it was vegan food.

It has been approximately a year now and recently I heard that thay have a machine that pumps propane into the ground, which is then ignited to bring death by explosion and fire. This is cruel and there is no excuse for this suffering. When I challenged the technique non-confrontationally, stating that human beings must be able to think of another way, I was informed that if it was us or the squirrels (who have been deemed the enemy simply by their existence) that we had to fight for our food. This sounds all too familiar and I have not been able to let this one slide. I am sending this attachment to all who will listen and am looking for support to stop this suffering from taking place. We cannot desensitise and believe that we are not capable of creating a solution, or that one life is more important than another, especially when the solution is already present and would be simple with a little more heart and better farm management and maybe some adjusting of priorities. How about a little respect for life by making an attempt to harmonise when we move in, instead of just taking over and leaving only destruction in our wake? From our heart, this is our voice. One love, Vitali

If anyone has any ideas about what can be done to stop this dreadful way of slaughtering squirrels, then please contact Vitali at: vitali@ rawfoods.com.

* Editor's note: Natural extract of capsicum (peppers) can also be used to deter squirrels from taking bird food from bird feeders. In the UK this is marketed as the product 'Squirrel Away', which is completely harmless to both birds and squirrels and is available by mail order from the Organic Gardening Catalogue. (Tel: 01932 253666, if you would like to order some.)

Other Interesting Websites

The Vegan Society (UK)

An excellent site and a particularly good starting point for obtaining information for the new or intending vegan. You can now visit their online Shop.

Rawganique (USA)

Well worth a visit! This site sells clothing and food for a fragile planet. It offers a wide range of hemp and organic cotton products including clothing, hemp footwear, bedding, towels and bathrobes and plenty of organic and hemp foodstuffs too. There's also an Ezine to read and a good selection of recipes. You can shop online, goods being delivered throughout the USA and Canada. Don't get carried away though and buy too much!

Fox Hall Vegan B&B (Kendal, Cumbria)

Full details of rates, menus and information on the surrounding area are given and there is also a self-catering cottage, available to non-smoking vegetarians.

Making Waves Vegan Guest House (St Ives, Cornwall)

Offers home made animal-free food (some of which seems to be raw) and caters for other special diets such as the macrobiotic diet. Plenty of activities available in the area, including mountain biking, surfing and kite flying.

Heartspring B&B (Wales)

Located in the Welsh countryside, near to stunning coastal scenery, this B&B offers wholefood vegan cooking and also caters for special diets (e.g. raw). As well as providing accommodation, they also run relaxation and living energy courses and retreats. Nearby activities include walking, cycling, horse riding and canoeing.

You can find a more complete list of vegan accommodation on the links page.

Top of Page

Summer Book Review(s)

Sunfood Cuisine by Frederic Patenaude (Genesis, 2002)

This gourmet raw-food guide contains over 175 raw, vegan recipes which are based on fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts, herbs and spices. There are easy-to-make recipes for salads and dressings, raw soups, juices, nut milks, smoothies, desserts, pies, pates, dips and snacks. Throughout the book Frederic makes rawfood look rather fun and also encourages you to experiment and to use the principles he teaches you to invent your own recipes from whatever ingredients you happen to have in your kitchen. In fact I felt so inspired after reading through this book that I rushed out and bought a new vegetable peeler, so that I could have a go at making some of the raw pasta recipes in the gourmet food section!

However, Sunfood Cuisine is much more than just a recipe book, the second part of the book being a very informative guide to all of the ingredients and the kitchen equipment needed to create the recipes. Here, I found the sections on sweet and tropical fruits especially helpful and now have a much better idea of what these fruits look like, why they are good for me and how to prepare and eat them. At the back of the book four appendices provide a lot of useful information on related topics such as the Sunfood Diet, wild foods, organically grown food and tips on transitioning to a raw diet.

So what equipment will you need to make these recipes? Well a juicer, food processor, coffee grinder and dehydrator would certainly be useful if you want to make all of the recipes. But if you don't have some of this specialised equipment, then quite a lot of the recipes can in fact be made with just a bowl, a grater, a sharp knife and a blender. A set of American measuring cups would also be useful and these can be purchased in Tesco's for £3.50. All in all a useful book, not just for rawfooders, but for anyone who wishes to increase the amount of fruit and vegetables in their diet.

Top of Page