A Vegan Living With A Non-Vegan

I read Skinny Bitch in the spring of 2010.
Once I read that book, I knew my life would be forever changed. I began reading aloud to Troy, the parts that I thought would interest him. I was blown away by a lot of the information, and I figured Troy would be too. It introduced some nutrition and health ideas that we had never heard or even considered before.
How can milk be bad for you?!?

I can't recall exactly how Troy reacted to my announcement that I was becoming vegan. Actually, I can't recall even telling him. It just seemed like the natural next step as I learned more about the food industries.
Well, of course I'm becoming vegan!

He simply asked if I understood that I would have to learn to cook. I said that did occur to me, but I really wanted to try this vegan stuff. He said he was fine as long as he wasn't required to go vegan too.
He wasn't. And isn't.

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, Troy didn't typically cook or eat a lot of plants. Pasta and bread, sure! But his experiences in the kitchen has primarily been preparing parts of dead animals and their secretions, or baking with their secretions.
We learned a megaton that first few months.
I read Troy Skinny Bastard, Eating Animals, The China Study, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows,  and The 30-Day Vegan Challenge over the last year and a bit. Reading aloud has been very helpful in practicing my speech.
If I'm not good at something: practice, practice, practice.
It's good to read books too because it expands your vocabulary. In fact, I credit my fairly large vocabulary(well, it was definitely large before my brain injury)to my learned need to read. Which makes my, sometimes, inaccessible vocab all the more disheartening. There's a lot of words I don't normally say in my regular speech, but it's great practicing how to form sounds together.

Okay, I just read what I wrote, and I sound like a RIDICULOUS NERD!
"It's great practicing how to form..."<mocking tone>
Ugh. <sigh> Seriously though, I know it gets so frustrating when something isn't working. I am guilty of getting entirely too frustrated for many things. I get worked up, and Troy has to tell me to stop shouting while looking for a juicer at Home Outfitters, and it turns into this whole "thing"!
<smirk>
No, it doesn't get that bad, but that is a real example. Usually once Troy's told me to chill out, or to stop shouting, it's alright. I do tend to get more worked up at stores...there's a lot of people...and stuff...
Sorry!
Off topic!      Focus Alyx!!


Troy was very patient with me in his kitchen(let's be honest here, it was his kitchen for the first 4 or 5 years we were married). For the first few months I was learning, he had to cook with me because I would get distracted and completely forget that that burner had been on high for entirely too long, or I forgot to cook the rice, whatever, the point is that I would usually forget something.
It was actually a bit of a safety concern.
Luckily, I am able to focus a bit better, so I can cook and bake and Troy can be at work, and not worry about me burning our house to the ground. Yay Brain!

Troy has been so incredibly patient with me and my brain injury and me being vegan. That's the best word to describe Troy. Patient. 
I'm sure he would disagree with that assessment, but . . . he would be wrong.
He's patient.
He understood when I told him we wouldn't be buying animals or products made from animal parts. It took about 6 months of me being vegan for me to finally persuade him to give his parents our frozen cow carcass pieces.

I tell him everything I know.
Okay not everything, because sometimes I can't convince him to take the time to listen to a podcast, or watch a documentary. I don't feel confident in my ability to express some of  these ideas, and certainly not as beautifully or poignantly as these podcast hosts or documentarians(it's a word now).
But most things he'll give a chance. He watches most documentaries with me, if I'm willing to wait for him to be ready. (Or sometimes, I can't wait, so I watch without him. Then I just watch again with him later-doesn't matter to me, it's good to see what I missed.) Sometimes he'll want to watch the moment I suggest it, but other times it takes longer. That's fine. Took me over a year to watch Earthlings.

For reading, Troy doesn't like it much. He does read comic books, excuse me, graphic novels. 
Personally, I LOVE reading!! I am more than pleased to read my vegan library aloud to him as he's drawing(he's a really good drawer!).

It's been established that no non-vegan food in the house. Food at home is vegan. Troy also takes vegan lunches to work. When we go out, Troy does eat animals.
He regularly goes a month or two not eating them, then when we're in a family/social situation, he eats animals. He feels like poop for 2 days afterward, so he definitely sees the absolute health benefits.
Give him time. He'll wake up.

