Cue the adorableness!

At last! I took photos of all of Farm Sanctuary residents on my last day of work. I must warn you, these pictures may cause the occasional “Awwwww.”

I’m back!

Due to technical malfunctions of my laptop and in between visiting family, I have not been able to post anything for a while. BUT I’M BACKKKK! 🙂

I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since I left Farm Sanctuary and I miss it so much. My last couple of days were extraordinary. Sure, I had work but it was sad knowing I had to say goodbye to all my farm animal friends. It was bittersweet. I still get updates from my coworkers on how everyone is doing. Its unreal that I felt I was leaving a part of my soul there. Acton had been my home for three months and jumping back into a world where not everyone is vegan is a challenge that I had forgotten.

I went to visit my family in Texas for a week and let me tell you, boy it is hard to be a vegan in the BBQ capital of the U.S. Everywhere I went, there were steakhouses and BBQ style restaurants. The smell of meat cooking filled the air and it made me sick to my stomach. You can actually see cattle grazing pastures by the highways and by homes. My first instinct was to jump out of my car and give them love but the feeling was different. These cattle had tags on their ears, numbers instead of names. It broke my heart knowing that within a few shorts months, they would no longer be here. They would be on somebody’s plate. There were calves playing in the field and I knew that someday, they would be stuck in a veal crate waiting for their death. It fills my heart with sadness and anger when I think about it.

That is why we have to make a change. We have to be a voice for these animals that can’t. I’m not saying criticize everyone in your life who eats meat and dairy because then they won’t listen to you . Trust me, I come from a family of vegetarians who can’t give up cheese. However, I find that informing people nicely of how well a vegan lifestyle is sparks their curiosity. When people ask me what I eat and I say everything, they ask me how is that possible. We have to break down vegan stereotypes. I respect vegans who spread the message out there that a vegan lifestyle is the best choice but to get people to change on a deeper level, we have to put the information out there and see what they choose to do with that information. That’s how Farm Sanctuary has impacted people all over the world. It’s how so many see that they are harming animals with spirits and personalities.

Since I am back in sunny Miami, I will still do restaurant reviews of places I went to in California before I start doing ones from Miami. You would think Miami would have a variety of vegan restaurants! I am attending a vegan brunch next week by That Miami Vegan Life so there will be a post on that 🙂

I will post pictures of all the amazing animals that I’ve had a pleasure of working with so stay tuned!

All my love followers,

-Modern Day Vegan

Caregiving 101

Hey guys! Sorry I’ve been MIA but today’s my day off and so like I promised, I’ll talk about caregiving!

So since this is my second month at the sanctuary, they’ve put me and my roommate on shadowing shifts. The shadowing shifts are to see what the farm caregivers do. Here’s a job description of the title:

• animal feeding/watering and maintaining animal feeds schedeule
• daily animal health care and treatments
• weekly animal health checks/individual checks of each species
• animal health care projects as assigned, including feed ordering, medications and medical supply ordering, database, and animal charting
• shelter cleaning projects; maintaining hospital/treatment areas
• training and supervising animal caregiver assistants, shelter interns, and volunteers
• reporting animal health and/or other shelter problems directly to shelter manager
• research new treatment options for various conditions
• work with veterinarians to develop treatment protocols, etc.

Despite my shadowing shift starting at 5:45 in the morning and in 34 degree cold weather, I learned ALOT. The caregiver shared so much information about the animals that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. I definitely a lot more connected to the animals that Farm Sanctuary thankfully rescued. It baffles my mind how animals have all sorts of health issues all thanks to the meat, dairy and egg industries. Most animals don’t live to see past their first year and the ones that do are have their health compromised because of situations they were rescued from and have to live that way for the rest of their lives. If you think about it, the animals are not suppose to get that big in that timeline; it’s from all the chemicals and hormones that the animals receive as food or injections. It gets me really angry just thinking about it.

In all honesty, this internship has opened my mind to so many aspects of animal agriculture. I don’t think I can ever go back to eating meat or dairy. Everyday, I see these animals with a soul. They each have their own personalities, things they like and what makes them happy. I really hope my blog is making a good impression on veganism and how anyone can do it. I promise I’ll write more on this week 🙂

-Modern Day Vegan

The Why

Every now and then I get the most annoying question that I’m pretty sure every vegan and vegetarian has heard: “Why are you vegan/vegetarian?”
I can come up with the most logical and perfect explanation as to why I’m vegan and most people will brush it off with their negative comments.

