Thank You!

Thank you all so much for being a part of this!  Together, we managed to raise $806.00 through the auction.  All of the money raised will be going to Oxfam to help with the current crisis in Africa.

A special thank you to Tegan, who made the largest donation.  To see the total as the money comes in, or to make an extra donation, click here.
 

Also a special thank you to the following businesses, without whom none of this would have been possible:

B.Inspired
Catamation
Carol Toogood
Catbirds
Dementedfaery
Designed by Ali
Each to Own
Freaki - Niche... crafts for the slightly Twisted!
Hanami Craft
Ink & Whim
Itty Bitty
Kym's Videography
LenaLime
Little Lala's Jewellery
Loopy Designs
MadeforYouAlone Exclusive HandMade Jewellery 
Me & Holly.B
Milestone Gifts
Ruffbat Creative
Savage Kitten
Silver Tooth Vintage
Simmone Grinder, The Little Orchard and Your Organ Grinder
SKULLMONKEY ART + DESIGN
Smallprint Brisbane East
Stacey Lia . Designer
Surreal Photography
Nicole
Vegan Products You Can Buy in Australia
Voodoo Rabbit 

Thank you!

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:
*1/3 cup of vegetable oil         $0.38
*1 cup of water
*1 & 1/4 cup raw sugar           $0.30
*1 tsp vanilla
*1 tbsp vinegar
*1/3 cup of coconut                $0.20
*2 cups of self-raising flour   $0.21
*3 tbsp cocoa powder             $0.85

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 190C.
2.  Mix all ingredients together.
3.  Bake for 15-20 minutes (check with a skewer; my oven takes a bit longer than this because it's old).

Total: $1.94 or about 16c/cupcake.  That's a lot cheaper than buying one through a store!

You will have A LOT of left over ingredients to make another batch; the cocoa, coconut and oil should last you a while.

Calories:  3286 or 274 per cupcake.
Protein:  40g or 3.33g per cupcake.

Vegan Burritos

So here I am bringing you my first pretty recipe!  I live on a student's budget with not much time on my hands for cooking between markets, fundraising and uni.  Therefore, I am going to try and share with you some cheap easy recipes on a regular basis! 

I have recently posted about how to make chocolate icecream and carrot cake but now I am moving into the realm of dinners and trying harder to take decent photos and share more cheap and easy vegan meals for the curious among you.  Let me know what you think in the comments!

Ingredients:
*200g TVP                             $2.90
*2 cubes Massel beef stock    $0.40
*tin of corn                             $1.00
*alfalfa                                    $0.40 (special)
*tin of red kidney beans         $1.00
*6 tomatoes                            $2.28
*12 pack of NOT GF wraps   $3.73 (OR 3x4 packs of GF wraps  $13.47)
*garlic powder, chilli powder, salt, pepper to taste

Method:
1.  Heat up water in a pot with the 2 cubes of beef stock (the pack of TVP should tell you the ratio needed - I just estimate).
2.  Add the TVP and red kidney beans and stir until the TVP has expanded.
3.  Heat up the wraps if you want, I leave them cold.  Spoon TVP mix onto the wraps.
4.  Add tomato slices, alfalfa and corn!

Total: $11.71 for 'normal', $21.45 for gluten free.  It should make about twelve wraps (six meals for me), so about $0.98 each for 'normal' or $1.79 each for gluten free.

If you run out of TVP mix just use the corn, alfalfa, tomato and add some carrot and other salady things to make salad wraps!  Or, if you have too much TVP leftover, put it on a sandwich or wrap it in pastry!

Other ideas: Add beetroot slices, Toffuti cream cheese, grated carrot, other beans, whatever you want!  It's very healthy!

Update from ARK

I recently received an email update from ARK which I thought I'd share with you all.  Remember the auction that we had back in March?  Well in total we raised $587.00 for them and this is where the money has gone.

Chappy

"As of 29th May, 197 dogs, 17 cats, a guinea pig, rabbit and a masked love bird have come in here.  Once at Osaka ARK, they are processed fairly quickly by our resident vet; de-wormed, vaccinated, blood tested for heart worm, microchipped and neutered.  We send details of the animals with photos back to the local authorities to try to find the owners.  Already several have found their owners and those will be boarded at ARK until they are in a place where they can take their pets back."

Isn't it great to hear that they are already starting to reunite people and pets?  I'm so glad I chose them to help in March!

Vivi-chan

Unfortunately, there is some sad news; the government wouldn't allow people in to rescue the animals in the 20km zone so there are still many animals trapped and in need of rescuing.

"After the petition campaigns from ARK and other welfare groups and a protest in Shibuya they [the government] announced that they will be allowing owners to take out their pets and that any animals found left in yards and homes to be brought out by officials.  They did pick up some of the animals but the numbers were so low it hardly makes a dent on the amount of animals needing rescue.  The government arranged a team of vets to go into the zone to rescue animals, however these are not trained or experienced rescuers and the outcome was a meager 20 animals rescued and they are not planning to attempt another rescue for months."

Moo

Want to help more?  Head to their website to sponsor a pet or purchase a pack of cards.

*All photos taken from the ARK Lifeline Network page.

Auction for Oxfam

I am currently hosting an Auction for Oxfam on my Facebook page.

All money raised will be going straight to Oxfam to help with the crisis in East Africa.  You can see how much I've raised at my Everday Hero Page or even donate an extra $5 to help save at least one life.

Photograph: WFP / R. Lee

We in the first world, with access to things like the internet, healthcare, cars, water, electricity, etc, who have been lucky enough to be born in these countries, have a responsibility to help out other human beings.

Please share this event as much as possible.  I've made this poster that is available to download so that you can stick it up at work, on notice boards, wherever you can, to help spread the word.

I am still looking for more vegan-friendly donations so please feel free to contact me at kommonerkraft (at) yahoo (dot) com (dot) au.

How I Choose My Felt

I started this business in October of 2010, after having been interested in animal rights for about a year.  I thought that I wouldn't be able to make things out of felt because a lot of felt is made out of wool and I don't like how sheep are treated.

What is wrong with wool?

1.  Sheep have been bred to have extra skin folds to create more wool.  This means that they are more prone to skin infections.

2.  Most of the sheep are sold for meat at some point.  As someone opposed to the consumption of animals, I can't support an industry that produces animals to eat.

3.  Mulesing.  The cutting off of the tail of sheep.  A painful, if not scary, process.

So as someone who thinks that animals shouldn't have to suffer just for you to have soft toys, I have been using acrylic felt in all of my products.  For more information on the wool industry click here.  Be warned though, some of the images are quite graphic.

For a while now, I have not felt that I am fulfilling all my obligations as someone who is environmentally responsible.  I have finally found someone on Etsy who sells felt that is made out of 100% certified recycled plastic PET bottles.

This means that instead of bottles just going to landfill, they will become beautiful toys or accessories for you and your family!

Long Time No See!

Hello blogworld!

I'm so sorry that I have neglected you for so long.  I am doing 5 classes at uni this semester so it's quite a bit more hectic than it used to be...

 

I also hit a bit of a roadblock when my computer decided to die and I had to spend all the money I'd saved on a new laptop just so that I could access things for Uni and Kommoner.  Thankfully I've paid off the debt quite fast!

 That hasn't stopped me from attending markets though!  I still managed to get to the Suitcase Rummage and the Kerbside Markets this month and I'm still having fun making things, even trying out some new designs!

I'll be posting soon about the Auction for Oxfam that I am running, but in the meantime feel free to just check out the info on my Facebook page or my Everyday Hero page!