Inspired by the Hemp Redemption Festival last weekend, held by the mind blowing band Mobius Loop, who, may also be some of the nicest people on mother earth today and their super amazing song “Hemp Milk” we decided to sing along and not only make Hemp Milk,. but managed to “feed two birds with one seed” and also make Hemp Flour.
Now its your turn, so tune in to Mobious Loop and follow the step by step giude to the easiest seed milk recipe ever.
So lets get our Hemp Milk making kit together, we already had huge bag of organic hemp seeds kicking around the kitchen though if you don’t have any get some ordered in from Sophia at Hempden our home grown Hemp expert and hemp health pioneer pictured below:
Follow the photos below and you will have a lovely bottle of hemp milk and a bag of hemp flour for cookies too.
Apart from the amazing health benefits of Hemp products, another reason to move away from shop sold plant milk is to disconnect from the commercial earth raping corporate machine and to take a further step away from the unethical Companies, and or partners companies the drive products onto the market. Companies like Alpro that make amazing plant milks are also profiteering from animal abuse and unethical other line products.
Don’t be a part of it, close the door on corporate shenanigans, engage in the hemp redemption and FREE THE SEED !!
crops NOT shops – reshaping communities – LOCKDOWN SPECIAL
Throughout our work in Networking RBE (resource based economy), a huge foundation of system change lies in what we eat, where we get it, how to ensure it is in permanent supply, and, costs as little financially as possible.
When it comes to Food, the values are built around:
Shared Food
Ethical growing
Chemical and cruelty free
Shared Knowledge
Community Support Network
It’s all very well talking about it, or looking at stand alone sites, no matter how community focused, how though to make this relevant and available to you the subscriber, reader, researcher, interested party or just web surfer ?
Networking RBE ideology successfully lies in getting the above in its entirety, and engaging with the community on the ground.
As people open the door to ethical reclaim community action programs, the question that always needs to be answered is: What is an RBE Network ? Check out the links below for a more info on the peoples movement for a genuine system change:
Enter Chay Godfree, community activist, vegan, earth warrior behind the crops NOT shops movement based out of Southend. Chay is well know in the Southend Area for his free food / meals nettle soup distribution group and the Know your Roots festival events, well know for great music, alternative lifestyle and ethical living choices.
crops NOT Shops is a guerrilla gardening project that is made up of a fast growing community of people stepping away from the unsatisfactory and unreliable retail food supply supermarket cash removal machines to taking control of their own living spaces, food and diet, by investing in growing and managing their own food supply.
Mission Statement and Introduction:
The project has been running just a couple of months but has already unifyied 800 active community members and is growing by the day. They have just started their 14th community site since January 2020, there is a vibrant seed, seedling, knowledge and work team sharing group that are also establishing contacts with other similar and related groups such as “Food Communities” , “Foraging UK” and “Grow Cheshunt”
Let’s take a look at some of what’s been happening on the ground:
Growing from the seed to sharing the seedlings is a foundation step. Getting as many people in the group to start seeds early in the season “under glass” allows for a strong supply of ground ready seedlings for planting as the garden spaces, wast lands areas and allotments are made ready to then get them all in the ground.
The more sites that are well stocked with seedlings means the more fully planted community sites, and the more fully planted community sites means more overages in each site, which in turns means surplus can become free food to be made available throughout the community .
By linking similar ethical permaculture and sustainability groups up and down the country, there is the foundation of a whole new food chain system, that can grow, bring together, unite and sustain communities free from monetarist, retail slavery, simply by just engaging in growing food.
Want to join ?
Want to set up your own sister group driving the change in your area ?
The more free food available in the community also means less cash clogging up checkout registers in your supermarkets. In line with the obvious we can take from this being that food, power, fuel, shelter are the core components to life that tie us to work , school, education, taxation slavery has not gone unnoticed by the powers that be,.
Going back as far as the English Civil war , the Diggers and the Levellers, self sustainability movements that draw authority from their own community and its needs have been targeted, legislated against and undermined to keep the population in the money game.
Food is the foundation of the freedom movement and being able to feed ourselves challenges the need for us to trade our divine human energy, our life force for material Monetarism , unfit Governments and complex social control that has us jumping through hoops for fines, taxes, bills, loans , fees and all other punitive unnecessary paper admin charges to burn out hard grafted income on. All of these ridiculous “controls” are over and above the basics of common law needed to run a safe , fair country and we should rightfully reject them.
Does anyone get excited over a parking ticket ? or a bank charge for bounced DD ? no… so check this link below and get up to speed on why we should adhere only to Common law, and at all times, question Government and know our rights to do so:
Most recently, media headlines have run with the same story over and over through Brexit and into the Covid-19 situation, a story of supposed degenerate greed and hoarding of supplies in supermarkets, food, toilet paper, you name it leaving shortages on the shelves and an absolute immediate need for the Government to legislate the Coronavirus Act. or that’s the story anyway. a story that has people turning against each other, watching reporting judging each other over what ? Toilet rolls….
What I see is that during the shortages, port information and French port delays were not being reported in the UK. though they were in France (why is that ?) The UK Government agreed a trade extension in late February for goods and transports to free up supply blockages and delays, this again was reported in the French press but not the UK press (why is that ?)..
We hit Brexit in January, traffic through the ports slowed and failed to complete their journeys, port delays, Dover and Calais were on full stop from January 16th doe to port blockages even and still we are experiencing delays into mid May. Perishables were not making their delivery window, and, permit transport papers were not stamped. Highways England were tasked with managing the back log of traffic through the ports on this side of the channel. Yet the British press reported the reason for shelves running bare was due to pandemic hoarding and greed, seriously ?, How many times did you see that same photo of the overweight guy with two trolleys of toilet roll at Costco be used in the papers up and down the country ?
The Government cannot be trusted manage retail food supply for the people.
The explosion, up and down the country, through January and February of interest in home Growing, community food action groups and self sustainability movements has also flagged on the Government radar and the Coronavirus Act of March 23rd which now specifically targets the food supply chain with powers of control, and inspection.
Sections 25 – 29 of the act now makes anyone involved in the raising or the sharing of food supply to others, a target for inspection.
