SoulVeggie

Latest Mad Cowboy Newsletter - Rip Essy Interview/Recipes

Here's the Intro, Table of Contents, and a Direct Link to the latest Mad Cowboy Newsletter:

LINK:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mad_Cowboy/message/88

"10_19_09:  Engine 2 Interview, Mutant Milk, & SpiderVeg"

Howdy! Welcome to the 67th issue of the Mad Cowboy Newsletter.

In this issue we're proud to present a Mad Cowboy Interview with the amazing vegan firefighter/author, Rip Esselstyn. Rip's the son of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and has built upon his father's remarkable research via some very practical and easy-to-do ways in his diet/exercise/lifestyle book, "The Engine 2 Diet."  There's also three of his recipes for you to try!

Moving on further, there's articles about Mutant Milk, how saturated fat enables Altzheimer's, some surprising statistics on what we eat, Brainfood at the White House, a great new position paper by the ADA on the Vegetarian Diet, and more about that same diet reducing cancer risk.

Continuing in this edition, there's the intriguing proposal for a 50 year Farm Bill, 70 pages of solutions to our agricultural woes, the real cost of food, the new composting mandate in San Francisco, how animal abusers are losing, AETA is winning, new math contrasting a vegan diet with a carnivore's, and the Amazing SpiderVeg!

... as always, a tip of the hat to our new subscribers: y'all can browse past issues at the Mad Cowboy Newsletter Archives:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mad_Cowboy/>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mad_Cowboy/

Here's hoping everyone is warm, and to quote Rip: "plant strong" this Winter!

Mark, MC editor/webmaster

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

00: Quote(s) from Howard
01: A Mad Cowboy Interview with Rip Esselstyn
02: Three Recipes from "The Engine 2 Diet"
03: The Vegan Mind-Bender Contest Winner/Challenge!
04: Mad Cow Info Round-Up
05: Mutant Milk, Fat & Altzheimer's, US Fatter, What We're Eating
06: Brainfood, Veg Diet Reduces Cancer & Chronic Disease Risks
07: The Digital Vegan
08: 50 yr Farm Bill, Ag Solutions, Real Food Cost, Composting SF
09: Animal Abusers Lose, AETA Wins, Veg Math, Spider Veg!
10: Howard's Schedule
11: Quick Bytes
12: Closing Thoughts

New Film Trailer: "What's "Organic" About Organic?"

"[This film]... rings the alarm for the need to develop an ecological consciousness.  The film illustrates that the organic food debate extends well beyond personal choice and into the realm of social responsibility.

Each of the film’s characters is intimately connected to the organic world; they’re farmers, activists, and scientists.  While many folks can easily endorse “organic,” the characters in the film take the discussion beyond just shopping for another eco-label. As we glimpse into each of their lives, we see how organic agriculture has the potential to solve many of our environmental and health problems.  The film will explore how organic farming can be used as a soil and air protection system, a healthy solution to toxic pollution, and an innovative means to combat global warming.

WHAT’S ORGANIC ABOUT “ORGANIC?” delves into the debates that arise when a grassroots agricultural movement evolves into a booming international market.  As the film moves from farm fields to government meetings to industry trade shows, we see the hidden costs of conventional agriculture.  We also see how our health, the health of our planet, and the agricultural needs of our society are all intimately connected.  The film compels us to look forward, towards a new vision for our culture and encourages us to ask, “What should our future food system look like?”

[Love the phrase: "conscientious consumption" from the trailer.  The "about" excerpt above is from the really kewl and resource-full website here.  Check it out and pass the URL around. Oh, and go low-fat vegan... been too busy harvesting, preserving, planting, watering to do much else than this quickie post... still slow in typing with finger recovering...]

Independence from the US Food Supply

 

(All images ©2009 by Mark Sutton - Respectively:  currants, gooseberries, raspberries, lettuces from the garden - Click on image to get larger version in new window)

"True freedom requires food independence... I am now celebrating my food independence from the greedy, poisonous food corporations of North America. No more Dean Foods [Silk Products] or PepsiCo in my life. No more being enslaved by Monsanto or ADM. No genetically-modified foods, pesticides, herbicides or terminator seeds are found around here. No long-distance food imports, no waiting in line at the grocery store with a stupid discount card and no more packing my groceries home in toxic plastic bags made from petrochemicals.

