Episode 33: The Business of Vegan with Philly D!

Phil from Moksha Yoga comes to visit and talks about his studio, his transition to veganism, Canada, yoga (of course) and the gist behind his belief system, which is a “less harm” approach to living life. Dallas, Ryan and Phil talk about interacting with others when advocating for a vegan lifestyle and how to “respond, and not react”. They also talk about having ethical, successful businesses and how veganism extends beyond just the self but the whole world! Crazy, huh.
Our product review is Daiya Wedges, and they are awesome! Pick some up at your local Whole Foods or cooperative.
Our Green Challenge is all about “leave showers”, which is naval practice where you rinse yourself, turn off the water, soap up, turn the water back on and rinse. This is an effective way to save water and (possibly) time. Awesome.
We shout it out at the end of the episode. Yes, again. But we REALLY love shouting, so can you blame us?
Until next time...

Episode 32: The Sarahjane Variety Hour

In this episode, Sara Jane comes to visit. She is the campaign coordinator for the Forego Foie Gras campaign and she discusses the campaign and the gist behind it, why it's important and what kind of change the campaign has already inspired. Her previous experience involves work with Gourmet Cruelty, whose website includes a 20 minute undercover documentary, Delicacy of Despair. She talks about the law protecting corporations from damage to sales or the physical company from "action" taken against the animal cruelty that these companies procure (and keep in mind that there's no strict definition concerning the damage that activists can cause, i.e. someone could simply talk about it and be prosecuted).
Another project that she is involved with, Support Vegans in the Prison System, offers many resources to those that want to help support our fellow vegans receive proper food while in the prison system that have been prosecuted and imprisoned for supposed crimes. As if that weren't enough, she's also sueing the government - say what!? She also talks about her chu-wieny (her pooch, Lily, see below). Cute, wary, intense, and chilling on a stuffed animal. That's Lily in a nutshell.

One of the rescued ducks is lured to natural water for the first time by his favorite treat, cherry tomatoes.

Our product review is a couple of Amy's vegan pizzas. We tried the cheese-less roasted vegetable rice crust pizza and the non-dairy cheeze rice crust pizza. They are delectable, thumbs up to both! Try them both! Also, check out the Amy's website and check out all their vegan deliciousness.
SO! Here's what you do. Write into us telling us about your animal rescue story and you could win free Amy's! Yes!

Our Green Challenge is all about recycling your old eye-glasses. Try out Unite for Sight and mail in you glasses to someone else who could use them after you have. Awesome.

We SHOUT! (It out) at the end of the episode, of course. Holler!

Have Ya'll heard of Vegan Mainstream?

Vegan Mainstream is a company that has done an awesome job of helping to promote MVR and we thought you guys should know about them! Vegan Mainstream a vegan marketing company that works with clients across all industries to ensure their vegan and vegetarian businesses target the right consumers. VM connects directly with the vegan and vegetarian community in a variety of ways, including their blog, newsletters and social media. The Vegan Mainstream blog has wide appeal to the vegan community in general, posting 5-8 times weekly with articles, vlogs, illustrations and podcasts covering topics and issues that are important to vegans everywhere. VM’s team of experts provide a spectacular marketing service, made possible as a result of VM’s core position right at the heart of the vegan and vegetarian community. If you haven't already, you ought to check them out, not only to find other great veg resources, but to see what they can do for your vegan business!

Episode 31: So you think you can vegan parent?

We have Al N and his beautiful 5-year old daughter, Anna, on the show! We talk to them about being a vegan parent and to his daughter about being a vegan child. We talk about how his daughter responds to people asking them to be vegan, what she likes to eat among other things and to Al about how he raises his children vegan. Al N has a blog called These Little Piggies Had Tofu-you should check it out. Al talks about VegKins, which is a program run by Animal Rights Coalition that has get-togethers for children of veg families. There may be programs in other cities so use that google people!
Or product review is for Quorn’s vegan veggie burger. Ryan and Dallas both share some ways to make a delicious burger with Quorn patties. And guess what? We are giving away coupons for free Quorn patties! Say what? All you need to do is write to us. We want to know what you think about our podcast so make us bend an ear.
Our green challenge is to purchase biodegradable bags-they are awesome and reduce use of plastic which unfortunately takes many year to break down. BioBags are what Dallas buys.
We shout it out at the end of the episode because we’re pro like that.

Episodes 30: World Wide Vegan Bakesale

Our special guest is Gary Loenthal from Worldwide Vegan Bakesale! We talk to Gary about how the organization was started, what it's all about and how to do one! Gary has an organization out of Northern Virginia, compassion4animals.org. CNN.com covered the WWVBS, so it's a pretty big deal (they have WWVBS in Nigeria and Croatia-that's pretty nuts). Head over to veganbakesale.org to check it all out-the website has a lot of great information. This segues into Dallas talking about summer lemonade stands and how Marla Rose and her son did vegan cookies and lemonade. What a cool idea!
Our product review is Kat's Hot Cakes and we get to talk to Kat herself about her product. Straight out of Michigan, these (healthy) cakes and Kat's other savory goodies are to die for! They are delicious, healthy and of course, 100% vegan. Awesome.

