My comfort food: homemade quiche and carrot soup

A walk in the park

I took some pictures in the park.
You can find them on :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/purple-spotted-tail/sets/72157627617890562/

But why is the parsley gone?

I love keeping plants, herbs and flowers in the apartment. Living the city life, the daily hustle and bustle leaves me longing for some peace and quiet. I'd wish for a green, leafy forest. However, when looking outside the window, all I see are walls and busy streets, so a few plants in pots are as close as I'll get to my forest with rustling leaves.

I'm not the only one who seems to be enjoying my cultivated little green sanctuary
Every morning there are traces of strange events that have happened the night before:
pots moved as if they had sprouting little legs, wet soil erupted like lava from a vulcano , severe leaf-loss and plants crawling out of their housing, damn you Harry Potter!

But there was no wand-waving going on as it turned out, our beloved Mr bizou has taken great interest in my collection of pottery. At night he starts digging the soil (and probably eats it), touches the leaves (and probably eats those too), smelling the flowers (and propably eats them as well)

Resulting in the question; why is the parsley gone?

Anyway, I can't blame him, the smell of catfood is revolting. Perhaps, in that little cat brain, he thinks: 'Hey, this tastes pretty good... so why would I want all this nasty catfood? :)' Which brings me to a topic I've been thinking about for a while: vegan catfood.

Are you willing to feed your cat a slaughtered cow or what's left of it, those infamous and nasty 'not suited for human consumption' parts.

It seems im not the only vegan struggeling..
I don’t eat meat, for a variety of ethical and environmental reasons, and I’d rather not feed it to my cat, either. Do cats have to be carnivores?
-- John McManus, Needham, MA

Unlike dogs and other omnivores, cats are true (so-called “obligate”) carnivores: They meet their nutritional needs by consuming other animals and have a higher protein requirement than many other mammals. Cats get certain key nutrients from meat—including taurine, arachidonic acid, vitamin A and vitamin B12—that can’t be sufficiently obtained from plant-based foods. Without a steady supply of these nutrients, cats can suffer from liver and heart problems, not to mention skin irritation and hearing loss.

As such, a cat’s ideal diet is made up mainly of protein and fats derived from small prey such as rodents, birds and small reptiles and amphibians. Some cats munch on grass or other plants, but most biologists agree that such roughage serves only as a digestive aid and provides limited if any nutritional value.

Of course, providing your domestic cat with a steady stream of its preferred prey is hardly convenient or humane—and cats can wreak havoc on local wildlife populations if left to forage on their own. So we fill them up on dry “kibble,” which combines animal products with vegetable-based starches, and meat-based canned “wet” foods, many containing parts of animals cats would likely never encounter, much less hunt and kill, in a purely natural situation. Most cats adapt to such diets, but it is far from ideal nutritionally.

Veterinarians argue that the problem with forcing your cat to be vegetarian or vegan is that such diets fail to provide the amino acids needed for proper feline health and are too high in carbohydrates that felines have not evolved to be able to process. As to those powder-based supplements intended to bridge the nutritional gap, McGeorge says that such formulations may not be as easily absorbed by cats’ bodies as the real thing.

Some would vehemently disagree. Evolution Diet, makers of completely vegetarian foods for cats, dogs and ferrets, says that its meatless offerings, on the market for 15 years, are healthy and nutritious, and, if anything, have extended the lives of many a feline and canine, even reversed chronic health problems. Claiming that most mainstream pet foods contain artery-clogging animal fat, diseased tissue, steroid growth hormones and antibiotics no less harmful to pets than to humans, its website posts testimonials from loyal customers who claim happy and long-lasting pets who look forward to their meals.


The vegetarian pet debate is a contentious one among vegetarian pet owners and veterinarians and is one not likely to go away anytime soon. The best approach may well be to give some of the non-meat supplements and/or foods a try. If your cat won’t eat them, or does not do well on them—take kitty to a veterinarian for a check-up to see—you can always go back to what you were feeding her before


info taken from
www.vegatopia.com dutch
www.onlynaturalpet.eu english
www.scientificamerican.com english

ZELF-redzaam zijn - AARDEmoeder

ZELF-redzaam zijn - AARDEmoeder

little earthquakes

gloomy Belgian weather gets me in the mood for some fruitcakes and tea

New year's resolutions

My best wishes to all of you!

may this year fill your heart with joy,warmth and lots of love.

