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About Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

 

The award-winning author of five books, including the bestselling The Joy of Vegan Baking, The Vegan Table, Color Me Vegan, Vegan’s Daily Companion, and The 30-Day Vegan Challenge, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau has guided people to becoming and staying vegan for over 12 years through sold-out cooking classes, bestselling books, inspiring lectures, engaging videos, and her immensely popular audio podcast, “Vegetarian Food for Thought.” Using her unique blend of passion, humor, and common sense, she empowers and inspires people to live according to their own values of compassion and wellness. She also contributes to National Public Radio and The Christian Science Monitor, and has appeared on The Food Network and PBS.

 

Visit colleenpatrickgoudreau.com for more.

 

 

 

The chill in the air and the turning of the leaves means it’s almost time to celebrate the autumn harvest à la Thanksgiving! However, when non-vegetarians think of the idea of eating vegan on Thanksgiving, they’re often aghast. They can’t imagine what vegans eat if they don’t eat turkey, as 45 million of these beautiful birds are killed in the U.S. each year for this holiday alone.

 

I’ve also heard the accusation that vegans are flying in the face of tradition – that it’s culturally blasphemous not to eat turkeys on this day. The truth is we’re ALL breaking tradition if we use the “First Thanksgiving” from 1621 as a barometer for what we should eat today. During that first meal between the puritans and Wampanoag Indians, there were no potatoes or biscuits or apple pie or yams or sweet cranberries. And there weren’t any forks either.

 

Does that mean we shouldn’t eat those things today? Does it mean we shouldn’t eat with forks. No, of course not. It means we shape our traditions out of our ideals. We all do it – vegans and non-vegans.

 

Our vegan feast can consist of mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, bread stuffing, cranberry relish, mashed rutabagas, butternut squash soup, sautéed green beans, roasted Brussels sprouts, cornbread or biscuits, and green salad. Dessert includes everything from apple pie, pumpkin bread, German apple cake to fruit cobblers, cranberry muffins, and other traditional, seasonal favorites. Over 150 recipes are in The Joy of Vegan Baking, including this one for Apple Cobbler.

 

For the main dish, which is really about creating a focal point on the plate, you can enjoy a beautiful stuffed acorn squash filled with a pilaf of wild rice, pecans, apples, celery, onions, and spices. You can also create a butternut squash timbale, stuffed Portobello mushrooms, or little mini-pumpkins stuffed with an array of grains and nuts. The options are endless, and over 200 are in The Vegan Table, including the Harvest-Stuffed Acorn Squash.

Of course there are other options such as Tofurky loaf or Field Roast’s grain-based loaf. And any customary Thanksgiving dessert recipe can be easily veganized with a few substitutions.

 

The point is we CAN celebrate tradition and honor our values at the same time. In fact, eating a vegan feast for Thanksgiving is more consistent with what this holiday is about at its heart: creating community, connection, gratitude, and compassion. I can’t think of a better way to do that than preparing food that causes as little harm as possible to animals, our health, and the Earth.

 

My only warning to you is to make more than you think you need, because undoubtedly everyone will covet your beautiful, colorful, compassionate recipes and, of course, you want leftovers!

Today, Wednesday, Nov. 2^nd, began like every other busy day at Hope Animal Sanctuary. Lisa, Sarah, and B.J., our new teammate, had their hands full with the care of our precious animals. Danielle, the delicately featured brown bay, is still having a bit of trouble with her right front hoof, but is doing better.  Her mother, our Dolly, seems content, but is struggling with her deformed hoof.  Our time with her is cherished.

Our new resident, Arlin, has taken well to his environment but needs a friend. He is a Barbados sheep. He probably doesn’t know how blessed he is. Our friend, Arlin, animal control officer (ACO) for Winona, Mississippi, went the extra mile to see his namesake safely delivered into our hands. The four-hoofed Arlin escaped the trailer he was being transported in and was captured and delivered to the Sell Barn. Technically, the Sell Barn had no claim on him, but it wouldn’t agree to his release without payment. The asking price was $150. Our buddy raised the bounty, and we picked up the newly freed Arlin.  He certainly has moxy. He challenged the emus, horses, and each of us when we initially approached him. A good stomp of his right front hoof, followed by lowered horns and impact on whatever barrier was between us quickly gained respect for his wishes.