Reading the legislation and understanding the important of our community freedoms to support each other over and above being forced to accept a retail option not only makes common sense, it makes for a common good, a foundation of Unity among people to come together .
Let’s take one last look on how progress is going on the sites at crops NOT shops, the next step is to get involved and start working on your own.
UNITY is COMMUNITY
The message of Unity, is the message Chay Godfree has been putting out there ever since I met him on the festival circuit, but unlike politicians, of every party, on the stand who “call for unity”, with false promises, lies and then back track with a gaggle of cameras and the tabloid press re printing the story ,. Chay’s unity is through community action. he bends his back, he offers food, knowledge and his time, he knocks on doors and he asks us to join him, to bring us all together and literally build a better world.
This is our opportunity to be involved in a movement for change that is meaningful. it only begins with growing your own food,. where it leads depends on how you embrace it..
photographs and video footage have been submitted from all corners of the crops NOT shops group and we all hope you will share this post as far and wide as you can, as well as connect with the group to support your self and your community for a better world.
RBE Legacies – Where Next MICHAEL GREEN ? walking in my friends shoes.
In January 2018 on one of Michael’s long weekend visits, squeezed between an Animal Rights activism event and a train to Eastbourne, Michael told me that we should start backing up research between us. He was insistent on the importance of finding time to put this in motion, nearly a year before his illness even became openly visible.
We had know each other a considerable amount of time and were firm friends, both going vegan at the same time, for different reasons based on the same anti-politic and both ending up on the same protests, me working for Anonymous at the time on the Japanese Anti-fishing campaign and Michael arguing with a Police officer outside the Japanese Embassy who wanted him to stand somewhere he didn’t want to and to stop chalking, Me coming up the street and standing next to him masked as usual and Michael carrying on chalking saying “hello Andie,” not even looking up, “i’m ignoring this twat (the police officer) because telling her to fuck off is not working”..
That was Michael..
I had been building a library of deleted publications for quite some time covering, alternative lifestyle, development tech for resource based economies, ethics, anarchist syndicalism and the underground history of resistance to the Global Corporancy for a long time, and Michael had also been working along similar lines since his heavy involvement in the Zeitgeist movement and the Venus Project and so we started to cross back up our records and information.
We had spend much time discussing how our own project could support Michael’s ongoing activism in the future, though delay after delay in financing and also unnecessary and petty court restrictions delayed events from shaping and moving forward.
Michael Green passed away from throat cancer on 26/9 2019.
As a result of our long friendship , activism and like minded anti politic and belief in change, Michael left two executors, of which i am one, to manage and carry forward his story, our activism and his works, art writings and research.
Who was Michael Green, well, a lot of people around the globe met, knew, spent time with Michael. For those that didn’t , he was a hell-raiser ! in to “everything” and pushed the boundaries constantly, well that was up until in 2008. Then he “woke up” and from that point on his life changed and had dynamic focus.
He started to work on using his art to raise awareness about Monetarist slavery and the failure of the system we live in to nurture, protect and enrich our lives and instead that had become a system that commodifies, divides and enslaves the majority of people, animals and the environment to maintain a status quo where a small minority of people control wealth, opportunity, resource and power for their own interest and no other.
As Michael’s health declined through 2019 he spent more and more time insisting on the importance of using all means necessary to collate and share his activism, we had already shared quite a lot of campaign work already as Michael had picked up events and campaigns that we were restricted from doing ourselves. We agreed the Website was game as a medium for sharing as much information as possible but where to start, with memories or stories or events or unfinished campaigns or archives…
For me, trying to make sense of the loss of someone so dear and also to find a way to carry on with what he asked of me started with looking at a pair of Michael’s battered old “Macbeth” vegan shoes, I stared at them, now i wear them, and i carry on walking in his shoes in and finally after months or , working out how to carry this responsibility forward.
I think the biggest priorities are about the research and work that is in danger of getting lost, social media or old website articles reaching domain expiry dates so that is where these news feed articles will begin and hope fully will provide a permanent space for them ongoing.
Rolling back the clock on Michael’s activism takes us back to the beginning of his journey and how it crosses with or will cross with yours,. his work under “Art for a sustainable world” and “One depends on the other”.
We spend a lot of time looking back at Michael, his life and wonders and who he was, its time to look forward at Michael and what he was trying to do and be..
Veganism was for him the first / basic slice of the pie of ethical and meaningful existence, the basic driving licence on the road to global change, not the actual global change event horizon itself.
His research went down into food health disease, social change and unity betterment, the theory of indefinite life, social reorder, change educational review. every level of tangible rational existence..
Encompassing veganism into the larger mold of social change, Michael drove the RBE (resource based economy) though was constantly frustrated by the most basic questions about work, money, greed, luxury, that would come back..
One of the many discussions I had over and over with Michael was how to get Peoples minds to open to the concept of the RBE without the shackles of the world we live in disrupting the presentation of the model and its application.
so with all that in mind i am inviting you all to question the square wheel world that most people subscribe to and apologise for with opening your minds to the concept of real change.
Credit: Sara Palmer
The blocker ? –
Every SINGLE time it came down to this….. (in the video) Alan Watts here hits the nail on the head in WHY the brainwashed and socially conditioned work/god/greed/war/poverty/class/race/money/vote slaves (most people) cannot get their head around system change…..
Can you get past that ONE THING ?..
Can you take a few minutes to understand about relative consciousness and engagement.. ?
if you can then off the back of his video . go to google and search for “the Venus project FAQ” read the questions and read the answers and if you think “where do i start” inbox or comment on here and i will show you whee to start implementing real change in your life and community.
Michael left a lot of work to be done, a lot of research over 15 years,. its time to decide whether veganism is where you stop. or whether a vegan money free balanced positive world is what you want to be part of . where your needs can be fulfilled and greed is history,. where unity is strength and change and no government , army, divisional political financial or racial group has any power…
if you think that’s all a pipe dream, then you just CAN’T get “the one thing” pointed out in this video., and if you can’t get that one thing,. those that can will just carry on without you.
here is your chance
here’s the basic
veganism (only the first slice of the ethical pie) is not going to be enough for real global social evolution, you need to ..
do more, be more, grow more..
from Veganism there is RBE implementation, from RBE there is food energy fuel perfection from food energy fuel perfection there is medical re-connection to deleted health and knowledge and from there, there is the movement for indefinite life being knowledge permanence (sustainability),. we remember the lessons of the past and learn from them.
so you see MUCH still to be done..
