Deer Park Happy Farm
Inspired by the Happy Farms at Plum Village in France, we are establishing a community-centered organic farm that integrates mindful living with regenerative farming.
Vision
The Deer Park Happy Farm is situated near the eucalyptus grove at the main entrance to Deer Park Monastery, on the right hand side of the road as you enter the monastery grounds.
Our vision is to cultivate a space where mindfulness intersects with sustainable agriculture, nourishing the well-being of individuals, society, and the planet.
We hope not only to feed the monastery, but also to involve our neighbors and their families in helping with the farm, fostering a sense of community and shared purpose.
May this farm become a sacred place of practice, where each seed planted is a prayer, each harvest a song of gratitude.
Support the Happy Farm at Deer Park
- Contribute to our Happy Farms fundraising campaign
- Get your hands in the soil—offer service at one of our upcoming community work days.
- Let your friends, family, and community know about our initiative
Get Involved
Community Work Days: Join us for our Saturday Community Work Days. These will be announced in the Coyote Tracks newsletter and on our Events Calendar.
Short & Long-Term Volunteers: In spring 2025, we welcomed our first group of volunteers who are living at Deer Park and working on the Happy Farm. Currently we are at capacity and we hope to make more space available soon. Check back on our Volunteer Page for more information and upcoming volunteer opportunities.
Make a Financial Contribution: We invite you to help bring the Happy Farm to life. We are creating a mindful farming community that will sustain and nourish many generations of people. We need your support to establish a foundation that will make this vision possible.
Help Support Deer Park Happy Farm
We invite you to help bring the Happy Farm to life. We are creating a mindful farming community that will sustain and nourish many generations of people. We need your support to establish a foundation that will make this vision possible.
Water – Sustain Life
Our first and most crucial need is establishing a sustainable water system. This includes:
Drilling a well (Complete, $30,000)
Installing a pump (March, $16,955)
Setting up water storage (March, $12,700)
Creating irrigation systems (March, $5,500)
$65,155 total
Your contribution to water infrastructure will quite literally help the farm flow with life for years to come.
Garden Beds – Touch The Earth
We’re starting with three garden beds (75′ x 50′ each), with plans to expand to ten. Initial needs include:
Soil testing and consultation (January, $3,000)
Organic compost and soil preparation (Complete, $4,000)
Essential hand tools for mindful farming (February, $3,600)
Fencing to protect our growing spaces (March, $1,000)
Initial seedlings from Sage Hill Ranch Gardens (February, $2,900)
$14,500 total
Your gift helps create the fertile ground where our community will grow together.
Greenhouse – Protect and Nurture
The greenhouse will allow us to extend our growing season and nurture seedlings. We need:
Site preparation (April, $1,000)
Greenhouse structure (April, $25,000)
Ventilation and electrical systems (April, $3,700)
$29,700 total
Supporting the greenhouse means we will be able to nurture our own seedlings.
Farm to Monastery – Nourish the Community & the Land
Our aspiration is to mindfully steward this land while growing food sustainably for the monastery and creating spaces that support the practice of our community and farm team:
Timber and forestry work (March, $9,500)
Washing station (May, $7,000)
Community gathering area (June, $11,000)
Fruit tree hedging (April, $3,500)
Organic compost (May, $5,000)
Mulch (May, $2,000)
$38,000 total
Total Funding Goal: $147,355
Each donation, no matter the amount, helps bring this vision to life. Your support creates conditions for mindful farming, sustainable food production, and the transformation of our community and the world.
For questions about donations or our funding needs, please contact: happyfarm@deerparkmonastery.org
Thank you for helping support us and making Thich Nhat Hanh's vision come to fruition.
Explore Online Courses
From time to time we offer multi-week courses related to mindfulness, the teachings and life of Thich Nhat Hanh, and a variety of similar subjects. Please see our schedule of upcoming courses.
Plum Village App
Take the Deer Park Monastery and Plum Village community with you wherever you go. The Plum Village app is designed to cultivate mindfulness, compassion, and joy through guided meditations, deep relaxations, practice poems, bells of mindfulness, and other practices — all through a mobile device.