Three more abandoned pups arrived. Haystack, Helga, & Hannah are thin, have mange, and are simply adorable.  If it weren’t for the next transport to Colorado, we don’t know what we would do.

By late afternoon I thought I’d wrapped up our business in town when I received a timely call from “Doc” Abernethy, whose Veterinary Associates clinic was on my way home. The newer Grenada ACO had brought a dog in for euthanasia. He’d had a call from a man who’d kicked in a neighbor’s door after his mother had seen a dog in the kitchen window of a house that had been abandoned for months.  The occupant had moved in May and had stopped her irregular visits. There was a horrid odor permeating the air around the front of the house.

When the man and another neighbor entered the deserted home, they were stunned to find two young dogs had been confined to the kitchen and one had succumbed to cannibalizing her lifeless sibling or perish.

I accompanied the ACO to the scene, documented the evidence, and accepted custody of the dog for Doc’s capable and caring hands. I called the chief of police to ask for support. Two officers and the senior ACO joined us.  A report was taken, and you can rest assured that IDA will assist with the prosecution of the callous soul who simply stopped caring for the two precious lives she entrapped. She could have called animal control, asked a neighbor for help, or even just let them loose if she was too lazy or unthinking to ask for help.

Imagine being confined with your sister and slowly starved and dehydrated.  Imagine the desperation of climbing to the window to seek help, freedom, and then being alone, terribly alone when your sister lost her fragile grasp on life. Think of first nuzzling her for comfort and then as her lifeless body faded and she was no more, resorting to the instinct of survival. How long will it take Wanda to be herself?  She’s emaciated. As she lay on the exam table fleas careened in and out of her dull hair.  She stared straight ahead, fearful of making eye contact, the whites of her eyes so revealed that her beautiful brown irises seemed stark and desolate amidst a panicked world of confusion.

I promise you Wanda will heal with us and learn to love life.

Little Holly and Bo Jangle are home with us.  Holly, an adorable kitten, has had her badly injured eye removed; Bo Jangle’s hip, side, and back healed with no apparent intervention after what was probably a brush with a vehicle, and Miss Beasley is recovering from the amputation of her badly healed leg.  These are just a few of the treasured lives we’ve been blessed to help in the first few days of November.

And none of this could have happened without you.

We will presently update you about our transport to Colorado. We just want you to know how much we appreciate and value your support. We were able to take 8 kittens and 89 dogs and puppies to find their forever guardians. The 5 puppies we recently pulled from beneath a home (their mother had been killed the day before), and the 6 neglected puppies we gathered from beneath a trailer were all on board and are doing well!

 

To support our work please click here.

Many people are not aware that quite a few common human foods can make our animal companions very ill, and many are even toxic.

 

We all know that they love to get into everything they can (this is their job, after all), so be sure they don’t have access to the foods, beverages, cleaners, chemicals, and other products that will harm or possibly even kill them.

Please share the following list of poisonous foods and products with everyone in your household.

• Chocolate
• Xylitol (commonly found in gum, candy, baked goods, and toothpaste)
• Alcoholic beverages
• Hops
• Milk and other dairy products
• Coffee
• Tea
• Caffeine
• Apple seeds
• Peach pits
• Apricot pits
• Cherry pits
• Grapes
• Macadamia nuts
• Walnuts
• Mustard seeds
• Onions and onion powder
• Raisins
• Yeast dough
• Avocados
• Moldy foods
• Raw (or undercooked) meat, eggs, and bones
• Garlic
• Chives
• Mushroom plants
• Potato leaves and stems (green parts)
• Tomato leaves and stems (green parts)
• Rhubarb leaves
• Salt
• Tobacco
• Marijuana
• Eggplant
• Prescription and over the counter drugs
• Fat trimmings and bones
• Ham and other salty meats
• Liver (can cause vitamin A toxicity)
• Tuna (can lead to malnutrition or cause mercury poisoning)

Consult with your veterinarian or animal nutritionist before feeding your animal companions food not specifically intended for them.