My food acquisition process has become ridiculously simple:

Step 1: Walk to the garden (60 seconds).
Step 2: Pick what I want to eat (5-10 enjoyable minutes).
Step 3: Prepare it (juice it, boil it or whatever).
Step 4: Eat it.

This process requires no financial transactions, no taxes, no transportation, no plastic wrappers and no coupons. It does not involve finding a parking spot, going into a building, carrying cash or inhaling the toxic vapors of detergent products that permeate all the aisles of modern grocery stores. There is no need to check a price, enter a UPC bar code or banter with grocery store clerks. Instead, I simply walk to the garden, harvest the food and eat it.

That this simple act is so astonishingly rare is, all by itself, a disturbing commentary about the state of the food supply in America today."

[Full article here and below.  I could not identify with it more... this morning's breakfast was a big handful (each) of homegrown raspberries (black and red), currants, and gooseberries.  Lunch was mixed salad greens salad (from the garden, 'natch).  Dinner will be roasted mixed vegetables from the garden, sauteed garlic with mixed chard (all homegrown), balsamic vinegar, minced dried hot peppers (from last year), some cheap white wine (for cooking), and local steamed corn (local is from the farm a mile up the road).  Well worth all the effort... (better daily workout than in a gym), but... I still haven't sourced an olive oil plant yet... maybe it's not real whole food?]

Latest Issue of Mad Cowboy Newsletter Now Available

Title:  06_23_09:  Rip's Recipes, Ask a Vegan, & Largest Red Meat Study.

Direct link to online issue.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mad_Cowboy/message/87

Howdy!  Welcome to the 66th issue of the Mad Cowboy Newsletter.

In this issue we're delighted to provide a preview of our upcoming interview with the amazing vegan firefighter/author, Rip Esselstyn, in the form of two of his favorite recipes.  Rip's the son of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and has built upon his father's remarkable research via some very practical and easy-to-do ways in his diet/exercise/lifestyle book, "The Engine 2 Diet."

Moving on further, we'll note a study indicating that fish oil doesn't help your heart via Omega-3, some new finds about the benefits of broccoli, results of the largest study of red meat eaters in history, and more indications that high-fat food inflames your circulatory system.  You'll learn about the "Ask a Vegan" booth in New York, some vegan survival tips, resources for learning about animal rights/issues, and the consequences off going veg for just one day.

Continuing in this edition, we've got some gourmet viewing experiences in our Vegan Digital Theater, some details stats and studies showing that our industry-produced produce is definitely less nutritious than it used to be, some great links about the White House Garden (including remarks by Michelle last week during the first major harvest), and a list of 8 ways to eat locally...  some new resource links have been added to "Quick Bytes" and don't miss some of the articles during the "Mad Cow Info Round-Up."

... as always, a tip of the hat to our new subscribers:  y'all can browse past issues at the Mad Cowboy Newsletter Archives.

Best wishes for this start of a new summer and may your gardens be bountiful, healthy, and inspiring!

Mark, MC editor/webmaster

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

00: Quote(s) from Howard
01: A Mad Cowboy Invite to AR2009
02: The Vegan Mind-Bender Contest Winner/Challenge!
03: Recipes from "The Engine 2 Diet" by Rip Esselstyn
04: Mad Cow Info Round-Up
05: Fish Oil No Help, Brocc Talk, Largest Meat Study, Fat Inflames
06: Ask a Vegan, Vegan Survival Tips, Learning AR, 1 Day Veg
07: Vegan Digital Theater
08: Food Less Healthy, White House Veggies,  8 Ways to go Local
09: Quick Bytes
10: Closing Thoughts

"Best of July 2008" Gardens Pix

Thanks to all who sent e-mails wondering if I'm alive.  Rumor has it, I am.  Here's a 15 page collection of "best of" photos (with links to larger images) of the organic gardens I'm managing while doing my multimedia contract work.  Been a helluva period, with lack of rain, mice, hardware/software issues, and yadda.... anyway, here's my favorite shot from the sequence:  cucumber plant greeting the morning sun.  Enjoy!  Go low-fat vegan and grow some food...  I'll be posting more often soon...

Your Kitchen as a BioLab & Composting

I flashed back to two memories recently:  Dr. Greger noting that the CDC's recommendations for a safe kitchen resemble a "biohazard lab's" rules and regs, and the issue of a vegan composting.