There is here, a new idea, yet so very old that we are trying to assimilate in people to effect change.
from the video –
the “system” we live under is the “Crystal Sphere”, it is a lie,
It is meaningless and yet in the current reality, we are fully dependent upon its “existence” , you see one depends on the other. In order to improve our existence and the existence of all life and the environment it is contained in, we have to effect a change, to not fight the system head on, but to effect a change in the relationships of organisms in and around the system whilst disengaging with out dated modes of living to allow space (and time) for change to take place unhinded by old value systems. and this essential understanding is what is needed to create real system change.
Change requires ALL elements in the whole to change. This is a fundamental reasoning that Michael sought to explain, though it is quite inexplainable, Alan Watts in “one depends on the other” captures the salient points..
Do you want to be part of social evolution ? start here with the “one depends on the other”..
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Music Matters: The 25th Annual FRIEND Festival – New Age Revivial ? They never stopped
Since the Battle of the Beanfield; the unrelenting harassment of the peace convoy under Heseltine’s sneering gaze; the end of Beetle Mania (that’s VW not John Lennon btw); Glastonbury pushing up prices to £16.50, (working class rip off) and putting in barriers along with the waning of the spirit of Stonehenge, as the Police, having infiltrated the anarchists to death and since turned their attention to Animal Rights; festivals have totally dropped off my happy list.
Once Joyous celebrations, free folk gatherings, it was all over. One after the other they had been poisoned by rampant profiteering and state infiltration of what seemed like forever.
New festivals have popped up over the decades, oh yes never ending dates on bill boards, with ever rising ticket prices, backed by junk food demons peddling animal abuse in a bun, endless beer tents and irrelevant stage acts where the performers have nothing to say of any value whatsoever, are role models for exploitation objectification and violence, and obviously the endless cascading “profits before people”
It is not just about “Music Matters”, I’d completely ignored the scene, though raised an eyebrow of interest when Morrissey’s refused to finally go back and decline playing Glastonbury in 2015, over ethics.
Morrissey had already had a run in with Glastonbury in 2011 where he was reported to have released the below press statement:
“In 2011, I played Glastonbury and attempted to sing the song Meat Is Murder. Behind me, a screen that usually shows the many evils of factory farming remained blank. I was told that Michael Eavis (owner of the festival site) had stopped the screening of the film because it wasn’t indicative of how his dairy farm operated. He didn’t quite understand that the poor souls in the actual film did not want to be there in the first place. Michael Eavis also went on to justify banning the film by saying it would <upset> younger people.Like most animal haters, Michael appears to be one of those people who love dead animals, yet hate live ones. How is this sane, or logical, or possible?”
Glastonbury 2015, brought in pointless and talentless rapper Kayne West to headline the festival to fill the gap and justify the ticket sale price. Kayne West also has in an interest in fashion, specifically, Astrakhan (the fur of an unborn lamb). Yes, a foetus. The sheep is slaughtered, and the unborn lamb is ripped from her womb, its coat still curly and unformed.
Liz Jones (Mail on Sunday) reviewing Kayne West 2012 Paris fashion collection, was reported as stating ‘No imagination, no morals’: a damning verdict on Kanye West’s ‘ghastly’ fur-filled Paris show. (Did you also know that lambswool is most commonly taken from the backs of just slaughtered lambs? What did you think they did: used a little pink comb?)
The “Cult” of Glastonbury really sums up the problem with our Festival Scene, overpriced ,outrageous and unapologetically unethical and I am sure a great driver for a growing population of ethical aware people who simply do not want to be associated personally with pre-packed, don’t give a damn, show me the money, shrink wrapped Corporate Satanism.
The Dalai Lama (Heavily criticized for disrespecting the morals of the Buddhist order yet claiming some sort of headship over it, and participating in supporting violence by eating meat), was also in attendance at the 2015 Glastonbury festival. Unlike most Buddhist monks, who don’t eat meat because they believe it’s wrong to murder and commodify the bodies of any sentient being, the Dalai Lama is not vegan , not even vegetarian, yet despite this still try’s to maintain a media image of being a “sage” of sorts but really is nothing more than “sage and onion” stuffing for other suffering. That some frazzled maniac at the Festival attempted to start a chant when His Holiness walked out on stage. “One Dalai Lama! There’s only one Dalai Lama! One Dalai Laaaaama!” No-one joined in, Say’s it all…..
Commercial Festivals..
It may be fine for “flexitarians” to turn a blind eye to the backdrop of the festival site at Glastonbury, to crowd the field, and raise choruses of “oh Jeremy Corbyn” when JC used the Festival as a PR event for the Labour Party. JC “for the many” turned a blind eye to Michael Eavis questionable morals affecting the lives and freedoms of the “many” hidden out of sight as he played for political support from the “crowd” with yet another great speech of his.
For others who have a better moral compass, we seek a Festival with out the dark shadow of greed.
Why so much on Glastonbury in the post ? Well, the founder of F.R.I.E.N.D Festival Mark Eaton used to work Glastonbury Festival, distancing himself from it in the 80’s when those fences started going up and the ticket prices started going up too.. Glastonbury was once everything that was right with festivals, now it is everything that is wrong.
Glastonbury is out, as well as “priced out”, the site of an Animal Prison camp can never be a “happy home” no matter how loud the bands play or how fast the beer flows.
F.R.I.E.N.D. is in, the bands are still loud , the beer flows and the animals, all actually rescued form farm slavery, are free form abuse and commodification to live out their lives in peace, no one gets hurt , turn up the Bass Mark for the 25th annual F.R.I.E.N.D. Festival.
Let’s do this yeah !
One last thought for the Animal Prison Camps of Glastonbury, was some video footage sent over to FISHINABOX by one of the mind blowing bands that played F.R.I.E.N.D festival, a must see band called MOBIUS LOOP .