 

Additionally, more than 700 plants have been found to be harmful to animals.  Please research all plants and flowers before bringing them into your home.

 

Many commercial animal companion foods contain reject meat from diseased animals that isn’t fit for human consumption, and it is believed that this is causing higher incidents of cancer in our animal companions.  If you want to keep the inedible slaughterhouse waste out of your dog’s diet, a vegan dog food might be the healthiest choice for your dog.  Regrettably, many of the leading food companies also test on animals, so please be sure to choose a food manufacturer that doesn’t.

 

For more tips on how you can be a great guardian and help keep animals safe, please visit our Guardian Campaign.

 

To support our work please click here.

 

Work every day of your life to right what is wrong.

 

Please join IDA and activists worldwide to speak up for fur-bearing animals on November 25, 2011.

Fur Free Friday is the most widely-attended annual demonstration in the history of the animal protection movement. Don’t miss your opportunity to join with thousands of other activists worldwide for this international day of action.

Mark your calendars, contact IDA, and plan now! We must raise our voices in unison to educate shoppers and the media about the real cost of fur – the cold, brutal fact that more than 50 MILLION fur-bearing animals are slaughtered for fashion each year. Whether on fur farms, where these helpless animals go insane from the cramped, filthy conditions, or in the wild where they are trapped and left to suffer, these animals need your help now.

IDA’s last day for shipping materials for your event in the U.S. is Nov. 17, so plan now and register your event.  We have a new poster to make your event stand out. IDA is asking Nordstrom to be the first department store to go fur-free. Please consider targeting Nordstrom if you have one in your area and we can send you specific Nordstrom literature. Click here to see a list of stores.

TAKE ACTION: In 2008, high-end fashion brand BCBG signed a pledge not to sell fur,
but BCBG’s 2011 holiday line has fur! We are disappointed that BCBG is moving in the wrong direction and has gone back on its word. Please join IDA in asking BCBG to honor its original compassionate choice and go fur free … again! Click here now to send an e-mail to BCBG. 

We have lots of events already posted. Please check here to see if there is an event happening in your area.  Contact Hope Bohanec at Hope@idausa.org or 707-540-1760 to find out how you can get signs, literature, and ideas for outreach in your community.

This week BJ Martin joined our staff at Hope Animal Sanctuary.  BJ is a vet tech with 15 years experience who has worked with a wide variety of species, including emus.  She will be an invaluable asset to our team. She’s already proven her worth. On Thursday, BJ, Sarah, and I dedicated our day to caring for our animals and then set out for Macon, Mississippi, to Heartworm Test 33 of approximately 100 dogs needing medical care and guardianship. We didn’t arrive until 10:30 p.m. and didn’t wrap up until after midnight, finally returning at 2:30 a.m. With cases involving so many animals, every opportunity to provide help must be seized. We brought Ella, who is among the 145 dogs when the rescue began, home as her male companions were sparring over her.

 

I’ve been in contact with “Animal Planet’s” hoarding program over a period of months believing it would be aiding in the Macon case. After the production department passed and rescheduled several interviews I was told the case wasn’t chosen because family members weren’t in conflict over the issues related to the case. What a shame.

 

But thanks to local activists and members of at least one grassroots group, an effort to help the animals was launched. The activists began documenting the dogs, Dr. Bushby (Mississippi State University Marcia Lane Endowed Professor of Humane Ethics and Animal Welfare Department of Clinical Sciences) and his student surgery team provided 22 surgeries, Friday the 15^th, (we were there to aid with pre- & post-surgery needs), Homeward Bound (the group founded by MSU veterinary students) arranged for the transport of some of the dogs, and we will be taking some of the dogs to Colorado on our next transport. There’s much more to be done, but it will have to be in steps if every option to place the dogs will be accomplished.

 

The six pups Lisa and I removed from beneath the trailer of a local man are faring well as are the seven adults we wrenched from him.  Apathy, drink, and ignorance have contributed to his years of neglect of animals. This time we will put an end to his contribution to suffering.

