A little community building

[GranolaMommy]

There's not a lot of chit chat here - maybe we can make that better! All discussions here don't need to be serious or recipe searches.

It is hard to find like minded families to hang out with. We are in a more difficult area of Southern California to connect with other veggie familes. We are stuck here in between Los Angeles and San Diego - both hotbeds of other veggie families. (although I know of one here - hi bachlava - I think that's how you spell your screenname here) And while I would love to make it to Vegetarian Summerfest http://vegetariansummerfest.org/index.html one of these years, it is a little far for all of us to attend, especially since we live so far from our families and need to use our vacation time to reconnect with them.

So, after all that I guess my point is, we don't really know each other much. So here goes.

I am Jennye, I have an almost 3yo little boy, we are pretty well vegan, although I am much less strict than I used to be. We were lacto-ovo for a little while there, but we are heading back to vegan-land. We are also transitioning to a lower starch diet. I have a great deal of difficulty losing weight, as does DH. We always ate pretty healthy, but over the years of veganism gained a lot of weight. Now it is time to end that. So we are legume and fresh veggie heavy eaters nowadays. I'm very lucky that DS eats pretty well for a toddler. He likes soup, salad, fresh veggies and fruit a lot and isn't crazy about starches and grains too much. DS and I are both slightly soy intolerant, so we have it very rarely. I've taken to making my own nutmilk lately and I like it very very much. DH has the unsweetened Silk instead.

I am also doing the Eat For Life plan for the most part. It is a little too strict for me for the initial 6 week phase, so I am generally following the menus in the book as a guideline for amounts and types of food. Although I frankly am not fond of the recipes in the book, so I just adapt my own recipes where possible and find other ones that fit.

[sophie]

Hi Jennye! What a nice idea.
I'm Sophie, mother of Jasper (nearly 7), Lily (4) and Solomon (6 months).Jasper goes to the little local school, he has been classified as a "gifted" child, and we are so proud of him. Lily is an extraordinary artist who loves fairies and flowers, and Solly is a big bonny baby, born at home 6 months ago.
My partner is Al, who is an organic vegie grower. We live by the sea in New Zealand, in a close-knit little community. Al has been vegan for about 10 years and I have been vegan for about 8 years, so all the kids have been vegan from conception. We eat mostly organic food, and since Al grows vegies we have those in abundance. We make things mostly from scratch, eg make our own bread, soak and cook beans rather than use canned stuff.
I know a couple of vegetarian families, but no other vegans. We live about 45 minutes drive from the nearest city, and there are lots of good restaurants which have vegan delights (though we very rarely eat out). There are more and more vegan-friendly items available these days, though we still can't get vegan cheese, unfortunately, and things like icecream and yogurt are pretty limited in flavours. Still, we manage!
Apart from mothering, I tutor part-time at university, and I am hoping to get a couple of childrens books published soon.

[GranolaMommy]

Oh how wonderful that you are organic growers! I would love to have even just a garden. One of these days we'll live somewhere other than this little apartment. I don't even get enough sun to container garden on my balcony. We visit our local organic farm at least once a week (we pick up our CSA basket at the farm)

I also cook most of our food from scratch, although since we switched to sprouted grain bread, I haven't been baking as much. I admit to being a little daunted by trying to make that myself. DS has been veggie from conception. Vegan for the pregnancy part, but he has had eggs and dairy although he prefers soy and nut milks. I don't buy dairy anymore, but eggs do creep in there due to DHs diet.

[sophie]

Hi, Renee and Jennye!
Renee- I laughed when I read your post, when you said your daughter hums when eating broccoli. My daughter looooves broccoli too. Yesterday at preschool I saw her open her lunchbox, and instead of going for the cookie, she ate the raw broccoli gleefully, as if it were the biggest treat!
I've written two books for children, and my best friend, who is a wonderful artist, is in the process of illustrating them. She has a little baby too so it may take a while, but we are hoping to get them published. In one of them there is a birthday party where they eat vegan-friendly foods. I don't want to overtly push the message as such, just include things I believe in as everyday accepted things, as they are in my life (just as in your average kids book they'll be chomping on hamburgers like THAT"S normal)-know what I mean?
My 6 month old has today broken out in a rash all over his face and I have no idea what is causing it. My children seem to be sensitive to foods, my daughter is intolerant to soy and salicylates (and dairy, tho she's never had it), though she is getting better with these foods as she grows older. I have no idea what is causing Solly's rash as I can't think of anything I've done differently, except had a soy-based meal a few nights ago when usually I avaoid it for the allergy reason. It is a pretty bad rash, unlike the ones Lily had. He also has a cold (his first!) and is teething too.
Oh well, time to go and attend to the kids!
Bye for now

[Sheree]

Oh, how wonderful! I need you all in my life! Just wish so much we could hang out in person!

