The elephant orphans of Kenya again called to us, and last August we once more journeyed to Kenya to work with them, and to be with the magnificent wildlife that lives in this part of Africa.

This time, another extraordinary experience was ours in meeting Jack Lekishon, a native Maasai who has become a shining activist for some deeply important projects. He is spreading veganism, advocating for protection of wildlife, and working hard for the restoration of natural habitat. He is also championing the education and health of young people, particularly the girls who have culturally suffered on many fronts.

Jack first caught my attention on social media with his vegan activism. The typical Maasai diet is comprised primarily of blood, milk, meat, and honey. How does one morph from that into plant-based, let alone vegan? And how does one make cultural inroads for it to happen?  For example, a few years ago when speaking with another Maasai about diet, he told me that it was against the cultural/religious principles of the Maasai to cultivate the soil as it would take it out of commission for grazing cattle, their primary source of food.  In addition to that, possession of livestock is traditionally a indicator of one’s wealth and status in Maasai society.  So there’s another obstacle, it would seem, to moving people from animal agriculture to plant-based nutrition.

Jack’s work has been so extensive that I knew I had to tell you all about it.  For starters, he is working with Million Dollar Vegan to bring one million vegan meals to children in the schools of Kenya.  Some of that work you  see in the images here.

I felt that the best way to introduce Jack to you would be to ask him to respond to interview questions.  He graciously said yes. Here are my questions and his responses.

Interview with Jack Lekishon, Vegan Maasai Warrior

LANI MUELRATH: What is your family background, work and education history?

JACK LEKISHON:  I’m a native Maasai, born and raised in Maasai Mara, Narok County, Kenya. My passion is preserving the natural environment of the Maasai Mara and teaching young people to be the future stewards of it.

I studied conservation and safari guiding at the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya School in Nairobi. Today, I’m volunteering as a community and conservation activist and volunteer organizer for the Conservation Clubs at Maasai Mara schools and Kenya schools.

I do conservation education to young people for several reasons. One, to spread knowledge and interest about wildlife and environmental conservation among the youth of Kenya in particular and East Africa. Second, to increase awareness of the great economic, cultural and aesthetic value of natural resources. Also, to develop a better understanding of the need to conserve natural resources for the benefit of the nation, its people and future generations.I grew up in a village called Olare Orok, meaning “Black Oak.” My mother has one daughter currently (at Maasai Girls Secondary school grade 11 and four of us being (boys in the house). We lived, grew and survived with brown porridge of sorghum and maize.

Unfortunately, the Maasai own hundreds and thousands of cows. But our family had only six cows and three sheep and my mother had to sell all of them to pay for my secondary education. We remained with nothing.

My mother worked hard to piece together a living income through a variety of enterprises, including brewing a local beverage.  But eventually there was not enough income. This forced my mother to move to a Maasai village when as there was nothing to eat at all at home.  Here, families live in house-like structures called “Manyatta”. These are low dwellings made of mud, cow dung and wood, with a single entrance and minimal side windows. The clusters of this manyatta huts form a village which is also known as “Bomas.” In addition, several Bomas can also be joined together to make a larger village. Here, my mother began to sell ornaments as a new source of income for us. This was the source funding for my secondary education too.

When I finished my secondary education, my lovely, hard-working mother had no hope for the next step for me to go to college. But, I kept the faith. I was able to finish my education with an outstanding tuition balance of 60,000 Kenya shillings, which is approximately USD $600. Unfortunately, I could not collect my certificate for one and a half years due to unpaid tuition balance. First, I worked at Solar company for one year and started saving to pay back the outstanding balance so as to collect my certificates.

Then, I shifted from Solar company to Basecamp Explorer Maasai Mara and worked as a Curio Shop Attendant where I could market and sale local women ornaments to Guests at the Camp. Here, I worked for one and half years. After this period, I was able to save money for my secondary certificates clearance and collection. Then, I met a kind friend from US who do donated $400 for my education. I used the money to pay the outstanding tuition balance at school and access my certificates. This means I took approximately 3 years to do savings for my secondary education certificates.

In other words, during those three years, I took a position to help my mother as our family breadwinner as well as to earn what I needed for certificates collection. At the same time I was working to pay tuition fee for my only sister Evelyn and the Mom’s son Saitoti.

Later, another kind friend from Switzerland came across my path and realized I have a great desire for education. She promised to pay my college education for two years only and I completed and graduated as a Diploma Holder in Wildlife, Tourism Management and Conservation.

This is where my dream of wildlife and environmental conservation came true. In the beginning, my dream was to study nursing. But that was not successful due to lack of financial support for my education. I preferred Wildlife College because of low tuition payments. To date I have not been able to join University for my Degree course because of lack of tuition fee and at the same I’m now a breadwinner in our family and also supports my sister’s education and the other three young brothers. In the future, I pray and wish to access opportunities to join University and study Bachelor Degree in Wildlife and Environmental conservation in the University of Eldoret in Kenya.

After this, I graduated and came back to Basecamp Maasai Mara and fully volunteered as a Naturalist and Conservation Safari Guide at Naboisho Conservancy. Until COVID19 pandemic hit the world. This forced many camp staff to go home and many could not return to date including myself. When the pandemic crisis hit the world, I started COVID19 Pandemic Food Relief Campaign and have fed thousands of families to date.

LANI MUELRATH: Over the course of several trips to Kenya, I have had the chance to meet and get to know many Masai. When I ask them about what their families eat, they say the diet is based on milk, blood, and meat. As a herding culture, they have told me vegetables and fruits are not a big part of their diet. Can vegetables grow in the soil of Masai Mara?