 

Two wonderful young women raced three pups to us whom they found bound in a shirt on an unpaved county road. Sadly one of the pups passed the next morning, but his sisters, Beezle and Bonnie, who are absolutely adorable, are thriving.

 

Friday I had a zillion things to do that just couldn’t be put off, including heading to Starkville, Mississippi, for this year’s Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue class at MSU. It’s a given that the more we have to do the more certain priorities will change with the next phone call. Sure enough, a local Duck Hill police officer called to ask for assistance for the pups of a mother dog who was killed on the road in front of the house she’d chosen for her den.

 

The elder couple that owned the house volunteered their grandson to assist with rescuing the pups, who were huddled beneath the center of the house against the center junctions of the wooden foundation.  As the house was so low and the pups were so far in, even the slender frame of a young man couldn’t fit beyond a few feet of the outside wall. We bound my pole net and a segment of wooden molding and the young man went to work. He was exhausted after retrieving the first two pups. The police officer’s family had come for the vigil and his smaller son took up the effort. All five of the babies came out safely and in good condition. They are now flourishing.

 

On my way back from the rescue class this evening I rendezvoused with a man who rescued a dog from a rest stop in our region. The dog may have been abandoned, or he wandered there in search of food. Either way, he has endured deprivation, is very thin, and appears to have suffered injuries from a brush with a vehicle. We’ll have him checked out tomorrow.

 

Last Sunday, Glory went to her new home. A family that pampers their horses and has multiple pastures in which to do so has adopted our beautiful and good-natured mare. We couldn’t be happier.  Glory was emaciated when we rescued her from a barren parcel unfit for pasture. Her companions had died and she would have, too.  We are so grateful for our sanctuary and the support of friends who partner with us to carry out the hope we promise the animals with whom we are entrusted.

 

To support our work please click here.

In a great win for elephants, the Toronto City Council voted to send the Toronto Zoo’s African elephants, Thika, Iringa and Toka, to the PAWS Sanctuary in Northern California. The council voted in May to close the zoo’s elephant exhibit, but decided to send the elephants to another zoo and not to a sanctuary—though a sanctuary was not out of the question if an appropriate zoo was not located.

 

But things turned around last week when Councilor Michelle Berardinetti presented an urgent motion to move the elephants to PAWS amid rumors that the Toronto Zoo was zeroing in on a facility that would not meet the council’s criteria for the elephants. The council had specified that they be sent to a warmer climate and to a facility that did not use bulhooks on any elephants. Councilor Berardinetti’s motion passed by a resounding 31-4.

 

Thanks to the compassion of the Toronto City Council and the hard work of Zoocheck Canada, Thika, Toka, and Iringa are now assured a permanent home in a facility that offers far more space than any zoo, a climate suitable for elephants, and only positive reinforcement training.

 

IDA is very proud of its role in helping these elephants. We sparked the effort to save them in 2009, when IDA called for closure of the Toronto Zoo’s elephant exhibit following the unprecedented deaths of four elephants in less than four years, and urged the Toronto City Council to send the elephants to a sanctuary. The story was widely covered by the Canadian media. IDA kept the pressure on when we made Toronto the first Canadian entry on IDA’s annual Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants list. And it is thanks to the perseverance of Zoocheck Canada that this wonderful victory was finally achieved.

 

Now it’s time to turn our attention to the plight of solitary Lucy in Edmonton, and assure that she, too, can live out her life in a sanctuary in the company of other elephants. And we can’t forget all the other elephants living in inadequate conditions in Canada and elsewhere. With your help and support, we can bring about the mammoth changes they need.

World Go Vegan Week (Oct. 24 – 31) was a delicious success with dozens of pizza restaurants participating by offering a vegan pizza for the week featuring Daiya cheese, a vegan cheese that melts, stretches and tastes like traditional dairy-based cheese. IDA volunteers worked hard to get restaurants to participate in our campaign Vegan Pizza Takes Over the World! We had 73 volunteers reach out to 142 pizza restaurants in the U.S. and Canada asking them to participate in our week of celebration of the vegan lifestyle.

