In other year-end news: It sure feels nice reading Nick Pendergrast’s 2011: What a Year for Veganism! over at One Green Planet. It really feels like folks care more about animals now than they ever have before. What changes have happened in your life and your community?

Photo by Richard McNeil

Anyone have any other ideas? Click here to see our listing of local vegan food, and let us know if you can think of any other places / vendors who should get a shout out!

More info:

• Celebration FOR the Turkeys
• Adopt-A-Turkey Project (A a one-time $30 donation helps a turkey live out his or her days in sanctuary)
• Photos from the Celebration, on Flickr
• Press release about LA Celebration
• Tips for writing pro-turkey letters to the editor of your local paper

And here’s some info about how to plan and cook up a gentle Thanksgiving. Hope you all have a peaceful and happy holiday!

Here’s more about Joanie’s business, from her Etsy profile:

Blue Moon Botanicals is named such not just because it sounds good but because our son was born on a Blue Moon! We offer handmade Organic, Pure, Natural body care. We use the highest quality ingredients and know you will love our body care! Our products evolved from a deep seeded love and respect for our Earth, our Son, our fellow creatures and human beings, and ourselves. It is not only what we put in our bodies, but what we put on them that nurtures us.

• Photos of the soaps and more about Joanie
• Blue Moon Botanicals on Facebook

Know any folks who aren’t listed in our directory of Ithaca vegans and advocates of animal rights? Please tell me about them!

This Saturday and Sunday, July 16 and 17, The Underground Bistro is hosting our first event.

Please join us Saturday for dinner at 7pm and/or Sunday for brunch at 11am. Dinner will have raw options available and of course all food is mostly organic and we try to source as much of our food locally. Both events are suggested donation of $15-$20. We are starting small with 20 guests and friends so please RSVP if you would like to come. We look forward to seeing you.

We are opening our home to the community in order to share our admiration for wholesome, fresh and great tasting foods. With a variety of interests and ideas in mind, the dinners and brunches prepared will all be organic and vegan with raw and gluten-free options. Our home is in a beautiful and relaxing country setting with wrap around porch seating and contemplative views of the Danby landscape.

So come and join us, Sean Lunny, Kurt Uchtman and Derek Proulx, at The Underground Bistro, and while you are here you can relax with your friends, meet new ones or simply enjoy the scenery. Let us share a meal with you! Everyone is welcome. Our doors are open to all who appreciate nourishing sustenance, great fun and open-minded folks. We hope to see you soon!

- The Underground Bistro

Event Info:

Held on every 2nd and 4th weekend of each month

Saturday dinner served at 7pm and Sunday brunch served at 11am

Please RSVP attendance (adults, kids, etc), and specify if you are interested in our raw and/or gluten free options at either theundergroundbistro@gmail.com or the facebook event page. Confirmation emails will be sent confirming your plate and will contain the address of the event.

Contact the Underground Bistro for more info.

Freedom and compassion, two of America’s founding values, are habitually supplanted by exploitation and quick profit in the country’s treatment of its farmed animals. On Monday, July 4, at its annual Fourth of July Pignic, Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, will celebrate a nation’s nobler principles and demonstrate how their extension to farmed animals— the largest group of abused animals on Earth— is in keeping with the true spirit of America.

This free, festive event will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the organization’s bicoastal sanctuaries for abused and neglected farm animals, located at 3100 Aikens Road in Watkins Glen, New York, and at 19080 Newville Road in Orland, California. Offering guided tours, plenty of one-on-one time with hundreds of lovable pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, and other farm animals, and veggie hot dogs, the Fourth of July Pignic is an irresistible day of summer fun the entire family will enjoy.

“The way animals are treated on factory farms is out of line with American values,” says Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary. “Farm animals are every bit as interesting and full of feeling as dogs and cats, yet on factory farms they are treated like inanimate machinery and denied the most basic freedoms we hold dear. As Mahatma Gandhi famously said, ‘the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.’ We invite everyone to come celebrate America’s birthday in a way that truly reflects the greatness of our nation.”

This year’s event promises to be even more celebratory than in years past, as it marks the midpoint of an important milestone for Farm Sanctuary: the organization’s 25th anniversary year. More information and directions can be found by visiting farmsanctuary.org or calling 607-583-2225 ext. 221.

Peter DeMott Film Series & the Demonstrating Our Values through Eating (DOVE) Action Team of the Social Justice Council of the UU presents The Witness, with a discussion led by the filmmakers after the movie.

Watch the trailer here.

In the award-winning documentary The Witness, Eddie Lama explains how he feared and avoided animals for most of his life, until the love of a kitten opened his heart, inspiring him to rescue abandoned animals, become a vegetarian, and bring his message of compassion to the streets of New York. With humor and sincerity, Eddie tells the story of his remarkable change in consciousness. Los Angeles Times Columnist Howard Rosenberg called The Witness “One man’s truth that cries out for mass-exposure… may be the most important and persuasive film about animals ever made.”

Jenny Stein and James LaVeck are co-founders of the Ithaca-based non-profit organization Tribe of Heart, which produces documentary films and other creative projects that explore the journey of awakening conscience. For the last ten years, Tribe of Heart films have screened at 80 festivals around the world, winning 18 top awards, and have also appeared on PBS, LinkTV, FreeSpeech TV, and the United Kingdom’s Community Channel.

Baked goods and snacks will be available. IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO COME, PLEASE REPLY TO clubveg@gmail.com to let us know how many in your party, so we can plan to make enough snacks. This is not required, but appreciated!

If you are new to veganism and don’t know what to make, or are not able to prepare food, please call Keith or Stephanie for suggestions about what to make or what you can purchase from the store (things like juice, but not prepared foods).

Please RSVP: stephnkeith@gmail.com or 607-330-1908.

Location: 403A Hector St, West Hill. Please save our shared driveway for drop off and pick up. Parking is legal across the street and on local side streets. Hopper Pl. is closed at one side so I’m not sure if you are allowed to park there.

Hope to see you then,
Keith & Stephanie
Facebook.com/Ithaca-Vegan-Breakfast-Club