You know what else is awesome? Kat's Hot Cakes is going to give you 10% off of any online order when you use the code MVR10 at check out through the month of April.
Our Green Challenge is about charity wrist bands (the rubber ones). They are NOT environmentally friendly. You're likely better off saving that dollar for some organic wine. Plus there are tens of bajillions of other ways you can show your support. Yes, it's true!
We shout it out at the end of the episode because we're awesome like that.

Episode 29: Defending Constitutional Rights with Ed Coffin

In December of 2009 Ed of Eating Consciously was arrested after organizing a humane myth demonstration outside of Center City, Philadelphia Whole Foods. Ed had his rights violated by an ignorant, uninformed police officer and tells us all about his ordeal. Ed get's things handled by bringing in the ACLU, despite that the court and police tried to act like nothing happened after his arrest. He turns the tables on the cops and ends up suing them for violating his civil rights! Quite an amazing story. *** Ed informed us of a couple possible errors post production so we want to make sure all the facts are straight.

Here are Ed's notes:

In 2009, there was one arrest of a participant who stepped outside of the free speech zone and read from a sheet, to the cops, an explanation of his free speech rights, given to him by an attorney. He had 5 court appearances and the ACLU represented him, the charges were dropped.

In 2010, the ACLU sent a letter to inhibit any illegal arrests at the following Ringling protests.

In 2011, there were no imposed restrictions due to the ACLU letter and previous legal action and independent activists joined PETA for more demos. PETA applied for a permit, which wasn't needed and never showed for the demo. This affected the independent activists, because police expected them to go in the "free speech zone" and abide by the unnecessary permit, even though there were no restrictions, because PETA agreed to it for absolutely no reason.

Later that night, the independent activists went over to get a closer look at the elephants and the police cited them with "trespassing," and three activists were arrested. The charges were dropped for two of the activists, but not dropped for the third because the individual lied about their name and identity.

Lastly, you asked if there was any place people could donate. I said "no", however, people can go to www.peaceadvocacynetwork.org to learn more about my 501(c)3 nonprofit and make a charitable, tax-deductible donation.


The takeaway here is that it's important for all individuals to know what their rights are since it's apparent that many police officers don't have civil rights training.

Ed's got a lot of great stuff going on. Check out his podcast at eatingconsciouslypodcast.blogspot.com and on iTunes search Eating Consciously. He is also involved with Peace Advocacy Network. Be sure to also check out Vegan Youtube and Vegan Facebook.

We've got a product review, a green challenge and a product review in the green challenge - WHAT!? First, we rave about Cornucopia, a wicked place in TX where you can get your vegan flavored popcorn on. You don't even have to live in Texas to try this- order some for delivery. Might we recommend a sample pack? Then we challenge you to use revolving doors whenever possible. Finally, we throw in an extra green product review with Lunch Skins. Email us at midwestveganradio@gmail.com and tell us about your favorite green challenge for a chance to win two super cute Lunch Skins bags!

Episode 28: Mad City Vegan Fest

In this episode, we talk with Hannah West, organizer for Mad City Vegan Fest in Madison, Wisconsin and employee of abolitionist group Alliance for Animals. Dallas and Ryan discuss with her the concept of having a "vegan" fest versus a "veg" fest, and the Simply Vegan campaign.

We wrap up our conversation with updates on what's going to be at the 2012 Mad City Vegan Fest.

And guess what?! Mad City Vegan Fest has a contest! If you write something on Mad City Vegan Fest's Facebook wall about Midwest Vegan Radio, you will be entered to win a Mad City Vegan Fest t-shirt! Woop! PS- Mad City Vegan Fest is June 9th, 2012. Go!

Check out VeganEssentials.com. This website sells a bunch of really great vegan products - you can do all of your vegan shopping in one place! Awesome. And it just so happens that we have a code for you! Use code "MVR" at the checkout page through March 31st to save 10% off all orders! And wait, there's more! We have another contest: email us at midwestveganradio@gmail.com and give us your creative marketing ideas - it could get you free stuff from Vegan Essentials!

Our product review is Bayberry Naturals and almost all of their products are vegan. Yes! Ryan and Dallas review some products that they tried and they LOVED them!

Our Green Challenge is to turn the temperature down on their water heaters if you own a home. Keep it low to the point where it doesn't scaled you. It saves energy and money. Good stuff.

At the end of the episode, we shout it out. You know, the usual.