like so many of you i've made the balance of the past year
I'm pretty content and very pleased with all the little efforts i made
making the world a better place.
The little droplets of water became a pond but there's still loads to be done untill i get my ocean! So get busy :)

The brilliant highlights:

After 5 years, millions of fingerpointing and nasty comments i'm still a proud vegan.Hurray!
I got my lovely mr Bizou rescued from the shelter as planned.
Living eco in Ghent and loving every moment of it
The bike~still my main way of transport + took the train to go on holiday
Helped out friends and strangers in need
a smile doesn't cost a thing_ my new motto



...and some shadows

I still drive a polluting car
Don't compost
Why am i so jealous??
ate a few unhealthy /unethically foods ,oh god why! damn you flavour enhancers.
Found out supermarket-bread is not vegan o_O
Got upset about stupid materialistic things...( so glad we're not building a house right now)
after being spoken to several times on the street i didn't support a good cause
and i know 'them not all money takers' i could buy more oxfam products or donate to the shelter


Things i shall do or try to do this year

Take an enlightning holiday as eco as possible
follow yoga/mindfullness/ meditation/vegan cooking classes
Support a good cause
Buy a car on green power
not stress to much about silly things
start painting again or doing something equally creative
Abandon my television.

That's all for now.Goodnight
Blessings

Marlie xXx :)

Organic lotions and potions.Hocus pocus or does it really work?

A quick look at organic (beauty) care products : showergel , soaps, bodylotions, shampoo, balms, daycreams, deodorants, make up, toothpaste...and medicine

First off, what do i consider organic: products from organic farming, not geneticly altered, not tested on animals, containing no synthetic preservatives, no sodium laureth
sulfate, aluminum compounds or parabens (methyl, ethyl, propyl, benzyl, butyl)

Well-known organic brands are: Weleda ( the best i.m.o ), Lavera, Urtekram, De traay/Badger and dr.Hauschka




I've tried out different products and compared them to regular products you can buy at any store + some professional products like bodysol ( showergel from pharmacist ) and
tigi bedhead (hairdresser) / medicines (weleda products vs the pharmacist )
This is what i found out
I'll start with something we all use especially during winter: bodycream / i tested: nivea, Neutrogena norwegian formula, weleda coldcream
The test: 2days of winter-bike-rides without gloves results in swollen, red and dry hands
i put on a thick layer of nivea.I.t stings like hell!
Nivea helps for a while put after a few days it starts to miss its effect.
Neutrogena works perfect but is,like nivea, not so gentle to the skin.
My coldcream on the other hand is very gentle and has the same effect like neutrogena it also smells very nice :)
Shampoo: i used herbal essences,tigi bedhead: brunette goddess, urtekram shampoo lavender.
Herbal e. smells very fruity and does a great job at keeping my hair fresh and clean
Tigi is way better! although it's full of ' bad' ingredients it keeps my hair shiny and nourished
urtekram is not animal tested and organic, those are the only positive aspects.
It dries out the hair very badly!You can't really smell the lavender
Soap and showergel: weleda pomogrenade , de traay rosemary and thyme, bodysol, and melkmeisje vanilla
all are pretty good but if you have a very sensitive skin i think the organic soaps and those from the pharmacist will do better
toothpaste: oral-b pro expert , weleda touthpaste
organic tooth paste = bad idea ! your teeth look 'dirty' and you have'nt got that fresh mentol breath, i can only horror at the long term effect!
deodorants: fa without parabens spray, urtekram no perfume deo roll
fa works for a longer period (24h), urtekram only lasts a few hours
but fa is less pleasant to put on
make-up : i do not wear/buy it often so this will be a very quick look o: dr.hauschka (used in the store because:very expensive!) vs biocura stuff from my mom.both are gentle on the skin and last pretty long
medicine: weleda arnica , weleda calendula, eucalyptus inhaler drops vs the pharmacist's products
arnica ( bruises..) and calendula ( skin conditions sunburn..) these products work very well
weleda eucalyptus was not a real succes the pharmacist's nosespray was way more effective








conclusion:
Organic products are sometimes very expensive but the certainly DO work
if your concerned with animal welfare this is definitly an option for you, the people with sensitive skins as well

What i advise against are the toothpastes
you only have one set of teeth so you shouldn't experiment
paradontax is a good alternative , not animal tested as i checked and is available with fluoride.



Rub Rub those creams!