Our Hen House

Becky Jenkins, who is the Executive Director of the Aquatic Life Institute, joins us on Our Hen House to explain why aquatic animals should be a primary focus of the animal protection movement and why the Institute decided to focus on the fish farming aspect of animal agriculture. She also provides a brief overview of this far-too-little-known but huge industry, including…

Amy Quichiz joins Our Hen House podcast co-host Jasmin Singer in this episode to tell us about an extraordinary collective she co-founded, Veggie Mijas, and how it started and how it has since grown. Amy was inspired to found this vibrant community, which has since expanded well beyond its original home on Instagram, because she wanted to show the Latinx community…

This week’s guest is Gina Lynn, founder of New Life Animal Sanctuary, and we couldn’t be more excited. Gina has dedicated her entire life to animal advocacy and activism. After years of organizing protests, conferences, marches, etc., co-producing an internationally distributed grassroots animal rights magazine, and enduring the stress of government harassment, Gina sought a gentler approach to getting the message out.…

This week’s episode features a riveting interview with Michelle Rojas-Soto that was originally recorded at the Farmed Animal Conference E-summit (FACES) earlier this year. Michelle is the managing director at Encompass, a non-profit that supports animal advocates of the global majority and provides diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting to farmed animal protection organizations. She is a long-time advocate for racial justice,…

Nathalie Bibeau, who joins us this week, is a director and producer who began her career at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation with the landmark series, Canada: A People’s History. An award-winning director and producer, Nathalie has since produced documentary projects such as Africa on the Move, which won a Gemini Award—presented by the Academy for Canadian Cinema and Television—for Best Documentary…

We’re thrilled to have Nicole Rawling join us on the podcast. Nicole has worked with fashion companies, scientists, and investors worldwide to encourage the development of alternative materials with the aim of replacing animal products. She founded Material Innovation Initiative after identifying the potential of the next-gen materials market through her her work as the Good Food Institute’s Director of International Engagement.…

Welcome to this extraordinary holiday episode in which we present Sanctuary: A Radio Play, an annual Thanksgiving tradition at Our Hen House! This special performance marks the world premiere of John Yunker’s Sanctuary at New York City’s Symphony Space during the Culture & Animals Foundation’s 2017 Compassion Arts Festival. We were thrilled to have been a part of this fun, engaging,…

This week we’re pleased to feature Shawn Smith and Melissa Hoffman of LivingFuture Foundation. The two live on SHO Farm, a 1300-acre regenerative vegan farm in Vermont, where they farm and steward the land so that all occupants can coexist in harmony. Shawn and Melissa are passionate about the long-term viability of food-medicine agriculture and the ecosystems that support life on…

At just 19 years old, Haile Thomas is already an international speaker, wellness activist, vegan advocate, and the author of Living Lively: 80 Plant-Based Recipes to Activate Your Power and Feed Your Potential.  Needless to say, we are thrilled that she is joining us on Our Hen House this week. Haile is the founder and CEO of HAPPY (Healthy, Active, Positive,…

Juliet Gellatley joins the podcast today and we seriously couldn’t be more excited about this conversation. She’s the founder and director of Viva!, a campaigning charity that has been a foundational force for the advances for veganism and animal rights in the UK and elsewhere (and also kicked off Jasmin‘s career in animal rights!). Long before many others got on board,…

It’s Jasmin’s birthday and also the beginning of Our Hen House’s end of year fundraising! Between now and December 31 our Barnyard Benefactors will donate $20,000, IF (and it’s a big if) that amount is matched by our listeners. Also, this year we’re thrilled announce that there’s a separate anonymous donor who’s willing to match ANOTHER $20,000. This means that, if…

Jasmin and Mariann kick the show off with a discussion of Jasmin’s trip to the Catskill Animal Sanctuary and her visit with her namesake pig. They also chat about My Octopus Teacher, the Netflix documentary, what Jasmin got out of watching it, her reservations about it, and why Mariann is reluctant to give it a try. Mariann delves into a quick…

Jasmin and Mariann start off the show with a report from Jasmin on her disturbing discovery from a Facebook group that a local dairy farm is endorsing The Three Percenters, a far right militia group. Yikes! She also tells us about her efforts to educate folks about the enthusiasm of white supremacists for the dairy industry. In this week’s featured vegan…

“Sustainability” is the word of the week, as Jasmin takes a trip to Vermont to check out a few Net Zero homes and consider her next move. Although Vermont was as lovely and progressive as expected, sadly the dairy industry is alive and well, striking a discordant note. Speaking of self-sustained living reminds Mariann of The Good Life, by Helen and…

Jasmin and Mariann are all fired up about a recent New York Times article that discusses the new book, The Secret Life of Groceries, by Benjamin Lorr. In exploring the ethical dilemmas regarding the food we buy at grocery stores, it not only comes to some pretty weak conclusions regarding animal agriculture, but conveniently fails to come up with satisfactory (or…

Before we get to the interview, we have a few things to chat about. Our big news is that Jasmin recently recorded her audiobook for her forthcoming (in December) book, The Veg News Guide To Being a Fabulous Vegan, which she wrote in conjunction with VegNews Magazine. Although the book is fun and colorful and full of recipes, she was reminded…

First, we hear how Jasmin’s dogs and cat are adapting to upstate New York after life in LA.  The chihuahuas may or may not hate the rain, but at least they perked up when they were included on a trip to the local drive-in theater, where they met up with Mariann and some friends to watch Slap Shot. Everyone had a…

Jasmin has landed safely at her new home in the Catskills and is bubbling over about the hiking trails and her new neighbors, who include woodchucks and bunnies. While she’s waiting for her things to arrive, she has caught up in person with Mariann and, most important, with Rose. They have been putting in place the social distancing rules of their…

Jasmin is still driving cross-country in the RV(egan), but will finally be getting to her new home in a few days. Surprisingly, she’s been able to do more curbside vegan shopping while on the road than she thought was possible. Along the way she stopped at Nooch in Denver, 10th Street Diner in Indianapolis, and was greeted with a latte and…

In the opening of the show, Mariann touches base with Jasmin, who is currently on the road on her way to New York in an RV(egan). Jasmin tells us how her 3 dogs and cat are handling the trip, the ups and downs of cooking and eating all the occasionally weird food she packed in case Covid made buying food too…