JACK LEKISHON: The Maasai Mara is characterized by sandy soils. It can support and supply nutrients for the growing of kales such as sukumawiki and spinach, Tomatoes, potatoes and Onion.

LANI MUELRATH: What was your diet growing up? Please describe the details of learning about plant-based nutrition and how you became vegan.

JACK LEKISHON: The Maasai heavily depend on animal products nutrition. The traditional Maasai diet consists of six basic foods; Milk, Meat, Fat and Blood. Fresh milk are drunk in a calabash and is sometimes mixed with fresh cattle blood. Hence, when I grew up, the source of my diet was milk, fat, blood and meat.

Throughout history, the Maasai have relied solely on herding for survival, viewing their lifestyle as both a sign and only source of wealth. However, increasingly frequent and severe drought in the area they occupy across Southern Kenya and Tanzania and the lack of land has meant devastating losses in cattle herds, leading to the need to initiate programs to introduce the Maasai to a new survival strategy crop production. Small-scale irrigation technologies works for the Maasai who have no tradition of crop production but recognize that their survival depends on being able to make the most efficient use possible of their scarce water resources in the Mara.

Going vegan is becoming increasingly popular, especially with those that are interested in improving their health, enhancing their athletic performance, or fighting climate change. Veganism is a lifestyle that excludes all animal products, while many vegans choose to avoid animal products for ethical, health, or environmental reasons. Switching to a vegan diet is also one of the best ways in which we can collectively help to prevent future pandemics, like COVID19.

Just in the last hundred years, flu pandemics have spread across the world killing millions of people, and devastating the lives and livelihoods. Eating a wholesome food plant based diet is also proven to reduce our risk of suffering from a chronic illness, such as stroke, diabetes and even cancers.

I teach my people that animal agriculture is a primary cause of climate change, and the world’s leading driver of deforestation and habitat loss. Many breed, farm, capture and slaughter animals on an unimaginable scale. Millions and millions of animals across the globe and sentient beings are crammed inside filthy factories, farm sheds and cages. Sick and weak, these animals live and die in squalid conditions that are the perfect breeding ground for disease.

I tell them that our disrespectful treatment of animals and nature puts our lives and lives of our loved ones at great risk. For us to prevent another pandemic, we must change our relationship with animals, and that begins by taking them off our plate. These reasons inspired me to go vegan for animals and for our planet. It is my decision to go vegan and stay vegan. I teach and demonstrate that going vegan is easy, delicious and nutritious.

LANI MUELRATH:  What has the community response to your service to veganism been?  Have you experienced any resistance or push back? What positive responses have you received?

JACK LEKISHON: It is not easy to convince a Maasai to go vegan. They believe they cannot survive without eating meat, blood and milk. In the beginning, after delivering food with the Vegan Food Aid to our indigenous Maasai community, we didn’t get feedback for a week or so. After a month, they realized it’s yummy best. Through veganism awareness we educated our community about preventing future pandemics by going vegan as a first priority. Because COVID19 pandemic has hit the globe very hard, now they accept our veganism teachings.

The most positive feedback I received is that nutritious vegan diets especially for children not only helps them grow up to be strong and healthy, but they also lower the risk of developing obesity, high cholesterol, hypertension, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Plant based meals for children can also help establish a foundation for healthy eating habits and nutritional knowledge that a child can apply throughout life. In addition, many adults have reported back that it promotes weight loss and helps lower the level of cholesterol levels and blood pressure. Vegan children are observed as being strong and healthy.

LANI MUELRATH: Please tell more about the vegan meals distribution projects you have created and been involved in. Where does the food come from? How do you distribute?

JACK LEKISHON: Children are a gift to the world. I am passionate about bringing out their talents and nurturing their dreams by ensuring no child learn while hungry today, tomorrow and days to come. I want to ensure learning continuity during these crises caused by the horrific pandemic and the additional drought crisis that has brought the Maasai Mara to a standstill.

Food insecurity and loss of livelihood is of utmost concern here during this time. I leveraged the power of the Maasai Mara vast network to ensure that vital supplies and information are cascaded down to the community. I distributed care packages to volunteers who in turn distributed them to vulnerable families and school children as well. The rapid action and support measures initiated across the network seem to have paid off.

Despite the dark cloud cast by the pandemic, the volunteer team and I were able to deepen our engagements with volunteer caregivers and NGOs like Million Dollar Vegan to increase awareness of the need to Veganism to prevent the future pandemics and for our planet earth. The pandemic has shed a light on the crucial role that the early childhood development sector, and in particular, the role of the young people, plays in improving learning outcomes for vulnerable children. When COVID-19 struck, it exacerbated the economic and social divide that exists in Maasai Mara, with vulnerable families bearing the brunt of the scourge. Learning has since resumed, yet most locals in low-resourced communities like the Maasai Mara community have either closed shops or are struggling to stay open. We are proof that if the right systems for recovery and resilience are in place, we can overcome these challenges and learning continuity stays in progress. There is much work to be done for young learners from vulnerable communities in Maasai Mara. With the efforts of organizations such as Million Dollar Vegan, investors and individuals support, a better future for children and families seems possible.

All the food relief we are donating to our local indigenous communities and the school children feeding programs are from the local markets and shops. We are grateful and glad to promote local businesses as well through these relief feeding programs. Supporting local businesses is good for the environment because they often have a smaller carbon footprint.

