“Shape clay into a bowl. It is the empty space inside that makes it useful.”
- Laozi, Daode Jing

There is space here for what you need to fill your spirit; community, connection, creativity, contemplation. Nestled on 25 peaceful acres in Vermont’s Stone Valley, Stone Bowl Farm supports your personal, spiritual and creative growth through individual and intimate group retreats, workshops, and events dedicated to spirituality, wellness, the arts, and tea. The Farm is also home to Three Mountains Interspiritual New Monastic Community and The Daoist Foundation.

At Stone Bowl Farm you will find:

• A sanctuary from everyday life. One where you can explore yourself and your spirituality in community and in safety.

• Spirituality that is accessible and welcoming: Universalist, ecumenical, and embracing all paths to the Divine.

• A diverse community united in service, and dedicated to regeneration, creativity, collaboration and care.

• Workshops, retreats, classes and events for groups and individuals.

• Training and practices rooted in tradition, yet designed to work in the real world.

In addition, the farm is available for rental to host your intimate events and workshops, rustic weddings, ceremonies, and other gatherings.

Come to the Farm, and discover the space you need to grow.

Our Philosophy

A bowl is a metaphor for the human vessel, a perfectly imperfect container for all that we are and can become. It is the emptiness inside that is useful; the emptiness from which our spirit grows. In our lives, this bowl can be filled with too little, overflowing or with just enough to truly satisfy. At Stone Bowl Farm, we seek to to fill our bowl with “enough,” and this philosophy is embodied through healthful, natural, simple, balanced, spiritually-centered creative practices. We encourage and support environmental stewardship, regenerative collaborations, connection, contemplation and creativity in all ways from organic gardens to tea ceremony. We also see the Farm as an ecumenical container, holding space for the development of spiritual aspirations from across traditions.

Central to the ethos of Stone Bowl Farm is the concept of a “handmade life” - a way of living that slows down, finds beauty and richness in the natural world, handmade objects, homegrown and homemade food, simple ritual and gatherings of creative expression, and relationships tended with presence and love. We find that living a handmade life is deeply nourishing to our bodies, minds and spirits, reconnecting us to our humanness and the larger world, and enriching every moment of life. We also strive for zero-waste, recycling, reusing and repurposing all materials in keeping with environmentally-conscious principles and using local resources mindfully, as we tend the land as stewards, preserving it for future generations.

Our Story

Stone Bowl Farm was created in 2015. Previously a commune and an artists’ studio, the Farm had been neglected for several years before being purchased by Lauryn Axelrod as a place to help others nurture their spirit through workshops and retreats. With the help of volunteers from around the world, the farm has been transformed into a living, breathing center that countless people have enjoyed as a respite, refuge and regenerative haven for body, mind and spirit. In 2023, it became home to Three Mountains Interspiritual New Monastic Community and The Daoist Foundation.