Which animal welfare charities do you support?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! As we approach the close of 2012, many of us are reflecting on the people and organizations that affected us over the last 12 months. It’s time to tell those you appreciate how important they are to you. If you are fortunate enough to be able to contribute financially to charities, and are looking for organizations that support farm animal welfare, here are some recommendations:

Animal Welfare Institute

What do they do for farm animals?

Today, one of our greatest areas of emphasis is cruel animal factories, which raise and slaughter pigs, cows, chickens and other animals. The biggest are in our country, and they are expanding worldwide.

What does Charity Navigator think of them?

4 out of 4 stars, 64.91 out of 70 overall rating

Humane Society of the US

What do they do for farm animals?

They have active campaigns in the following areas: Cruel confinement of farm animals, humane eating, swine flu, force-fed animals, cruel slaughter practices, environmental impacts of factory farming, and avian influenza.

What does Charity Navigator think of them?

4 out of 4 stars, 60.73 out of 70 overall rating

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

What do they do for farm animals?

Since 1866, the ASPCA has worked to stop the cruelties committed upon animals involved in the food production process. In the late 1800s, early ASPCA agents had their hands full inspecting New York City’s stockyards and slaughter- houses, while ASPCA founder Henry Bergh was exhaustively pursuing legislation to ensure that animals raised for human consumption were handled humanely. Today, as the industry has fallen out of the hands of small farmers and into the hands of large corporations, the issue of cruelty remains—and the ASPCA continues its efforts to create distress-free lives for the many animals who are raised for food.

What does Charity Navigator think of them?

3 out of 4 stars, 59.09 out of 70 overall rating

Do you have other charity recommendations?

Back in Halifax; more eating and drinking

I’m not going to list out all my Halifax eating adventures like I did before. Because it’s insanely cold and I’m a sissy, I’m not doing as much roaming and grazing this trip. During the week I’m mostly just going to Paper Chase and Wooden Monkey because they’re close to my home base, and reliably awesome. But weekends allow for wandering farther afield.

Here are some highlights:

1. Mojito (aka Cotton Candy Martini) at CUT Steakhouse. The liquid was poured over this giant glob of cotton candy, for a sweet, kind of nondescript concoction, but the concept was fun.

Cotton Candy Martini

2. Dinner at Jane’s on the Common, featuring local ingredients. Jane’s is closing at the end of the year *sob* but Jane will continue operating from a kiosk on Gottingen, next door to her daughter’s new restaurant. Go while you can! I had a lovely veggie curry (with Brussels sprouts) plus Digby scallops and Mr. HP enjoyed mussels from PEI with local Sweet William’s sausage.

halifax-janesmussels

halifax-janescurry

3. Burritos in Canada cannot possibly be great. Average, sure–it’s hard to screw up a burrito–but nothing to get excited about. Right? Wrong. Craving burritos despite the distance from Mexico, we tried Burrito Jax and were very pleased. With available ingredients like sweet potatoes and cranberry salsa, they’re not your standard burritos. I got a burrito bowl, with all the fixins over lettuce, and almost felt healthy. Almost.

Burrito Jax

4. A hint about The Fireside restaurant. We went to the bar there for a pre-dinner drink because we wanted to sit by a fireplace and forget about the freezing weather. The bar has a silly little electric fireplace, and we laughed, and had our drink by the “fireside” and got up to leave, and that’s when we saw the REAL (gas) fireplace in the room behind the bar. So, go there, have a fancy drink, and sit by the actual fireplace in the back room.

Yes, it’s cold outside, but there’s eating and drinking to be done. Put on a hat and scarf and explore your town!

Brussels sprouts love (?!)

brussels sprouts

 

Quote of the Day

Are Brussels sprouts different here? — Mr. HP

Scenario

I was eating amazing mixed veggie dish #2 in Halifax. First amazing dish was veggie curry at the Monkey. Second amazing dish was veggie curry at Jane’s on the Common. Both dishes included Brussels sprouts, which Mr. HP and I usually avoid; however, these sprouts were amazing–possibly the best part of each dish. I raved at the Halifax Brussels sprouts phenomenon while eating the sprouts at Jane’s, and Mr. HP begrudgingly had a taste, which prompted the Quote of the Day.

