Fridays with Friends: Jasmin & Mariann of Our Hen House

Jasmin Singer and her partner Mariann Sullivan are the superwomen behind Our Hen House and I am struck by their sweetness and strong devotion to the dual causes of animal rights and gay rights that are both very close to my heart.

Photo by Herbivore Clothing

Allison’s Gourmet: When and how did Animal Rights become an issue for you?
Jasmin Singer: I stopped eating meat when I was a teenager, mostly because I thought that being vegetarian was a natural extension of being a theatre student, kind of like wearing all black and smoking clove cigarettes. Through a friend, I met a young woman who had recently gone vegan. I was about 24 then (I’m 32 now), and was a struggling actor in NYC. This new vegan person in my life showed me some footage of factory farming (where would we be without those friends, right?) and I immediately went vegan. That friend, by the way, is Marisa Miller Wolfson, filmmaker behind Vegucated. As the story goes, Marisa is still a very good friend of mine, and, along with her partner, David Wolfson, is responsible for introducing me to Mariann — so clearly I owe her a lot!
Mariann Sullivan: I was definitely not one of those people who awakened to animals when I was a kid and demanded that my parents stop feeding me meat. Though I always liked animals, they weren’t a big part of my life, and I certainly never gave much thought to how they are turned into food, until I was in my 40s. (So don’t let anyone tell you it’s too late for them to change. Jasmin’s grandma just went veg at the age of 86!). As for so many people, it was my love of a dog that really awakened me to the importance of paying attention to animals. I got my first dog, Calhoun, when I was well into adulthood, and he really opened up a whole new world for me. He was so much more — his emotions, his smarts, even his sense of humor — than I had ever realized a dog would be. So I started to think more seriously about animals. And it was a random remark by an acquaintance that he had stopped eating meat because of the way the animals were treated that made me start thinking along the lines that eventually led me to veganism and animal rights activism. That’s always a reminder to me that we should never hesitate to mention why we eat the way we eat — you never know who might be paying attention.

AG: Jasmin, when I had the delight of meeting you last summer at Vida Vegan Con, I asked how many hens you had at your sanctuary. You were very gracious not to laugh at me when you answered. Would you please clear up my confusion and tell us, what is Our Hen House?

JS: Our Hen House is a virtual hub for animal advocacy. We produce resources — video, audio (our 100th podcast episode just aired!), interviews, reviews, and the written word — that anyone can use in order to find their own way to change the world for animals. We believe that anyone can easily and seamlessly plug animal advocacy into their everyday life and we are an indefatigably positive clearinghouse for those who care about animals to express themselves, and to create a way of changing the world that makes sense for them. We call it “Our Hen House” because it is a community-wide effort, and, since 9 of the 10 billion land animals killed in the U.S. each year are birds, when you talk of animal rights, you are pretty much talking about chickens.

Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur

AG: What are your backgrounds (i.e. what did you study or do prior to your work for animals)?
MS: I am a lawyer and recently retired from my position as Deputy Chief Court Attorney with the New York State Appellate Division First Department.
JS: My background is in theatre. Before becoming an animal activist, I was working as an actress in NYC. I also did a significant amount of writing, both personally and professionally, but my heart was on the stage.

AG: How did the idea for Our Hen House arise?
JS & MS: The big animal rights organizations are doing great work, and it’s important to support them in their efforts, but it became clear to us that the kind of change that is needed is not something that can be accomplished unless absolutely everyone who cares pitches in and does what they can. It was also clear that a lot of people really didn’t know what to do to create positive change for animals. Animal use and abuse enters into every aspect of our lives, and the opportunity to fight it does too. There’s so much we can do. We are so inspired by the fact that every day more and more people are waking up to what is going on with animals and want to help change the world. So we want Our Hen House to be a resource for this growing army of people who want to take personal responsibility for leading the way to a new world in which the exploitation of animals must come to an end. The fact that our little organization has grown so much in such a short amount of time (we gave birth to OHH in January 2010) is a testament to how this movement is growing, and how deeply people care.