Our Hen House

I have listened to each and every episode of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's podcast, probably a dozen times.
I wanted more. Colleen has been busy this year! With Vegan's Daily Companion, Color Me Vegan, and The 30-Day Vegan Challenge, all released in the last year, she just hasn't had time to release many podcasts.
I started trying other vegan podcasts on iTunes. They were okay. Some really challenged my thinking, like, Animal Emancipation, hosted by Gary L. Francione. Some were video podcasts, which I didn't want. Audio only please. I finally asked on TheKindLife.com, and Our Hen House was recommended.
Boy Howdy! I am glad I asked other vegans what they listen to!

This podcast is hosted by Jasmin Singer and Maryann Sullivan.
Maryann is a lawyer and an adjunct professor of animal law at Brooklyn Law School and Cardozo Law School, and will soon be also teaching at Columbia Law School.
Jasmin was the campaigns manager for Farm Sanctuary, and — with Our Hen House — stayed on as a consultant through September 2010. She is a contributing writer for VegNews Magazine, a host for VegNews TV, and was also named by VegNews as one of twenty stand-out stars of the animal rights movement. She has also written for Satya Magazine and Heeb Magazine, and contributed to dozens of blogs.
Great podcast!
Each episode is about an hour long, sometimes a little longer, depending on the news, current events, and such. They interview inspiring vegans each week, talk about what's currently happening in the world of animal rights, and review products, books and movies!
Their website is full of inspiring content! Articles, videos, books, artwork! They've got it all! 
My understanding is that they're working on making Our Hen House into an online magazine! I think that will be rad! I am so excited to see what it'll be like!
They are completely listener and reader supported, which is ultra-cool!
Troy and I don't have cable, so we don't pay for TV, but I have zero problem with paying for content I actually want! So I do. Happily!
They have lots of tips on how to be an animal activist in creative, non-violent ways, from baking to visual art, and documentaries to literature! Our Hen House really makes their tagline their mission!
A Place To Find Our Way To Change The World For Animals.

This podcast helps me feel more connected to the vegan community. I know I've talked about the importance of community, but I will say it again. Community is important! Even if that community is online! We are social animals, so secluding yourself in a vegan bubble is not helping anybody!
Plus, Our Hen House has great thank-you gifts! Like the tote bag pictured here!(I have one!)

The Summer of Transition

Sausage Party

The summer of 2010 was spent acquiring my new food habits, getting rid of the terrible food and becoming familiar with what my brain was capable of, at that time.
We had a lot of animal meat and secretions in our home. We had the remaining bits of half a cow we bought from Troy's uncles.
"Half a cow" sounds horrifying to me now!
Plus lots of sausages and hot dogs, and even some moose! We ate up(or rather, Troy did) most of the meat that was in our freezer. The rest we gave to Troy's parents to use. I wanted to use our freezer space for frozen veggies or fruit or baking, etc.
Troy and I decided to have a sausage party with friends to use the sausages in the freezer! We used all of our eggs, butter, milk, yogurt, and ice cream. We  made the moose's ground meat into burgers using ground flax seed, rather than egg. We had already used all our eggs up, and like hell, I was ever buying them again! I will say that moose's meat is probably the best animal meat I've ever had! In the fall of 2010, I was okay with hunting. My thought was: the animals are free, then the hunters kill them. And that's that. I had a bigger problem with factory farming. At least the moose aren't in factory farms! I never considered animals 'walking' away with injuries. I just assumed, once hit, the animal dies. Often, that is not the case! Left to languish for days, till they die, or somebody else(another human or non-human) kills them. Either way, not a pleasant experience!
I have since changed my stance on hunting. Colleen Patrick-Goudreau helped me see things differently. On her podcast, Vegetarian Food For Thought, in a specific episode, How To Talk To Hunters(or anyone with whom you disagree), she talks about those hunted animals and their families. I never thought about non-human animals having families in the wild...but why wouldn't they have families?! I always just thought of wild animals as loners. Even if they live in large groups. I don't know why I thought these things...social conditioning? Maybe it's something I had to believe to deal with friends and family hunting every weekend?
Now, when I look into the wilderness, I can't help but think of those hunted animals and their families!
That summer was also my sister's vow renewal(July 23), and I remember(!!) at the end of the night, Troy and I, along with our camping/hiking/canoeing/snowboarding-trip adventure friends, Shannon and Scott took a meat and cheese platter back to our house and we all ate it.
I think that was the last time I ate processed animal's meat. Which, has turned out to be a really smart and good thing! The American Institute for Cancer Research and The World Cancer Research Fund say that bacon and other processed meats clearly cause colorectal cancer. They should never be eaten and never given to children.
I see people approaching diets and dieting kind of wrong. They don't replace what they once ate, with something better.
Eggs was surprisingly easy. Fortunately there are numerous ways to replace eggs when baking. The Joy of Vegan Baking gets into how replace eggs, milk, buttermilk and butter with plant food! But there are many websites that give you information on this. Just Google 'vegan baking replacing eggs'. It's pretty easy.
Troy never cared for eating chicken's eggs. I did. I liked egg salad, eggs scrambled, in omelets, sunnyside-up, hard-boiled. I wasn't fussy! Thankfully, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau does have recipes for 'egg' salad and scrambled 'eggs', both in The Vegan Table and in The 30-Day Vegan Challenge!
My favourite was taking an egg(sunnyside-up) and putting it on buttered toast, eating all around the yolk, then stuffing the entire yolk, with the little piece of toast left, in my mouth! It was messy, and tasted good. I haven't found a vegan version, but I've also not looked because I haven't had a craving for it.
I did have a vegan omelet when my friend, Holly and I flew to Edmonton to see Ani Difranco(we love her!) in the summer of 2011! Holly was is so gracious and nice! We went to restaurants we knew were vegan-friendly(thank you iPhone!), and it was so good! We went to Padmanadi Vegetarian Restaurant, all vegan, so good! I'll save that trip for another post!
Milk was a simple solution. There are a lot of plant milks out there! Soy, almond, rice, coconut, hazelnut, hemp, peanut, oat, cashew, etc. I know there's more! We really like almond milk. Rice milk is also good, but not ideal for baking(little too watery), and coconut milk is perfect for making thick fruit smoothies or curries. Those are the milks I have tried. They also differ brand to brand.
Non-dairy ice creams are fantastic! We make a lot of our own almond milk ice cream, using our KitchenAid!
Store-bought, non-dairy ice creams(especially made with coconut milk!) are a ridiculously rich and delicious treat!

