My name is Melody and I’m an ethical vegan. That means I don’t use or consume animals or animal products for any purpose, including food, clothing, personal care, and entertainment.
I’m from Boston, but currently reside in New York. I work at a sanctuary for farmed animals as a caregiver, but I am also a veterinary technician, a pet sitter, a dog mom, and an active human and animal rights activist. I keep very busy, but I always try to make time to eat well and to feed and educate others about the importance of ethical veganism.
In the summer of 2010 I visited my first stockyard. It was an extremely depressing place. Attached to the auction house was a restaurant that served the remains of animals just like the ones breathing in the next room and looking in at the people eating from outside the restaurant windows. That struck me as bizarre and saddened and angered me greatly. Since then I’ve wanted to counteract the existence of that stockyard restaurant with a positive one: a farmed animal sanctuary of my own and on it, a restaurant that serves only vegan food. A place worthy of the respect of the animals at the sanctuary. That is the inspiration for the name of this blog.
For the record, like many vegan chefs and bakers, I have no formal culinary training. I just practice a lot and figure things out by experimentation. Many of the recipes I share here will be mine, but there will be some I borrow from vegan and nonvegan chefs that I will post at full credit to them. Please join me in creating a less violent, more just, healthy, and vibrantly delicious world!
Little House On The Vegan Prairie 
Yay, Melody! I love your site!
Thanks, Molly!
just wanted to say that you’re awesome!! keep up the great work- both here in the cyberworld and out- you motivate me with every post!
Aww, thank you so much for your kind words! I’m glad you like the blog! 🙂
I found your website via your response to the latest EATING PLANTS blog. I loved what you wrote and how you wrote it. You articulated your thoughts — and mine! — very well! 🙂
Oh, I do hope your dream of a sanctuary supported by a vegan restaurant becomes a reality, especially if you serve the dreamy-looking-and-probably-heavenly-tasting concoctions you’ve created in your kitchen and shared with your readers.
My kudos to the vegan version of Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose books I still adore. How interesting that you are a Little House writing about a Divided House never having been one house but rather two houses. May all earth’s inhabitants learn to live in a Big House filled with pure love for one another.
BlessUsAll, thank you so much for your kind words! They mean a lot to me! I’m glad you’re in agreement re: James McWilliams’ Eating Plants post!
After reading “A letter to vegetarians: 5 reasons I wish I’d gone vegan sooner.”, excellent article, I started reading the comments and yours were excellent. I am ultra-interested in the subject of veganism and how to effectively communicate with others about my lifestyle choice. I tend to get angry or sarcastic very easily. I’ve got to control that. I think it’s a stage we all go through. Colleen Patrick-Goudreau has been my main mentor so far, I have learned a lot from her and she is responsible for me becoming vegan. Trying to communicate in such a way that, in the end, will help save animals life – this is my goal.
Thanks, Carlos, I appreciate your kind words and comment! Sometimes it can be very frustrating speaking with non-vegans about veganism. It can be hard to stay calm when you’ve heard the same questions over and over again and when it seems that the other person just isn’t listening to you. The average non-vegan just tries to make excuses or find loopholes so as to avoid becoming vegan. Many of us were in the same boat prior to becoming vegan. It’s important to stay calm and to listen to every question as if it’s the first time you’ve heard it–this will allow you to respond without sarcasm–and respond as if you’ve heard the question or statement a million times, meaning: know how to answer it very well. I try to stay posive in these conversations and have to continually remind myself that the worst thing I can do for the animals is become angry or sarcastic with a non-vegan. Anger, blame, shaming, and sarcasm never help bring about the desired outcome. How has your communication been coming along?
(Sorry it took me so long to respond!)
Great reminder for all of us! Great blog and awesome recipes!
I am thrilled to have found your blog! Your recipes look amazing!
Thanks, Sara! I hope you enjoy them!
Hey Melody.
I have been trying really hard to live the Vegan lifestyle, but as a college student, I just want things fast and I try to look for the Vegan or even Vegetarian options and I seem to fall short everytime. I really want to make this lifestyle change but I can’t seem to do so. Any suggestions?
Hi Regan,
Do you have access to a kitchen where you live or do you eat in a college cafeteria?
If you are getting the majority of your meals on campus, I would suggest talking to the head of the cafeteria program and seeing if they’d be open to providing more vegan
options. You can show up with a list of helpful recipe websites/blogs to get them started. Luckily, I went to a university that had explicit vegan options in the cafeteria. But that was only because it had been requested by several students who were a part of the animal welfare club. Still, I often traveled around campus with some fruit in my bag, a container of raw nuts/dried fruit/seeds or a granola bar, or carrots and a jar of peanut butter–just in case.
If you have access to a kitchen and you’re looking for quick and easy meals (who isn’t?), I suggest sticking to foods in their raw form. I don’t mean “raw” as in “raw diet.” Rather, stick to eating lots of veggies, fruits, and whole grains. I spent the majority of last year eating large salads and delicious veggie sandwiches and burritos. Basically, my salads were loaded with every vegetable I had in the house, dried fruit, nuts, beans, pasta, rice or quinoa. Sandwiches were similar. I always like to have dips/spreads on hand, raw nuts, dried fruit, canned beans, frozen and canned vegetables, or vegetables that I cut and prepped the night before so that they’re ready for easy snacking. The less you have to do in a moment when you’re rushing, the better. If you’re making dinner, I suggest making enough to have leftovers for a few days or at least the next day, simplifying your life. It never hurts to prep the night before either. You might want to check out this great blog for quick, cheap, and delicious recipes: http://theveganstoner.blogspot.com/
Just the other day I had very little time for lunch and didn’t want to spend it making food or eating really, so I just had crackers and hummus with sliced tomato on top, a peach, some non-dairy yogurt and a handful of nuts. For dinner a couple of nights ago I reheated some brown rice, opened a canned of black beans, seasoned the hell out of them, cut up a tomato, opened a can of sliced beets and put everything in a burrito. This took me less than 10 minutes (especially since the rice had already been cooked).
If you’re feeling like making the transition is overwhelming, I suggest going vegan just for breakfast for a week. Then do lunch for a week. And then dinner for a week. At the end of the three weeks, you’ll have fully transitioned and it will have given you time to gradually ease into it and try recipes/foods that are compatible with your schedule without having to think too much about every single meal.
I hope this helps, but if you’d like more guidance, please feel free to contact me on here.
You can be vegan and be in college *and* eat well. Trust me, I did it. 🙂
Thank you so much Melody! I have a kitchen so I can try most of the things you suggested. One of the hardest things is going out to eat with friends. Most places we go, Wing places, don’t really have Vegan options because the cheapest dressing is Ranch lol. Do you have any suggestions?
This blog is amazing! It made my heart smile reading your ‘about me’ section… You definitely have the right idea with showing people how easy it is to eat with compassion and mindfulness..Hopefully little by little people will see the truth! Keep up your great work and thank you so much for sharing your recipes 😉
Aww, thank you so much, Emma! I appreciate your kind words! Keep up the good fight!
Hi 🙂 So glad to have stumbled across your blog, looking forward to viewing your future posts!
In the meantime id love it if you checked out my veggie (hopefully turning vegan) blog, I include lazy but healthy vegan recipes 🙂
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