The band stopped by a dairy farm, just a regular farm, on the way back from the festival to film the below footage and add this comment to their story feed:
“This is how dairy is made in the UK. Babies separated from mothers so that a mother’s milk can be sold for profit. Even on organic dairy farms babies are separated 24-48 hours after birth. Complex mammals like cows have strong instincts to protect and nurse their young. All mother cows and their young end up in the slaughter house after forced pregnancies and births that always result in separation. #dairyisscary There is no need to fund this treatment of sentient beings when we can support our local British Hemp farmers and make nutritious hemp milk. A mother’s milk is made for her baby. We sing AHIMSA to all beings and their babies.”
Music Matters so let’s Get to F.R.I.E.N.D.. who’s on the playlist for 2019 ? With the exception of The Balsall Heathens, who were a late addition, to the playlist, the below is the full Festival playlist , check it out and see who’s who..
We rolled up through the main gate, greeted old faces not seen for years, and worked our way up across the fields. A sense of nostalgia reminiscent off the old peace Convoy free festivals of the 80’s, painted vehicles, a mish-mash of tents flags, and people wandering between.
The story of F.R.I.E.N.D. farm goes back to the mid 80’s,. originally the festival as a memorial day for Gari Allen, a great friend of Mark Eaton’s. One of Gari’s friends, Aileen (who attended the 25th Annual Festival), made a memorial stone to remember Gari’s life and achievement for the animals, and this was laid at F.R.I.E.N.D. Farm animal Sanctuary.
As Marks commitments took over in running F.R.I.E.N.D. he decided to enlarge the event to grow into a music festival, to bring joy peace and the party to the farm. Originally the dates coincided with The equinox but Mark moved the festival into July to avoid clashes with Stonehenge and also to get into better weather.
Mark didn’t make F.R.I.E.N.D Festival exclusively a Vegan festival, non-vegans are not restricted from attending in any way and bands would come from all cultures and backgrounds not always from the Vegan community.
So many of the musicians would comment about the rescue work going on at F.R.I.E.N.D whilst they were there, and Mark noticed they would ask to come back year after year due to amazing atmosphere at the festival .
There was also a natural progression in their thinking and lifestyle towards animal agriculture as they became more ethically engaged with the world around them.
Mark is clear though with all participants and attendees, to avoid any confusion about what people can bring with them regardless of their personal ethics, “This is vegan festival, please fully respect these principles by not bringing any meat, eggs or dairy onsite.”
As Mark says “you actually don’t really need any activism or workshops at a music festival, we have the rescue animals here on site, people can connect directly with the animals, make there own conclusions and make the right choices.”
Mark had invited people to paint signs for recycling, showers, paint up the toilet blocks, and a general all out color fest of activity and creative expression, artwork sporadically started to grow around the site.
As we parked almost on top of it at first, we got the a job to help directing people to the showers, a portable water shower and palette station at the back of the field. Showers were easy to use quick and clean. Toilet blocks where all biodegradable, using sawdust, wood chip and paper no plastic boxes or chemical poisoning that is so familiar at commercial festivals. The whole festival the toilet blocks were clean accessible and well maintained.
Graffitti Bill Boards popped up around the site and mind bending amazing artwork began to form fast on them.
Another massive plus at F.R.I.E.N.D festival was the food and rotating Menu’s. There is only Vegan food at the festival as anything else would be a sickening insult right to the animals that live there, rescued from factory farming and safe from commodification and violence in their forever home..
so the food…..
Damn….. AMAZEBALLS !!
“Vish” and Chips / Vegan Burgers, spicy / plain “V”Cheese you name it all the options / Asian Tofu Noodles / Curries / black beans / bean dishes all rotating so you had the sense of a festival menu.
There was also a range of desserts with a tea and cake tent which seemed to be open day and night which worked massively for everybody !!!! The Tea tent also run a Merchandise stall for T- Shirts, Hoodies, hell i’m sitting in one of the t-shirts now writing up this article, and all manner of absolutely stunning jewelry.
There was also some fund raising clothes rails with a range of amazing vintage clothing and a donations box, everyone appeared to put in decent donations for clothes they took a shine too, the money of course goes straight to the animals so the good feeling in supporting positive steps for the animals clearly had kicked into the crowd en mass.
“Moth3r” perform in the Marquee tent.. beats… rhymes… sublime….
MARQUEE:
A look at some of the bands playing the Marquee Tent – The Marching Skaletons / Niall from Ten Bags / Public Speech
The Marquee tent housed the “Razorback Inn” where the beer taps ran day and night.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, renditions of “Pick a bail of Cotton” performed earlier that evening by one of the bands called the Faux Pas, who ran a set of hypnotically catchy numbers earlier that evening, started to form and raise in volume again in the late night crowd, ….”Jump down turnaround, pick a bale of cotton, gotta jump down, turnaround, pick a bale a day etc….”
relaxing at the bar with the slowly quietening crowd , guitars came out again and the tunes started again and lingered way into the early hours and over into the dawn mists and the magic of dew forming in the early light. The rising sun finally bought the revelries to a close and we drifted off to a few hours slumber before the stage opened again for the next days set.
The Marching Skaletons , “ska” as in Two tone rock steady rhythms, These guys popped up all over the festival on the 2nd day, pressing beats and hypnotic rhythms as ska versions of Spiderman, Krartwerk’s The Model and and endless string of classics rolling out.
Niall heads up the folk punk group the Ten Bags, One of the fantastic things about F.R.I.E.N.D is the impromptu nature of how some of the acts fit together, Niall jumped into a gap in the running list to give us some spoken world poetry, gritty life insights such as “banned from the tesco” and “the mosley observation” a welcome set of renditions
Public Speech had the night spot, though every band has there own style the mix of rock and running rap lyrics between melodic flavours reminded me of the heavy rock band “Senser” who used to dominate main stage in the late 80’s and early 90’s , loud high energy, delivered.
MAIN STAGE:
The Ten Bags – Folk punk troubadours from the middle of England banged out a fantastic set of own tracks interspersed with some great covers, CRASS, Exploited and the Pogues a real Anarcho-Celtic-Punk fest as they rampaged through folk tradition!
