New Photo of Me I like by Sophia by YourEnchantedGardener .....

New Photo of Me I like by Sophia

Date:   10/31/2009 2:40:15 PM ( 15 y ago)




12:44 PM
October 31, 09




http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/Leslie_Keep_The_Beet_Fall09_2.jpg

PHOTO By SOPHIA
at CITY FARMERS NURSERY
San Diego,
October 29, 09


Oh NO!!!
We are about a week away from no
food if are current monoculture colides
with the fate of fragmentation
Watch SCOTT MURRAY talk here
on these BEEP KEEPER CHANNEL YOUTUBES
http://www.youtube.com/user/YourEnchantedGardene#p/u



KEEP THE BEET's COLUMN
IN SPACE OF LOVE MAGAZINE
#5

IT's A BEET's WORLD
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1505456


WONDERFUL STORY
TRANSCRIBED BY REGINA JENSEN
editor of SPACE OF LOVE MAGAZINE
INTERVIEWED by RON NASH
on his Radio show, Spring 09
http://www.spaceoflovemagazine.com/article_3_5.htm



Leslie: Well, before we do that, I’d like to introduce my companion – she’s KEEP the BEET Media Star. She’s jumping around here, in this pot on my desk, and she truly is a Media Star. She likes to interview people like you, Ron – people who are going places and people who are in touch with their own dreams, and KEEP the BEET really does talk.
It’s like this: if you learn the language of your Self, ultimately, you’ll learn to take some time to slow down and recognize that the garden is not only a literal place, but the garden throughout recorded time has been a metaphor for consciousness. That’s one way of viewing the garden. So, if you want to ground your dream, if you want to get in touch with remembering the principles and the trade secrets of growing your dream, you want to get yourself on the KEEP the BEET program. Now, of course, there’s only ONE BEET, and I’m saying that from the standpoint of the metaphor that now’s the time when we’re returning to the BEET, which is the BEAT of life, the BEAT of Nature, and our heart beat. It’s also our soul impulse. That has a lot to do with the economy. Many people right now are experiencing recession and some people are talking about depression.... And the key is to turn every breakdown whenever possible into a breakthrough. One perspective on the economy is recognizing that from the level of slowing down, from the level of what’s happening, that what is happening right now to all of us is happening on purpose. It’s happening to bring us back to our roots, and to get us grounded in the idea that there’s only one root. KEEP the BEET says, “KEEP the BEET”.
So what does this have to do with the economy? We’re in an evolutionary process right now. We’re all being asked, once again, to live by the economy of energy, according to the part of us that’s eternal.... When we are fully in touch with who we are, and what we’re meant to do with this life, our career is inspired by our soul. The economy that we’re being asked to evolve into is one that is sensual, grounded, beautiful, and elegant in the way of the soul. The soul economy and earth’s economy are basically meant to be one root – one flowering expression. We have lost our relationship to the economy. The economy of nature is based on planting dreams with seeds and plants. A lot of us have to take another look right now at what we’re believing in, investing in….
Because the economy of nature is seeds, and seeds and plants are actually literal metaphors for the soul, KEEP the BEET says that the earth and the soul are soil mates. Some of us are getting a sense of what the earth is...and we’re moving in the direction of what the soul is. The soul is the eternal impulse that drives us – that really tells us why we’re here. When you have a literal BEET growing in your life – we’re talking about literally going to the Farmer’s Market, buying a beet to support local farmers, stick this beet in a pot of fine soil and as the beet grows, YOU will grow. That’s the program – KEEP the BEET to restore the economy. It is one person, plus one pot, which will give you the confidence that you can be a gardener. Every child is in that garden naturally.
Every child knows how to KEEP the BEET. Now is the time to teach us to return to that innocence and for us to know what we’re banking on. That truly is the key and the trade secret to restoring the economy. The evolutionary process we’re in right now is taking place in several steps. The first is called ‘The Great Earth Clean Up’.
I’m sure if you are like me, you’re experiencing an impulse to get things that don’t belong in your life, out of your life. And the second part is returning to the BEET, and that’s where the ‘Enchanted Garden’ welcomes you once again; move into the garden, move into these practices. The ‘Enchanted Garden’ is a name for our renewed earth, where as we grow one seed, we are growing one seed dream. Does this make sense?



THE GREAT EARTH CLEANUP
ENCHANTED GARDEN SPONSORS

FULL DISCLOSURE.
THESE ARE MY SPONSORS
and YOU CAN BE ONE TOO!