As young people we have more at stake in the fight against climate change and helping fight our community challenges than anyone else. We are here to lead the fight and do that which brings solutions and change. I’m very thankful for those who are impressed by our courage, creativity, and persistence. Give us hope. Channel that word of encouragement, the spirit of hope and give/support/donate for our humanitarian aid and all that we do for our planet Earth. Let’s get to work together to make a change. All our works are GoFundMe Projects.

As for the children feeding programs, we have donated and distributed approximately 45,000 vegan meals to Talek Vegan Boarding school, Mara Valley Vegan school and Talek Vision Vegan School in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. This also gives us a voice to create awareness on the importance of veganism so as to preserve, conserve and protect the planet Earth. We deliver on a monthly basis and  share updates during hot vegan meals, while children enjoy porridge in the morning hours and meals during lunch time. We donate and deliver strictly plant-based food and awareness of the need to go Vegan. Teachers and youth volunteers help deliver and distribute food. For the community part on delivery and distribution, together with the Maasai elders, we have put a bold emergency plan to ensuring that there’s equal distribution and delivery of vegan food relief as well as ensuring that the order of first priority of those in need is adhered to. The village elders help a lot in this case. In some cases, we distribute and deliver foods to families who are staying at home. In big villages with many people, we deliver and distribute to families in the open fields.

We also donate Uji Mix (porridge) and Vitamin B12 fortified plant milk to provide a healthy vegan breakfast and at mid-morning hours meals for all the kids.

LANI MUELRATH:  You have also been devoted to advancing education of young people, especially girls. Can you please give more details about these projects?

Education for girls can transform communities, countries and our world. It is an investment in economic growth, a healthier workforce, lasting peace and the future of, our planet. That’s why I along with other advocates at the local, national and international levels advocate for resources and policy changes that improve access to education for our girls especially among our indigenous Maasai community. Girls have the fundamental right to attain education, so it is our responsibility to adopt strategies to provide them this right. So as to eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl child and to increase the value of the girl child, and concurrently, to strengthen the girl child’s self-image, self-esteem and status. We rescue girls out of early marriage and against FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) for girls; advocate for the rights and appeal for help to support them back to school.

Especially, during and without COVID-19 pandemic crisis, girls faced serious challenges including early pregnancies that leading to early marriages, FGM and other girls rights abuse as far as early school drop out. I have aggressively stood to protect their rights especially rights to education, against FGM and any other abuse that our girls faces in the Maasai Mara. Many of our Maasai girls drop out of school due to early pregnancies, peer pressure, lack of parental care as much as lack of school fee. During COVID-19 pandemic crisis/season many are jobless and many parents can’t sent back their children to school during the reopening! Education for girl child saves and improves their lives and ultimately leading to more equitable development, stronger families, better services, and better child health.

SANITARY TOWELS/PADS: MONTHLY BASIS DRIVE

During COVID-19 pandemic crisis, our girls are finding it harder to access menstrual hygiene products and facing increased discrimination. With lockdown, closed borders and shuttered businesses, the pandemic is having far reaching consequences for many people. Economic disruptions have led to girls and women losing to access to hygiene products including many do not even afford to purchase. During these unprecedented times of pandemic crisis, the poverty rate is high and it makes it harder for girls to access menstrual hygiene supplies and the care they deserve. We should always ensure these items be declared essential and remain available for our girls. These essential hygiene products are a priority for the health, dignity and welfare of our girls. Living in poverty already presents barriers to obtaining menstrual hygiene supplies and related health services. With stores and public transport closing, rising costs and increasing economic uncertainty, they are now facing even bigger hurdles. We even have reports that many women are forced to prioritize food and water over personal care items. During the pandemic, the vulnerability of people living in extreme poverty and crisis settings is increasing, while access to sexual and reproductive health services and information is decreasing. Our Maasai indigenous communities are already facing shortages of soap, cleaning materials and maintenance staff and we’re very much grateful for any help for monthly basis of sanitary towels Drive. The great initiative.

FIGHT AGAINST FGM (FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION)

I advocate against FGM among our teenage girls. FGM has no health benefits, and it harms girls and women in many ways. The practice involves removing and injuring healthy and normal female genital tissue, interfering with the natural functions of girls’ and women’s bodies. It can lead to immediate health risks, as well as a variety of long-term complications affecting women’s physical, mental and sexual health and well-being throughout the life-course.

All forms of FGM are associated with increased health risk in the short- and long-term. FGM is a harmful practice and is unacceptable from a human rights as well as a public health perspective, regardless of who performs it.

Here are the reasons against it in our Maasai community:

• Short-term health risks of FGM
• Severe pain. Cutting the nerve ends and sensitive genital tissue causes extreme pain. The healing period is also painful.
• Excessive bleeding (hemorrhage).
• Can result if the clitoral artery or other blood vessel is cut.
• Shock.
• Can be caused by pain, infection and/or hemorrhage.
• Genital tissue swelling due to inflammatory response or local infection.
• Infections. May spread after the use of contaminated instruments (e.g. use of same instruments in multiple genital mutilation operations), and during the healing period.
• Urination problems. These may include urinary retention and pain passing urine. This may be due to tissue swelling, pain or injury to the urethra.
• Impaired wound healing. Can lead to pain, infections and abnormal scarring.
• Death. Death can result from infections, including tetanus, as well as hemorrhage that can lead to shock.
• Mental health problems.The pain, shock and the use of physical force during the event, as well as a sense of betrayal when family members condone and/or organize the practice, are reasons why many women describe FGM as a traumatic event.

This is why I’m against FGM for our teenage girls; as part of Maasai Girl’s Education Empowerment programs is concerned.

