Old Wool, Silk and Feathers

[Connie]

I'm curious. I'm almost vegan. I say almost because just occasionally I will eat eggs. I have a free supply of them from 2 ducks that are my neighbours and they lay an egg each each day. My neighbour can't eat that many eggs, she doesn't keep the ducks for the eggs but to keep the pond clean etc. Anyhow that is not my query.

I'm wondering what other vegans believe regarding old wool items, old silk items and old feather items, such as old woollen blankets passed down through the family, my old silk linnet for my sleeping bags and my old sleeping bags and duvets. I have not seen the point in throwing them out. It seems wasteful to me because I purchased the sleeping bags and duvets before I became vegan and in the case of the blankets they were hand knitted before I even was born. I have a few old items of woollen clothing which as I type this I am in the process of repairing with cotton yarn. I am by nature a person who will buy something only if absolutely needed and will repair rather than replace something and I just don't see the point in throwing away or giving away these items and going to the expense of replacing them, (money I just don't have at the moment) when they are perfectly serviceable right now, they just don't 'met the requirements of being a vegan'.

So where do other vegans stand on this please? What would you do as a vegan?

Some of these items were purchased with the expectation of them leading me a life time and I'm not yet aware of a synthetic sleeping bag that is light enough to carry that will go down to -40C and even as someone who is almost completely vegan, it seems a waste to replace it when the animals concerned suffered or died to make the item more than 2-3 decades ago and in one case a lot more than that.

 

[Josie]

Nobody can be a purist. I don't care what anyone says, we're all contributing to animal suffering unless we go live in the woods and survive on what we forage. We do the best we can. What's done is done.. what matters is the choices we make today. And even then, don't push yourself beyond your limits.. you're already doing so much for yourself and animals by making the choice to be almost vegan

PS: I don't see anything wrong with eating the eggs of well raised ducks. I'm trying to find someone right now who sells eggs from their own back yards, so my kids can continue eating them. I'm still on the fence about their healthfullness, but once in a while won't hurt. If they lay them anyway and they aren't a part of factory farming.. if they're happy, go for it. Not that you were asking my permission lol.