THE GREAT EARTH CLEANUP
SPONSORS:

KEEP The BEET Media Star
The World's First Talking BEET PLANT
is brought to you by
the following ENCHANTED GARDEN CLUB
Members and ALLIES
who get Four Fingers Up
for the work they are doing
to advance her project
to restore our beautiful earth
to the Enchanted Garden
she wants to see for everybody:

BEET KEEPERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1209704

http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/KEEP_the_BEET_Lives_here_27.jpg

http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/KEEP_The_BEET_Class_here1.jpg


LIVE CLOSE TO SAN DIEGO?
COME ROOT YOUR DREAM THE LAST SUNDAY
of Each MONTH, 4-7 PM.

NOTES ON OUR OCTOBER 25 GATHERING

http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1509658


RSVP with Leslie


KEEP THE BEET's NEW COLUMN
IN SPACE OF LOVE MAGAZINE
KEEP THE BEET MEDIA STAR
THE WORLD's FIRST TALKING BEET PLANT
AIMS TO BECOME the US CZARINA of FOODS.
READ ALL ABOUT IT.

http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1505456

GOING HOLLYWOOD:
HUFFINGTON POST's PAIGE DONNER
Hears THE BEAT FROM KEEP THE BEET MEDIA STAR
at HOLLYWOOD GOES GREEN
DECEMBER 08
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paige-donner/greening-hollywood-ecotai_b_151315...

http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/KEEP_the_BEET_Media_Star4x6.jpg


"KEEP the BEET Media Star,
The World's First Talking Beet Plant,
said "I am committed and excited
about my project to create a nation of gardeners."
--PAIGE DONNER
HUFFINGTON POST


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paige-donner/greening-hollywood-ecotai_b_151315...


DANCE OF THE HASEEDS
KEEP THE BEET's NEXT STOP
is the PACIFIC SYMPOSIUM 09.
SET UP NOVEMBER 3.
2:30 PM here, loading
5:00 PM Set up at the CATAMARAN RESORT HOTEL
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1507935



http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/SIFUKEEP_THE_BEET_Pac_SYM09_2.jpg


GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD
MAY BE SIMPLER THAN YOU THINK
BEGIN WITH ONE BEET TO REGAIN
YOUR BEAT WITH NATURE
Read this wonderful story by
BROOK LARIOS in the EXAMINER


KEEP THE BEET VISITS
PHIL NOBLE OF SAGE MOUNTAIN FARM,
one of BEETKEEPER SPONSONS




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odv0Sjxsm4s


KEEP THE BEET VISITS SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
EARTH DAY 08.

Watch this Video to understand our water needs
in SD County.
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1472621


"Become sensitive to the needs
of farmers," KEEP THE BEET sez.


RELATED LINKS

BEET KEEPERS, RETURN
To SDSU
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1407746

SPECIAL THANKS
to ANTHONY RUSSO
and EARTH SMART
for sponsoring
SDSU EARTHDAY PHOTOS
2009

This alternative dinnerware
the a vital part of
KEEP the BEET's
THE END OF STYROFOAM
ENCHANTED GARDEN PROJECT,
09-10.


EARTH SMART POT IS THE RAGE--2009-2010 CAMPAIGN KICKS OFF
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1489781


SDSU PHOTOS Sponsored by ANTONY RUSSO of EARTH SMART.
ANTHONY, according to KEEP The BEET Media Star,
is offering an alternative that can put Styrofoam
out of business! Styrofoam damages sea life +.
Earth Smart disposable ware is made of sugar cane
and earthworms will eat it.

I met ANTHONY RUSSO at
the SDSU EARTH DAY, April 24.
He makes disposable eating ware
out of sugarcane.

Http://www.earthsmartllc.com

http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/tn-BEET_KEEPERS_SDSU.jpg

http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/Anthony_Russo_Web_Sponsor_3.jpg

http://www.earthsmartllc.com

http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/tn-BEET_KEEPERS_SDSU.jpg


EARTHSMART ALTERNATIVE SUGAR CANE
DISPOSABLE EATING WARE


CONSUMER EDUCATION FROM EARTHSMART
DISPOSABLE DINNER WARE

http://www.earthsmartllc.com/education/124.html


PRODUCT BROCHURE WITH SIZES of SUGAR CANE
BAGASSE AVAILABLE

http://www.earthsmartllc.com/earthsmart_brochure.html


EarthSmart offers Plates, To Go Containers, Bowls, Trays
and Cuttlery made of Starch-based products (Potato Starch
and Corn Starch).