LANI MUELRATH:  You are acting as educator and agent for change in an astonishing range of important advocacy.  You seem to have never-ending energy and passion for these causes.  I have endless admiration and respect for what you are doing Jack.  It makes me happy to know that The Plant-Based Journey has been of assistance in your advocacy and work. Can you tell me more about how you have been able to use The Plant-Based Journey for advancing the vegan and feeding people projects?

JACK LEKISHON:  To educate, derive ideas and inspirations, create awareness of the need to go to veganism for our planet Earth. To educate the unhealthy reasons why consumption of animal products is clearly linked to unhealthy lifestyle including related diseases and untimely death to many around the globe.

This book The Plant-Based Journey has clearly educated that the industrial scale animal agriculture is the single biggest contributor to the most imminent threats to our environment and shows that our heavy-meat western diet promotes cruelty to many life forms including economically and politically less fortunate humans.

Additional, The Plant-Based Journey is the source of step by step guidelines, offering valuable opportunities and advice a long the way to and into veganism lifestyle. And this guidelines takes one to the tip ladder of best places to healthy living lifestyle.

It has been a source of inspiration and led to a passion for health care, the need for protecting the environment and clearly be the source of inspiration of the need to go vegan for the benefit of all. It has greatly awakened the young Maasai children and school kids to go through a plant based diet and generally generated ideas for children to learn, grow and focused into healthy plant based eating habits which is of great lifestyle.

It has been an educational source to pure joy of eating whole food for good health and clearly indicated the foods that leads to increase the diseases.

LANI MUELRATH: Thinking back, what was your initial inspiration to go vegan. You have given many reasons, but most people have a moment of inspiration or insight that shifts their experience to what is on their plate and all the reasons proliferate from there.

JACK LEKISHON: To eat meat-free and to living a healthy lifestyle.To reduce and prevent future pandemics and other health related diseases. The concern for the sake of environment protection, conservation, and nurturing. To be kind enough to animals and say ‘No’ to their suffering through slaughtering and causing unnecessary pain.

To eat meat-free to foods to healthy living lifestyle especially to reducing/prevent future pandemics and other health related diseases. The concerned for the sake of environment protection, conservation and nurturing. To be kind enough to animals and say ‘No’ to their suffering through slaughtering and cause unnecessary pain.

LANI MUELRATH: Thank you Jack!

I shared Jack’s story and work with the publisher of my book The Plant-Based Journey, BenBella Books. I had brought a copy of The Plant-Based Journey to Kenya with us, to give to Jack. As Jack had started right away to utilize my book with the teachers, food providers, and families in the vegan meals project, and asked for more copies, BenBella was eager to make a contribution. They shipped fifteen copies of the book to the project in Kenya without hesitation.

What is the best way that someone can assist you in your work from their homes across the globe?

JACK LEKISHON:  People can help by donating through the following links:
1. Food Relief GoFundMe fundraiser:
2. Girl’s Education Fundraiser 

Though it was difficult to leave our Magalia house that served us well for 43-years, here we are!

Greg captures the new environment in which we now find ourselves – in the Sonoma Mountains –  in this video.

We are overwhelmed by the natural beauty of the oak and redwood forest. Then there’s the marsh.  As you will see in the video, it is a short walk out our back door. When we bought this house we bought 1.5 acres, but in actuality we gained 5,000 – that is the reach of the wildlands in the state park just beyond our gate.

The wildlife is so abundant that we can fill entire days absorbed in the world of the birds that inhabit the beautiful oak forest above our flagstone patio and stone garden (which rapidly becomes a moss/fern garden with a light rainfall).

We all have lots to share with eachother on the heels of year 2020, haven’t we?  Will leave more for another time.  For now, I hope you enjoy a few minutes of the peace, quiet and full-of-life beauty of the wild just outside our door.

Thinking of you with all love and sincerest wishes for a new year of peace, health, and happiness!

Just as I experienced post-trauma after the Camp fire that I shared with you in my article title After the Camp fire here, the turbulent times of Covid-19 have inspired a resurgence in these same ways of  supporting family and community: with shared sustenance and goods from my kitchen. 

Here, I share two favorites with you.  Nothing like something from the kitchen, baked with love, and delivered in kindness to family, friends, or neighbors.  Always remember, food is sustenance, nutrition, and yes, comfort!

Crusty Rustic Rosemary Artisan Bread (No Knead)

Hearty, homegrown, feeds-the-soul loaves that infuse the air with the fragrance of rosemary*.

*Rosemary has become a universal symbol of remembrance.  Sometimes brides wear rosemary at their weddings as a symbol of love, happiness and loyalty. I’m lucky enough to have a beautiful hedge of mature, flowering rosemary in the rock garden right outside my kitchen window.

This recipe is my variation of several simple no-knead bread recipes that can be easily found online.

My version elevates the rustic nature of this wonderful bread via the addition of whole grain flour (I fresh grind my own; not required, but fresh flour enhances the fresh homemade quality).

 Ingredients

3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons baker’s yeast
1 tablespoon salt
3 ½  cups whole wheat bread flour
½ cup garbanzo flour
2 cups unbleached white flour
3 tablespoons finally chopped fresh rosemary leaves (eliminate stems)
Additional unbleached white flour as needed

Instructions

1. Add the yeast to the warm water in a large bowl. Let it sit for a few minutes until you see the yeast starting to bubble up on the surface of the water.  Be sure the water is warm enough, but not so hot as to kill the yeast.  About 100 degrees is what you are looking for.
2. Gradually stir in the flour, starting with the whole wheat flour, then the garbanzo flour, and finally the unbleached white flour. Add the chopped rosemary. Stir all together until all the flour is moistened. At this point the dough will be quite loose, like a very thick soup.  Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel, loose enough to give the dough room to breathe.  Let the dough rise at room temperature for at least two or more hours.  I prefer to let the dough sit overnight or longer.  Actually, if you let this sit for several days, stirring down as needed, you can achieve a lovely sourdough effect. You can even store the dough at this point for a week or two in the refrigerator, which also improves the flavor and quality.