Offering motivation and to make things even more interesting, we had a contest!  Daiya generously offered a month’s supply of its delicious vegan cheese to a random participant who was successful in getting a pizza place to offer a vegan pizza. We are excited to announce that the winner of our contest is Gina Stuessy of Madison, Wisconsin. Gina got two restaurants in Madison to participate, The Glass Nickel and Ian’s Pizza. Let’s hope they will keep the vegan options on the menu beyond World Go Vegan Week.

 

Congratulations, Gina! We hope you enjoy your month’s supply of Daiya cheese!

 

Pizza wasn’t the only thing on our minds this World Go Vegan Week. Other volunteers participated in various creative ways beyond the vegan pizza project. At a church in Burnaby, British Columbia, eight families took on the challenge of eating vegan for the entire week of World Go Vegan Week and, in Sri Lanka, activists held an event with a film on veganism, speakers, and vegan food to sample. These are just a few examples of the wide reach of this important week of education. This was truly an international outreach experience!

 

Thank you for celebrating World Go Vegan Week with us. The animals, the environment, and your health thank you for your compassionate choices. Click here for more information on the vegan lifestyle.

 

New to veganism? Click here to order a free Vegan Starter Kit.

The IDA San Rafael office had some fun this Halloween teaming up with the San Francisco Vegetarian Society to hand out vegan Halloween sweet treats and our Reason for Vegan Brochures to passers-by on Haight St. in San Francisco! Volunteers made frightening yummy treats like maple cookies and cinnamon chocolate chip bars to show everyone how delicious vegan sweets can be. We also had lots of donated Halloween dark chocolate peanut and almond butter bites form Shjakk’s chocolate. Yum!

 

 

Dressed in costumes, we handed out the treats and leafleted vegan materials, asking San Franciscans to help end the horrors of factory farming and try a vegan treat for Halloween. The responses were wildly enthusiastic—in fact, people were shocked that vegan treats and chocolate were so scary delicious! It was a gratifying day of outreach with lots of people discovering just how satisfying vegan sweet treats really are.

This is about love, loss, and some of the animals we recently had the privilege of rescuing but who didn’t make it. It’s been a time of genuine sorrow. I know I don’t need to tell you how badly we hurt. Compassion is at the heart of all of us at IDA: staff, volunteers, and supporters. We all are too familiar with the gnawing pain of loss. This morning I walked about in a daze and had to fight to keep alert as I was transferring one of our young dogs to a compatible group. Life moves on, but the memories of the ones who leave us are indelible, imprinted on our minds forever.

 

Eleanor, our beautiful angel. Eleanor was the first of the animals rescued from the hoarder case now in litigation. As we walked up the driveway I spotted her lying in debris, a “burn pile.” I spoke to her as I approached.  She didn’t even recognize our presence.  As I leaned and picked her up, she awoke, but too weak to struggle to move. When we reached Veterinary Associates, “Doc” Abernethy gave her little chance of survival.  As the days passed, she responded to the pampering of both Vet Assoc. and HAS staff.  She loved and craved attention.

 

 

 

 

Eleanor seemed to be prospering. She put on weight, her skin began to heal, and her hair grew. But she was weak, often wobbling as she walked or stepped up to her deck. She showed symptoms of having survived Distemper, the disease of which four of her companions succumbed.

 

 

 

 

Our devoted volunteer Lisa Martin cares for many of our special needs animals. Eleanor went home with Lisa and Mike for the individual care we hoped would aid her recovery. Sadly, she began losing her appetite. She curled tightly and shook from pain or neurological impairment.  Last week I went to Canton, about an hour south of the sanctuary, to bring Eleanor home for Doc to evaluate. Dr. Osborne was also on hand when I arrived.  He ran tests, Doc ran more tests, x-rays were taken, and the diagnosis was renal failure.  Eleanor’s plight of deprivation and disease took its toll on her organs. There was to be no recovery. Sarah and I sobbed as we said goodbye to our precious. My insides ached.