SDSU WEB GALLERY:
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1403096

http://www.earthsmartllc.com


http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/AnthonyZolezzi_Sponsor1.jpg

http://www.Anthonyzolezzi.com

ANTHONY ZOLEZZI, Sustainability Expert, one of my Green Heroes. Anthony is authorof PESTICIDE FREE KIDS, and is a significant voice for a GREEN HOLLYWOOD.Read my blog about Anthony here and be sure to read some of his own blogs:

ANTHONY ZOLEZZI SUSTAINABILITY EXPERT:
http://www.curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1366598


ANTHONY ZOLEZZI is one of the main inspirations behind
GREENOPS, a new Recycling Redemption project
that launches on Earth Day. GrEENOPOLIS is the
Social Network site. I am sure there are going
to be companies using plastic blottles for years.
This is a great project to make sure that those
producing drinks and other products in plastic
begin responsible for a program that sees
the bottles they sell are returned to the store
that sells it.



GREEOPOLIS:
http://greenopolis.com/

ORGANIC STRAWBERRY CONVERSION:
ANTHONY ZOLEZZI, GREEN HERO
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1315794


http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/Eco_usuable_water_bottle_2.jpg


CHECK THIS OUT!
POTTING SOIL COMES CLEAN
and is DRINKABLE WHEN
FILTERED THROUGH
THE ECOUSABLE WATER FILTER BOTTLE


WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT
THE ECOUSABLE WATER FILTER BOTTLE
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1490502


https://www.ecousable.com/store/store.php/categories/filtered_water_bottles_-...

ECOUSEABLE WATER FILTER BOTTLES

MUDDY POTTING SOIL
COMES OUT DRINKABLE
In THE ECOUSABLE WATER FILTER BOTTLE.
The bottle is good for 100 gallons of water.
The filter is replaceable.

https://www.ecousable.com/store/store.php/categories/filtered_water_bottles_-...


http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/Muddy_Water_goes_cleanx.jpg


END OF STYROFOAM CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED
AT YOM KIPPUR 09. I gave RABBI STAN LEVY
a ECOUSABLE WATER FILTER BOTTLE FOR HIS fast
on water. He decided to keep it at home and use
it everyday.
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1496687

Septebmer 09

That is mud in my hand from the ECOUSABLE
FIlter bottle. I am drinking clean water from the same
bottle. This picture was taken at the NATURAL PRODUCT
EXPO WEST IN MARCH.
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1490502
Spring 09

That is CARL PALMER, the inventor
with me.

ECOUSABLE FILTER WATER BOTTLE
removes 99.9% of chlorine, flourine, gardia +.

COUNCIL WOMAN DONNA FRYE WINS
ECO-USABLE FILTER WATER BOTTLE
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1421689

MISCHIEF IN THE GARDEN
My ECOUSABLE BOTTLE DISAPPEARED
and I found it in the garden with
KEEP the BEET MEDIA STAR
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1365942



PERF GO GREEN IS OUT TO REPLACE
PLASTIC TRASH BAGS THAT LAST
FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS


http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/Perf_go_green_bags_Live_h20_21.jpg

PERF GO GREEN @ LIVE H20 international water event.
I was planting seeds for an alignment between
This biodegradable trash bag company and Waste
Management, that uses black plastic bags that last
up many hundreds of years. Perf bags are made
to biodegrade in two years or less.

PERF GO GREEN is making BIODEGRADABLE TRASH BAGS
from old trash bags that last 500-800 years. The PERF BAGS
will decompose into Biomass in soil within two years.
I have some planted one experimental KEEP The BEET's pot
to witness to this!!!! I am going to include PERF as well in
future pots so others can see the results for themselves.