Form the Loaves

1. Add more of the unbleached flour at this point, stirring it into the dough until the dough is thick enough to turn out onto a bread board or work surface. It may take more than you think, so have plenty of flour on hand to do the job.  You know you have enough when the dough forms a semblance of a free standing loaf;  if it just spreads out to flat on the board, you need more flour.
2. Split the dough into two parts, and form each loaf into an oblong loaf or the shape of your choice.
3. With a sharp serrated knife, cut diagonal slits in the top of the loaf to assist with the rising process.
4. Let the loaves rise at room temperature for about forty-five minutes
5. Bake at 350 to 375 degrees for about forty minutes

I also enjoy baking these loaves on a pizza stone, which requires heating the stone in a 500 degree oven.  Let the loaves rise on parchment paper when you can then slide onto the stone with the loaves.  Baking is quicker,  25 minutes or so.  Monitor closely so that the crust does not burn.

Let cool on a rack until you can slice without crushing!  The rosemary fragrance with gloriously fill your kitchen and home.

Pumpkin Tart with Oat Crust

Inspired by a recipe I encountered at Forks Over Knives, my variation has a little more sweet and a pinch more salt than the original version.  Still oil and sugar free, I found the original recipe a bit bland and wanted to be sure to have a pie that would delight new neighbors and friends.  The adjustments I made with a little more sweetness and the almond flour are just the ticket and this tart has proved to be a hit even with people who professed not to like pumpkin pie.

Ingredients

1½ cups old fashioned rolled oats

¼ cup almond flour, divided

3 tablespoons almond butter

1 cup unsweetened plant milk, such as almond, soy, cashew, or rice; divided

1 15-oz. can pumpkin

1/2 cup chopped pitted whole dates

2 tablespoons monk fruit sweetener

¼ cup pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons arrowroot powder

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

Crust

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a food processor or high speed blender combine oats, 3 Tbsp. of the almond flour, and the almond butter. Cover and pulse until mixed. With processor running, slowly add 2 to 4 Tbsp. plant milk until mixture starts to cling together. Press with your fingers and hands onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.

Filling

Combine the remaining 1 Tbsp. almond flour with ¼ cup water; let stand 5 minutes. Add to food processor with pumpkin, ¾ cup milk, the dates, maple syrup, monk fruit sweetener, arrowroot, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and salt. Cover and process until smooth. Spread filling into crust.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until filling is set. Cool on a wire rack 30 minutes. Chill 2 to 8 hours. Remove sides of tart pan. If desired, serve tart with non-dairy whipped cream.

Enjoy what you eat!

Love,

Support in Turbulent Times

Recent global developments have driven it home hard and fast:  everything changes and our sense of the way things are and expectations about the day ahead are unreliable.  As my friend Ari says, our current situation could be called amplified impermanence.

I have been trying to think of how I could best be of assistance to you.  How I could offer something to help ease your way and help build a sense of strength and stability.  It occurred to me that now would be a good time to get the audio tracks that I recorded as companion to The Mindful Vegan into more hands.  These are the audios that are described in The Mindful Vegan.  In the Resources section of the book, readers are directed to where they can download these audios at no charge.

If you already have a copy of The Mindful Vegan you know about the guided meditation audios, but if you don’t, let me describe them.

Now, I want to make them even easier to obtain for everyone, even if you don’t have a copy of The Mindful Vegan.

Thirty Audio Tracks

To support your mindfulness meditation practice, I have personally recorded thirty audios as companion to each day of practice with The Mindful Vegan: A Thirty Day Plan For Finding Health, Balance, Peace, and Happiness. 

On this page you will find the links to all thirty of these audios.  Simply click on the link to each day, and the audio track will open up in a new window.  You can listen to the track there, or use the down arrow to the right of the track to download and save on your device or computer.

One Additional Minute Each Day

Each audio download is the same length of time as the practice time designated for each day.

Thus, the audio download for Day One is one minute in length, Day Two is two minutes, and so on. The first few days, I provide guided instructions for the entire length of the audio. As the days progress, though each day’s audio will open with guidance, there will be increasing segments of silence so that you can continue practice uninterrupted until the end of the recording is signaled by a chime.

On some of the audios I will include short instructions incorporating the day’s lesson, noted in the title of that particular day’s audio guide. Days 25 – 30 contain the same instruction, with increased time in silence until the chime.

If you prefer to do meditation practice without the audio support, you can set a timer on your phone or timepiece to signal the finish. If you would like to practice longer or shorter than provided for any day, yet still take advantage of the guided practice, you can begin the day’s practice with the provided audio and then set a timer for the amount of time you intend to practice.

Audios also on Insight Timer

As stated in The Mindful Vegan book, several of these audio tracks are also available on Insight Timer app.  (www.insighttimer.com).  The app can be downloaded on smart phone or tablet.  To find The Mindful Vegan tracks, simply click on “teachers”, type in my name, and all of the tracks currently uploaded will appear.  Days 1 – 7 have all been submitted, though they are not all available on Insight Timer quite yet as the process at Insight Timer is to slowly release submissions.  The original plan is to only have a few tracks available on IT – I will be interested in hearing from you if you have a strong preference for using the app or for using the tracks via the links I provide in this message.

