Vegetating with Leslie

I like food, plant food, that is — I like to plant, grow and eat it. I like to serve it to others and recycle it to contribute to next year’s harvest. I like working and being outdoors, walking and hiking. I like to study Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, especially the first five books, the Torah. Most of all, I like to think about all these things and what they have to say about the meaning of life. I started my blog when I decided to explore veganism, and it has led not just to recipes and farming but to a reexamination of the biblical text from a different perspective and to thoughts about ethics, ecology, evolution, animal rights, the human place in creation and more. I explore and refresh my own spirituality through these projects.

What would you do?

On: November 9, 2022November 9, 2022 By: Leslie Cook

What would you do if you were making breakfast and looked up and saw this little face peering at you over the pass-through?

A Protein Smoothie – A Delicious Dietary Solution

On: November 9, 2022December 3, 2022 By: Leslie Cook

A Protein Smoothie is a great solution to a couple of dietary issues we have in our home. We get a strong added boost of calcium and protein.

Power Oatmeal — Breakfast of Champions

On: July 14, 2022August 31, 2022 By: Leslie Cook

Power Oatmeal is a work in progress. It contributes significantly to our daily nutrition, so I continue to adjust it.

An Ant and a Rubber Tree Plant: A Metaphor

On: June 7, 2022June 14, 2022 By: Leslie Cook

Everyone knows an ant can’t . . . move a rubber tree plant. A metaphor for our relationship to a life so much greater than we can imagine.

The Wilderness of Sinai – BaMidbar

On: June 7, 2022July 10, 2022 By: Leslie Cook

Wilderness of Sinai. Why 40 years wandering? Google Maps says the walk Cairo-Jerusalem is 452 miles or 148 hours on foot.

A relationship story: biblical myth-making

On: May 1, 2020May 29, 2023 By: Leslie Cook

A relationship story unfolds in the anthropomorphisms of biblical mythology. Journey through biblical myth-making to find meaning.

Walking Between the Raindrops

On: March 29, 2020March 6, 2021 By: Leslie Cook

Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to share in services and Torah discussion on Zoom with a group from my synagogue. Our Torah discussion crystallized some thoughts I have about a set of themes that seem to compete in the Torah. The

On: March 1, 2020June 16, 2020 By: Leslie Cook

In The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible, Charles Eisenstein coins the word, “Interbeing,” a knowledge “that my being partakes of your being and that of all beings. This goes beyond interdependency—our very existence is relational . . . that

On: February 24, 2020March 6, 2021 By: Leslie Cook

I had an interesting conversation the other day. It included something of a debate about who we are as human beings and the question, are we evolving or devolving? It seems to me the answer is yes — and no, depending on your