A Vigil of Purpose

Moms for Real Food is a proud sponsor and participant of the Vigil of Purpose road trip!

We have had to change our original plans from seeking a travel sponsor and have shifted to a preliminary crowdfund to make the journey possible.

What are we doing?? So far, we are 5 Moms and 11 kids going on a tour of Northern BC, and the Lower Mainland to honour the lost lives of the Highway of Tears. We will hold nightly vigils. We will interview anyone who wants to share their story. We are linking arms, traveling new terrain and learning about a situation that deserves a solution at long last.

This is an edgy topic! it is difficult to request that a corporate sponsor align with this Vigil, so please hear our plea! YOU can make this possible. $5, $50, whatever you can give us. We will light a candle in your honour every night for the duration of the tour with your name on it, honouring the lives that have been lost while we all figure this out.

We will be blogging, live streaming, interviewing and singing!! We require money for Fuel, Fresh Food, Ferry rides, and Camping Fees. Please help us! We have 8 days until departure. We will be tenting, the kids will be scrapbooking and we will be coming together united without race to pay our hearts and our respect to those enveloped in the symptom of an age old wound. 

How you can help? With any amount of money

FREE - share the Facebook post and Group
$5 - $100: A Candle with your name on it that we will burn in your honour during our night time vigils

$100 and Up - A Candle + Please accept our thanks and receive an "Anything is Possible" temporary tattoo and a hand made card from the children (they will have lots of time while we drive!) in thanks for your contribution.

Please send your kind contributions to:
paypal.me/vigilofpurpose

We will be activating the crowdfunder the morning of June 28 and will be looking to cover approximately 8,000 kms and to raise $15,000 for Steffanie's plan for Owl Care, a program created to connect the elders and offer a wholistic self care program. We will return two weeks later with hearts full and wisdom deep. 

Here is our story and our website, please subscribe to our newsletter and receive updates of our journey.
www.vigilofpurpose.love

We can not do this alone, and we are so appreciative of you hearing our cry and our desire to stand for these stories of the heart.

Here we go Ladies!! (Oh and the ever talented camera man Todd) Charis Lynn Curtis
Steffanie Ali Howard Tracy B. Loeppky Keri Nelson Sarah Gwyneth Kyllo (I hope) Laura Olsson (with us in spirit) Violet Marie Pilkey (Movement Making first hand?) Joline Hardisty (our Cheerleader to the North)

Keri, Earl's and the Beef Rant

Ok! Here's my take on the ‪#‎earls‬ beef issue. 

Earl's Restaurants LTD wants to use 'Certified Humane' beef. Great! Good for them! It's what consumers want. They want to know their meat is treated in a humane way while it was alive and slaughtered in a Humane way, with no antibiotics or hormones. 

While Alberta beef is definitely some of the best beef in the world. Alberta cannot provide a supply of 2 million pounds of beef per year due to a lack of paperwork. That's it! It's a lack of having the piece of paper and following along with bookkeeping, record keeping, and the logistical parts that are required with it. It's one of the cheaper certifications one can get. Alberta beef is raised in compliance with most, if not all of the regulations. Yet, not certified. So if the Alberta Cattle Producers want to make a change go through the process of getting certified! Then you can be a supplier of 'Certified Humane' beef. Here's the 53 pages of regulations that cover everything from records to feed to space to everything. So all you cattle producers that want to supply Earl's and any other company that will be switching over to 'Certified Humane' GET CERTIFIED! It's going to happen. You can't get on the train without the ticket! 

http://certifiedhumane.org/…/2014/02/Std14.BeefCattle.1J.pdf

Here is also the slaughter regulations: http://certifiedhumane.org/…/20…/04/2013.AMI_.Guidelines.pdf for it to be Certified Humane it has to comply with all the standards set forth. 

This isn't going away. It's in fact getting bigger. It's gaining momentum if you will. This is the way the world is turning! People don't want their meat to come from a feed lot where the animals are crammed into a tight space with a bunch of other animals, knee deep in mud and feces, getting rounds of antibiotics as 'preventative' (I have been there I have witnessed it with my own eyes. Don't tell me it doesn't happen). People want to know their food had a good life out on 'the Open Range', fresh air sunshine, grass, doing their animal things, being treated with respect and kindness.

Here's my advice: find your local farmer who raises animals in a way that's in line with how you want your meat to be treated. Raise your own animals. Source from reputable farmers. Go to the slaughter house or butcher shop and see how your meat is going to be handled and processed. Stop shopping at Walmart, Costco and other big name retailers who's meat comes from anywhere and you don't know how it's handled. 

As a consumer your biggest boycott can be just by knowing who your farmer is and how your food is handled. Wouldn't it be AMAZING if EVERYTHING everyone ate in Alberta came from ALBERTA? We don't boycott the fact our lettuce comes from Mexico, our peppers from California or Argentina, our garlic comes from China. So get on that boycott train! Actually support Alberta with YOUR money! 

Join a CSA, find a small Market Garden, Grow your OWN. Just do something that will actually benefit your province! Stop jumping on the stupid train of boycotts because some company you didn't actually know used an Alberta supplier and switched because that's what consumers want and you still buy your meat from the cheap bin or because it's on sale and it very well could have come from Mars. Use your head and shop with it! 

DO IT!

A Month of Chicks

How freaking ADORABLE is that face! 

Hello Peeps!

This post comes with a warning!!! Well actually 2.

Moms For Real Food Initiative will not be held responsible for the sudden upswing in chicken ownership throughout Alberta! 

Also SUPER CUTE FLUFFY CHICK PHOTOS ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!

So the cheeps are growing. FAST! A month ago we picked up the sweet fuzzy little buggers now they look like mini chickens. 

This was our brooder set up. Parts of an old pig feeder. Worked amazing!

We ordered 200 chicks. On arrival date there was a miscount (whoops) so we had 197. Which is still a lot! With transport we lost 5 chicks. It's a sad part of having chickens sometimes they die. So we had a little funeral. They all settled in quite fast which was amazing. all snug and sleeping in the brooders. 

Top Gardening and Plant Apps

We love our technology! 
Both Keri and I are hard-core Apple users and enjoy the pomp, circumstance and gadgetry involved! 
But we also love the simpler life like gardening, farming and Chickenry. (Yes, that is now a word)

So to help all you wonderful peeps out there who also love both sides of being a Techie Outdoorsman, these Apps are for you!

Top Herb, Gardening and Plant Identification Apps

About Herbs
$ - Free
Memorial Sloan Kettering Center
This App gives you images, common and Latin names of all edible plants. Its extremely easy to use, and list it all alphabetically. More than 200 plants to choose from, this is the most integrative app I've ever used.

I Want Chickens! Now What?

For Peeps Who Want Cheeps!

With Spring officially here we are getting excited for our boxes of chicks to arrive at the airport. So the first step in any adventure, even crazy ones like ordering 200 chicks (no they aren't staying in town, they will be on a farm). Is usually doing some research to figure out what you're going to do with them once they get home. Being a City Girl I never knew there were so many Regulations for keeping birds, how many crazy breeds there are or how much I would LOVE having chickens.

Read the fun stuff! I have included bylaws and the boring dry stuff at the end.


How big do you want them?