Morals

  1. If you live in Halifax, eat your Brussels sprouts!
  2. If you, like me, think you’re not a Brussels sprouts person, give them another shot! Try roasting them for a simple, tasty intro to the world of enjoying this strange little cabbage.

Working Girls: Thoughts on Elephant Tourism

The highlight of my recent trip to Cambodia and Laos was playing with elephants at Elephant Village, near Luang Prabang, Laos. The camp is a sanctuary for elephants rescued from the logging industry, funded by tourists’ dollars. The girls seemed well fed– while we were there they all had a constant supply of food–clean, and relaxed, and the camp has a live-in vet and onsite hospital. Taking tourists for rides in exchange for food, care, protection is a much better situation for the elephants than backbreaking labor in the logging industry. I chose Elephant Village specifically because it is a sanctuary for “retired” logging elephants and felt good about spending my money there.

Elephant Village

But there is a dark side to elephant tourism in Asia. Not all elephant camps are peaceful havens for rescued log haulers, and not all elephant shows employ willing elephant performers: many buy young elephants that were captured in the wild and beaten to break their spirit in order to become tourist attractions. Read this article about the elephant tourism industry in Thailand if you want more horrifying details about the “breaking in” process. Some elephants are forced to do tricks such as ride tricycles and throw footballs, which may seem innocuous, until you consider how they are trained to do these things, and the conditions they live in as street performers. This article examines the different types of elephant tourism (trekking, begging, painting/shows, temple elephants, and safaris) and details the abuses often involved in each.

Elephant Village

Back to Laos. Elephant use in the logging industry in Laos is on the decline, leaving more and more elephants jobless and available to the highest bidder, or simply abandoned to starve in the wild. Sanctuary organizations such as Elephant Village give the discarded animals medical care, food, and protection, and allow them to form herds and families.

Elephant Village

Please do your research before patronizing an elephant tourism outfit to be sure the elephants are well cared for, and find out where they came from. My experience with the Elephant Village elephants was amazing, and I encourage you to meet and spend time with an elephant, but do it responsibly.

Foundations protecting Asian elephants:

“Women and Land” Workshop

Guest post from Buzzy! Thanks, Buzzy!

Thanks to Haute Pasture, Buzzy recently attended the “Women and Land” workshop, put on by the Virginia Department of Forestry.  They gathered together four different federal, state, and local agencies, and introduced the 36+ women in attendance to all their services.  Turns out, the government actually offers some great programs and cost share incentives!  I would encourage anyone who has even a small amount of land to call the agencies directly; they seemed incredibly willing to do phone consultations, site visits, etc.  Here are some tidbits to get you thinking about the possibilities:

Essentially, farmers and ranchers have a whole panel of experts just a phone call away.  Buzzy’s got some dialing to do!

Siem Reap driver extraordinaire: Mono

Three days in Siem Reap. So many things to see; how to decide where to go and what to do? The most important decision we made was hiring Mono to be our driver. He had been recommended by a friend, so I emailed him several weeks out to get on his calendar. He picked us up at the airport when we arrived in Siem Reap and delivered us to our hotel while quizzing us on our sightseeing goals. We had general ideas about what we wanted to do but needed guidance, and Mono came up with a suggested itinerary of morning and afternoon activities for our three days. When we opted to chill out at the pool one afternoon instead of visiting a temple, he reprioritized and shuffled the schedule for us, no problem.

Mono shows us the map

Mono suggesting a temple-visiting plan

Here’s what we ended up with:

Day 1

Morning: Angkor Wat

Afternoon: Ta ProhmAngkor Thom

Day 2

Morning: Banteay Srei, stopping to shoot machine guns on the way back to town

Afternoon: relax at hotel

Day 3

Morning: Tonle Sap boat trip

Afternoon: airport

Mono sharing Khmer food

Mono introducing us to Khmer food

[If you’re interested, Ta Prohm was our favorite temple complex, and we were blown away by the Tonle Sap boat trip.] Mono was unfailingly cheerful, amazingly knowledgeable about the history of the temples, enthusiastic about local Khmer customs, crafts, and food, and very importantly: speaks English well. His rates are extremely reasonable. I highly recommend hiring Mono if you are planning a trip to Siem Reap and the Angkor region. Contact him via email: monotopbanana@yahoo.com.

[Here’s a second opinion, similar to mine: http://www.worldwinder.com/2011/08/02/siem-reap-tour-guide-mono-man/]