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Beaming Vegan

18 [Vegan] Household Necessities

This post is not sponsored. I genuinely adore that these staples are part of our home. Each one of them makes our life better, easier, cruelty-free, or all around healthier. I have each product linked to my favorite online source for purchase (sources I trust and use regularly). These companies are close to my heart because they open an entire world of products for people who live in the boondocks and they’re both extremely reliable.  While this post isn’t sponsored, if you shop through my unique code provided at the bottom of this post I will receive a small credit through the app you used.

If I’m being real with ya, it can be pretty hard to find quality household products in a rural area. I mean it’s not that it CAN be hard, it IS freaking hard!

When we lived on the farm in Kansas I had no idea we were missing out on anything because I wanted to keep my house vegan as much as possible so badly that the struggle to find the products to keep me in line with that goal was not an issue. Truth be told I was going to do it whether it came easily or was a huge feat.

Now we once again live in the middle of nowhere, this time the desert instead of the plains, and it’s the same situation. We have a tiny grocery store in town (11 miles away) which offers a small produce variety and a couple brands of every “necessity”. Thank goodness they have one brand of vegan soap… every time I go snatch it up I hear how they have a hard time keeping it on the shelves and think hmm… is there hope that other people in this small town are making conscious purchases?

Whatever the grocery store doesn’t have, the pharmacy probably does. So when I went to the grocery store for shampoo only to find that none of the three brands they offered were cruelty-free or vegan, I went to the pharmacy. There I found some better options that were still super questionable. (So I ordered it online… FedEx…A rural vegan’s SAVIOR)

When we moved to Spokane though… holy smokes! Before our move I spent weeks on Google Earth pretend-cruising around our future neighborhood imagining all the sights I would see and places I would shop at. I had a mall literally across the street (plus I was about to work in one) and Target, HobLob, and Trader Joe’s within minutes of the new house! I just thought about how convenient and fun it would be to have anything I could imagine so readily available that I could “swing by” to grab something on my way home from work.

This is all a huge deal for a girl who spent half of her life in small town USA. I imagined it getting me in a lot of trouble too, because goodbye paychecks! (Starbucks run, anyone? How about vegan takeout for dinner?) But it wasn’t that bad. I knew I would have access to healthier products because I had access to stores with more variety, but I didn’t know I was about to get schooled on this subject. There are literally stores that cater to natural products. I knew Trader Joe’s had some purposefully vegan groceries which I was stoked to try… but I didn’t know I’d be within walking distance of a half vegan grocery store! What?! Game changer. We still make probably weekly trips to our beloved Natural Grocers. We won’t even talk about all the vegan restaurants right now.

I made this list of our favorite products because we have tried multiple brands of each one and these are the ones we rested on. As a bonus for you, a lot of these are PNW brands that aren’t on shelves across the US but here’s your hookup! Trust me, it’s your lucky day. Oh how happy I’d have been if someone would have cut out the hard work for me when I was in rural Kansas so I could go straight online and order these bad boys…. So, so happy. We’ve also learned a lot about what ingredients are in products we use. When we walk through the store and see vegan fabric softener, we question if our fabric softener is vegan (it wasn’t). And we wouldn’t have known.

As with many other homes now days, it’s become important to us to keep a couple items we love instead of a bunch of items we like. These are a few of the necessities for our home. What’s on your list? Is there anything I MUST try? I’d love to get a peek into your home’s essentials! Let me know in the comments.

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Beaming Vegan Blog Household Products The Mountain Valley Water

AROUND THE HOUSE

ECOS Laundry Detergent

So yeah… as I mentioned before there can be some nasties in your clothing products. This means you’re snuggling up to animal product covered blankets and drying off with not actually clean towels… Make sure they don’t contain animal products and are labeled cruelty-free! This one leaves clothes smelling soooo clean and fresh and works better than so many big names I once used. It’s also significantly cheaper than leading brands and has built-in fabric softener that actually works.

Natures Gate Shampoo and Toothpaste

Vegan. Cruelty-free. Need I say more? Fine, I will… The shampoo (all scents) smells like heaven’s garden and the toothpaste tastes fresh and minty but also perfectly sweet. It leaves your breath fresh and mouth feeling clean for hours

Pacifica Beauty + Skincare

I was searching high and low for completely vegan beauty products and basically despised them all. I was struggling with rashes on my arms and legs that popped up and drove me insane for a couple months at a time. Then, TADAAA! Pacifica accidentally came into my life and healed my woes. I started with a tiny tube of hand cream gifted to me from my mother-in-law, and when my rashes completely vanished I bought another tube. Then a full sized tube. Then perfume and other makeup items. Please don’t take this lightly: Pacifica has the best rollerball perfume I’ve ever used. Honestly the lilac one could very well be the best thing I have ever smelled.

Reuseable Dish Cloths

We got two for Christmas and they’ve saved us so much $$ on our previously used sponges. Just throw it in the wash after a couple uses… Use one while the other is in the wash! Ours are handmade, the ones linked above are the closest to what we use.