MOBIUS LOOP,. These guys are on another level that we all need to evolve to, i’m actually just going to post their mission mantra to describe their stage set –
“We are married by our love of philosophical songwriting; channeling each lyric, melody, rhythm & harmony & weaving them into the tapestry of our union which is sanctified by the co-creation of our journey.”
If you achieve anything this year in the line of Creative pursuit, you MUST get to see this band live.
From monk punk to panto punk; from retro funk to garage junk; from pirate-sing-along to jazz metal; from a cult classic to a classic cultists here’s Chalice. a Christian band out to save your souls through rock n roll. Choppy chops and thrashing beats of Raymond Chinzano, smooth, meandering bass lines of Thomas “T Bone” Wheeler and the mathy licks in among syncopated, cutting guitar stabs from Benedict Quetzal. Then there’s Cede Von Taylor leading the line from the front with raspy, accusatory and confrontational vocals. They also do exorcisms !!
Rites of HADDA – Anarcho, pagan, gothic, psychedelic Witchpunk band from London. Born from a weekly jam session in a London squat and have released 3 eps; Samhain Ritual #1 (Live At The Gunners), From The Blow and the recent 7 track Witchpunk. Headed up by the enigmatic and hypnotically entrancing “Wilderness Wasp Howl” who presents on stage in a spinning swaying colourfest vibrating “forest” of organza, there really is nothing quite like this.
Johnny Kowalski and the Sexy Wierdos – “The Go To festival band for the moment” (BBC introducing Hereford and Worcester) After several years wowing audiences across the UK and EU music scene, playing rapturous festival sets at Boomtown, Nozstock, Y Not, and Tramlines, and then recording their second album with highly respected producer Gavin Monaghan (The Destroyers, The Editors, Robert Plant), the Sexy Weirdos are now gaining international acclaim for their third album “European English ” (available on Bandcamp, Spotify and I Tunes).
The list of bands was endless, we couldn’t cover them all, but that is where our invitation stands to YOU. Get down to F.R.I.E.N.D and get a taste of a whole new level of “Festival”.
Check out links to the other bands performing here:
Friend Farm Animal Sanctuary is located on a beautiful 10 acre site in rural Kent. The rescue was established in 1994 and have given sanctuary to upward of 2000 animals in the following 25 years.
F.R.I.E.N.D currently have approximately 200 non human animal residents including pigs, goats, sheep, cows, hens, ducks, geese, turkeys and more.
At F.R.I.E.N.D. the animals are the number 1 priority. The Rescue is a large 10 acre site and the music is contained centrally away from the animals who are free-roaming as much as possible.
They are able to keep a very comfortable distance throughout the weekend and remain in very peaceful areas of the sanctuary with little impact on their day to day business. The volunteers see FRIEND as the animals’ home first and foremost, and a space for the musical festival second and we manage the event with their well-being prioritised at all times.
F.R.I.E.N.D. Farm relies solely on donations from members of the public. Want to help out ? Here’s the link to support F.R.I.E.N.D: https://friendfarmanimalsanctuary.org/donate
Financial donations are spent on food, bedding, essential equipment and veterinary bills. We are a no kill sanctuary, we re-home a small amount of companion animals but most of the animals that live here stay with us until the day they die.
Unlike the bin and trash city big commercial festivals , recycling was key at F.R.I.E.N.D, recycle stations were everywhere, tea cups were returned to the wash stations, by the end of the festival there was only one , yes ONE black sack of non recyclable waste from the entire festival, such a massive contrast from the post Glastonbury scenes you see of what looks like a landfill site of debris left on the festival fields…
Not only is F.R.I.E.N.D. a relaxed safe family friendly event, the whole festival management and the crowd takes on a level of responsibility about the environment that I haven’t even seen in the greenest of gatherings around town.
These are people who care about how they party, and that is why this festival gets my best festival UK vote for 2019. These are the kind of festivals we want for the future, Eco friendly , ethical , great music, great atmosphere , family age and well managed through out.
Get to F.R.I.E.N.D for 2020 , to hell with the big sell out corporation , steel fenced, plastic chemical toilet, landfill site big money festivals that masquerade as a good time in “Brexit Britain’s” consumer selfie society.
Make exploitation history and have a great time doing it.
Photographers: Rachel ARA / Sharon Lee Tucker / Andie Kumafaro / Dan Pope
EPIPHANY CAKE – We 3 Kings of ORIENT are – Ethical enlightenment in the very best of VEGAN bakes
This weekend sees the Annual Epiphany Festival, celebrated mostly in Catholic home and nations from France, Iberia through Italy and the Med to the North African Coast, This is a bake off to get stuck into..
When it comes to amazing “Divine” religious bake offs, France really did perfect the Epiphany Cake (Galette des Rois. The Galette is like the ultimate super size me stuffed butter cookie, which, personally I find much more satisfying moorish than the fluffy “Christmas tree light” cakes of the south, Spain and Mediterranean (Roscon de Reyes).
The only down side is that the traditional Galette has been a graveyard for the fattiest animal by products, and, as such, out of reach for the Ethical.
UNTIL NOW
Baking has moved on, we have dropped the unethical animal cruelty, and finally we can dispense with the last of satanic ingredients being “Palm Oil”.
Yes we Veganised it.
So Epiphany,.. in some parts, the arrival of the Three Mages; in some parts the baptism of Christ and his first recognition as a God.
Thats all very well and nice and church like but don’t let pagan types be put off from getting some cake too, for like so many of the Christian festival, they generally are rooted and repackaged from pagan faiths. In the case of the Epiphany, we draw from the Befana…
For those that want to delve into Epiphany’s Celtic or Druidic roots ( also see Yule, Yule log, Bonfire, Krampus, Crampus, Odin and the goats) Check out these links below. If you are not bothered about that then just carry on dear Christians, or cake lovers, or both, for there be much of interest in this little festival.
The Befana goes back to more ancient times than the Epiphany feast from which it takes its name (Epifana) and combines elements from Pagan, and other pre-Christian elements.
A witch and guide for the Magi, she flies on her broomstick the eve of Epiphany delivering sweets to the good children and coal to the naughty ones with which to warm themselves and better their temperament, bonfires of pine and pine cones are lit to drawn back the sun and shorten the cold night and after her visit, Befana lays seeds for the people and fertilises the soil ready for Spring. Over time she has become somewhat morphed into the common symbolism of the celebrations surrounding the Christian Deity, and also backstory in the Pagan Druidic traditions of the burning of the old year, and birthing of the new.