NOBEL PRIZE FOR TONY TRACY?
http://www.curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1343838


PERF GO GREEN FAQ:
http://www.perfgogreen.com/faq.html


TONY TRACY & LINDA DANIELS of PERf GO GREEN:
http://www.perfgogreen.com/




THIS IS THE SUPPLEMENT I USE
FOR ARTHRITIS
and as my Primary ANTi-INFLAMMATORY
StayActiv has gotten me out of some serious
situations where I needed to drive and had
shooting pains down my legs.
http://www.stayactiv.com/


July 12, 2009

FOLLOW LESLIE GOLDMAN
Your Enchanted Gardener
and his ally KEEP the BEET Media Star
The World's First Talking Beet Plant
on Twitter
http://twitter.com/YourEG


FOLLOW LESLIE GOLDMAN
on the PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOG
on CUREZONE
http://curezone.com/blogs/f.asp?f=92&t=48963.45

FOLLOW LESLIE on FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/YourEnchantedGardener?ref=name

HAVE YOU GOT THE BEET?
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1490440


LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE


http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/Let_Food_BexThy_Medicine_2.jpg

THE GREAT EARTH CLEANUP

http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/God_Bless_This_Mess_21.jpg




BIO NOTES + OTHER ARTICLES


"I’ve been waiting half my life to tell somebody about Leslie Goldman.
Always figured I’d wait for some desperate moment.
Now it’s here."-- Bob Baker, Los Angeles times Magazine

"Do you remember, a lifetime ago,
when Nat King Cole had a hit song
called "Nature Boy"? It told about
"a strange, enchanted boy"
who wandered far, very far,
and when he met you,
he taught you many things.
I've met that boy,
or someone very much like him,
and he is now a man known as
"The Enchanted Gardener..."
I may never be the same."
--Paul Froemming,
Montecito Journal,
July 16, '99

"A magic day he passed my way and while we spoke
of many things Fools and Kings, this he said to me,
'The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be
loved in return." -- "Nature Boy," written by eden
ahbez, recorded by Nat King Cole in 1947.


Story by Brook Larios May 09:

http://www.examiner.com/x-7288-San-Diego-Sustainable-Food-Examiner~y2009m6d3-...



Growing your own produce may be simpler than you think
June 3, 12:39 PMSan Diego Sustainable Food ExaminerBrook Larios
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Keep the Beet in all Her glory
When Gloria Estefan implored us to "Turn the Beat Around," she probably didn’t know that the position of the beat…or beet…is of little consequence when planting the fine vegetable -- as long as it's not upside down.
According to Leslie Goldman, a San Diego-based activist passionate about healthy living through the art of drawing closer to the Earth, the beet is one of the easiest vegetables to grow. He spreads the word about this concept through Keep the Beet Media Star – a mascot of sorts that has drawn attention from locals, diplomats and celebrities like model Ashley Van Dyke and actor Ed Begley Jr., known for his dedication to the environment. Keep the Beet and Goldman’s message is traveling so widely that they earned a piece of cyberspace last year on The Huffington Post, continually one of the highest-ranked political websites on the Net.
The premise behind Keep the Beet is that growing a beet gives people the confidence to grow a slew of their own organic fruits, herbs and veggie varietals. For those with a gray thumb, this could be a long anticipated solution that years of therapy couldn’t even cultivate.
“I’m playing with the story of an actual beet that decided she was tired of just sitting in the ground, watching the human race become more and more fragmented, and the beet, whose name is Keep the Beet, decided to speak up,” said Goldman, also known to friends as The Enchanted Gardener.
Keep the Beet encourages people to make friends with a local, organic farmer; purchase the largest beet they can find and repot it, keeping it alive as it sprouts billowing, edible green leaves.
“Once you repot the beet and water it and care for it, you will find that the same rules that apply to taking care of a plant apply to taking care of the part of each of us that is like a vegetable – the biological part that’s millions of years old,” Goldman said. “Most of us have lost connection with the…organic, biological part of ourselves. Most of us today are fragmented. We’re possessed by things we need to do and we’ve lost the basic beat with nature. So, the metaphor of growing the beet is the way to reconnect with the beat.”
If the beet doesn’t take right away, don’t be discouraged. For some, it may be simpler to grow root crops from their seed state, according to Candy Nerz, plant information specialist at City Farmers Nursery in City Heights. In addition to whole organic beets, they offer a slew of seeds, including organic beet seeds, and they sell both new and recycled pots. They also offer a selection of fine potting and topsoils, including Foxfarm’s Forest and Ocean blend, which Goldman recommends for beginners.
“That blend in a nice sized pot will practically grow anything,” he said. “We want a city where everybody can grow food.”