 

 

On the morning that Eleanor passed away Doll told friends: Eleanor lost her battle with kidney failure this morning. I cannot begin to express the grief we feel. We fought for and loved Eleanor since the day I picked her up out of the horrid debris pile she was lying in. Eleanor was dying. With the aid of Veterinary Associates in Grenada, Mississippi, we nearly brought Eleanor back to health. She began gaining weight, thoroughly enjoyed our affection, and fought for her life. Our hearts are crushed. Help us continue to fight for innocent animals like Eleanor.

 

 

A few years ago, we received a call from officers at Camp McCain, the Mississippi National Guard training site, asking for haven for an abandoned puppy. When he arrived we just laughed and blurted out, “Puppy!” Kendall was aged, all but toothless, blind in one eye, and his ears were gnarled from who knows how many survival fights. He was so food-deprived that he was impossible with other dogs. We fed him in an enclosure and gradually introduced him to dogs with whom he wouldn’t feel threatened. As time passed his fears gave way to sheer joy. Just looking at Kendall put a new perspective on any difficult day.

 

Kendall and our Tobey were both survivors. The old bulls on the hill, they occasionally bumped chests like two elder men challenging one another to an arm wrestle. We laughed. Their skirmishes lasted all of seconds as they’d both lose balance and topple—always with the dignity of their esteemed stature.

 

How do you fill such a void?

 

In another disturbing and painful turn this morning, two of the seven pups we rescued from the Lott case last week succumbed to Parvo.  We first lost the little guy with severe bite wounds to his forehead.  The other pups seemed to be thriving. They ate, drank, played (all in the Quarantine Room), and then they suddenly stopped eating. Little Regan, the heartiest and most demanding, was the first to show signs of distress. We were shocked. She was so full of herself, so alive.  She was one of the two who passed last night. We weren’t able to learn who her sibling was as we couldn’t handle them because we are struggling to save little Arlin, another pup who came in after days without his mom or food.

 

I am praying for some happier news to send your way soon. Sarah, our wonderful assistant, is now bottle-feeding kittens, and there may still be hope for Arlin. We just rescued thirteen puppies and three adults from beneath a local man’s trailer. One of the mothers of the pups is called Lottie, who was in very bad shape and seems to be getting stronger. Sadly, seven of the puppies have died after intense medical intervention, while the remaining six are in guarded condition. Stay tuned …

We are currently being sued by Eleanor’s hoarder for trying to save her.  Please click here for further details and to learn how you can help.

To make a donation to support our work please click here.  Thank you!

Do you wear your veganism on your sleeve?   It’s great to lead by quiet example, but consider making an even stronger impact by speaking up about your reasons for going vegan.  Remember, the animals don’t have a voice, so now is the time to amp up your game to the next level.    

Okay, so you’re a 49ers fan?  Add a little dash of vegan to your red and gold.  You’ll be surprised at the impression you’ll make.  Be prepared by having a few of “The Reason For Vegan: Compassion In Action” flyers and “Vegan Starter Kits” with you.  Click here to order them.  While you’re at the game be sure to support the stadium’s vegan menu.  These days virtually all professional level ballparks have a vegan dog or a vegan burger.

If you’re going to a dinner party or pot luck, instead of bringing a bottle of wine, bring a vegan dish or dessert.

Other ways you can make a difference for animals, for the health of people and the environment:

• Wear a vegan t-shirt, hoody, necklace or pin (click here to order IDA vegan merchandise)
• Get a personalized license plate or license plate frame
• Put bumper stickers on your car, laptop and notebooks
• Use an animal rights quote in your email signature and include the link to our vegan campaign (http://www.idausa.org/campaigns/vegan/vegan.html)
• Use Facebook and Twitter to politely promote the benefits of a vegan diet
• Set a goal to speak to at least one person each day about veganism
• Feed your dogs a healthy vegan dog food
• Show someone a video about the horrors of factory farming or about the health and environmental benefits of living a vegan lifestyle
• Cook or buy a non-vegan a vegan meal

 

 

 

It’s up to us to try to enlighten others and do all we can to help animals.

So keep your eye on the tofu and take it one person at a time.  Let’s do this!  Go Team Vegan!

Click here to support IDA’s Vegan Campaign

Work every day of your life to right what is wrong.