Mountain Madness Soap Company

Local to us, but you can order online! They have the absolute best deodorant and lip balm I’ve ever used. The deo allows your body to perform natural functions but keeps you fresh until you wash it off. And we have tried so many “vegan” lip balms… some claimed to be vegan and had bee products. Mountain Madness has been my absolute favorite and most effective. Plus they have so many yummy scents!

Kiss My Face Soap

We keep a bar of soap, bottle of shampoo, an exfoliator, and a razor in the shower. Nothing extra! Our soap is always either coconut oil soap from our store in town or Kiss My Face brand. So affordable, cruelty-free, and you’re not rubbing nasty animal product on your body in an attempt to get “clean”.

IN THE KITCHEN

Celtic sea salt

So many benefits from this salt. I beg of you, do not use regular table salt in your food. This packs even better flavor and bodily value from minerals that are absent from our regular diet. We like the Eden brand!

Califia coffee creamer

AHHHHH so good!!! For some reason I think the creamer in the plastic bottles tastes way more flavorful than the cardboard variety, though… Just a heads up.

Pacific hemp milk

This was one of the first vegan products we picked up from our new fave stores, and it was an instant hit. Everything you want in a milk alternative. AMAZING to drink plain (especially the vanilla) but also the best for baking and cooking.

Vital wheat gluten

Necessary for seitan. Mmmmmm, seitan. Just don’t use the recipe on the bag… It’s pretty bad lol. Try Hot For Food’s seitan recipe from her Philly Cheesesteak Recipe.

Cocomels

Favorite. Candy. Ever. I melt over these. They are incredible. Please treat yo’ self.

Mountain Valley Spring Water

*Sparkling water…. So refreshing, tastes amazing, and is perfectly bubbly. It also stays bubbly for days after opening, which is a plus if you can’t finish the entire giant bottle! Price-wise, it’s less than a regular smaller bottle of water.

Nutiva Butter Flavored Coconut Oil

Please, please, please, please treat yourself to this butter! OMG! Use it anywhere you’d use butter. (But try it on popcorn at least once)

Chao if you need cheese

You need Chao. Get it at your closest Natural Grocers or find other retailers online! It’s the most similar to the cheese I ate growing up. It’s creamy, melts perfectly, and packs a lot of quality flavor for a little price. In my book, there is no other vegan cheese. You’ll have to snag this one at your closest retailer, though. There’s places to order online but I haven’t tried any and therefore will not recommend them to you!

Larabars

Ok, a little story about Larabars… When we first went vegan these were the first convenient snack we purchased (skeptically, might I add). They’re made of only a few ingredients, but regardless of this, each unique flavor tastes exactly what it’s supposed to. Coconut cream pie, for example… just like pie. The fruit and greens flavors taste like fruit roll ups! We get great deals on Larabars on the Jet app, so even when we go to the store we don’t really buy them there unless they’re on sale. On Jet, you always get the store’s sale price 🙂 #protip

Penzey’s curry powder

If you’re like everyone else on the planet and appreciate a super quick dinner, add this curry powder to steamed rice and veggies. Done!

Cast iron skillet

We went too many years without. Cooking on Calphalon and thinking we needed a ton of different pots and pans to match each meal we wanted to cook… Which is ridiculous, because all you need is cast iron. We got ours at an antique store for next to nothing. Griffin fixed it all up for us, we seasoned it, and it’s been rockin’ and rollin’ ever since. Every meal. It serves every purpose. And to top it all off, I swear everything tastes better when cooked on the skillet. #minimalism101

Chain Mail

To accompany your new beloved cast iron. A true Godsend. We use it on all of our dishes, honestly… it makes cleaning the stubborn stuff a piece of cake. Easier than sponges, scrubbies, washcloths, and brushes combined.

FAMILIES BELONG TOGETHER

Is it not a human mother’s worst nightmare to be separated from her newborn?

Did we not panic as a nation when we realized families were being separated at the border?

In the dairy industry, dairy cows have their newborns stolen from them so we can then steal the milk produced for that baby.

Griffin and I have lived on two separate cattle farms now, each in a different part of the country, and it’s all the same. The mothers scream and plead in agony for days when their babies are taken from them, never to be reunited. It’s a completely unbearable thing to hear from the comfort of our home where we were once supporting this lack of compassion. It definitely helped us realize we didn’t want to be the reason they mourn.

But let’s rewind a little… if it’s not bad enough already… dairy cows are forcefully impregnated in the first place. They endured a human violating their most intimate privacy. Making them pregnant until their bodies can’t physically take it anymore. We quite literally take everything from them. We pretend to be “humane” while playing God, giving life to creatures just to exploit them until we take the life back.

[Note: This is for the purpose of mass producing milk that was not made for us and will never be healthy for us to consume.]

What happens to that mother cow? She’s put through this non-stop agony for the span of her entire life until she’s physically exhausted and sent to slaughter. Don’t be fooled by any farmer who tells you their dairy cows are living their best lives. It’s impossible. If the cows are making it look painless it’s because they have no choice but to endure it.

The babies? The females endure their mother’s same fate, and the bulls are sent straight to slaughter. These creatures that can live for 20 years, being born just to be killed again.

(P.s. there’s no humane way to end a life that desperately, instinctively wants to live. THERE IS NO WAY.)