Goldman’s Tips for Growing Your First Beet
- Get the best potting soil (Fox Farm Soil).
- Remove the greens, leaving less than an inch remaining, and eat them raw, lightly steamed, sautéed with olive oil or, suggests Goldman, with Bragg Liquid Aminos.
- Place the beet in the pot and cover it with soil. Let a little bit of the top of the beet show.
- Water it regularly and, within a week or less, it should begin sprouting more greens. They’ll continue to come up healthy for at least six months.
- Add soil nutrients along the way.
(If you decide to stop eating the leaves, the plant may put up a stalk and make hundreds of seeds.)

To find a beet near you, visit a local farmers market or one of the following locales:
J.R. Organics - Valley Center
Sage Mountain Farm - Aguanga
La Milpa Organica - Escondido
City Farmer’s Nursery - City Heights
Ocean Beach People’s Organic Foods Market - Ocean Beach

For more info: Goldman holds several monthly events dedicated to bringing people closer to the foods they eat. Learn more by visiting his Plant Your Dream Blog.
More About: farm · organic · sustainable · food · csa · vegetables · marketing · sustainability · eco-friendly · san diego · herbs · fruits · leslie goldman · keep the beet · grow

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Q and A with Leslie:
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/07/12/news/02leslie071208.txt



Saturday, July 12, 2008

| Wearing an Atlanta Braves baseball hat and carrying a large potted plant, Leslie Goldman, also known as the "Enchanted Gardener," fancies himself a planter of dreams. A former journalism student and a freelance photographer by profession, he has spent the last 15 years traveling around telling people why they should grow their own food -- or at least one plant -- and buy locally grown, organic food. He’s convinced that if people feel more connected to what they eat, problems ranging from obesity and childhood sugar highs to hotly-contested immigration issues could be solved.

Goldman gave up his aspirations of becoming a mainstream reporter 40 years ago when he was diagnosed with a form of chronic arthritis. Looking for an alternative to prescription drugs, he came to San Diego from Los Angeles and lived on a health ranch in Escondido. He left the ranch several years later when his health was on the mend, but he has hung his hat in San Diego ever since.

The potted plant he totes is actually an organic -- and edible, he points out -- beet that he carries to promote his latest campaign encouraging everyone to own at least one plant. The motto of the campaign, called "Keep the Beet," is "one pot, one plant and I’m a gardener."

We caught up with the Enchanted Gardener and his beet, named Keep the Beet Media Star, on his way to the Farmers’ Market in Hillcrest.


Tell me about the "Enchanted Gardener."

It’s the persona I’ve created. I use to get very emotional early in my life when I would find forms that said, "what do you do?" you know, for a living, or even, "who are you?" But I just had my 60th birthday and I’m pretty clear about who I am right now, and who I am is the persona I’ve created, "The Enchanted Gardener." I basically plant dreams for super ripe people. I hold the highest aspirations for a beautiful world. In my persona as your enchanted gardener, I consider my employer Mother Earth.

Tell me about the beet you carry.

I travel with plants. I never go anywhere without plants and right now one of my seeds I’m planting is "Keep the Beet." "Keep the Beet" is an opportunity for me to encourage the people that I meet to reestablish their connection with growing food. I’d like them to regain the understanding that we can grow some of our food. You see, "Keep the Beet" is a locally grown, organic beet. The idea that I was inspired with is that you take one person plus one pot and I’m a gardener. All I’m asking is each person to get one locally grown organic beet -- or the best they can get -- put in a pot of the best soil they can get and grow that beet.

Why is it so important to grow a beet?

Because we’re living in a world right now that has lost its relationship with growing things. I have a very close relationship with the organic farmers in San Diego. I notice that a number of the farmers who have been feeding me for many years are under duress right now ... and they have had to cut back the amount of food that they’re growing. At the end of the day, consumers are not aware how important it is to support the local farmers.

Why is it important to support them?

Basically, I would say I’m very concerned with homeland security. I’m very concerned with earth-based homeland security. My idea to solve immigration problems is to make sure people’s needs are met. If our neighbors south of the border had the food that they really need to feed themselves in a healthy manner, that would make a difference. I’d rather see the people of Mexico thriving in their own home. As far as homeland security, more and more we are outsourcing our production of food. From my looking at this, what sense does it make to be building uncomfortable relationships with your neighbors, such as Mexico, and at the same time be asking them to grow our food? OK? I mean, that to me doesn’t make much sense.

