Create Your Own Loving Magazine

Have you been looking for a way to spread the Earth and Animal loving message to the world, but not sure where to start? Well, we hope that this piece will point you in the right direction.

The biggest step of all is an idea. What aspiring thoughts have you had that you think the world would love to hear? For people like us, it is pretty simple, we want to save the animals. This is a great start, however, to ensure longevity, you must have a theme, a look or a concept that your magazine publication will have. It is essential that you create this idea in your mind, so that every-time you publish your next great piece it is in line with all the rest that you done. If you keep on chopping and changing, it can confuse your reader and all of a sudden you have lost everyone that you have worked so hard to get.
Once again, don't confuse things, there is an old saying in marketing 101 'Keep It Simple Stupid' or KISS. Nothing could be further from the truth. Once again, for us it is pretty simple. Think of a few key words and picture what goes with this word. For example, we are saving the animals, so what do you think goes with this - Love, Peace, Compassion. There you go, you have just got yourself a theme and idea, you are ready to get pumping.

Editor-At-Large Laura Hooper Beck decided she needed to make a zine after being inspired by others and recognizing a niche waiting to be filled. Beck recently launched Fat Zine!, which she says cost her about $76 from start to finish, and is paying that amount back with the proceeds of her zine sold online and at the recent San Francisco Zine Fest. “There just isn't that much stuff out there that's body positive for women. I wanted to make something that said, ‘hey, it's okay if you're not skinny, or it's okay if you are—whatever!’ and I did it with a fat-positive bend because hardly anything is,” said Beck. “I want to open up that dialogue more. Plus, I love working with glitter, and my zine has a lot of it.”


Here is a great link to get you thinking about what you need to do. The site is called Micro Publishing. They have very helpful hints and tips on how to get up and running.


Once you have got yourself ready to go, and have done all the fun layouts and articles the next step you will need to do is convert your magazine to a PDF file. There are a number of free programs that can do this for you, as well as some word processing software that can convert files to PDF format, such as Zoho and Open Office. Both wordprocessing packages have their advantages and disadvantages however. Alternatively the magazine can be completely created with desktop publishing software which should also be able to save the document as a PDF file.


Sign up to your preferred magazine hosting website. It can pay to check out a number of these sites because the free options can offer different levels of service. A basic option may only allow you to upload the PDF file without other alternatives such as allowing readers to download the magazine. Different websites also have different levels of advertising that will be presented to your readers.


Now you have to share your voice with the world. The best, easiest and cheapest way to do this is via the big 2 - Facebook and Twitter. Get yourself known amongst the Vegan community. Target those pages that have a large, dedicated following and keep on plugging your work.


We hope that this information has helped. If you have any questions, please let us know - we would love to help spread the beautiful Vegan message to the world.

A Very Merry Vegan Xmas!

The Vegan Era Crew would like to get in early and wish all our wonderful friends a very merry Christmas!  This year, instead of writing our own list of vegan treats we've compiled a list of some of the best vegan gift guides, xmas recipe ideas and online store guides.

Enjoy!

The best vegan xmas party food:

Holiday party fare: 7 vegan finger food recipes 
Christmas Recipes from Vegan Easy 

Some Vegan Xmas Gift Guides: 

The Wellness Warrior’s Xmas Gift Guide 
Vegan gift guide for men from The Ethical Man via Chic Vegan
Chic Vegan’s cruelty free gift guide 
Lazy Smurf’s vegan gift guide
A Modern Girl's Life Xmas Wish List


Some xmas gift ideas from online stores: 

Natural Collection Vegan selection
Eco Fashionista has gift ideas from it’s online store from $50-$200 
Vegan Gift Hampers from Cruelty Free Shop


This list is by no means exhaustive, these are just a few of the sites we have come across.  Feel free to comment and add to it!  Of course the best gift that anyone can give this Christmas is the gift of life and a life without suffering by enjoying a vegan xmas!!  


Be Love, Be Peace, Be Vegan; Save Our Home.  

Photoshoot #2

The Vegan Era Crew had the pleasure of working with the amazing and talented stylist and photographer, Dott, on our latest photo shoot yesterday. It was a fun afternoon and our boss, Trudi, also managed to sneak into a few of the shots!

Here is a little sneak preview of the shoot, featuring our new range of bamboo and organic cotton tees, hoodies and scarves...

Little Miss Trudi with Dave wearing the black organic cotton Vegan Era hoodie.

Dave wearing the organic cotton Vegan Era Hoodie and natural coloured 100% bamboo scarf.

Mandy wearing 70% bamboo and 30% organic cotton tee featuring love balloon print and stylist's own fake leather jacket. Dave wearing organic cotton Vegan Era hoodie and 100% bamboo natural coloured scarf.

Dave wearing the 70% Bamboo and 30% Organic cotton tee featuring a PEACE print and fake leather jacket (stylist's own).

Mandy wearing 70% Bamboo and 30% Organic cotton tee featuring Born to Be Free print.