It is your responsibility as a meat and/or dairy consumer to seek the truth behind your food’s origin. See for yourself what “free-range” actually looks like. Take a look at a vegan activists visit to a dairy farm. Understand that you’re being trained to disassociate with the reality that is the dairy industry. Why is this happening? Follow the money.

Dairy is hurting you.

Dairy is hurting them.

Dairy is hurting the EARTH.

Imagine a human woman being forcefully impregnated and having her baby stolen from her at birth. On top of that, imagine this happening to her continually until she finally can’t take it anymore and is sent to be killed.

Every dairy cow ends up at slaughter.

We don’t have to condone to this. We are so privileged to have so many other options! Delicious, harmless, plant-based options.

You have so much power and influence. Use it wisely.

-Impossible Burger//Cascadia Public House Review-

On the Table:

Appetizer- Buffalo Tofu Sticks with House-Made Ranch, Carrots, & Celery

Meal- 2 Impossible Burgers, Garlic Fries with Vegan Aioli, Salad with House Ranch

Ahhh, back to the food side of blogging. This is where it all started for me, back when Brindle & Bo Blog was in operation, and it’ll be a huge part of Beaming Vegan as well. (Hello, we’re talking veganism here… it’s more than conscious decision-making, it’s also yummy food!)

Cascadia Public House, which we just call “Cascadia” when discussing it in real life, is a trendy gastropub with a focus on locally sourced ingredients.

 Since living in Spokane I’ve become entirely too aware of where my foods have traveled from. Once when I was shopping I wondered why I never had any of these amazing vegan foods in Kansas. Upon further inspection of labels, I discovered everything I had was from WA, CA, and OR. Ever since I noticed that my cart at Natural Grocers was accidentally full of Pacific Northwestern brands, I have exercised a great appreciation for the quality of local ingredients. They’re fresher, taste better, and support the trustworthy companies operating right in our own backyard.

Cascadia serves up goodies from a number of PNW food vendors and never skimps on quality.

Not only is their mission of providing locally sourced ingredients a respectable one, but so is their style! They have a beautiful bar, a partially open kitchen, and gorgeous patio gathering area all while encompassing an industrial minimalist feel. Let’s not fail to mention that the staff is always incredibly welcoming and friendly, too!

Of course we first hit up Cascadia for the vegan food options. Their menu is not entirely vegan, but the vegan food they offer is some of the best in Spokane. We toss around the idea of strictly supporting vegan-only restaurants, but it’s hard to beat a place that makes everyone happy when you’re dining with non-vegan family or friends [as much as I’d love for them to just go vegan 😉 ]. I feel like letting them order flesh but showing them that vegan options can be just as good or better is an OK start.

About that food though… some of the vegan options on the menu include Vegan Curry Mac, a Bean Beet Burger, a vegan avocado-filled take on the classic BLT, and of course, the Impossible Burger. The vegan appetizers never disappoint, especially the House-Made Pretzels with Cashew Queso and Stone Ground Mustard.

Griffin and I have tried a range of foods here from the sandwiches to just about every vegan appetizer on the menu, our favorite entrée being the Bean Beet Burger. That is, until we tried the Impossible Burger.

When you’re craving Chinese as a vegan in Spokane, you go to Red Dragon. When you’re craving pizza (or a BA brunch), you go to Ally’s. When you don’t know what you’re craving but you want a plethora of deliciousness, you go to Cascadia.

On this particular day that we visited, we had no idea what kind of treat we’d be in for. We were just hungry. We ordered buffalo tofu sticks with vegan house ranch (which turned out to be the best tofu we’ve ever had) and stared at our options for a good five minutes.  I pointed out that we’ve never tried the vegan staple, the Impossible Burger, and Griffin decided he’d order that. I didn’t want to order the same thing as him (and I always, always, always get mac and cheese at vegan restaurants), but if it was delicious I was going to regret not getting my own… so I went for it. That’s when I decided this would be a review-worthy experience. Because you don’t know that it’s worth it until someone writes a review and tells you, “ORDER THAT BURGER”. I’m telling you, order it. Now. Go.

The Impossible Burger by Impossible Foods is, to put it simply, the best vegan burger on the market. It still seems difficult to come by, but I read on their Insta that they have been busy increasing supply to meet demand for their product. (Yay!) If you’re not sure where to find one in your area, check their website for a list of locations serving up this goodness.

By taste standards, this is the burger with the power to convert meat eaters. It’s been difficult to show non-vegans all this time that plant-based burgers are superior to beef in terms of taste because, let’s face it, a “pretty patty” of sweet potato and beans or a mock-meat tofu patty has never been the classic burger’s equal in the eyes of a flesh eater. The Impossible Burger is not equal, it is leaps and bounds better. It has a perfect savory flavor, juicy-ness that most vegan burgers are lacking, the exact texture of a meat patty, and from what I’ve seen it even cooks from pink to brown like a beef patty would.

The best part of the Impossible Burger is that you can scarf up the entire thing and not feel an ounce of the greasy, guilty, fatty feeling of a flesh burger. You’re more likely to feel fueled up! Griffin and I went on a walk through the park after leaving the restaurant. If we’d have just eaten a non-vegan burger meal as we did just over a year ago, we would have felt like napping for the rest of the day (and probably would have been mad at ourselves for doing that to our bodies!).

