Sweetpea Baking Co. (vegan owned)

This is currently my favorite bakery. Sweetpea Baking Company is 100% Vegan.

Like most small businesses, Sweetpea started as a hobby, with hours spent baking and tweaking and taste testing at home. At the urging of friends Lisa Higgins, the owner, began to sell her baked goods to local Portland stores, and Sweetpea became official. 

Now with several years of wholesale under their belt, Sweetpea opened their retail bakery in Southeast Portland, Oregon USA in January of  2008. They have expanded their menu to offer breakfast, daily homemade soups, sandwiches, bagels, and a full range of pastries.  Saturday is always doughnut day.  

Sweetpea's focus is on making quality vegan baked goods that will rival any counterpart. They have set out to prove that no animals need to be harmed to make a delicious moist cake, a soft doughnut, or a flaky scone. They use many organic ingredients, as well as locally grown flour. Much of their seasonal produce and fruit is also sourced locally. They compost 80% of their waste, and use compostable to-go packaging, cups and utensils.

Check out their website:

Sweetpea Baking Company

"Vegan" Turns 70

The Vegan Society, the world's first, was born in November 1944. At that same time, Donald Watson (the Vegan Society's Founder) organized a London meeting of six like-minded 'non-dairy vegetarians' at which it was decided to form a new society and adopt a new name to describe themselves: "Vegan" derived from VEGetariAN. It was a Sunday, with sunshine, and a blue sky, an auspicious day for the birth of an idealistic new movement.

So 2014 is a special year. It marks the 70th anniversary of the coining of the word "vegan" by Donald Watson in 1944 and founding The Vegan Society.

The Big V has come a long way in 70 years. "Vegan" is now a household word. Celebrities and politicians promote it. There are hundreds of vegan cookbooks, foods in ordinary grocery stores and restaurants labeled specifically vegan, and 2 whole generations of people that are vegan since birth.

Let us take this 70th birthday milestone as a time to gather our energy and prayers to help all people go to the next level. There has been a great job in communicating the benefits of eating vegan food, but many people still do not see the connection between vegan eating and living a life dedicated to nonviolence and non-domination. It is so much more than just a choice of what to eat. It is the next step in the rising of human consciousness to a vastly more mature level. 

Let us pray and hold in our hearts a vision of all people hearing the 70 year old word “Vegan” and smiling as they glimpse what it means in all its richness and wonder. It is a miracle waiting to happen for all of life on earth. 

May there come a time when all animals are happy and free.

Vegan One-Stop Stores Only Buying from Vegan Companies/Manufacturers

There are A LOT of vegan shops around online--hundreds--and there are 100% vegan one-stop grocery stores like Pangea, Food Fight! Grocery, and Viva La Vegan and that's AWESOME! But I have been looking for a vegan one-stop shop that only buys the vegan products they carry from vegan company manufacturers. I checked the one-stop stores I just mentioned and while they sell a ton of products from 100% vegan manufacturers, not ALL the products these stores sell comes from vegan owned companies/manufacturers.

I'm not sure if such a one-stop vegan shop like that exists. There are just many vegan owned small companies/manufacturers.

You'd think one would exist since such a store could buy their merchandise from all of these small vegan owned manufacturers that are around online and offline. As I can see, vegan places such as Food Fight! Grocery, Pangea, and Viva La Vegan would still have a lot of items in stock if they just stuck with buying from the many vegan owned manufacturers they already do business with. 

I think this is the next step in being more pro-active for animal rights as much as possible for vegan owner entrepreneurs.

We vegans should go beyond just using only vegan products by always striving in choosing to make as ones first choice by buying from vegan owned and operated companies first, and if one can't find the vegan product they are looking for but still really want that item, then go to a non-vegan owned company to buy that vegan product (like I will no longer buy Tom's products because their parent company tests on animals). After doing some research, I have discovered some great vegan owned and operated companies online at terrific prices that I will now buy from instead of buying the vegan items from non-vegan companies. Many vegan-owned companies sell their items at Amazon with great prices for instance.

My future next step I want to make will be buying directly from these vegan owned companies, even though buying direct I may have to pay more, but as long as I can afford it, I want to do that, as I start to make more money in my vocation.... I strive to shop less and less at non-vegan owned businesses. Also, since I am extremely blessed in living in a city with many vegan owned food establishments (vegan fast food restaurants, vegan cafes, vegan bakeries, vegan Italian restaurants all in Portland), I have decided when dining out to only eat at these places.

Obviously to be vegan, all one has to do is just use vegan products in and of themselves, but I believe it's vital to not be a complacent vegan and always look for ways to raise one's personal level in being pro-active as a vegan. We are all imperfect vegans, so there is always room to grow.

Adept Spiritual Life

Please note: I have changed the name (so also the website address) of my sister blog from My Majickal Life to Adept Spiritual Life.

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