Treegans.com - the continuing adventures of two vegans living in the woods

happy december

Only 24 shopping days left till vacation!

sarah palin turkey farm interview outtakes

You've probably already seen the footage of Sarah Palin pardoning a turkey, then taking questions while standing in front of a farm worker who was preparing other turkeys for slaughter.

What you may not have seen are these outtakes, courtesy of Slate.com.

happy tofurky day 2008

We'll be heading out later today to celebrate Thanksgiving WITH the turkeys (along with the chickens, geese, emus, pigs, cows, goats, sheep, rabbits, llamas, horses, and burros) at Chenoa Manor Animal Sanctuary in Avondale. 

After the farm, we'll come back home to celebrate with a traditional Tofurkey feast - Treegans style.  Enjoy your holiday!

phillies parade

We made a spur of the moment decision to head into town to be a part of the Philadelphia Phillies World Series parade on Halloween.   It was an amazing day, with somewhere between 2 and 3 million fans in attendance.  Cheers, smiles, and high fives were the order of the day.  Check out our Phillies parade photo album to see more.

an open letter to the next farmer in chief

There's a terrific piece by Michael Pollan in the October 9th edition of the New York Times magazine about what our next president must consider in terms of our food policies.

Pollan makes the argument that the next President must make reforming the entire food system one of the highest priorities of his administration.  "Unless you do", Pollan argues, "you will not be able to make significant progress on the health care crisis, energy independence or climate change. Unlike food, these are issues you did campaign on — but as you try to address them you will quickly discover that the way we currently grow, process and eat food in America goes to the heart of all three problems and will have to change if we hope to solve them."

You may not agree with everything Pollan says, but it goes to the heart of the argument that there's no quick fix for many of the fundamental problems facing our country today.  It's worth a read.

goodbye 2 self-imposed moratorium on politics

Been keeping quiet on political rhetoric here for quite a while.  Turns out that Senator McCain's campaign manager was being paid about $15k per month by Freddie Mac as recently as last month.  Nice!

Next stop on the Straight Talk Express is at the corner of Conflict and Interest.

huge parcel of adk park land purchased by the Nature Conservancy

The upstate New Yorker in me, and the tree hugger in both of us, were happy to read in today's New York Times that The Nature Conservancy purchased over 14,000 acres of privately held land in the Adirondack Park.  Very cool.

gustav relief

Here are a couple of places were you can make a donation to the Hurricane Gustav relief efforts:

The American Red Cross
The Humane Society of the United States

jersey tour

We're back from a whirlwind tour of the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ for back-to-back concerts from a couple of our favorite bands. 

On Monday, we spent three-plus hours with 50,000 of our closest friends to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Giants Stadium. There's nothing quite like seeing Bruce at home in Jersey. The following night, we rocked with the Foo Fighters at the Izod Center, adjacent to the stadium.  (Thankfully, we watched the mosh pit from a safe distance.)  Between shows, we squeezed in a quick trip to Greenwich Village, including lunch at one of our favorite joints, Red Bamboo. 

A long weekend in northern Jersey.  Do we know how to live, or what?

baby on board

Last night, we attended a local book signing in support of a new work by Jana Kohl, A Rare Breed of Love: The True Story of Baby and the Mission She Inspired to Help Dogs Everywhere. 

Baby is a puppy mill survivor who lived through a 9-year ordeal before being adopted by the author.  She lost a leg as a result of the abuse she suffered while in the puppy mills, but Baby finally gained a permanent home.  She's wrapping up a cross-country tour to help raise awareness about cruelty in the dog breeding industry. 

If you're a Pennsylvania resident, you have a opportunity right now to tell your government to put an end to the incredibly cruel practices of the puppy mill industry.  Governor Ed Rendell's comprehensive puppy mill bill, H.B. 2525, is in the House Appropriations Committee.  This measure which would make it illegal to debark an animal, dock tails or perform surgical births without a veterinarian using anesthesia.  Just before the house adjourned for summer, opponents added over 100 amendments to the bill in an attempt to slow down and eventually bury the measure in red tape.

Although the legislature has adjourned for the summer, you can still contact your local representative, as well as  members of the Appropriations Committee, urging them to drop the amendments to H.B. 2525 and allow a vote on the measure by the full House of Representatives.

And if you're looking for a new pet, please don't buy from a pet store or breeder!  Adopt from your local shelter, or go to Petfinder.com.