Now, after all of these convincing words… I do have two minor complaints with Cascadia. The bigger of the two is that they’re typically super packed. There have been multiple occasions where Griffin and I have driven to this side of town for the sole purpose of eating here, walked in the door and walked right back out because it was so crowded we either couldn’t find a table or didn’t want to sit so closely to other customers. The second complaint I have is that we paid more for two burgers and sides than we used to pay for a steak dinner. This one is understandable considering many vegan foods are costly to prepare, but I’m looking forward to a day when veganism is more mainstream and us plant-eaters don’t have to pay more than a flesh-eater does for the same meal! I totally get why, but I still have a hard time coming to terms with paying less for a stolen life than for something you can grow in abundance from a .10 seed packet.

The good news is you will always get your money’s worth at Cascadia Public House, it’s a perfect go-to for dining with non-vegans whom you love regardless of their diet choices (lol), and unlike most restaurants I have found serving “vegan options”, their vegan menu would actually satisfy a person’s hunger and includes entrees from the entire spectrum.

 

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Vegan Camping with Non-Vegan Family

Check out Camping July 2018 for Part 1 of this Expedition!

Notes before reading: We were able to coordinate our meals with the family’s for the most part. We communicated the meal plan well in advance and brought extra snacks and produce just in case!

Hopefully this post will give you some insight and ideas for how/what to pack for camping with non-vegan friends or family. It’s way easier than it sounds I assure you! I’ll be doing a detailed vegan camping post eventually, but this trip wasn’t our usual camping style, as we usually go pretty minimal with our packing and simple with our food.

Day 1:

Morning

We loaded our stuff up and took off on the journey around 7am. We made one stop at Natural Grocers in Coeur d’Alene to grab vegan breakfast burritos, road trip snacks and drinks. We arrived at our campsite around 11am. Grandma reserved a huge secluded group site with a private river beach and Griffin and I were the first campers to arrive. We sought out the perfect place to pitch our tent and set up doggy camp and jumped in the river until everyone else came an hour or two later (grandparents, good family friends and their pup, aunt and her beau and pup, another aunt, uncle, and three cousins).

Mid-Day

Part of the day was spent helping everyone set up camp, complete with a kitchen area in the heart of the campsite, 6 tents and two campers.

Evening

We drank good beer and grandma-made cocktails relaxed at the river until gathering for dinner. I was informed well in advance of the meal plan for the trip, so Griffin and I hit Natural Grocers and bought vegan alternatives for each meal. Night one was hotdogs, easy enough. So we got a pack of vegan dogs and chips that my grandparents cooked up for us and we ate with everyone else without missing a beat (or a flavor). Grandma also made a scrumptious coleslaw Griffin and I love that’s vegan!

My cousin informed me that her little sister (also my cousin lol) was an avid writer, filling notebook after notebook with her own words. I told the little one I’m a writer too and asked if I could read some of her work. To everyone’s surprise, she agreed and let me skim through a couple of her notepads! Pretty much made my entire day.

We ended the night sitting around a huge fire pit watching a little learn to start a fire with nothing but wood and his hands and sharing stories until eventually everyone was settled in for the night. Word is a telescope came out after Griffin and I hit the hay so we missed that chance to scope out the stars and planets but I took note of my aunt mentioning how the Milky Way appeared to the naked eye.

We were kind of ill-prepared when it came to our sleeping quarters. We brought a sleeping bag and two fluffly blankets… but decided against bringing our air mattresses or foam pads (bad idea, if you didn’t already guess). We woke up freezing multiple times (as did everyone else) and got up pretty early on day 2 since we couldn’t sleep anyway… Marble was shivering when we woke up too, so we’ll take her a blankey next time. Lesson learned!

Day 2:

Morning

Up with the sun, Griffin and I bundled up and took the snoops for a walk. On my way to the restroom I was startled by a buck walking out from behind the restroom toward our driveway. He was slow, handsome and unalarmed by the humans walking toward him!

We were the first people awake after the grands, so we quietly snuck out of the campsite and walked the dogs up the road, through a little piece of the forest. We attempted to get to the river from a more remote area and walk the beach all the way to our campsite, but we were stopped by a jungle of pokey thorny plants.

While we walked and talked, I absorbed all the beauty around us, leading me to notice a huge owl sitting on a branch on the side of the road watching me back. I had never been so close to an owl before and it was pretty gorgeous!

When we got back a couple more folks were awake and we decided to build a morning campfire to warm up until the sun rose over the trees. We drank coffee and woke up beside the fire in the most peaceful way. My uncle and cousin found huckleberries and berries of some other sorts and brought a handful over for us to taste.

Once everyone was awake the family prepared chorizo and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Griffin and I cooked vegan maple sausages over the fire while they cooked chorizo on the grill. We added the sausages to a breakfast sandwich along with a couple slices of vegan cheese and we all ate breakfast casually as we got hungry.

Mid-Day

I’m kind of spacey on what happened between breakfast and the next activity, but I’m sure this time was spent chilling on the beach with a beverage in hand.