AG: What’s the biggest challenge in running OHH? Greatest reward?
JS & MS: We hate bringing up money, but since you ask, there’s no doubt that that’s the biggest challenge in running OHH. In fact, it’s the only really significant challenge, since everything else we do is pretty much what we love. Producing content, whether it’s the blog, or the podcast, or the videos, takes time and money, and we are a listener- and reader-supported not-for-profit enterprise. The greatest reward is definitely whenever someone contacts us and tells us that they did something, whether it was an article they wrote or a kids’ art project they coordinated or a humane education certification they pursued, because of something they read or heard on OHH.

AG: You have a “Gay Animal” focus that touches on the LGBT community and animal activism. Do you find there’s more openness to animal issues in the LGBT community?
JS & MS: Yes and no. On one hand, people in the LGBT community can frequently relate to feeling marginalized by society, feeling “othered,” feeling less than, thus leaving us with a seemingly organic kinship with animals — who are so unbelievably disregarded by society. We’ve met a lot of people who identify within the LGBT world who feel that their compassion to animals is a natural extension of their personal boycott of the heteronormative culture in which we live. However, just like with any social justice movement, there are still folks in the LGBT community who are asleep when it comes to animal issues. And there are unfortunately certainly animal activists who are asleep when it comes to LGBT issues. One beautiful example of the two movements joining forces is Mercy for Animals’ yearly campaign to march in gay pride parades nationwide, behind a sign that says “No one is free when others are oppressed.” MFA’s Executive Director, Nathan Runkle, talked to us about this and other building blocks he uses to connect the dots between animal rights and gay rights in a video we produced with him, which launched our Gay Animal series.

(We’re interviewing Nathan in a couple of weeks. So stay tuned here for more about Mercy for Animals.)

AG: Do you have any advice for people making the transition into veganism?
JS & MS: Yes, indeed, we do. In fact, we recently published our Top Ten Tips For Shifting to a Plant-Based Diet.

AG: OHH is doing such great work, I imagine time in the kitchen isn’t easy to create! What are some of your favorite vegan meals/recipes that keep you supercharged through your day?
JS & MS: Great question! We start every day with a healthy green smoothie. Frequently, this includes a heap of frozen spinach, frozen berries, frozen cherries, chia seeds, something to sweeten it like mango or pineapple (or occasionally dates), and water. On days we run, we might add some vegan protein powder to that. We realize our breakfast of choice makes us sound saintly, but we actually really like the taste of it, and no matter what happens for the rest of the day, we know that we started our day off on the right foot. We’re big fans of Dr. Fuhrman and try to follow his Eat to Live program about 90-95% of the time. Basically, that means a whole-foods based diet consisting mostly of greens, legumes, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Of course, we live in New York City and do quite a lot of traveling, so we certainly never deny ourselves delicious vegan treats from time to time! We also do 10-day juice fasts every 2 months, initially inspired by the movie Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, which have really changed our lives. As a result of the last 15 months of juice-fasting, we’ve lost a total of about 130 pounds between us. Now, we maintain the juice-fasts not as a weight loss tool, but because they really help us reboot our system, detoxify, and take a breather from the normal hectic-ness of life.

And, by the way, we think Allison’s Gourmet is doing incredibly wonderful work. We like to say that the single most effective thing you can do for animals is to provide delicious vegan food. You are doing just that, and we love that you are also so outspoken about animal issues. Actually, “for-profit activism” was the impetus for the Money Squawks section of Our Hen House.

Oh my, your gratitude warms my heart!  It sounds like you take incredibly good care of yourselves, both physically and emotionally! I, too, am a big fan of Dr Fuhrman and I love referring to his ANDI score chart.

AG: Do you have a favorite Allison’s Gourmet product or one that you’d love to try?
JS & MS: That’s a tough choice, but all in all it’s probably safe to say that our favorite Allison’s Gourmet product is the Vegan Peanut Butter Cups. They’re not only reminiscent of our favorite taste combination from childhood, but there’s something about Allison’s that is otherworldly. Plus, we love that they’re fair-trade — which we think is a prerequisite for buying any kind of chocolate (we love Food Empowerment Project’s list of recommended chocolate).

But this year, we have our eyes on the Peppermint Bark. Not to ruin any surprises, but there are many people in our lives who will be eating that very, very soon. We hope we will be, too!

Thanks so much Jasmin and Mariann, it’s always lovely to hear about what you’re up to (and I hope someone gets your hint about the Peppermint Bark).