What does it really mean to be vegan? On face value, it means not eating or using animal products. It also refers to abstaining from products tested on animals (whenever possible, I mean if you need life saving medicine that was once tested on animals, take the medicine! It's important to have reasonable exceptions to … Continue reading Vegan Gray Areas: Palm Oil
About four years ago we brought our cat José home for the first time. A coworker was no longer able to keep him and we took him off her hands so he didn't end up at the shelter. He was roughly eleven weeks old and I remember feeling nervous because even though I'd had pets … Continue reading Why you Shouldn’t Declaw your Cat
On face value the answer to whether or not eating oysters and other bivalves (such as clams, mussels, and scallops) is vegan would seem obvious. They're animals so of course they're not, right? The argument is that because they don't have a central brain it is unlikely they're able to feel pain. There's also no … Continue reading Vegan Gray Areas: Oysters
Photo by kinkate from Pexels I made the decision to be vegan mid January of this year (2019). My first priority was to understand how to eat a balanced plant-based diet. However, I knew being vegan wasn't just about food. Another regular purchase I make is beauty products. I started off doing a simple google search for cruelty … Continue reading Cruelty Free vs Vegan Beauty Products
As someone relatively new to the world of veganism, I've done a lot of exploring the internet in search of community. I craved like-minded people to learn from and converse with. I shouldn't have been surprised to find that many people in this community are anything but like-minded. To be honest, it's rather divided. I've … Continue reading There’s No Purity in Veganism (An Opinion Piece)
I was going to write this post about the psychological trauma slaughterhouse workers experience due to the nature of their work. I found my words to be largely inadequate and have instead decided to allow them to speak for themselves. But let me just say, on top of being physically dangerous, slaughterhouse work has been … Continue reading The Effect on Slaughterhouse Workers (Part 4 of Why I Went Vegan)
If you're already vegan this may be seen as preaching to the choir, but may help motivate or solidify your current beliefs. If you're not vegan, I would strongly encourage you to read further. This isn't an effort to convert you or shame you, but promote understanding. If you can't imagine why anyone would ever … Continue reading Why I Became Vegan: Part 1/?
The Vegan Homesteader 