My grandpa drove my aunt and cousin up river with a raft and let them float back to the campsite. Griffin and I went next and kind of lazy, kind of adventure floated back down. Let’s just say Griffin made sure to steer us toward the “rapids”. As soon as we pulled the raft back to shore, my cousin (the writer) approached me cute as could be to tell me she didn’t have anyone to help her float. So, as you can assume, I went back up river with her next. Soon after we took off our raft was spinning around and we were laughing, and about half way through the trip after not hearing a peep out of her for a while she informed me she was sleepy! Me too, girl, me too.

Griffin and I snacked on chips, crackers, avocados and hummus periodically throughout the day and we had burritos with the fam for dinner. Theirs with pork, and ours without of course. Oh, did I mention we brought vegan nacho cheese? Ughhhh so good.

Evening

Day #2 also finished around the fire pit. We roasted marshmallows in celebration of my aunt’s birthday. Griffin and I used Dandies brand vegan mallows that were easily roasted to the perfect gold-ness with melty fluff insides! These were our first vegan marshmallows and we were equally impressed.

Griffin and I’s tent was a little off in the trees compared to the rest, and my aunt’s tent was even further into the trees. As we all headed off to bed this night, Griffin and I heard some branches breaking and leaves crunching in the woods past my aunt’s tent. Then we heard her dog start barking, so we went over and shined our flashlight in their direction, hoping to see whatever (large sounding) critter was in her neck of the woods. A second after we put our flashlight on the area we saw hers poke through the trees too and heard her ask “Did you see anything?” neither of us could figure out what it was but I’m sure our flashlights and dog barks scared it off!

The dogs. The sweet lil dogs. They were completely exhausted after socializing, swimming, and exploring all day. No sooner than Griffin and I got comfy in bed, the dogs were already snoring (loudly) outside of our tent. We mentioned not having a mattress in our tent and just about everyone jumped at the opportunity to offer mattresses and foam pads, so we slept comfortably the second night. I woke up in the middle of the night and I was completely astonished by how dark it was outside. I quite literally could only see what was within the beam of my flashlight. I did remember to look up to the sky and was happy I did, because I have never seen so many stars in my life, and I have definitely never seen the Milky Way. Even without my contacts, I stood in the middle of the campsite for a few minutes a little scared of not being able to see around me but also completely lost in space.

Day 3:

Morning

We made a routine of waking early, walking the dogs then drinking coffee around the fire til everyone was awake. Our DEER friend stopped by our campsite one more time, making his appearance to the rest of the group for the first time. He was also spotted in the woods around our site after I saw him that morning, but I’m unsure if that was day 2 or 3… regardless, what a friendly little buck he was!

Griffin and I had a fruit buffet of pears, apples, bananas, and grapefruit on the tailgate of the Tundra while everyone was getting up and ready for the day. They had pancakes and bacon for breakfast and we took a hike while they prepared their food. Sweet family friend, Linda, was disappointed in herself for not having something to cook for Griffin and I (which we never want to burden anyone with!) and insisted that we eat blueberries she brought. Once everyone was done eating about half of us took off for a little hike to a couple of waterfalls nearby, which were a sight for sore eyes to say the least. Griffin took off on a little expedition of his own and found a geocache full of interesting goodies.

Mid-Day

When we got back Griffin and I packed up our stuff and then made the BEST vegan burgers for lunch (Field Roast brand fieldburgers) over one of the fire pits. After lunch Griffin and a couple other men from the group went off to shoot guns while I loaded the truck and sat by the river for the last time.

When Griffin got back we took the dogs for one last swim/hike, said our goodbyes to our Kansas family, and headed home!

Camping July 2018

I’ve been talking Griffin’s ear off for years about how epic of a getaway camping with my grandma is. In the summers he joined me in visiting the Pacific Northwest, we never set out on a single camping trip. Actually, I hadn’t even been since I was about 16 or 17, but the whole thing is pretty unforgettable.

To summarize what I had been telling him: there’s incredible food, breathtaking scenery, the best swimming hole on the planet, and weather you could only dream of for a summer night.

Now we both know that there’s ALSO: more stars in the Milky Way than there are pine needles on the ground, wild mushrooms and berries galore, friendly forest deer that check up on campers regularly, waterfalls around every corner, oh… and morning campfires are our favorite.

When I camped with my family in the past, I was not vegan and joined the gourmet campfire feasts of chorizo breakfast burritos, pancakes and bacon, burgers and hotdogs, pulled pork, steak dinners, etc. but of course we’ve been vegan one year now and for the first time we had to plan camping meals, plus we tried to coordinate with what everyone else was enjoying to avoid any kind of meal time separation. We didn’t want to separately cook an entirely different meal, nor did we want to avoid eating together. I’d say overall we did a pretty darn good job for our first time! Last time we camped we were within a short hiking distance of our house and only went out to sleep. Then we went to the city for brunch… so we definitely did not get the full food experience!

We’ve never really taken our dogs out for multiple days at a time, either. So that was new. I’m super happy we took them though, because they impressed the socks off of Griffin and I and they absolutely loved camping with a group. No matter where Griffin and I were at, we were not worried about our pups because there was always someone walking by the dogs’ lounging area lovin’ up our hounds. This is partly because they have perfected the absolutely pitiful puppy dog eyes, and suckered every passerby into feeling sorry for them. They also occasionally tangled their leashes up in trees [Marble] so someone would come untangle them.

