
Section Life on this site is about me, Lena Nechet:
- professional (resume, CV, artist statement) and
- private life (about, logs, favorites, fruitarian).

Hi, my name is Lena Nechet. I am an independent European visual artist on the West Coast of the USA. My fine art signature is L∃N∀ and I used my brand name LTalks™ for profiles and products in the past. I concentrate on abstract portraits from life and memory.
My academic background is in economics (Master's and Bachelor of Science). I am experienced in web development and design. I studied and practiced media production and made short documentary films.
I am a Ukrainian-raised mixed Slavic-German national. I settled in Southern California, most recently in Oceanside, CA, to establish an eco-friendly art studio and a small orchard. Previously, I lived in several European and two American cultures and spoke a few languages.
I am an optimistic "optimalist" who prefers a minimalist lifestyle and lives primarily on fresh fruit. I cherish connections with kind and intelligent people and enjoy freestyle dancing, endurance running, and breaststroke swimming. I support environmental, ethical, and humanistic causes.
In short, I am a fruitarian humanist from Europe who could not return home and then found love and a place under the Sun on the Pacific Coast of America.
I appreciate your interest!
About × 41
In addition to introduction and formal statements, in this section I have more informal and personal self-description: my values and origins, and selected autobiographical stories from childhood to adult life.
Origins × 18
Before 1980s - my family of origin, birthplace, and circumstances.
Changing cultures taught me that people like to check where you came from to reduce their own barrier from your strangeness, and I am all for it. I love people's stories, and here is mine.
Childhood × 10
About 1980s - my early years of life, till the onset of puberty.
Adolescence × 3
About 1990s - after puberty into early youth: my teenage years and early twenties.
Adolescence, growing up, is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development.
Youth × 1
About 2000s - more of my determining years, mid and late twenties into thirties - my life in the West.
Adulthood × 0
2010s, 2020s, ... Current states and reflections.
Logs & Articles × 154
This is a collection of my short and longer writings, lifestyle notes and blog, vlog, favorites, quotes, and other publications: flow of present moments, now, current happenings and activities, mental states, immersion, focus, involvements, moods, feelings, and states of mind.
Journal - periodically and randomly published records of personal experiences and observations.
Essays - pieces of writing by that present arguments.
Essays & Notes × 63
My short and longer texts, from notes to formal essays, with lists, facts, and opinions.
Essays - short literary compositions, presenting ideas in a non-fictional way.
Notes - brief records, especially written down to aid the memory; comments, explanations.
Poems × 9
My own verse.
Verse is a metrical writing.
Poem
- a verbal composition, in which the words are chosen for their sound
and for ideas and images they suggest, and are arranged in separate
lines, often ending in rhyme.
Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and
rhythmic qualities of language. This form of art is thousands years old,
and originated in Africa.
Notable Days × 14
Occasional informal reports and random anecdotes.
Anecdotes - brief accounts of an incident,
stories with a point to communicate an abstract idea about a person,
place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative.
Lifestyle Blog × 35
Personal web log: from running and swimming to my fruitarian lifestyle.
Vlog × 33
My random video logs - videos from daily life and something notable to remember.
Favorites × 186
My favorite creations by other people.
Quotes × 149
Featured Quotations
From the early teenage years, I educated myself by writing down my favorite passages from the books I read. Then I analyzed and systematized them, defining my own worldview. I lost my records during migrations, and this is my attempt to keep some of the sayings.
Quotes - expressions full of meaning or beauty, favorite or simply very interesting sayings, concepts, thoughts, ideas, understandings, notions, opinions, views, believes, intentions, and ideals.
I include here my favorite poems, lyrics, as well as koans, proverbs, and longer prose excerpts.
Poem - a verbal composition designed to convey experiences, ideas, or emotions in an imaginative way, characterized by language chosen for its sound and suggestive power, and by the use of meter, metaphor, or rhyme.
Koan is a puzzling or paradoxical statement to be meditated upon, anecdote, question, or verbal exchanges.
Reading × 10
I list here books I read, nowadays primarily e-books and audio-books.
Literature for me is an art form, writing that has both artistic and intellectual value. Literary fiction, mostly classic, I read overwhelmingly in the first part of my life - poetry and prose. Non-fiction is what I prefer now.
People × 3
Notable works by interesting people and their lives and ideas: artists, scientists, poets, writers, teachers, inventors, lovers, gardeners, and other beings.
Show × 19
Cinema, Theater, Music, Dance, Talks
Under this category I keep:
- My favorite motion pictures like movies and animation movies, records of theatrical presentations, various good show on video, lectures, memorable talks, great interviews, and regular comedy and news shows.
Cinematography is the art of motion photography and filming.
- My favorite compositions of sounds arranged in time; rhythms, melodies, and songs.
Music - artistic auditory communication, instrumental or vocal tones, rhythm.
- My favorite choreography and dancers, including ballet.
Dance - performing art of purposefully selected sequences of human movements that have aesthetic and symbolic value.
Various × 5
Miscellaneous favorite things and phenomena.
Fruitarian × 283
Fruitarianism is a quest for optimal ethical ways to live and healthy diets based on fruits and seeds.
The line above is the essence of my worldview as a fruitarian. I am a long-term ethical vegan-fruitarian (frugan) since my teenage years, about 1993.
I advocate for a greater proportion of fruits in human diet for ethical and environmental reasons, which also seems to be rather healthy for most of us.
Since 2007, I ran small and bigger online fruitarian communities. In this section I will gather published there useful articles on fruitarianism related to my own experience, including materials from the International Fruitarian Network (2009-2019).
Orchard × 5
All about my little fruitarian orchard in Southern California, US planting zone 10a (extreme minimum temperature 30-35 F or -1 to 1.7 C, USDA Plant Hardiness Zone), founded in 2018. The growing surface is about 0.17 acre (or approximately 688 square meters), and more than half is taken by the native or already established plants, like yucca, pines, palms, schinus, and sago).
This tiny garden is located ~3.5 miles (~5.6 km) from the Pacific coastline, on a hill, and is exposed to strong winds - usually cold, bus sometimes from the desert, blazing southern Californian Sun, and significant daily temperature changes. Lots of wild life visits it, especially birds.
We have very little rain most of the year, and the city water here is very expensive because of the drought conditions. The native soils are very poor, with clay and rocks. I am building the soil up with compost, mulch, and other methods from permaculture, Hügelkultur, and other horticultural techniques.
Plants in my orchard that live many years. I concentrate on trees, bushes, and self-propagating patches.
Data × 217
This is my collections of snippets of scientific data related to fruitarianism, environment, and health - from scientific internet publications and other seemingly credible online sources, with links:
- concise knowledge summaries of results derived by scientific method,
- short aggregated definitions and overviews, citations, expert opinions.
Sources:
- Primary sources, like governmental agencies, peer reviewed journals;
- Secondary sources, like scholarly articles and expert reviews;
- Tertiary sources, like encyclopedias, dictionaries, and textbooks.
Data - factual information used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation.
Knowledge - the body of truth, information, and principles acquired by humankind.
Definition - a statement of the meaning of a term.
Community × 44
- Materials from the Fruitarian network of practicing fruitarians, people considering fruitarian lifestyle, supporters and researchers of the fruitarian community.
- Fruitarian discussions - talking about fruitarianism, exchanging fruitarian ideas - conversations and debate about fruitarian topics.
- Plus, interesting people answer fruitarian questions and my responses to publications from a perspective of my version of fruitarianism.