The Compassion Experiment

Not for Profit Things I didn't know: (Actually, this category could go on forever). How about... More things I didn't know : This is the scariest thing I've read in a long time. http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/earth-20100301.html The Feb. 27 magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile may have shortened the length of each Earth day. It happened while the Olympics were on. It didn't get too much coverage. And all the earthquake did, was knock the earth off axis!! Question: Why has there been no rush to clean up BP's mess? Answer: It's in no man's land. A British oil company, using an American drilling rig, in the Gulf of Mexico. No one can claim the ocean as their property. When the Spanish arrived in North America, The Indians were baffled by them buying up all the land. "No one can buy land," they said. They were right. And if you think about it, it really doesn't make sense. These are links to stories with muckraking details about the disast...

Not for profit. The Compassion Experiment: It's not a blog, it's a Blitter. Too short for a blog, too long for a Twitter. Man, who knew gardening was so tough on the body. I ache. I feel like my back is out of joint, and my knees are rubber. From gardening. I find this quite disturbing. Today I'll walk down the road to the Community Garden (Oakville Arena site), and pick some lettuce and spinach. On Sunday, after we helped out with the cutworm situation, we left with our hands full. We took dill, and replanted it here. And two violet's, which have survived the transplant and are flourishing. This is the payoff for trying something new. We are amazed at all the new and fantastic opportunities that keep coming up, now that we have our eyes open to new ideas and a new way of life. We keep meeting new people, smart people, people who care about animals, and people who love life. And people of all ages. It's actually quite unbelievable and hard to put into words really....

Not for profit. The Compassion Experiment: It's not a blog, it's a Blitter. Too short for a blog, too long for a Twitter. LIfe is funny sometimes. A couple weeks back, I passed a community garden. I blogged about it, took pics, attached links. Then kind of forgot about it. Last week we walked past it. We talked to Irene. Since then, we've planted cucumbers, magic beans, and helped in the prevention of cutworm. Cutworm's cut the plant where the stem and ground collide. You can stop CW's by building a little fortress around the stem/root section. It stops the cutworms in their tracks. You can use small plastic planter pots, or even tin foil, and wrap it a couple inches from the stem. When you water the plant, do it in the moat section. It's as easy as that. Who knew? Gardening is exhausting. But, it is soooo rewarding. We encourage everyone to join a community garden, it is so much fun. In other news: We are constantly amazed by the amount of cool, smart, compass...

Photo by Brian Villemaire Handmodel: Kathy Crowe Kitten: TBD One of our good Humane Society friends, Kathy, let us take care of a sweet momma cat, and her two babies this past weekend. They were so sweet. And habit forming. That cute guy on top, he's one of them. While at the OMHS, people always ask me:"How can you stand working here, I would want to take them all home!". I do want to take them all home, yes, this is an issue. An issue because we have four cats that we love dearly. This cat is why I work at OMHS. At the OHMS, his name was Avery. He was a hard luck case, because he has FIV. He is a sweet, amazing boy. And there was a happy ending. Now his name is Burton. He is very happy in his new home. Sometimes volunteering is AWESOME! Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes you meet great people. Sometimes you deal with idiots. Most of the time you work real hard, Most of the time you leave feeling great, Most of the time you never want to leave, All of the time, I never regret ...

Photo by Brian Villemaire The Compassion Experiment: It's not a blog, it's a Blitter. Too short for a blog, too long for a Twitter. One of the things we had been searching for, was reusable bags for all the vegetables we get each weekend when we shop at the Organic Garage ( www.organicgarage.ca ). Even before we started The Compassion Experiment, we loaded up on veggies, now that has nearly doubled, thus doubling the amount of plastic bags needed for the veggies. And we wanted to do something, because that is a lot of garbage being generated. While doing our tour of the Green Living Show, we found a booth selling reusable bags for vegetables. Credo Bags Inc. is an eco-conscious company headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Their goal is to inspire people to make small, simple changes in their everyday habits; changes that collectively and cumulatively help our environment. http://credobags.com/ We use the bags every weekend now, and our only real regret is not buying more of the...

The Compassion Experiment: It's not a blog, it's a Blitter. Too short for a blog, too long for a Twitter. As promised, here is a new recipe we tried last night, and I have to admit, it was damn good. A Compassionate Shepherd's Pie Filling: 1 medium onion 3 small carrots, chopped 1 stalk of celery 1 large tomato, chopped 2 tbsp olive oil 1 can of green lentils, mashed 1 tsp dried basil 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp tomato sauce Topping: 4 potatoes, chopped 1 tbsp oregano 1/4 cup soy milk 1 tbsp butter flavour spread salt to taste Preheat oven to 350F. Boil the potatoes. Saute the onions, carrots, celery and tomatoes in the oil. Once carrots are tender, add the mashed lentils, salt, soy sauce and tomato sauce. Stir and simmer without a lid until the liquid evaporates. While the veggies are roasting, mash the potatoes, milk, buttery spread, and spices in a bowl. Set aside. Pour the veggies into an oiled, small casserole dish, and then layer the potatoes on top. Bake for 15-20 minut...

The Compassion Experiment: It's not a blog, it's a Blitter. Too short for a blog, too long for a Twitter. A couple months ago, just trying to be a vegetarian was a struggle. I can admit it, I was raised in a meat lovers family, where meat, white sugar and desserts were the three staples. Tasty? Yes. Fattening? Yes Yes! Terribly bad for me? Yes Yes Yes! Family plays such a huge role in the eater that you become later in life. I can't eat a meal without thinking: "What's for dessert?" I swear to god, this plays out every meal, including breakfast and snacktime. It's hard to break habits, especially ones you lived for most of your formative years. The first few weeks of The Compassion Experiment were really tough. Hard to believe we are going on week 5, but I can tell you, things have gotten a lot easier. That's because we are in the habit now, of choosing meals that are compassionate, and in living this lifestyle. Also the people around us understand wh...