Do you really want to know why I’m vegan?
For fellas like him who are treated as if they are a something, not a someone.

For animals like her who are abused every SINGLE day by humans who don’t think that they have emotions or feel pain.

I’m vegan for the animals who are slaughtered everyday and never see daylights outside of their gestation crates. It took me a long time to realize what I was supporting every time I ate a burger. Educate yourselves. Be a better person. Advocate. Volunteer. Do it all in baby steps if you have to. An animal will be thankful for you with their lives.

-Modern Day Vegan

First Full Day!

*happy sigh* Have I mentioned that I love this place? Today was my first full day on the farm and I started out getting trained on how to do waters for each animal (I do that by myself tomorrow…scary!). Then, I helped clean the areas where the horses are, which is rare because not too many people work with the horses. One of them approached me and allowed me to pet her, which was the coolest thing ever! Then I did a barn clean which is basically raking up all the old hay and laying down new. I had a little time to hang with the pigs.

We had a two hour intern lunch where we learned a little about Farm Sanctuary’s history. It was really great hearing about how Gene Baur sold veggie hotdogs out of a VW van at Grateful Dead concerts to fund farm animal rescues back in the day.

I finished off the day with raking one of the cow pastures that is kind of on a hill. Every now and then I’d look up at the canyons in the background and breathe in the air. It’s soooo beautiful here! After that, we were done for the day and I celebrated with vegan mac and cheese that was soooooo good (and I normally don’t eat mac and cheese).

I’m feeling super tired right now so I think I’ll just go to sleep.

Night night guys!

-Modern Day Vegan

Saving the world, one step at a time

Whether you recycle paper and plastic or drive a prius, there are tiny ways you can save the planet. Going vegan is one of them, however I also love to give my time back to the community and help animals in the processed.

Back in June, I had to lovely opportunity to become a volunteer at the South Florida Wildlife Center, a wildlife sanctuary located in Fort Lauderdale. The South Florida Wildlife Center admits over 12,000 injured, orphaned, or imperiled animals annually, making us one of the largest wildlife hospitals, trauma centers, and rehabilitation facilities in the nation, in intake numbers.

If you want to check out their website, you can click on the link below:

http://www.humanesociety.org/animal_community/shelters/wildlife_care_center/?credit=web_id162300905

With just a little over 50 hours of community service, here are a few pictures of animals that I’ve assisted in animal care (including: helping with dishes, laundry, general clean-up, diet prep, and cleaning cages)

 

Jesus Christ what did I get myself into?

Getting messages like this doesn’t surprise me. Being a vegan isn’t about what’s on your plate. It’s a lifestyle. It’s abstaining from animal by-products which includes clothes, shoes, make-up and personal hygiene products. But where does it end? How do you know when to cross the line?
Unfortunately, I can’t say a definite answer to this question. Each person is different and it all depends on what they are comfortable with.
I stay away from leather, wool, fur, honey and products and companies that exploit animals. I received a Michael Kors purse as a present this past Christmas and although the purse was beautiful and it was uncomfortable telling the person I couldn’t receive their gift, the thought of parading a purse around town that an animal could possibly have been murder for just wasn’t going to cut it with me. No purse is worth the life of an animal.
Just today’s thoughts 🙂 I hope you all have a fantastic night!

-Modern Day Vegan

Wait, you’re a what?

Hey guys! Thanks again for checking out my blog. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to comment 🙂

Today, I am going to write about how I transitioned from being a meat-loving carnivore to semi vegetarian to a love-for-all-animals vegan. (Sorry I made this into a long post guys but bear with me, it is all relevant!)

Like most people in today’s society, we don’t really question where our food comes from. Growing up in a Hispanic household, my typical dinner was rice, beans and either steak or chicken as its main dish. Born and raised in New York and then moving to Miami when I was about 9, it was convenient to eat meat. If I had dance recitals or soccer practices to go to and my mom didn’t have time to pack lunch or snacks, I would typically buy a meal from a fast-food chain or a sandwich from a convenience store. My eating habits follow me to college where it progressively got worse. I would probably eat fast food at least 4-5 times a week and it ranges from fast-food to chips and cookies for lunch and dinner.

