Sunday, June 20, 2010

Super frugal living


The Vegan Era Crew came across this sweet blog today called New Dress A Day.

Marisa will be going a whole year without doing any traditional clothes shopping. From the blog:

"So, that’s where my ode to no traditional shopping begins. This year, I will be foregoing trips to Bloomies and Nordstrom for brand new gear. Goodbye to H&M purchases and accessory grabbing at Forever 21. And seeing the “must have” French Connection dress in People’s Style Watch will just have to suffice as a cut out on my inspiration board.

Instead, the only shopping that I’ll be able to do is that of pieces that have been used and worn already. So long to mall trips and hello to sifting through piles of vintage pieces at flea markets and at neighborhood garage sales. Each day for the entire year, I’m going to introduce a new piece into my existing wardrobe that I’ve found from these places. On top of this, I’m giving myself a budget of $1 a day.

One person’s trash is becoming my treasure this year.

365 days. 365 items of clothing. 365 dollars. And the blogging begins…"

There are people all over the world taking pledges like this and even taking it one step further and going without buying a thing! We are always inspired by people taking steps to reduce their impact on our beautiful world.

A man taking it a big step further is vegan Irishman, Mark Boyle who lives without MONEY. He began his money-free challenge "simply as a means to a more connected, respectful, loving and gentle way of life." He is the founder of the Freecommony Community and has just released his first book called The Moneyless Man which is available from Amazon.com. The moneyless man believes that issues such as environmental destruction, resource wars, factory farms, sweatshop labour are all related.

"I believe the fact that we no longer see the direct repercussions our purchases have on the people, environment and animals they affect is the factor that unites these problems. The degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed have increased so much that it now means we're completely unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering embodied in the 'stuff ' we buy. Very few people actually want to cause suffering others; most just don't have any idea that they directly are. The tool that has enables this separation is money, especially in its globalised format."

While the Vegan Era Crew are not making any dramatic pledges, these stories remind us to live more consciously and frugally in this world. Be Love; Be Peace; Be Vegan. Save Our Home.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Giving Love


The Vegan Era CREW loves to give, and share lots of Love and Happiness with the world. On our journeys out and about in the world - we come across many beautiful people. It is so Lovely to meet all our new friends.

For our Lovely friends we like to show our appreciation. The CREW spend the night in the kitchen creating little gifts of food. They are similar to that of Bliss Balls - but ours a totally Vegan, filled with Love, Peace and Happiness.

We had the pleasure of having so many of our new friends hanging with us, coming back for more and more. It was so great to see.
People were actually coming to find us wanting more and more. They even said they would buy them from us because they were totally amazing. What made it even more amazing was the fact that they were Vegan. They couldn't believe their ears.

It brings the Vegan Era CREW so pleasure to make people happy. It warms our little hearts.

Each week the Vegan Era CREW will be out and about not only spreading the word of leading a Compassionate, Earth Loving Vegan Message to the world - we will also be there with our little balls of Love.

So when you see us out in the world - come and find us and grab a Vegan Bliss Ball and hang out. See you all soon.

Here is a little recipe that should help you out.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Almond meal (what is left over from the milk)
1/3 cup RAW cocoa powder
Handful of big beautiful green grapes
1 Cup sultana's or medjool dates
2 Cups shredded coconut (for dusting)
Agave nectar (if you want more sweetness)

Directions:

This is a little different as we are adding some grapes, but they add so much more extra sweetness. Plus, it enables you to add or not add agave nectar depending on how sweet you like it.

Pretty easy method - just add all the ingredients to the food processor and blend away.
Though, we have found that when you add the almond meal then the cocoa powder first - it tends to not cause as much 'dust' when you let the food processor work its magic.

Do check the consistancy of the mixture. You want it to be a moist, but not wet or hard. If you find that it is too hard, add some more grapes - they work wonders in adding a natural sweetness liquid.
If too wet, don't be afraid to add some shredded coconut in. This helps to bind it all together.

Lay a foundation of shredded coconut on a table, or plate. With a dessert spoon, scoop enough to fill and roll a ball in your hands.

Once ball is complete, dust in coconut. You may wish to have a bowl of water and perhaps a dry cloth in case things get sticky later on