I hope you enjoy these audios, I made them with love, care and enthusiasm to help you get started on this practice – and finding out what mindfulness meditation practice holds for you! Links to all thirty audios follow my signature below.  Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

May all be healthy, happy, and safe –

Love,

Audio Support Tracks for The Mindful Vegan: A 30-Day Plan for Finding Health, Balance, Peace, and Happiness.

1. Click on the “Day XX” and the audio play will open up in a window
2. To save to your device, select “download” or “save audio as” from the drop down menu at the three dots found at the right side of the audio play bar

It’s Been a Long Time…

…since I sat down to talk with you.  And there is so much to say. So much to share with you.

First of all, I am overwhelmed by the flood of kind, loving emails, texts and messages I have received since sending out some quick announcements to my newsletter list. 

Who wouldn’t be touched to find out they had been missed?  It is heartening to know that people were thinking about me, concerned and wondering how I – and we – are doing these many months after the fire that destroyed our northern California community.

So let me tell you a bit about why I have been away from my keyboard for so long. And what has transpired in the interim.  There has been a lot of change.  I’ll just dive in and see where this goes.  One of the shifts inspired by the experience of the fire and aftermath has been a desire to be less concerned about appearances and protocol and to be just present with others about who I am and my experience.  So here we are.

I will close – see the bottom of the page – with Greg’s recent poignant video reflection marking the one year after.

After our return to town post fire, when the ban on returns to residences above the fire zone (where our house is) was lifted, though we didn’t have the losses experienced by thousands of others, we found ourselves in a completely different landscape.  Only a handful of businesses remained – a couple of auto repair shops and a random mini mart.  The streets were clogged daily with giant trucks hauling one thousand tons of debris – much of it toxic – out of the county.  Workers in bright vests and hazmat suits crowded the main thoroughfare.  Tens of thousands of trees, if not already incinerated by the fire, were being cut by the hundreds as town was leveled of its few standing conifers, dead or alive.  Burned out cars lined the streets and buildings heaped into the form left by the fire liberally peppered the landscape.

As grocery markets were non existent along with any semblance of services, it meant a forty minute drive down the mountain to Chico town to get groceries, dentist appointments, hardware, you name it. This was layered with the dismal fact that the journey meant a long drive through what felt like no less than a war zone.  That is coming and going.  Grim, grim. 

Anxiety and Isolation

It was a time of pretty high anxiety for me.  Even though our house and the forest right around it looked just as always,  a few blocks away the destruction began. I was also riddled with PTSD from the entire experience. This stress shows up, and continues to reveal its face, in so many ways.  Sleep was hard to come by.  A sense of urgency to get out of danger emerged often during the day.  A sense of doom of being stuck in such a remote location for the rest of my life took hold.

For the past few years,I had already started to feel a sense of isolation from community, friends, family, and support. I have always enjoyed seclusion and solitude. We both have (my husband and I). Yet as I grow older and simply enter a new season in my life, being so far from everything was increasingly undesirable, as much as I have always loved and will love the house and land we built with our own four hands so many years ago.

Yet with the devastation from the fire, the sense of isolation took on a whole new magnitude.  The urgency to relocate accelerated, and I stepped up the search for setting up home together somewhere else.

A Dramatic Shift

My attention shifted from a focus on writing, speaking, and travel with presentations to simply taking care of family and immediate community. Priorities took a decided dramatic shift, as they do in times of trauma. 

As the weeks went on, I found myself with a renewed interest in caring for our immediate environment. 

This showed up in many ways. A renewed interest in cooking emerged, catching me by surprise though certainly pleasing my husband.  I became very concentrated on organizing and lightening the contents of my office space and closets at home.  I divested hangers of bagfuls of clothing that I gave away.  I recycled giant piles of papers and files from years of teaching, keeping on file only that which really seemed most immediately relevant.  I took boxes of books to Goodwill.

I took this same energy to the yard around the house.  Unnerved by the dense trees on our property and spooked by the remembrance from the fire, I armed myself with a battery operated chain saw and took out my anxieties on clearing years of accumulated debris on the forest floor in an expanding circle from the house. In truth, it felt like I barely made a dent, but it was taking action and relevant and gave me a sense of productivity that helped.  At the same time, I was doing serious research on relocation real estate and took many a half day drive to do initial scouting on potential properties.  

I also started baking and cooking more for others.  A sense of the importance of just being kind and generous to other humans emerged. Sharing goods from my kitchen just seemed like a direct and doable avenue to help.  

Other shifts took place.  Vanity took a holiday.  I am still well groomed and certainly know how to dress for occasion and run a comb through my hair, but the concern about how I looked or presented to others, or what they might think, evaporated in a glorious way, leaving me feeling lighter and more authentic in every encounter. These things I see as positive outcome to trauma.  There is always the difficult, but then there is always the opportunity and advantage that come on the heels of forced change.

Just like writing this letter to you.  I have abandoned many of my filters that used to slow me down and separated me from authenticity in sharing, when it comes to putting thoughts into words for you.

A New Place

After nearly a year more of searching, we have found a home in another part of California that has a blend of quiet, seclusion, and wild, yet having the benefit of being so much closer to other elements of social connection that have become important to me.

Cousins are forty-five minutes away instead of three and a half hours.  The yoga studio is fifteen minutes down the road, as is Whole Foods Market (the nearest used to be two hours distance). 