Tell me more about why people should have at least one plant.
We need a moment of awakening. I am very sincere in honoring the value of science. But on the other hand, science needs to, and kids in the schools need to, have a foundation in nature. We can’t continue to create a generation of children who know more about Apple computers and uploading information and data into computers than they do about the fundamentals of how science works. When I water this plant, it reminds me to drink water. My plant has to be out in the sunshine. That reminds me, that as a human being, for my health, I have to go out in the sunshine. By encouraging each person to grow one plant, they can become connected again. We have a tendency now to become more and more fragmented.

What’s your take on biotechnology?
Are there conflicts between the organic movement and technology?

I am welcoming a dialogue with my family in the biotech movement because science is a beautiful terrain ... but we can’t lose sight of the overall picture. Being that we all live on the same planet, we have to be in dialogue. We need to sit down and look at the problems long-range and look at what we’re creating. Why solve problems through science or biotech that can be solved naturally. I mean, I understand that researchers get money from doing constant research, but we have to look long-term at the creations we do and what effect they’re going to have long-term. There’s no reason for anybody who has a brain to succeed in science to not come up with marvelous inventions, but I think we need an ethics behind that.

What kind of creations are you talking about?

There are major concerns about what happens when people change the nature of creation to create new things. We may have the ability, but do we have the wisdom? I mean, look, there’s certain creations I’d love to see. I mean, maybe, and I’m just playing, it would be not so bad to have a clone, you know? For people who are lonely, maybe a girlfriend or something. Or we could have extra body parts lying around when we needed them. You know what I mean? No, I’m just playing, but, there is a big contention that natural foods and biotech can’t coexist. When you put [technology] in the hands of people who don’t understand life or have the ethics in the first place ... or are mainly are concerned with profit, then you can start hurting people. I would support biotech inventions within medicine and things like stem cells and prolonging life. But I would not support it in food. The solution isn’t in genetically engineered food. Don’t try to create new foods through science. There’s a natural way to do it. Build up the soil.

What’s your lifestyle like?

I live in a natural environment called the Enchanted Garden Intentional Community near SDSU. I live with other people, other adults. ... I don’t live with people who necessarily agree with me and I eat with people who are eating all over the map -- from food orgasms to desserts to sweets to everything. In other words, I enjoy a challenge. I’m not into preaching to the choir. I am basically a whole, pure natural eater. I like farm fresh, local, organic. I’m not a vegetarian. I’m eating more and more vegetarian according to what my body needs, but I feel some people basically need higher protein foods. But I do think the more we become educated about who we are, then the lower we can live on the food chain.

Do you have any final thoughts?

Of course. Local is becoming a catch phrase and a trend, but that’s fine. Everyone should grow something of their own or buy from a local grower. ... I’d like to see everybody support the farmers markets. Go out of their way and go with neighbors. Anyone who goes is going to feel the power of local. You have people in social interaction. You find people conversing. You find people having fun. It’s a village. It is absolutely a village. And you know, we have to get the children back off the computer and get down some basics, and that’s tied in with food. Kids can’t just be exposed to sugar and getting whacked out. Now, Keep the Beet Media Star, if you ask her, she has far more radical ideas than I do.


-- Interview by DARRYN BENNETT



STORY ON LESLIE
FROM THE SAN DIEGO JEWISH JOURNAL

http://www.sdjewishjournal.com/stories/feb04_3.html


The Enchanted Gardener

The mystical and sometimes mystifying Leslie Goldman wants to change your world with chocolate peppermint.

As I sit down to talk with Leslie Goldman, also known as the Enchanted Gardener, he asks me to rub some chocolate peppermint between my hands and inhale deeply three times. He tells me my whole world can change in less than 15 seconds.

I'm not sure I'm ready to have my world change that fast.

"All the things you would do to make a plant grow are… symbolic of the things you and I need for our lives to grow," Goldman says. "I call that Plant Parenthood. In other words, letting the plants teach us how to find room in our lives for the things that are naturally meant to be part of our lives that we've forgotten."

Still confused, I ask him exactly what part of my life I've forgotten.

"We've forgotten our essence, a way of living that is soul-inspired," Goldman explains patiently. "The path of nature is a way to restore this essential connection."

Goldman gives me some seeds called Job's Tears and tells me that if I take the time to plant them, my dreams will come true.

I pocket them. They are later pummeled by the washing machine.

Goldman is a poet and mystic who takes much of his inspiration from an early Jewish mystical sect called the Essenes. The Essenes lived in the Middle East from the second century B.C.E through the first century C.E. They were pastoral people who grew their own food, practiced communal living and eschewed material excess, according to members of the Tree of Life Center, a neo-Essene retreat in Arizona.

