Working on the farm is very different to regular retreats in Plum Village. The work can be tiring and often hard, requiring stamina and commitment. The needs of the farm are constant and extensive so applicants need to enjoy robust physical, emotional and psychological health. Many have shared that their year on the farm made a deep impact on their life and that it was a life-changing experience.
Happy farm day how to#
We will also provide training in mindfulness practice and how to facilitate the basic Plum Village practices.Ī year working on the farm in Plum Village offers many invaluable benefits including increased self-awareness, deeper joy, increased confidence and a better ability to take care of suffering. Working on the Happy Farm for a year will bring a lot of insight into farming and the ability to grow your own food.
We are invited to support this practice energy by living in accordance with the Five Mindfulness Trainings and by attending the schedule. We have regular contact with monastics and lay practitioners and we contribute to as well as greatly benefit from the collective practice energy. Our work and practice is supported by living and working within a monastery setting. During the summer months we all camp to make space for the many short term guests who come for the big retreats. Our experience is that living communally in this way leads to deeper relationships and accelerated spiritual growth. Two days a week are communal days of mindfulness with the whole sangha and one day a week is „Lazy day“, time to rest and do nothing.Īccommodation will be in shared rooms where we get to practice with the joys and difficulties of community life. A typical daily schedule - 4 days a weekĦ.00 am Sitting Meditation with the whole Sanghaħ.45 pm Sitting Meditation with the whole Sanghaīesides working on the farm, we take part in many of the regular hamlet activities such as morning and evening sitting meditation, community meals and days of mindfulness. Each session normally begins with a 5-minute sitting meditation and a brief group check-in.
We use the breath to anchor ourselves in the present moment, stopping to listen to the bell at times throughout the day and having regular team sharings. We endeavour to apply the principles of mindful working on the farm, nourishing seeds of joy and happiness, building sisterhood and transforming suffering. During the year we will also facilitate groups of adults visiting and working on the farm. The main duties of the farm include planning, seeding, bed preparation, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, machine maintenance and mowing. Our work includes a wide variety of tasks. The bulk of the work will begin in March when we begin seeding. It's at the end of the three months that will be decided about staying for a year.Īt the start of the year in January, the work on the farm consists mainly in planning and group building. In this retreat everyone follows the daily schedule and working on the farm happens during service times. For the first three months everyone takes part in the yearly Rains Retreat, a three-month intensive time of practice with the community. If your application is successful, you will be asked to first take part in the Rains-retreat. The project is one year long and starts August/September 2021. The project provides an opportunity to live for one year in a mindfulness practice centre, to learn how to apply mindfulness to work, and to build a group of happy farmers, capable of working in harmony with each other and the environment to provide healthy locally grown food for the community. If so, you can combine the two! What is the project?
Do you want to live for a year and practice with the PlumVillage community?