All of these items are available online now and are selling quick! Each item is made under certified fair-trade conditions with the most eco-friendly materials that we can find. Bamboo is considered one of the most sustainable crops on the planet and you can read all about it in our Green and Gorgeous article, The Beauty of Bamboo. All screen printing is done with low-impact, water-based dyes. So you can rest assured that each of our loving items is Earth-friendly, animal-friendly and people-friendly! Check out the shop at www.veganera.com/shop

Be Love; Be Peace; Be Vegan; Save Our Home

Soi Dogs

Soi Dog Foundation (SDF) is a loving, compassionate not-for-profit organization, which help the homeless, neglected and abused dogs and cats of Thailand. The beautiful volunteers and supporters aim to set an example for the Asian region on how to better the lives and living conditions of the many stray dogs and cats and humanely reduce their numbers in the long term.

The saintly group of volunteers have de-sexed or sterilized 20,649 dogs and 6,917 cats totaling 27,566 up to March, 2010.

Thousands more have been treated for injury and disease by providing emergency and ongoing veterinary treatment for abused and neglected dogs and cats.

They also provide free veterinary treatment for those who cannot afford it at the clinic in Mai Khao.

A shelter and rehoming centre for over 200 dogs that have been abandoned or abused and subjected to sometimes terrible cruelty is also run by the foundation.

The volunteers also feed hundreds of dogs and cats in temples and other locations.

The Vegan Era Crew are so touched by the work of this foundation and we are very humbled to be able to offer some support. Check out the amazing recovery of one dog that was blessed to be saved by Soi Dogs. His name is Tai Chi. The photos were taken only one month apart - when he was brought to the shelter and with his new owner looking healthy and happy.

Check out the new Free Our Friends section of the Vegan Era Shop to free your own doggy from misery. By choosing to free a dog, we will add 100% of your purchase to our donation to Soi Dogs. We also have a range of other animal friends that you can free!

Be Love : Be Peace : Be Vegan; Save Our Home.

Mother's Day

As Mother's Day quickly approaches I thought I would bring your attention to the cruelty that some mothers are forced to endure. I know it's not the loveliest of subjects, but I was heartbroken to see how these mothers and their babies are treated and think it is important to share it. Ignorance is bliss sometimes but once you do know the truth about how these animals are treated, it's tough to consciously continue supporting it.

Take a look at this short video which shows a very gentle view of one aspect of what goes on in dairy farms. If you would like to know more you can simply go to You Tube and find many videos that are much more confronting than this one or go to PETA.org, who never fail to provide shocking, undercover footage.

I have to admit that even after becoming aware of these conditions, it took me a little while to actually cut out dairy altogether. Due to everything that has been put in our faces for most of our lives, I was convinced that dairy is a necessary part of our diet. I guess we are pretty good at finding excuses to justify whatever it is we wish to justify to ourselves!

It was not until I was diagnosed with cancer and did some research that I realised that this could not be further from the truth. Dairy products are constantly being linked to breast cancer and prostate cancer, among other diseases. The hormones present in milk can cause cancer cells and other abnormal cells to grow more rapidly. People in western societies who consume a lot of dairy products also have a higher rate of oesteoperosis. This is due to the fact that animal protein actually leaches calcium from the bones.

Humans are the only animals to drink a mother's breast milk past those first few formative months and the only ones to drink the milk of another animal. It's kinda gross when you think about it. Not to mention how fattening it is. I know I have mentioned these points before in a previous post so I won't harp on about it. :)

Spread some love to ALL mothers this Mother's Day and substitute your regular latte for a soy latte (it doesn't taste the same but I'm sure you can handle it!). You can also go to www.cowribbon.com to purchase a cow print ribbon to wear on Mother's Day, raising awareness of this cruelty, or send a cute Mother's Day ecard.

Vegan Doggies

Here at Vegan Era, we LOVE animals. That's a given. Our resident doggie is little Trudi and she is a beautiful Staffy. We rescued her from a local no-kill animal shelter when she was about 6 months old. Trudi is a happy little vegan also. She seems to be growing almost every day and is full of life and love.

Seeing how happy and healthy Trudi is, we always have people ask us how they can help their best friends to adopt the compassionate vegan diet. So we thought we'd share our experience and ideas with you.

First of all let me tell you how much Trudi LLOOVVVEESSS food. Like most doggies, food is her favourite thing. She loves toast in the mornings with avacado or left over porridge with extra milk. We met another gorgeous doggie the other day that loves soy banana smoothies so we'll have to see if Trudi likes that too. Our guess is she will love it!

For dinner, Trudi enjoys rice with vegetables and beans/lentils/vegan mince and some baked beans or some tomato pasta sauce for flavour. Trudi prefers just the canned veggies from the supermarket and she loves corn. We always make up a big batch for her so that it lasts at least a few days. As well as this, Trudi loves to mix her rice meal with some Vegan Pet doggie biscuits. She loves crunching on them!

We've heard that many staffy's are as fussy as Trudi so we usually don't adjust her dinner too much. It's funny watching her carefully remove the things that she doesn't like from the bowl, such as anything green!

Trudi also loves Vegan Pet treats such as the chocolate or peanut butter flavoured doggie biscuits. Yummy!!

When we first brought Trudi in to our home it took her a few days to get used to her new situation and she didn't eat much for the first few days. This is normal. So if you are trying to change your best friend's eating habits, please keep this in mind. After a few days your doggie will probably love the new food and you may start to notice differences such as a more gentle nature and a shinier coat.

I'm sure your happy little girl or boy will embrace the compassionate, vegan lifestyle just as much as you have!

If you have a vegan pet please let us know what food they love.

Be love : Be peace : Be vegan; Save Our Home.