Twining Vines Curriculum

Our full season curriculum weaves together training in market gardening, contemplative practice and community building. Students learn how to care wisely for the land and developing insight and inner resilience through meditation and Buddhist teachings on ecology.

Organic Market Garden Training

Students learn how to sow seeds, plant, cultivate, harvest, prepare and market vegetables at three farmer’s markets. Hands on work day to day offers intimacy with the ever changing landscape. Field work is also challenging, requiring stamina, dedication, and mindful attention to detail. Weekly classes cover a full range of organic gardening topics including how to build healthy soil, propagate plants, irrigate, use cover crops, and work organically with garden pests.

Contemplative Practice

Students develop daily contemplative practices that fosters insight, resilience and community belonging. Contemplative training integrates wisdom from diverse fields including Zen Buddhism, psychology, and other somatic traditions. Some practices include meditation, mindfulness, council practice, communication skills, and conflict resolution. Discussion space explores responses to climate disruption and social injustice. Class series introduces students to a Buddhist view of interdependence and ethics in care of the earth.

Living and Working in Community

Students learn how to live and work together in a way that fosters support and harmony. The seasonal cohort organizes their own household with regular meetings and group events balancing togetherness and independence.

Zen Community Connection

Students are invited to partake in regular sangha events at Zen West/ Empty Field including retreats, workshops and social gatherings. Sangha members are an integral part of the farm, as volunteers, program supporters and retreat participants.