It wasn’t until I came back for the holidays around freshman year that a part of my family had switch their diets to vegetarian. I, like most people who hear about what a vegetarian is for the first time, thought “Why would anyone want to do that? Meat is so good. I can’t see myself giving that up.” Boy was I going to proven wrong within the next 3 years.

Like many people in America, I was not physically healthy. I would go to the gym once every 3 months and my diet was filled with horrible fats, sodium and sugar. Another thing I was dealing with was depression, anxiety and PTSD. Moving away from home worsened my anxiety to the point where I would have constant panic attacks during the day and at night. My depression got worse during the fall semester of my sophomore to the point where I had attempted suicide. I was at an all time low point in my life where I felt like all hope was gone. I knew I didn’t want to feel this way anymore so I started attending counseling at school, taking psychiatric medications and ultimately learning to pick myself back up with new methods to help me feel better.

I still felt incredibly lonely, seeing as most of my friends turned their back on me because of my depression. One day while I was having a phone conversation with my mom, she mention that I should get a pet. A pet? What would that do? I didn’t really see the connection at the time but I was trying new ways to help me feel better so I said why not? I ended up getting two kittens to keep each other company when I was in class. Slowly, I started noticing my moods were getting progressively better. No matter what went on during the day, at school or at work, I had two kittens at home waiting to shower me with love. There were nights where I would have panic attacks and sobbed hysterically and my cats would sneak up by my side, with their sounds of purring as if they were trying to calm me down. And that usually did the trick.

Aren’t all kittens cute when they are at this age? 🙂

Fast forward a couple of months into my junior year, I was searching on Netflix for a good movie to watch when I came across Food Inc. Gasps, tears and an hour and a half later, I made the connection that what I was eating on my plate for many, many years wasn’t any different than my cats that I had as pets. It is as if their eyes were saying, “would you eat me?” From that day forward, I changed my eating habits to vegetarian and I had never looked back.

Fast forward a couple of months, I was still dealing with my depression. Although I had been taking medications for almost a year, they weren’t working as well as they use to, which is typical if your body gets adjusted to medications. I wondered if there was anyway that I would ever be off my meds. I didn’t want to keep taking them for the rest of my life. So I went to a health specialist who spoke to me of a specific diet to help me wean off my medications. It was a no-meat, no-dairy, no high fats or sugars diet. I had to take special vitamins that would help nourish and heal my brain of my medications. The no-dairy rule was a no brainer anyways because I was lactose-intolerant anyways (made my transition to vegan so much easier). I had to do this diet for 3 months. I had to balance my diets with fruits and veggies in the form of shakes. And little by little, it worked! By the summer before my senior year of college, I was officially off all my depression and anxiety medication 😀

Here I am: almost 3 years of being a vegetarian, a year and a half of being vegan and I will never go back. Seeing as how I want to specialize in animal-assisted therapy, I have volunteer with animal adoption organizations and even a wildlife sanctuary. ‘I love animals!’ is an understatement for me.

So why am I vegan? I’m vegan for the cats who have helped me heal of my depression and anxiety; I’m vegan for the millions of animals who are slaughtered as if they are nothing just for a plate of food; I’m vegan for my health, for my mind and my body. It’s a lifestyle that I am happy to be a part of 🙂

Welcome!

Hello everyone! I’m so excited to kick off this blog! I will be documenting my experience as an intern for Farm Sanctuary in Acton, California! This blog will also include topics like veganism, how to live a cruelty-free lifestyle and how to make the world a better place.

A little bit about me and why I’m doing this internship. I’m 22 and I graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in Psychology. My long-term career goal is to become a clinical psychologist, specializing in mental health, PTSD and animal-assisted therapy. I’ve been vegetarian for almost 3 years and vegan for a little over a year and a half now. I heard about Farm Sanctuary when I read about it on Alicia SIlverstone’s blog. I love what the organization represents, I love all the work that they do and I wanted to be a part of it in some way. I was so excited when I received the news that I would be interning for 3 months!

I hope to learn as much as I can from this opportunity. I will be flying out of Miami on the 31st and will start my internship on the 1st! Thanks for following! And thank you to all who have been so supportive and made it possible for me to even embark on this amazing adventure!

-Modern Day Vegan