About Kechara Farm Project team

Under the guidance of H.E. the 25th Tsem Rinpoche, a bunch of us have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to do something different with our lives and to contribute to a growing community of higher consciousness-seekers. Our team comprises of people from different backgrounds and possessing various talents. Some have worked as educators, some have a medical background, while others were in finance or digital communications for many years. Each of us therefore, has something different to bring to the table. It is teamwork that makes the dream work.

Please Support Us 
As a child, His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche lived in a colonial house in Howell, New Jersey where he was responsible for the family’s vegetable garden in the half-acre backyard of their home. This meant that along with his homework and the countless other household tasks and chores he was responsible for, the eight-year-old Rinpoche had to till, plant, prune, weed, trim, fertilise and harvest all on his own.

Over the years, Rinpoche has often expressed his wish to have a vegetable farm in Kechara Forest Retreat, to cultivate crops we commonly consume in order to become more self-sustaining. One afternoon, the opportunity to start such a farm presented itself.

Inspired by Rinpoche, a group of Kecharians came together to undertake the farming project. We hope to be able to learn and grow as we produce our own vegetables, grown with our own bare hands, free of chemicals and pesticides for the community in Kechara Forest Retreat and anyone who visits. We also hope by doing this, we are able to contribute our drop in the ocean for a cleaner, greener, conscious community that supports and live in harmony with mother nature. This is our story. 

The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there? ~ The Buddha

How you can help?

Every little bit counts. The money you donate will go towards the purchases below and more will be added or taken off as we go along. 

The funds raised will be put towards:

1. Shed/shack
2. Piping for irrigation
3. Fencing for the farm (to keep out wild boar!)
4. Wood/bamboo to build trellises
5. Wheelbarrows (3x)
6. Greenhouse
7. Black netting
8. Solar lights
9. Assorted farming equipment (rake, hoe, hats, gloves, rubber boots)
10. Assorted fruit trees and plants (in particular, we are looking for Egypt Valencia orange, Cavendish banana and Fuji apple saplings and trees)
11. Pots (a variety) for plants
12. Seedling trays
13. Shelves for storing seedling trays (at the moment, seedling trays are being stored under the perimeter bamboo for protection. In the mornings, they are taken out from under the bamboo to get sun and at night, they are moved back into the shade)
14. Materials to make:
    1. A worktop
    2. An outdoor wood-burning oven
15. Assorted kitchen utensils
16. Ongoing expenses:
    1. Topsoil
    2. Manure/bio-compost
    3. Seedlings
    4. Natural pesticides such as chillies
    5. Wood for cooking

Thank you so very much in advance for helping us to create a conscious community where we can live in harmony with mother nature and all sentient beings. Every little bit counts and we hope through our farming project, we can help create awareness about our earth, about living a healthier compassionate lifestyle that does not cause harm to the environment and to animals. To reduce livestock killing. To give back to the community and to show our gratitude as we are all interdependent, and for the kindness we have received from our spiritual teacher, His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche, who only wishes for us to grow and be the best that we can be.