Collectively they were extremely well-behaved and people friendly. Bo enjoyed multiple swims in the river with his dad, and Marble avoided getting wet at all costs. Bo also made a friend out of my Aunt’s new fur baby, Zuben! It’s been years since he’s had a friend close to his own size to play with and it was heartwarming to watch his puppy-like side come out through play. Marble has spent her entire life being sassy toward strange humans so we never put her in social situations. This trip was her first social outing in years and she loved every second of affection she got from her grandma, cousins, and aunts!

This trip was extra special because I wasn’t the person visiting from Kansas this time, having to leave my paradise after only a few days. I was the local, enjoying a visit from my family from Kansas and reminding myself I could make the short trip back whenever I wanted!

Mid-Year Resolution Chat

At the beginning of 2017, I made a commitment to myself (I guess this was a resolution, if you will) to double down on saying “yes”. To invitations to events, to almost every time Griffin asked me to go somewhere that scared me on a hike/exploration, to working more hours, to taking more trips, to following my dreams, and to my dog’s sad eyes when she wanted to play. I didn’t completely succeed, but the resolution hanging over my head prompted a lot more “yeses” than if I hadn’t set it in the first place, and I like to think it became a permanent habit, or something I’m permanently working on.

In 2018 my public resolution was to be an example for people who want to go vegan. Seeing me eating unhealthy vegan foods and staying unfit and unhealthy is not motivation for anyone to go vegan, but seeing others ignore the tragedy that is animal products saddens me more than anything in the world. I resolved to stop ignoring that we can make the world better, save lives, and be healthy. I resolved to be fit, happy, and do good so the world could follow. But my not-as-public resolution (the one that naturally came to me and didn’t leave my brain) was to inspire.

At the beginning of 2018 I saw one of those memes on Facebook where the words flash so fast and you’re supposed to screenshot the image and whatever word is frozen in your screenshot is the word that describes the year ahead of you. Mine was inspire. I was not satisfied with this, not that I truly believe in these things anyway. I just wanted to land on “prosperity” or “adventure” of course. I didn’t even know what inspire had to do with anything. Then I started seeing the word everywhere. In magazines on the stand, on Pinterest, in books I was reading, and in conversations with random people. Not only did I hear and see the word everywhere, but each time I did so, it was in a way that made sense to me and made sense of the word in relation to the new year. I saw that it even tied back to my original resolution, to generally inspire veganism.

I started to see everything I could do to inspire Griffin, my family, a better world in whole… the biggest thing was that I saw myself being inspired. Inspired to launch my blog once and for all, inspired by all the love surrounding me throughout different parts of the year so far, inspired by going home for a quick visit. I also noticed myself being inspired by huge mountain-moving things such as medicinal miracles and people achieving their ginormous goals. I saw that a little inspiration could do amazing things. It’s the spark that lights never-ending fires.

It’s silly but I guess what I’m trying to say is that I settled in with my universe-given resolution. I do believe it was meant to be mine this year, and here in the middle of 2018 I am stepping back and looking at what I can do to keep it in full swing ‘til December and for as long as I live. I hope we’ll do great things.

[Side note: this was written in the middle of the year, I swear ;)]

 

 

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Beaming On: Settling Down

Ellooo friends. Welcome to a new featured series of Beaming Vegan that falls in line with my original intentions for the blog. The “Beaming” aspect of the title came from feeling like the happiest vegan in the world, but also to fill a desire to _____ <- (Insert verb here) on a variety of topics. So, I’ll be beaming on these topics. Starting with settling down.

While reading this I intend for you to keep in mind I’m not referring to getting married and having children. The things we commonly refer to as “settling down”.

I’m talking about something beyond that. You can have a spouse, five kids, and exclude yourself from late nights with the girls, and still not be settled down. The type of settling down I’m referring to is a strange thing society teaches us from a young age to do. Some people who are unable to settle down in this way even aspire to, as it’s what they were taught is the equivalent of success, or an accomplished life. And that’s just not true. Some people are natural born wanderers and get sucked into the path of modern-day “settling down” by accident. It’s a fragile thing, and a conscious decision we choose to make, to avoid doing so.

I met Griffin when I was 16 years old. He was 18 and living in a house of his own, with his own career, vehicles, goals, and food in his fridge. Aside from wondering about that food in his fridge, I also had some major starry eyes over his goals not having anything to do with the common society “settling down”, even when they did tend to fall along the lines of building a house, forever living up the road from our childhood home, getting married a couple years down the line and maybe even having babies. There was always a sense that this was not the equivalent of success. Reaching these goals was not where we would stop dreaming, and that’s what I loved most. There’s an eternity of paths to take in life, and picking one and sticking to it was never the plan. Shaking the world up was our true underlying plan whether we recognized it or not.

When I was as young as a freshman in college, we were in the market for a different house. Or, so we thought. We looked in all the surrounding small towns for something welcoming with acreage and a pond. We almost accepted a near $100,000 loan for a house that fell short of what we wanted and was way more than what we needed. (Who the heck would give two kids this kind of loan?) We tried for the house, but eventually (against my burning desire to nest here) followed our gut instinct that this would hinder our plans to not settle down.

