the farm & garden

“It was a paradise for a gardener.”

— Dick Horan, caretaker and artist

The seeds of the Esalen Farm & Garden were sown in the late 1960s, when early resident fellow Rain Bear began growing fresh lettuce for the impromptu dinner parties she hosted with her partner, Encounter Group creator Will Schutz. This sparked the transformation of overgrown grass fields into the thriving garden beds we enjoy today. A once-wild hillside became Esalen’s first edible experiment — an early symbol of our commitment to sustainability and embodied living.

By the early 1980s, the north side of the property had become a fertile hub for sustainable agriculture — a living expression of Esalen’s ethical DNA, blending ecology, education, and community.

“The idea was just to have some ownership and relationship to the land. There was this interest in taking the idea of self-responsibility a little larger than just this smaller definition of self.”

— Steven Harper, workshop leader and wilderness guide

Over the decades, we have experimented with organic, biodynamic, and permaculture principles, learning from visionaries and exploring different planting and composting techniques.

"Farming here at Esalen is so wonderful. It's just this constant invention," said Steve Beck, former head of the Farm & Garden. "I took everything, every scrap of anything that had ever grown at Esalen, all of the stuff from the grounds, all of the stuff from the kitchen, all of the leftovers from the harvest, all the cardboard that ever came through the place. It would all go over to our compost pile.”

Today, the Farm & Garden provides food for over 12,000 annual guests, and maintains relationships with Big Sur’s community-supported agriculture organizations. Beneath every seed lies deeper soil and story: The land on which the garden blooms has been stewarded for millennia by the Esselen people and continues to be honored today.

“There’s such a richness and a depth to the soil here that you can attribute to not only the way in which it was formed geologically, but also to the generations upon generations of people that have cared for the soil, all the way back to the Esselen people.”

— chris omer, former esalen farmer

The growth of the Esalen Farm & Garden has been a collective effort, a testament to the diversity of hands that have tended it, from residents and apprentices to seekers from around the world. Each contributor’s story, whether they plant seeds or tend the harvest, is woven into the tapestry of this land, making the Farm & Garden a symbol of life’s cyclical beauty and the power of collective care.

During the pandemic, the Farm & Garden coordinated with The Big Share to provide over 3,500 pounds of produce weekly to more than 200 Big Sur families. In 2022, kitchen donations reached 240 meals per week for neighbors in need.

Today, the Farm & Garden is a space for experiential learning. From apprentice programs to farming workshops, participants practice seed starting, composting, irrigation, team-based harvesting, and reciprocity with the land. Head of the Farm & Garden Candice Isphording continues the legacy of food sustainability, relational agriculture, and land-based education at Esalen, leading endeavors with medicinal plants, natural dyes, and beekeeping. The Farm & Garden is no longer just a source of food — it is a vibrant classroom and sanctuary of growth, creativity, and healing, and a reminder of how deeply we are nourished by the land and one another.

“People come to the Farm & Garden to work, but what they find is something much deeper. They remember their birthright — to tend the land, to grow food, to be in relationship with the earth again. The work heals them. It changes how they see the world. That’s the magic we witness here, again and again.”

— Candice Isphording, Head of Farm & Garden