Vegetarian Food For Thought

I started to listen to Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Vegetarian Food For Thought in the late fall of 2010. Not too long after my first official day of being vegan(September 12, 2010). I knew she had a podcast, and it got rave reviews! 

Just so we're clear: I had no idea what a podcast even was! 

I loved her writing in the The Joy of Vegan Baking and The Vegan Table, and I wanted compassionate responses to some common questions regarding veganism. The reason I waited so long to start listening, was because I couldn't just listen, I felt like I needed to be doing something else. I started to listen to the podcast on walks. 

Which was tricky to start. My balance was not stellar at that point, and even my walking was a bit clumsy. 

But, if I've learned anything from having a brain injury, it's that practice makes everything easier! I practiced just holding up my torso, and that's gotten much easier. I've practiced printing and math, and those have gotten better. I've practiced speaking, and that's almost 100% now(I still miss words, and forget how to pronounce them, or use the wrong word, but it's better! I swear!). 

So I listened to her podcast over and over, trying to memorize her words. That was also tricky because my brain still wasn't remembering. I had many lists and notes! It was rather ridiculous actually. Now, I'm able to recall much more! Not near the number of notes required for me to function!
She's taught me to be a joyful vegan. Truly. I don't know if I would've been so steadfast in my veganism without her leadership and encouragement! 

She has a masters in English, so she really gets our language, and talks about it a lot. The way violence towards non-human animals in our language perpetuates violence in action. She encourages everyone to think of compassionate alternatives to our usual violent non-human animal idioms. 

I've recently started using 'put all of my apples in a row', rather than ducks. She has lots of examples in Vegan's Daily Companion. I've started using 'non-human animals' when talking about other species. This way of talking throws people off a bit. I appreciate how it can get people thinking.

I also started using her, 'I can eat it, if I want it, but I don't' mentality. It's helped in many a situation, and again, encourages people to think that they do have choices, whether they know it or not!

Troy will listen to her podcast on drives out to the farm, or when we're driving anywhere out of the city. He really likes her stuff.
I subscribe to her free podcast on iTunes and even got her Vegetarian Food For Thought app for my iPhone!

I know she's been crazy busy this past year and a half, but I am itchy for more podcasts!

Don't get me wrong! I love and adore all of her books!  Her books taught me to bake and cook! That's huge! Teaching people how to nurture their bodies is vital! The Joy of Vegan Baking, The Vegan Table, Color Me Vegan, Vegan's Daily Companion and The 30-Day Vegan Challenge were all fantastic, the BEST, in fact! But it isn't quite the same as a soundbite.