I discovered a Zen meditation center only a fifteen minute drive away, which means more opportunities for sitting practice with other meditators. I do not have a Zen meditation background, but mindfulness sitting has a commonality everywhere and community support is very helpful to practice.

As a regular volunteer at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, I now no longer need to drive for four hours, arrange a place to spend a night or two before the long drive back. 

Spirit Rock is now an hour drive away. 

This means I can get to programs and serve there a LOT more often than I used to be able to do.  In December and January I have had the opportunity to assist at an event about mindfulness practice and veganism. I have assisted one of my teachers – Jack Kornfield –  in a daylong course on mindfulness meditation practice.

In a few days I will be assisting the well-known mindfulness meditation leader Tara Brach in a daylong course on R.A.I.N., aka navigating difficult emotions with mindfulness practice, which I address in The Mindful Vegan.  I am particularly excited about this event as Tara is also outspoken about veganism, which seems like should be common in the mindfulness communities, though it simple is not.

All of this has also led to other opportunities that are unfolding.  I will be presenting at the second annual Mindful Eating Film Festival, organized by a team including my friend and vegan warrior Miyoko Schinner.  Last year we had 600 at the event.  This year we are moving to a new venue in Marin County, California, and are expecting up to 6,000. Dharma Voices for Animals has reached out to me regarding their Vegan Mentor program. 

From what seemed like out of nowhere, I started receiving invitations to teach, speak, and advance causes so dear to my heart. It is as if everything was germinating just below the surface, and with the winter rains started sprouting goods just as the fern fronds unfolding in our rock garden. The ferns in the rock garden photo on this page I snapped in early winter as the palm fronds made their surprising emergence.

On top of all of this, my husband Greg and I find ourselves in the fortunate position of once again being immersed in nature so much of the day, something we prize highly. The new home we found literally borders a five thousand acre state park.  We step out the back gate of our property onto park trails and within minutes are at the marsh brimming with mallards, on the hill overlooking the valley to the coast range with several red tail hawks supervising our journey, and more often than not see coyote in the woods near the trail.  We can walk or bike for hours and be simply in nature and open space, before returning to our home a beautiful rock garden in an oak forest. 

Our darling animal companion dove, Stubby, who has been with us through the fire evacuation and with us every minute of what seems like a million comings and goings, has created a whole new world of perches inside our new home.  As you know, he is a free flying bird so we make him food stations, dirt baths, and diapered perches to give him peace and pleasure.  He has managed to find several favorite spots near Greg’s photographs from our travels, such as the one of Stubby with the lion that i share with you on this page.

Challenges

It also sounds ideal. To be honest, I can’t say it is any less than that, despite the usual challenges of making a new home fit your style, taking care of required repairs (irrigation lines with misfeeds and leaks and what on earth happened in this garage?) and customizing (way outdated kitchen faucet).

Yet we, having never moved since once or twice in the early years of our marriage (some 46 years ago), are going through all kinds of unexpected upheaval.  Living in our previous home as we did for so long, we have been pretty hardwired to it, in spite of all its quirks and mismatch for what I feel is needed at this phase of life. The post trauma from the fire also continues to unfold, continuing to surprise in layers of grief, sadness for friends who have lost homes and lives.  And all the unsettlement that anyone who moves to a new home experiences.

Yet I have discovered great reserves and a tenacity for doing the best I can to cultivate peace and well being. Through all of this, over a year now, the standards that have always been true friends I have kept in my presence.  Physical activity every day, usually more than once.  Long walks, bike rides, and now a new yoga practice emerging.  Healthy vegan food centers our plates, without rigidity of strict rules about pleasure foods on the plate, too. A sense of the real important things about life has crowded out some previous obsessions. And my gmindfulness meditation practice has been the real hero in navigating and elevating this whole experience.  Sure, I fall apart at times, just like any other human being.  I can be short tempered, impatient, and unkind.  Yet I strive for strength of heart, love, and kindness every day.

What have I left out?  There is more – the challenges of two people going through all of this together yet at our own pace has not gone unnoticed by either one of us. Yet love has carried us through and keeps moving us forward.

Below is Greg’s one-year-later video reflection that puts more pictures and music to the story.

Thank you again for your kindness and caring.  It means the world.

Love,

,

My New Plant-Based Doctor. Plus A Nice Surprise.

Yesterday, I got a new doctor. 

To my great good fortune, I was able to come on board with a plant-based doctor couple, Dr. Randal Sloop and Dr. Christine Sloop, in Chico, California.

And to my great delight, when I walked into the waiting room, there on a display shelf was a book collection for  patients and visitors to peruse while waiting.  And there in the collection, along with Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s The China Study, Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book, and a couple more, sits The Plant-Based Journey.  (See snapshot above that I captured.)

When I expressed my happiness about this to the doctors, they told me they also have a copy in the exam room – you know, for all those times we find ourselves waiting there.

With the recent Camp fire in our town, which resulted in some fifteen thousand homes being burned to the ground, along with multiple businesses and doctors and dentists, many of us still with homes in these parts have found ourselves needed to scramble for new health care providers.  

Is There A Plant-Based Doctor Near You?

Wouldn’t it be nice if, when you have an appointment with your doctor, you could have the assurance and pleasure of knowing that they are grounded in plant-based nutrition?

For those aspiring to eat more plants and everything else, the doctor’s office is the last place you should have to defend healthy choices and conscious eating. 

Yet it seems far too often to be an unsettling experience to have to counter a doctor’s eyebrow raise at the mention of no-meat-on-your-plate. There is a certain level of trust that immediately emerges when you know your doctor is up to speed with nutrition and extolls compassionate, healthy eating.