Let me explain:  in the first place, I interviewed Dr. Greger last year and he noted that, if you are eating meat and dairy, there are many guidelines issued by the CDC (and also the FDA) to keep you from cross-contaminating, getting food-borne illnessess, and eating bad stuff.  I just LOVE the concept:  as a vegan, my kitchen isn't a "biohazard lab."  Sure, I clean my cutting boards, the counter, etc., but I don't have to worry about anything other than proper cleaning of my produce.  No meat juices; no moldy or disease-ridden dairy.  The 24 hr. flu (people, it ain't flu... it's food poisoning) won't happen here.

Furthermore, I remembered when power went out a few years ago for three days in Maryland, neighbors were freaking and couldn't understand why I wasn't worried about the food in the 'frig.  I had to point out, smiling:  no meat, no dairy, no big deal.

Recently, a carnivorous friend was commenting on my "compost bucket" outside the back door of the kitchen.  His wife has coached him on what he can and cannot put into the "passive compost pile" they have.  In mid-conversation he paused, and then said, obviously surprised, something to the effect of, "Hey!  everything you eat can go into the compost pile."

Yup... and none of it will ever be a serious biohazard, either.  A vegetarian couldn't say that.  Anyway, here are some fun links:

The FDA's "Can Your Kitchen Pass the Food Safety Test?"
FDA Advice for "Mother's To Be."
FDA Advice on "Preggy Mom's Food Safety for Meat, Poultry, and Seafood"

Go Vegan!  The ultimate composting non-biohazardous environmentally sustainable, safe, healthy, and animal-friendly diet...

Mad Cowboy Newsletter #62 Available

Here's a direct link, the intro, and the table of contents for the latest free Mad Cowboy e-newsletter.  Enjoy! Mark
------------
Howdy!  Welcome to the 62nd issue of the Mad Cowboy Newsletter.  We're proud as peacocks to announce a new DVD from Howard:  "A Mad Cowboy Lecture: 2007."  More details below!

Due to all the material about the HSUS investigation/video and meat recall in "Mad Cow Info Round-Up", we've suspended the "Avian Flu News" section for this edition.  But, as you read further, you'll learn about Peak Soil!, Edible Estates, more studies on the disease preventative effects of veggies and fruits, and newly deceased Earl Butz's legacy to our country's food production "system."  Continuing: PETA's announced this year's "Proggy Awards," Bob Barker has made an amazing gift to further studies of animal issues, there's a neat post about recession-proofing your diet, news about Michael Pollen's latest book, and don't miss the recipes from the excellent "Vegan Fire & Spice" as well as the videos of the vegetarian 2007 Nobel Prize winner's speech, Doreen the Downer Cow, the Vegetable Orchestra, and Wayne Pacelle (Pres., HSUS) being interviewed.

... as always, a tip of the hat to our new subscribers.  Y'all can read past issues of the newsletter at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mad_Cowboy/

Happy Spring and get those gardens growing!  Mark, MC editor/webmaster

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

00: Quote(s) from Howard
01: New DVD from Howard! Trailers OnLine!
02: The Vegan Mind-Bender Contest Winner/Challenge!
03: Recipes from a New Vegan Cookbook:  "Fire & Spice"
04: Mad Cow Info Round-up
05: Veggies: Reducing 2 Cancers, Heart Disease, Blood Pressure
06: Peak Soil!, Edible Estates, Butz Legacy, Farm Emission Rules
07: Vegan Digital Theater Showcase
08: PETA Awards, Bob's Gift, Recession-proof Diet, Mostly Plants
09: Howard's Schedule
10: Quick Bytes
11: Closing Thoughts"

Direct Link to this Issue:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mad_Cowboy/message/83

"Mad Cowboy Lecture: 2007" - Excerpts & a Review

[It's finally available... the new "Mad Cowboy DVD." I've also posted two 3 min. segments from the beginning and Robert Cohen, aka the "NotMilkman" has graced us with an exclusive review of the DVD.  Enjoy!

1st 3 minutes:

2nd 3 minutes:

My apologies if the videos aren't as smooth as they could be... I had limited time and notification to pull this off. Actual footage is of high professional quality from a 3-camera shoot. The larger versions of the two segments are here:  PT01, PT02.  Hope to find time in the near future to figure out the compression issues.  Also, you can learn more about the DVD at www.madcowboy.com... and Go Vegan!]