Exciting stuff though Befana is only celebrated unabridged in small regions these days and was on the way out by the 4th century as the Christian Epiphany took over.
Epiphany, as it is today originated from the merging of the old stories into the new of the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem to honour the newly born with gifts and this date is, however, recognized as national festivities, in many countries as Three Kings Day. if you want to delve into Epiphany’s pagan past, check these links below:
Over with the ancient history and on with the baking in the new:
There is no excuse for Animal Abuse, Christianity, in it’s orthodox form, lends strongly to Vegan Ethics, the following links explore the relationship between the two:
There are quite a few mysteries and secrets around the Epiphany Cake and Celebration that have just been steam rolled over and stolen by zealous inquisition prone Catholics, and in doing so have lost all that was / is Divine about the cake.
When John Henry Hopkins Jr. penned the hymn “We three kings” in 1857, he picked up on more truth that he could have imagined, the key is in the lyric”we three kings of Orient are.
The Orient up until the late 1800’s was classed as the land as far west as Morocco and to the east, India, and to a lesser extent China. With a dumbing down of language and studies toward the end of the 19th Century, and the Geographical Americanization of the known world, the old Orient was displaced to the Levant as the primary subject of Orientalist research.
This decay continued to further hem the borders of the Orient to East Asia, Southeast Asia, and eastern Central Asia by the mid-20th century, history books of our Modern Western scholars generally considered “the Orient” as just the the Middle East or the Far East.
The shifting of borders leads to a whole re-visualization of our 3 kings as no longer oriental and instead Arabic.
Roll back History and follow the trail of these oriental 3 kings and a whole new journey opens on he road to religious historical truth, one covered beautifully in the BBC Documentary “Jesus was a Buddhist Monk”.
Combine the findings of this documentary with Knight Lomas The Second Messiah along with The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ and you need up wanting to book tickets fro a trail to the final burial-place of Jesus Christ in Srinagar, Kashmir. (known to the locals as Rozabal, meaning the ‘Honoured Tomb’)
Where historical literal fact pinpoints that the Ascension story didn’t exist for over 200 yeas after events on Calvary hill
Where a 1st Century agitator executed on Roman record for sedition has been re-branded in Rome by the Emperor Constantine (AD 306–337 as the undisputed resurrected Son of God.
Where three sages traveled from the Orient looking for the Ascending enlightened being, a Dalai Lama and of wealthy earthly standing, and who’s life teaching have more in relation with eastern tradition and belief than Judea
Questions while baking the Divine start to create questions upon questions. We hope that the content of this post and he Questions thereon will create in your thought a genuine “Epiphany” in the true meaning of the word: “an intuitive grasp of reality,” “an illuminating discovery, realization, disclosure, or insight,” or simply “a revealing scene or moment.” in short an epiphany is “a moment of sudden or great revelation that usually changes you in some way.”
Anyway Away with 200 years of controversial truths, its time to get the baking done:
What do you need to create and “Epiphany” ?
Firstly you need one feve / pebble / ceramic figure :
100g of Caster Sugar – its finer than the regular stuff, easier and cleaner to work with
1 tin of Aquafaba (you get that in a tin of chickpeas in water – drain the water and put it in a blender until it looks like egg white (obviously its a replacement for eggs….)
125g of ground almonds
250g of flour
1 feve
2 tbsp of Almond Extract
Step 1 Step by Step:
Mix together the Vegan Butter and Sugar then add the Aquafaba mix again then finally add the Flour and Almonds Mix and the extract and mix well. Place the mixture on a sheet of clingfilm wrapping the mixture in to disc / circle shape. Put it on a plate and freeze for 30 minutes.
Its a 2 step recipe – SECOND the outsides….
250g of strong plain flour
1 tsp of salt
250g of that lovely vegan palm oil free butter again
150ml of COLD water, not warm not tepid (COLD as your ex’s heart…)
Sift flour and salt in to bowl. Chop the butter into chunks and add to the bowl and rub in loosely still being able to see bits of the butter though in the mixture.
Make a well in the mixture in the mixing bowl and add in 2/3 of the cold water. Mix until you have a firm rough dough adding water if needed. Cover with a dry cling film and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Insides in the freezer and outsides in the fridge – got it ?
20 minutes later – Turn out the outsides onto a floured board and knead and roll gently into the form of a rectangle. It doesn’t have to be perfect but try to do some justice to divine geometry at least.
Roll in one direction only until 3 times the width of 20cm x 30cm. Keep the sides straight and even , don’t overwork leaving a marbled effect (the butter streaks through the layers NOT worked all the way through)
Fold the top third down to the centre then the bottom third up over that. Give the dough a quarter turn to left or right then roll to 3 times the length, fold as before put back in cling film for another 20 minutes then its ready to roll out and cut as below
Just follow the pictures:
That’s two identical layers of outsides. Take out the insides from the freezer, push your feve into the frozen mixture and place between the outsides and press together the edges with your fingers then with a sharpe knife score a pattern on the top from the centre out in slow circular curve (like the start of a spiral) to the edge of the top edge with a design with a fork.
Decorate with Almond flakes and then it is ready for baking.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 -25 minutes minimum then check every 5 until done (some fan assisted ovens bake close to 25 minutes and non fan more like 45 minutes) remove from oven , leave to stand to cool for 45 minutes dress with the Kings Crown and serve.
Overall verdict..
Though the tradition of becoming the Queen/King (based on who finds the feve and therefore takes the crown and commands) leans to Royalist or elitist social pyramid models (correctly lack of values rather than values as they are based on devaluation of the majority) of class division and servitude, this also opens the subject is open to discussion with family and leads to understanding the evolution of the “idea” of equality which fits snugly with how we live today. This is further supported by reproducing this classic “untouchable”recipe as a vegan cruelty free cake. The subject of equality is tied intrinsically to Species-ism, and can be captured in the language of modern political spin by the Corbynist slogan “for the many not the few”(The Many actually refers to ALL beings not just the human voting public).