The neo-Essene movement began with the publication of several books by the religious scholar Edmond Bordeaux Szekely in the early 20th century, says Susan Miller, Assistant Director at Tree of Life. Szekely inspired both Jews and non-Jews to embrace a simple holistic lifestyle of meditation, raw vegan eating and ritual bathing.

While Goldman believes strongly in the Essene way of living, he would rather call himself an Enchanted Gardener than an Essene because of the modern-day controversy that swirls around the ancient sect.

At the forefront of this controversy is the Essenes' relationship to Jesus. Jesus is thought to have lived within the sect, but religious scholars debate his role. Some believe the Essenes may have revered him as a Messiah; others feel he was merely an exalted teacher.

But Goldman points out that Essene philosophy predates Jesus by centuries. "I sense he saw himself as a man and a child of G-d, as we each are. I have no idea how many people in his day regarded him as a Messiah," Goldman says. "Those ideas were not promoted until several hundred years after Jesus' death.

"Many of us only know Jesus in the context of modern Christianity," Goldman continues. "Because of an association with Essene and Jesus we Jews are concerned that someone teaching about the Essenes may be trying to convert us; Essene teachings have nothing to do with this.

"The key is, I believe, is that [Jesus] was a teacher, who had tremendous gifts, but gifts no more significant than you or I," Goldman says. "We can each develop the same kinds of gifts if we take the time to come into contact with nature."

Goldman has suffered signs of crippling arthritis since the age of 15, and the Essene philosophy helped him find a way to survive, he says.

Goldman applied Essene philosophy to his own life when he spent two consecutive winters in the hospital for hip revisions. He introduced organic foods and natural healers to the hospital staff with the hope that these Essene values might some day become a permanent part of modern medical practice. He wrote a book about the experience titled Getting Hip,

a reference to his acceptance of his disability and to the possibility of "modern medicine getting hip to all it can be," he says.

Goldman had just graduated from Cal State Northridge in 1971, when he met Doctor Bernard Jensen, an early proponent of the healing arts. Jensen had traveled around the world studying philosophy, Goldman says, and the Essenes were his favorite school.

Unable to find a writing job at the time, Goldman began working for Jensen and eventually helped author two of Jensen's books. Jensen introduced Goldman to Szekely, who eventually ordained Goldman an Essene minister.

"My soul was calling me to a deeper purpose," Goldman says. "I was a good writer. I was writing about American Indians and had won numerous national feature awards. But the door that opened to me was in Escondido. It was like, as much as I found the Essenes, the Essenes found me."

Today, Goldman says he feels most comfortable at Jewish Renewal gatherings held in outdoor settings. He says B'nai Horin, a Jewish congregation in Los Angeles, is most receptive to his ideas. He often brings plants and seeds with him to services and gives them as presents to fellow congregants.

"Leslie asks us to recognize gardening as a sacred task," says Rabbi Stan Levy of B'nai Horin. "I really think he is referencing Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the garden of paradise. This earth, too, can be a paradise, as long as we treat it respectfully. Growing food for financial greed is not treating the earth respectfully. That's why Leslie supports organic foods and farmers."

Goldman feels strongly about getting to know the people who grow the food we eat. Not knowing who is growing our food, he says, is like being intimate with a stranger.

"In Judaism, we are always blessing our food," he explains. "For peace in our lives and the health of our community, I would like to see the Jewish people eating food that was blessed from the seed. When we buy food from farmers we know, we are both giving and receiving a blessing. Supporting local farmers will directly create better health in our homes."

Goldman regularly attends the Hillcrest Farmers Market.

"There's an opportunity here, it's like going back to our lineage," Goldman says. "Historically, Jews lived very close to the land. Shopping at the farmers market is a way to restore this deep-rooted expression of Judaism."

Goldman says his most important mission is to create peace on earth. By teaching people about the Essene way of life, writing poetry and supporting local farmers, he says, he plants the seeds for peace, one person at a time.

A few days after meeting Leslie, I found myself coming down with a cold. I went looking for chocolate peppermint.

The Hillcrest Farmers' Market is held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday in the DMV parking lot, 3970 Normal Street. More information about Leslie Goldman can be found at http://www.lesliegoldman.com.
More information about the Tree of Life Center can be found at http://www.treeoflife.nu/.


For feedback, contact editor@sdjewishjournal.com.



 

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