"Edible Estates" & Growing Your Own

"......By the end of World War II, over 80 percent of American households were growing some of their own food. Within months after Victory Day this activity quickly subsided. With its demise went the widespread knowledge among most Americans of how to grow their own food... the introduction of the leisure weekend, the abundance of fresh water, the production of industrial pesticides, the availability of the lawn mower and cheap gas, and the rise of home ownership with the explosion of new suburban housing developments in the 1940s and '50s all set the stage for the unfurling of the great American lawn as we know it today. Its puritanical aspects seem suited to the Eisenhower years of good manners. Is there a connection between landscape and hairstyles?... [yikes!]

...In the United States we plant more grass than any other crop: currently lawns cover more than thirty million acres. Given the way we lavish precious resources on it and put it everywhere that humans go, aliens landing in any American city today would assume that grass must be the most precious earthly substance of all.  Yet the lawn devours resources while it pollutes. It is maniacally groomed with mowers and trimmers powered by the two-stroke motors that are responsible for much of our greenhouse gas emissions... To eradicate invading plants the lawn is drugged with pesticides and herbicides, which are then washed into our water supply with sprinklers and hoses, dumping our increasingly rare fresh drinking resource down the gutter. [more water and pesticides on our lawns than used by the entire US agricultural industry.]

Meanwhile, at the grocery store we confront our food. Engineered fruits and vegetables wrapped in plastic and Styrofoam are cultivated not for taste but for appearance, uniformity, and ease of transport, then sprayed with chemicals to inhibit the diseases and pests that thrive in an unbalanced ecosystem. The produce in the average American dinner is trucked 1,500 miles to reach our plates. We don't know where our fruits and vegetables came from or who grew them. Perhaps we have even forgotten that plants were responsible for the mass-produced meal we are consuming. This detachment from the source of our food breeds a careless attitude toward our role as custodians of the land that feeds us. Perhaps we would reconsider what we put down the drain, on the ground, and in the air if there was more direct evidence that we will ultimately ingest it...

The Edible Estates project proposes the replacement of the domestic front lawn with a highly productive edible landscape. Food grown in our front yards will connect us to the seasons, the organic cycles of the earth, and our neighbors. The banal lifeless space of uniform grass in front of the house will be replaced with the chaotic abundance of biodiversity. In becoming gardeners we will reconsider our connection to the land, what we take from it, and what we put in it. Each yard will be a unique expression of its location and of the inhabitant and his or her desires..."

[The full, spot-on, literate, history-referencing and thought-provoking "excerpt" from the book is here and below. Here's a sub-3min. "TreeHugger Video on 'Edible Estates.'" For me, this all helped conceptually soothe the tight muscles from digging in the veggie garden yesterday. If you're vegan or vegetarian and not growing some of your own food, even on an apartment balcony, you're missing out on something important.  Go grow your own & Go Vegan.]

The Joyous Vegan

"Are you a vegetarian? Why or why not?

I am a JOYOUS Vegan! I never say I am Vegan without adding the word “Joyous” to it because when some people hear “vegan,” they think things like rigid, boring, bland, angry, and judgmental. I LOVE life. I love celebrating my connection with Creation through the mindfulness of what I eat. Ultimately, I want people to eat with awareness and mindfulness, which means that first and foremost, eat local, local, local. People who say they are vegetarian because of animal rights but then have their food shipped from hundreds to thousands of miles away are not recognizing the enormous impact on animals (including human animals) from energy consumption.

I have walked in lands destroyed by oil extraction and I am clear that animals are being killed, maimed, and suffering terribly because of this process. I support indigenous people’s rights to live as one with the land and to eat animals for food. After living with a tree for two years, I am clear that plants and all life communicate. I recognize that the vegetables I eat deserve my humble gratitude and respect for my taking their life for food. I do not see any aspect of life as more sacred than any other. To say that I am more sacred or important than a plant is to be a part of the disease of disconnect that is at the heart of the destruction of the beauty and health of our world. I am clear that our forks and plates are weapons of mass destruction or tools of mass compassion based on the choices we make."

[Excerpted from the excellent "10 Questions" interview of the awesome Julia Butterfly Hill here (and below).]