Becoming vegan is like planting the most delicate seed within yourself. You’re not quite sure what to do at first, or what’s going to happen. Everyone will have an opinion on how to care for the seed, or whether you should have even planted it at all!

But just be. Listen to yourself, to your body, question everything, do your own research (nutritionfacts.org for example) and the seed will flourish.

You may have planted this seed for the animals, for your health, or for any number of other reasons, but which does not matter. All roads lead to this place, and as with all things the more you read and experience, the more you realise how interconnected all things are!

When you nourish your body, you feel lighter, for you are not having to carry the burden of suffering within you, and if like me you have low self-esteem then please remember how much you are helping yourself, the world and the animals each and every day just by what you eat.

But, ultimately these choices are your choices and they need to be sustainable.

Be gentle with yourself, you will reap the rewards of your toil, of your mistakes, of your triumphs, your garden will be beautiful but it takes time. It may not look like anybody else’s garden but that’s the beauty: it is yours, your offering to your body and to the whole of creation.

Enter this garden by your own path, let each step be a day of inquiry, of enjoyment, of sustenance.

One step is better than standing still, paralysed by fear and the restraints of the society in which we live.

Science is slowly catching up and we are finding that, for the most part, it is knitting wonderfully with sacred plant medicine.

Please do not feel overwhelmed by the opinions and ways of the world around you. Be strong, tolerant, compassionate. Experiment, enjoy and watch the doors of friendship and opportunity open up to you.