Enjoy the history, Bring in meaning to the “game” and enjoy the cake.
Its cruelty free and it’s damn good. This Vegan Palm oil free Version of this cake really delivers, there is no difference in process or output, apart from the ethics. no extra effort to source ingredients either.
Its “religion”,
its “politics”,
its “history”,
its “truth and lies”,
its also great fun – tuck in. ENJOY.
DISCLAIMER: Links to information and information collected from external sites on external sites other than those operated by FISHINABOX RECORDS are provided for your convenience only and are not an endorsement or recommendation of those sites, findings or opinions. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not control or provide any content or information at these sites, makes no representation or warranty of any kind with respect to these sites or their content, and does not maintain, operate, or take responsibility for information provided. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not endorse and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such content or information and any use thereof is solely at the user’s risk.
VEGSTOCK 2019 – NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL MUSIC – VEGSTOCK FESTIVAL RETURNS
Following the success of last years Sell Out 100% Vegan Music Festival, Vegstock returns at the Piano Works in Farringdon for a second helping of great music, food and clothing.
Bands:
Phoebe Katis
Melodi
Queen V
Jessica Diamond
Jade Stanger
Red Cable Sunday
DJ Deccy
DISCLAIMER: Links to information on sites other than those operated by FISHINABOX RECORDS are for your convenience only and are not an endorsement or recommendation of those sites. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not control or provide any content or information at these sites, makes no representation or warranty of any kind with respect to these sites or their content, and does not maintain, operate, or take responsibility for information provided. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not endorse and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such content or information and any use thereof is solely at the user’s risk.
The Retreat ANIMAL SANCTUARY – Halloween OPEN DAY last of the year 2018
The Retreat was absolutely heaving with people attending the last open day of the year.
The event centered around key activities and areas for both Families and adults.
Awganica (alkaline Veganism), Rudy and the Heavy Weathers, Reading Animal Rights, Halloween kids disco, The Animal Charity Shop, Cafe, Food stalls, Clothing, Jewelry and accessories updated on the piglets, kiss a cow, new cattery, information room with take away leaflets to raise awareness of animal rights, and guided tours for the other animals further out from the centre hub.
Halloween – Family Disco, Pumpkin Carving, Food stalls and cafe, and the charity Shop
Mothers Dianne and Autumn’s Piglets litter one month on and the rest of the Pigs
Some people wonder why we help animals in need, personally I wonder why THEY wonder. There is nothing so rewarding, healing and meaningful as to mend a broken life, to restore happiness where fear have leached in to the bones of a sentient being due to heinous acts of cruelty, all in all this as much to do with Human Wrongs as it is to do with Animal Rights.
Be part of the change. Support the rescue and provide us with what we need to ensure a healthy, happy and long life.
In addition to direct donations for feed, the Retreat also look for assistance with buildings and maintenance , blankets and covers and equipment for the café.
DISCLAIMER: Links to information on sites other than those operated by FISHINABOX RECORDS are for your convenience only and are not an endorsement or recommendation of those sites. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not control or provide any content or information at these sites, makes no representation or warranty of any kind with respect to these sites or their content, and does not maintain, operate, or take responsibility for information provided. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not endorse and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such content or information and any use thereof is solely at the user’s risk.
NOW that’s what I call MUSIC – VEGSTOCK 2018 – An Interview with Queen V
2018 saw the return to centre stage of the “Chanson Engagé” with the launch of VEGSTOCK festival.
The brain child of singer / songwriter Queen V, the festival brought together Vegan music artists to carve out a place in the music industry to profile the vegan music scene.
VEGSTOCK 2018 festival rolled out at the Piano Works in Farringdon. The line-up consisted of 12 vegan acts in total, 11 bands and 1 DJ.
As in all things Vegan they stepped up the festival game, The “usual” festival go to of sticky heart attack droopy burgers and warm”piss in a pot” beer in cracked plastic pinters was replaced with a stunning selection of vegan food vendors (Vegan Sweet Tooth London, Shakey Shakey Vegan, Sheila’s Kitchen, Love Ice Cream and Jump To The Beet) and an endless all vegan drinks bar put on by the Piano Works, both alcoholic and non alcoholic.
Festival “usuals” of overpriced tacky band t-shirt stands were replaced with all ethical art / jewellery / clothing stalls. Vegstock as well as kick ass music, was the perfect place to experience and enjoy some of the best vegan bites there are to offer and the perfect place to pick up some seriously cool accessories and clothes.
So who was on the line up:
Bands:
– Rudy Warman & The Heavy Weather
– Queen V
– RIIVER
– Tokyo Taboo
– Platypus
– Juha
– spyplane
– Tally Spear
– Besureis
– The Fleas
– Amorie
– DJ Deccy
The Vegstock event raised funds in aid of: Open Cages – www.opencages.org and was Sponsored by The amazing Ethical Globe sponsoring the festival – www.ethicalglobe.com
An Interview with Queen V – 10 questions:
01 – Whats your Vegan story ?
I was vegetarian since the age of 8. I adored animals from a very young age and it made no sense to me to kill and eat what I loved. It wasn’t until I moved to London in January 2016 that veganism really came in to my life – I’d of course heard about it before but honestly thought it was more of a hippy thing to do and hadn’t given it any extra though. I know. My ignorance is painful. But I started working with a few bands down here, some members of which were vegan. I’d also just started dating my now boyfriend and he showed me ‘Cowspiracy,’ (he wasn’t vegan then but he is now!) Between them I got the knowledge I’d been seriously lacking.
02 – Did ethics (veganism etc) drive you to get into song writing ?
I wrote my first song at the age of 12. Savage Garden and Hanson inspired, I do believe. Music is my love and after studying it at college, I became a full time musician. However, veganism finally gave me something real to talk about. Something actually important. It was so refreshing. To write a song and know it means so much more. There’s so much bullshit in the charts, and it’s a shame, because that music influences a lot of young people. It’s my goal to get my songs mainstream because they’re important and tackles bigger more pressing issues than just, er, love. Or the lack of love. Or the betrayal of love. Or whatever the hell they’re churning out currently.
03 – what were your motivations in pulling the Vegstock event together ?