This was absolutely the most wonderful possible outcome of that situation. I wouldn’t be tied to a job I didn’t even get yet with a degree I didn’t earn yet because of my need to finance a house that didn’t really turn out to be what I wanted in a place I didn’t want to live forever (Ha!). The best thing that could have happened to us was what came next (actually a few years later), and it taught me everything I need to know about settling down.

Griffin’s then-dream-career-path took an unexpected turn, and when we rolled with the tides, all of our other plans and goals started falling into place so naturally. We got the privilege of living in a house that had everything we wanted and more, without having to own it, which was perfect because it helped us move across the country at the drop of a hat. If it weren’t for the job change and having nothing to lose (besides way too many belongings), we wouldn’t have felt comfortable hopping over to live in our next stop on the map, the Pacific Northwest.

We came here with the knowledge that we still want to be married, own our next dream home: a cabin in the mountains, and still not settle down. We knew we wanted to explore new career paths, get entrepreneurial with our ever-flowing creativity, travel the world, meet exciting humans and let our future roll out in front of us as smooth as red carpet. Even since that point, we’ve decided to establish residency in other countries, other parts of the world, and the things we wish to accomplish have nothing to do with an income being put to use keeping up with the Jones’s.

Being willing to change plans when it works out in our favor to do so, looking past materialistic things, never reaching a point and saying “We’ve worked long enough. This is where we’ll stop and sit back”. That, to me, is not settling down. Even if society tends to frown upon it, even if it’s exhausting, unsettling at times, whatever may come our way. I think I’ll look back at the end and be more satisfied that I never stopped dreaming and wandering than I would be if I had reached a point I was satisfied with.  I’ll keep rolling with the tides, and being forever thrilled by aspirations I never knew I had falling into my lap and piecing themselves together without resistance.

 

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Ode to a Farmhouse

Hi again friends! I’m back to blogging for good now… I never thought the day would come that I’d get to work full time on making my dreams=reality, and I have Griffin to thank for that. You’re probably confused right now, but have no fear, I’ll get deep on this in a later post.

Right now, I need a smooth transition back into this wonderful world of words, and while I have many political and activism [and so many other BIG IMPORTANT] posts in my queue, I think starting simple and starting slow is the way to go.You’ll notice that these are some raw photos that I clearly never intended to be in a blog post one day! Way easier than capturing and editing new ones right now. 😉

I guess I’m just feeling distant from a place that had a lot to do with who I am right now. Not necessarily distant, but very much in-between. In between arriving to the PNW, and creating a forever home here. I’m in the process of printing thousands of pictures I took at that old home of ours, which I believe will make me feel 100% better, but until then I’d also like to have a little piece of our story at this house on this blog too. I mean after all this is a timeline of my brain you’re reading… and you can’t just have bits and pieces of the story.

Once upon a time 160 acres of Kansas farmland screamed to us through a Facebook post while we were vacationing here in the Pacific Northwest. Living in a little rental in a very tiny town not too far from the advertised farm, we had been seeking exactly what this place had to offer, and much to our benefit it was nearly the same price as what we had been paying for our rental in town. Oh, it was also on the same road Griffin had oil leases on! They were a ways up that road, but still… Having absolutely no chill about feeling it was perfect for us, I brought Griffin in on my idea right there in the middle of vacation and let the owner know I was very interested and would be coming to see it as soon as I returned home. I remember being SO anxious for the rest of the trip imagining the possibility of someone snatching it up before we got home. It was near a town with a nuclear power plant, which employs people from all over the country… Those people tend to cause rent to be very high, and they snatch up the good places before we get a chance to see them.

The owners, old enough to be our grandparents, were extremely flexible and dealt with my pushy behavior so extremely well. Their parents lived in the house before they started renting it. The woman, Diane, was a professional house/building cleaner and was very dissatisfied with the condition of the house. She requested that we not come look at it until it was spotless, but Griffin and I didn’t care about the house in the slightest. We just wanted to tell them we wanted it right then and there over the phone, but obviously needed to peek at it in person first. We’re not that crazy. I insisted that the cleanliness didn’t matter to us and if she wished, I was even willing to help clean it up. She agreed to let us come out one evening while she was cleaning it and we claimed it as our new home before we left that night. Of course, we sat in the driveway with the two of them for a few hours having a friendly chat just as we would our grandparents. Nothing about this place felt wrong.

The aesthetic on move-in day was something I dream of for our future homes. I was probably blinded by the happy-go-lucky lenses over my eyes, but all I could see when we moved in was how I was going to decorate with cute farmhouse accessories, fill the built-in cabinets with our favorite books, cool fresh-baked pies in the window, and spend all my mornings on that glorious front porch. It really wasn’t much [I’ve probably painted some elaborate Joanna Gaines-style farmhouse image in your head… Just go ahead and erase that plz ;)] but it was way more than we imagined. Too big for the two of us and more land than we could ever get enough of. This location also opened the door for so many more job opportunities, and I was all about finding a city job while still getting my laid-back farm lifestyle. Oh, and did I mention it came equipped with cows? 🙂 I love cows.

