The Happy Farm is a mindfulness and agroecology project that incorporates regenerative and organic practices.
Plum Village has three organic and regenerative farms: one in the Upper Hamlet one in Lower Hamlet and one in the New Hamlet. Upper Hamlet with the monks, Lower and New Hamlet with the nuns
Our farms and gardens catalyze individual and collective human healing and transformation while supplying our community with delicious, seasonal, and nutrient-dense organic food year-round. Volunteers and guests on our Happy Farms experience firsthand the interconnection between earth, rain, sun, seed, food, body, and farmer. We practice mindfulness in all of our farm work to cultivate individual, societal, and planetary well-being.
Inside every one of us is a garden, and every practitioner has to go back to their garden and take care of it. Maybe in the past, you left it untended for a long time. You should know exactly what is going on in your own garden, and try to put everything in order. Restore the beauty; restore the harmony in your garden. If your garden is well tended, many people will enjoy it.
Thich Nhat Hanh
We are honoured to be fulfilling Thich Nhat Hanh’s dream of establishing the farms, and turning the land into a beautiful sanctuary for farmers, retreatants, volunteers and our more than human family. The Happy Farms are a concrete expression of meditation engaged with action, in the area of ethical and sustainable farming.
Find out more on the Happy Farms website.
Other Happy Farm Media
Listen to an episode of the Plum Village podcast, ‘The Way Out is in’ entitled ‘Happy Farmers Change the World‘ with Sister Lam Hy (Sister Forest) who created the Happy Farm at Plum Village Lower Hamlet and Mick McEvoy who has been leading the Happy Farm project in Upper Hamlet for the last ten years.
Melompat ke Rewilding, Happy Farm Retreats
Rewilding
In 2020 Plum Village, Upper Hamlet became the guardians of 20 hectares of old degraded farmland that are now rewilding and regenerating. The Plum Village Community wished to take meaningful action on home soil in the face of the Climate and Nature Emergencies. The Plum Village Community hopes that retreat guests and residents who spend time on this land can continue their journey of healing and transformation as they witness the healing and transformation of this land as it returns to oak forest.
The rewilding project is supported by the Happy Farm project in Plum Village, Upper Hamlet. The Upper Hamlet Happy Farm team offer outdoor Sacred Ecology retreats on this rewilding land centring ‘Earth as Teacher’. Together through practices, workshops, and service meditations retreatants bear witness to the teachings that this wild land is offering that run in parallel with the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and the Buddha leading to healing, transformation, and regeneration.
Melompat ke Rewilding, Happy Farm Retreats
Happy Farm Retreats
Every Spring and Autumn the Happy Farms in Upper, Lower and New Hamlet offer Happy Farm retreats. We practice service meditation during the retreat on the Happy Farm when we enjoy bringing mindfulness to our organic farming work. During these retreats we share and experience together what it means to bring mindfulness to work. We also enjoy Plum Village mindfulness practices such as sitting meditation, walking meditation and “Dharma / Farmer sharing” during the week alongside specially curated themed workshops combining relevant themes with the Dharma. At the end of the week, we like to celebrate together to say thank you for your presence and practice with us. These retreats are organised and facilitated by the lay members of the Happy Farm team with the support of the monastic community.
Once a year the Upper Hamlet Community and Happy Farm offer this special two-week immersive retreat based centred on Mindfulness, Sacred Ecology, Rewilding and Nature Connection. Here is some information on that retreat.
“We are living through incredible times. Collectively on our planet as a human and ‘more than human’ family we are in the midst of a climate emergency, and an ecological emergency. As a human family, we are also in the midst of a social emergency. As a species, we have become disconnected from the natural world. We have forgotten how to live with our ‘original instructions’, in harmony with the earth and all those we share her with. This triple emergency is the root of deep suffering for so many. In this two-week immersive experience in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, we will explore these themes together.
Whilst we acknowledge there is ill-being and suffering, we also acknowledge that there is a path to well-being and healing set out by the Buddha and continued by Thay. Together we will dive deep into these teachings supported by the Upper Hamlet community and the Happy Farm family. We will take refuge in nature. We will spend time exploring and experiencing the regenerative cultures and practices of the Happy Farm during our service meditations. We will spend time out and on the 20 hectares of wild land of Plum Village that we are rewilding. Together through practices, workshops, and service meditations we will bear witness to the teachings that this wild land is offering us that run in parallel with the teachings of Thay and the Buddha which lead to healing, transformation, and regeneration.
Healing, transformation, and regeneration for the land. Healing, transformation, and regeneration for ourselves.
We were born for these times.”