My husband is Tony and my 3 y/o daughter is Summer. We've just been vegan for a few months (vegetarian before), although my husband occasionally eats chicken when out (I'm sure that's coming to an end soon, as he's been reading more about the torture these poor creatures go through). We live about 15 miles from Seattle, which is a dream as there are tons of vegetarian and vegan restaurants to choose from. Tony and I are musicians, and Summer is bound to be one too..she loves to sing and strums her guitar, plays harmonica & piano. We dream of having our own organic farm someday and build a cabin..maybe even be a part of co-op living, if we can get enough interested people together to buy some land. We, too, have talked about writing children's books. Tony is a fabulous artist and writer, and together we have some pretty cool ideas. There definitely need to be more vegan children's books!!!

Tony has a wood-working business out of our home and is with Summer all day (except when my folks watch her so he can more done). I work 3 days a week at Group Health Hospital in Mental Health.

My mom and dad are planning on opening a vegetarian coffee/tea house w/live music. They plan on having plenty of vegan options on the menu. Tony and I will be very involved with this if/when it takes off. It's quite exciting.

So glad this forum is available to us!! Thanks Erin!! :D

[Sheree]

Cool, you should move here and be our cook at the coffee house! ;)

Tony has just made one wooden toy for Summer...a robot made from scraps (very cute!). He'll probably get into that someday...there are so many things on our list for him to make! Wooden puzzles are one of them.

I was born in Oregon, grew up in northern California, and have live in Western Washington for 13 years. It'd be fun to get together next time you visit your dad!

[sophie]

LOL, it must be a vegan thing, dreaming of starting your own cafe, as we often fantasise about this too! I know it would be soooo much hard work though, I think I'd like someone else to start it up and I could help cook. I love cooking and i was just saying to Al the other day, how it would take so much fun out of cooking if we were't vegan. I love the challenge of creating new dishes and coming up with delicious vegan goodies. Sheree-are your mum and dad vegetarian? If so, were you raised vegie?
Renee- Solly has the exact same rash on his chin from dribbling! (it's different from the other rash I mentioned though). Can you remember putting anything on it that helped? I have tried a few things. My doctor made me up a mixture of almond-based zinc with equisitum, it smells divine but I'm not sure if it's doing anything!

[Sheree]

Yeah, a cafe would be a lot of work....if my parents open up one, we'll definitely hire a chef who also does the ordering. Another dream of mine is a vegan bed & breakfast....this way, I'd just have to cook a little extra of what we already eat for breakfast (although, I'm sure it'd be a little fancier).

My parents were both raised Seventh Day Adventists, but strayed somewhat as they go older. I grew up with both veggie foods and meat (but not much meat as my mom knew it wasn't healthy). I spent a lot of time as a child with my grandparents who had a vegetarian diet, as well as other family members. I'm hoping that if my daughter decides to "stray" from her vegan diet when she's older, that she'll discover (like I did) that meat and dairy don't make her feel good.

[5xblessed]

Really good idea. I'm Lisa, mom to 5 and number 6 coming in Oct. I have been vegan for about 1 1/2 years and so have the kids for the most part. (Though I suspect that when staying with friends some foods made with dairy or eggs have gotten in.) They wouldn't knowingly eat a piece of meat or drink milk. They are not too picky, each seems to of course have their individual likes and dislikes. My dh and I have been married for 16 years. He is not vegan but eats that way at home and in front of the kids. What he does at work I don't want to know. I try to grow a large garden and cook from scratch. We live in a very small town in northern Indiana so many "exotic" things aren't available. You can always find the basics anywhere though. Fruits, veg, grains, beans, there are lots of things to do with those. My dream is that you'll all move closer and open those vegan cafes so I can eat there .
Lisa

[vegma]

We garden organically too! This afternoon ds (almost 4) and I picked a basket full of collards and kale. They're really coming on good again now that fall is approaching, but the caterpillars are getting busy again too. Anyone else have this problem?! I think our days are getting too short for the rest of my tomatoes to ripen, and I may have to harvest the rest of my red peppers while they're still green, but isn't it nice to have homegrown produce?! I know we wish we had more and a longer growing season too! We're holding out hope for our fall crop of lettuce and snow peas (proudly planted by ds!)! I love the seasons in the Midwest (US), so that will have to compensate for our tempermental weather:)

[annie7]

go to www.thewhitepig.com and click on see the rooms. Read the story about the naming of the place too. Maybe give you some ideas. ~Annie

[Sheree]

Thanks so much!! I will definitely check out this website. :D