At first we only wanted it for the privacy, which really never came. We had enough to fill the house… two cars for the garage, one for the car port…a 30 ft. camper that fit its camper car-port like a glove, and all the farmhouse decor I was dreaming of. It was the coziest. It was perfect and superbly flawed all at once.

It’s where I manifested desires to be a canning, cooking, farm-animal-raising kinda gal.

  

In a house that takes the cake for comfort and that warm home feeling we find in one specific place if we’re lucky enough.

   

Surrounded by 160 acres of blissful ponds and cow trails that we just so happened to see as swimming pools and bike trails.

Where we changed our lives for the better, multiple times over and in many ways.

  

Where we welcomed friends and family for sleepovers and bonfires and drinks at the bar in the sun room.

 

Where I decorated for every holiday, inside and outside.

  

Where beloved fur babies I lost by my earthly side mingled and roamed freely.

Where our neighbors/land owners became family.

Where we were struck by lightning for the THIRD time in the unforgiving Midwestern summer storms.

Where we left at the crack of dawn for our first  self-coordinated vacation, as short as it may have been.

Where Bo took himself swimming every time you let him out of your sights on hot days.

Where I jumped into Griffins arms and cried tears of joy after I landed the first job I ever truly loved, after working towards it for a year.

Where we sat on the porch for hours on end. Sharing drinks, sharing stories, watching those storms roll in, serving guests, and drying our laundry [because the dryer never worked].

Where my oil field man bid adieu to the oil field and set sights on fulfilling new dreams.

Where we mapped out and dreamed about every detail of the life we’re starting to live right now.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We soaked in every minute of the life we lived at this place, said goodbye to this comfortable shelter we knew as home and set off on our adventure to the PNW, only not for vacation this time, but for good. Which leads me to where we are now…..

 

 

 

 

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A New Look At Processed Food

Processed food has been a HUGE learning process for myself and Griffin…. We switched to a vegan diet last summer after discovering our desire to be more aware of what was going into our bodies, where it came from and the ethics behind its creation. Obviously, this doesn’t simply lead us to purchasing everything with a vegan certified label on it, as some of those products are tricky and have a massive ingredient label and are equally unsafe compared to their nonvegan counterparts.

I always hear about the three types of vegans joke… is it a joke? I don’t know because it is super accurate lol but the three types of vegans being the plant-only eater, the junk food vegan (consuming candy, chips, pizza, etc.), and the protien over-consuming body builder type vegan. We started as the junk food vegans (and are still climbing out of the junk food hole we’ve trapped ourselves in) and are now trying to eat mostly raw/unprocessed/whole foods. Every time I am in the grocery store I think of how many steps I use to judge a good label… I’m hoping to cut out the hard part for you and give you a few focal points when examining food labels yourselves. Stick with me even if you aren’t vegan (if I haven’t lost you already!) there’s some good stuff you might not consider when approaching processed foods that fall in line with your values and morals when it comes to consumption.

  1. Read the ingredient label FIRST

I can’t count how many times I was on board with a nutrition label and then realized the ingredients inside were indeed NOT as nutritious as they sounded. I usually like to know what every ingredient is, which is a simple rule that knocks out any shades of grey. Now I’m flipping the package over, going straight to the ingredients, and then after deciding the ingredients are simple enough I’ll scan the nutrition label if I’m worried about it being a waste of an opportunity to get some nutrients/protein.

2. Most of the time I realize I can save hundreds of dollars by either making an item at home myself or opting for a natural whole food snack instead.

Why do we pay so much more for a 2-ingredient nutrition bar than we do for a candy bar at a gas station? Make that nutrition bar yourself by the batch and get a better value. (I feel like ranting on this one, but you get it.)

3. Is it worth the waste?

We can’t even comprehend the amount of waste we are creating with our processed packaged foods. Is it worth it? Can you reuse or recycle the packaging easily (and WILL YOU actually do it)? Can the ingredients be grown in a garden or are they developed in a factory then sent to yet another factory to be transformed into our “food”? The creation process could be (I mean it probably is) a waste of energy and resources and harmful to the planet.

4. If you’re just having a craving, RUN AWAY FROM THE FOOD! 🙂

Does it really taste better than a home cooked or whole food, or are you craving the bad stuff? If you have a good grasp on part of the food industry’s tactics and the way junk foods work in our bodies, you already know this is a trap. You eat these sugary fatty foods and crave more as a result. The only way to escape the trap is to be aware of what is actually happening. Replace these foods with things that will actually benefit your body. Also, as mentioned before, make it at home and save $!

5. Be brand smart.

Purchasing from any given brand is supporting that brand’s values. You may disagree with the handling of cattle by the beef industry and cringe at the sight of slaughterhouse exposure videos, but if you’re still buying beef you’re still supporting these acts. Do a small amount of research and make sure you aren’t unknowingly throwing money at a cause you absolutely disagree with. I’m finally sinking myself into the world of cruelty-free makeup and beauty brands…. I find one I believe to be great in one area only to find out I can’t support their values in anther area. Basically, educate yourself to be able to choose wisely.

Finally, we will never get it 100% right. We will keep making mistakes and learning from them, but this is a great place to start to better our pantry and the planet.

 

 

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