It was a bit of a no-brainer really. Having set up my vegan channel last summer (2017) I’ve played a lot of little vegan festivals and what not. But there really aren’t THAT many places to play my vegan songs and I realised no one was putting on an all vegan music festival. So I thought I would! 04 – Do you think there is a market for “Vegan Music” to raise awareness regarding veganism ?
I think if they’re written well and they come across in the right way, yes. There is. People are being more mindful of their choices in today’s society. Granted, we have a long way to go and lot of damage to repair. But I feel that a great deal of people want to help make this a better world for everyone. That’s where vegan music comes in.
05 – Is your aim to stay specifically in a ethical social genre ?
Currently I’m mainly writing about and focusing on veganism, liberating farm animals from the hell we’ve created for them, trying to slow down and start to repair the damage we’ve done to the environment. But, it’s all interlinked. It’s all part of the bigger puzzle. Ultimately selfishness and greed is what is destroying us and pretty much everything falls under that. 06 – Did you feel supported by the vegan community in putting on the VegStock event ?
Yeah some people were super supportive. Livekindly did a write up for us which was insanely amazing. A few other vegan pages shared the event. London’s first ever all vegan supermarket GreenBay (which is SO AWESOME) wrote about us. Fat Gay Vegan gave us a mention or two. And a few more too – generally very very positive and helpful, which is what you’d like to expect in a vegan community…! A couple of vegan places in the area wouldn’t let me display a poster a few days before the event, and that was pretty disappointing. 07 In setting up Vegstock were you mindful of other vegan social events being seen as brands or branded, that have falling into criticism for failing to stick to the vegan ethic or putting out self promoting, profiteering and confusing messages ?
That was my first hurdle really. From doing a lot of ‘googling’ I couldn’t find many vegan bands. And I almost stopped as soon as I had started. Still I stuck with it, and found a few awesome artists either through playing shows with them or hearing about them through friends. I also looked at the roster for a few animal sanctuary festivals.. I figured it was likely those bands were vegan (although I pissed off the band leader of one such band who turned out not to be vegan. Apparently I was being discriminatory saying I only wanted vegan bands. For my vegan festival. Sure.) After advertising the event and it becoming so successful on facebook, it turns out there are a HELL of a lot of vegan artists and bands… it was just difficult to find them! But it’s great as I now have a possibles list for next time. Of course the food stalls were all vegan, as were the products used by my henna lady, hair braider and masseuse. 08 – Who were your favorite acts and have you any collaborations with other artists that have or may grow out of putting on this event?
I played with Rudy Warman and the Heavyweather in Kent so I already knew they were phenomenal. Riiver was great. Tokyo Taboo were insanely good too. No plans to collaborate yet but I’m sure something will be on the cards at some point.
Rudy Warman and the Heavyweather:
09 – Do you have sponsorship / crowd funding, if people wanted to for example get a sample album of the bands such as VegStock2018 is that a thing ?
I don’t have either… but that could be super cool!
10 – where to next columbus ? – what have you got in the pipeline ?
Yes big things are in store! Our plan is to do quarterly mini Vegstocks, and then have the one big festival once a year, hopefully outside. I’m currently still stuck on the name for these smaller events..! But once I have that we’ll be all set. The next event will be Sunday January 20th – you heard it here first! I would love to do the next big Vegstock outside, maybe even make a weekend of it. But there’s obviously a heck of a lot more planning that needs to go in to an event like that. Fingers crossed I can pull it off. In terms of the playlist for the upcoming smaller Vegstocks – I would love to hear anyone’s music if they’re a vegan performing artist – please send links to vegstockuk@gmail.com
Ok more to come from Queen V – lets take a look at some of your work:
Latest Tracks:
Find out more about VEGSTOCK and Queen V on the below links
DISCLAIMER: Links to information on sites other than those operated by FISHINABOX RECORDS are for your convenience only and are not an endorsement or recommendation of those sites. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not control or provide any content or information at these sites, makes no representation or warranty of any kind with respect to these sites or their content, and does not maintain, operate, or take responsibility for information provided. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not endorse and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such content or information and any use thereof is solely at the user’s risk.
The Retreat 6th Anniversary weekend – BORN FREE two litter of PIGLETS
The sixth anniversary weekend at the retreat was packed with people from all over the globe, activists and animal lovers who had travelled from Toronto from Belfast amongst other places to enjoy events, good company, great food and music and of course to spend time with the animals living at The Retreat.
The Retreat is unique, as a fully vegan animal rescue the volunteers are clear on the value of their work and the whole operation is ethically excellent. with Over 1250 animals currently in their care, the volunteer network is essential to meeting all the animals demands.
The high point of the anniversary weekend was the birth of two litter of piglets, born free.
These piglets were born at The Retreat, the evening of Friday 28th Sept 2018, filmed on the 29th, at an anniversary weekend Open Day. Another set were born to another mum on the same evening.
Both gave birth in the night. NONE will be exploited by humans for any purpose, have a wonderful life all of you.
The families will have their own little paddock. The two mum’s are called Dianne and Autumn. They were straying in woods with the father ( of both litter swe presume) and a baby from her last litter Seven new born babies safe after being dumped in the wild to fend for themselves.
Back in the main yard, Rudy Warman and the Heavy Weather’s, headliners from this years Vegstock, had arrived and set up and played a full set, busking case and promo CD’s. For more information about this band contact them at www.rudywarman.co.uk, if like me you are a glutton for street performers CD’s they have four to pickup !
The cafe, charity shop and seating areas were buzzing all day, the classroom engaged with talks on the Frack Four, Animal Rights and the Resource Based Economy, guided tours allowed all the visitors to meet with the animals.
Photographs courtesy of Keith Muir, Samuel Mounir Hardeman, Elijah Blu
DISCLAIMER: Links to information and information collected from external sites on external sites other than those operated by FISHINABOX RECORDS are provided for your convenience only and are not an endorsement or recommendation of those sites, findings or opinions. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not control or provide any content or information at these sites, makes no representation or warranty of any kind with respect to these sites or their content, and does not maintain, operate, or take responsibility for information provided. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not endorse and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such content or information and any use thereof is solely at the user’s risk.