How To Find a Plant-Based Doctor Near You

To find a plant-based practitioner near you, click here.

Granted, there may be no one near you in the list.  Yet I find that this directory is regularly updated, and who knows, maybe someday near you will be just such a find.

I hope that you find a match for your needs on this list!

In good cheer,

This latest video release from my husband Greg opens with a sunrise in Africa and moves to our town of Magalia with a message of symbolism and hope following our experiences in the Camp fire.  Says Greg:  “In August 2017, we had the good fortune to witness a rare event in Masai Mara, Kenya: a golden sunrise under the belly of a lion. Although this spectacle was filmed, I never shared it, waiting instead for the right context. The context has now presented itself: a catastrophic fire, the dawn of a New Year, and the message of hope that can be found in a sunrise.” I follow with some personal reflections, two months after the fire.

Reflection

The fact that I haven’t written to you since reporting in the early aftermath of the Camp fire – as I did a few weeks ago in Life as a Refugee from the Paradise Camp Fire – doesn’t mean that I haven’t been thinking of you.  

There are life-and-living logistics of two months as an evacuee living away from our home.  We have now been able to get back up to our home for winterizing and for meeting with insurance agents for the post-fire cleaning that is recommended for ridding residences of post-fire toxicity.

Even though our house is not one of those that burned to the grown, the layers to manage are surprising.  Most of our friends in town have lost their homes and are dealing with even deeper, far more painful issues.  So any reports of hardship I have for you are of course considered with some perspective.  That doesn’t make our difficulties not, well, difficult.

Three Personal Shifts 

There have been bigger, decided shifts that this experience – the turning of our town to ashes, the displacement of so many, the ruin left behind and even officials scratching their heads about where-do-we-go-from-here – that has been my experience.  My usual inspiration to bring news from the front lines of change in the mindfulness and vegan realms via writing, newsletters, and social media gave way to a different kind of connection.  My interest turned to more close-quartered concerns.

Here are some ways that this showed up:

• I experienced a rejuvenated interest in cooking. I found myself experiencing renewed interest in preparing good food for others and my own family.  It showed up initially in those first few days when staying with cousins of my husband Greg in nearby Chico.  It seemed the way we could give back most (while they turned over a room of their home to us and our beloved ring-necked turtle dove travel companion Mr. Stubbs)  was to prepare delicious yet simple vegan meals each night.  As the holidays came upon us with Thanksgiving and Christmas, my usually lazy-cook personality became newly energized.  Perhaps it is the immediacy of food preparation, the bringing of attention right into the present moment, which one must do when chopping and cooking. The presence of sharing and eating are powerful healers.  
• I experienced a rise in the necessity of self-care for myself, my family, and my community.  Eating well of course came along for the ride on this.  So did daily exercise, always high on my list of must-do but it continued unshaken, even when we were advised not to go outside due to the air quality, even with masks on.  Greg and I were usually the only ones in the park.  Maybe we’ll pay a price for it later on, but we never suffered congestion or coughing as we paid attention to keeping the N95 masks on during walking and all points in between buildings and the car.  Daily meditation practice continued and I was also able to attend more group meditations, due to my proximity to a meditation centers as a result of evacuation.  Never doubt that these practices have beneficial effect for everyone in reach, from my husband to the person on the street- of which there are now a lot more.  I found myself taking more items to donate at Salvation Army, giving cash for gas to a woman in desparate need without a moment’s hesitation, and handing out cookies randomly on the street.  And just like everyone else, it seemed, patience and kindness rose to the surface.
• I experienced a decreased interest in anything to do with marketing. I have always had a love-hate relationship with social media.  On the one hand, it has been a way that I have been able to reach more people than I could ever have imagined with the messages of mindfulness and veganism.  And it has been a decidedly positive avenue for finding out about our immediate community and friends in the wake of the Camp fire.

  But during this fallout time from the Camp fire, I became increasingly displeased with the down sides of platforms like facebook.  In the light of the fire, observed superficiality and self-serving become increasingly illuminated.  For example, as positive as it is that plant-based eating and vegan living have become more and more popular, many  are eager to jump on the bandwagon of marketing a new challenge, a new year ‘cleanse’.  It is not that these are harmful in themselves. They can be beneficial. But these endeavors seem to be marketed more and more (by some) with the hook of promising (even with imagery) of making you stronger, sexier, more attractive, and invincible. Even mindfulness is being marketed as making you more “productive” or as a tool for making more money to having better sex. 

  Do the ends justify the means?  Are we appealing to the most egotistic, selfish elements of humankind to move us toward the deeper values of kindness for all beings, reducing suffering and scaling back our planetary impact?  If so, where is it all leading?  If we underscore being ‘more attractive’, sexier and stronger, then will that not perpetuate these same values more than any means we may attach to achieving them?  Does this not give them a short shelf life when we tire of the latest trend and abandon it in favor of the next bright shiney object?

  I do not mean to be curmudgeonly.  Rather, I am revealing to you my inner response to conditions in our world that have been altered and refurbished in the way that dramatic events have a way of doing that.  Running from fire is a life-changing experience. There is a values clarification that takes place. There are elements of grief that surge to the surface.

  

  The questioning of the norm takes on a new urgency.  

  Greg’s video brings this all right into my lap again and again, each time I see it.  I hope you enjoy it as a symbol, a touchstone for you to bring to the surface and clarify your most deepest values. May it be a means to elevate your highest aspirations of humanity, kindness and compassion, and joy in the simple things.

May your new year be filled with greater ease and happiness, and may we all be more loving and kind.

Love,