Robin Singh had everything he wanted and more—well-settled in the US, financial freedom, married to the love of his life—except he was not happy. It was in his pursuit of happiness that he stumbled across his purpose. He found what he had been looking for when he started Peepal Farm, an animal rescue center and kombucha brewery.

Peepal Farm is an animal rescue organization and an organic farm located in Dhanotu Village, Himachal Pradesh, with the primary objective of healing and protecting animals and transforming their suffering.

The project employs 60 people in projects that include animal rescue, animal sanctuary, food and beverage products, and an animation studio. The animation studio produces short clips to raise awareness of their vision and bring lasting change by changing how people think about animals. They have 50 to 80 million views monthly.

The founder’s philosophy is stated on their website:

Live to do maximum good; live while causing minimum harm. It’s our understanding that involuntary physical suffering is an absolute bad across all species; so reducing suffering and nurturing changes that reduce suffering is absolutely good.

This philosophy is explained in more detail in the newly published book Happiness Happens–the story of Robin’s journey from a difficult childhood in India to finding success as a tech entrepreneur in the States, who had everything in life except happiness. It was in his pursuit of happiness that he stumbled across purpose. It eventually took giving up on happiness and pursuing purpose before he realized that he had finally found what he had been looking for back in his homeland. The book describes what happened between his exit from his tech company and his use of the funds to start Peepal Farm.

As part of a quest to reach more people, spread their message, and support their program, Robin launched Peepal Farm Products. Starting with farm-grown herbs, the product line gradually expanded into a range of categories with a major aim in mind — to generate more employment for women and income for work with animals. Peepal Farm Products employs women of the village to make the products by hand. The team creates everything from vegan food to upcycled decor, skincare products, and delicious kombucha.

They sell a range of nutritious foods all prepared in small batches: Crunchy Peanut Butter, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate Spread, Vegan Snack, Vegan Muesli, Vegan Energy Bars, Vegan Body Butter Lavender, and Flourless Chocolate Cookies Sweetened with Dates and Jaggery. There are gift baskets and individual items for sale.

With an ethos of “Consume less, harm less”, they even encourage people NOT to buy their products! Indeed, they are one of the premier suppliers of SCOBYs and starter liquid for home brewers, allowing them to start enjoying their own kombucha rather than purchasing commercial. They have recipes and how-tos for almost everything they sell on social media. But for people who don’t have the time for that, they can buy the products knowing that they minimize waste and packaging, and all of the profits go towards saving animals.

A blend of cane sugar, black tea, and purified Himalayan water is fermented over a week or two, and shipped pan-India in plastic bottles, which are safer and easier to send than glass. The label tells the story.

The kombucha is shipped pan-India and can be ordered from their website. It’s also available in selected retail outlets in the Kangra region. In keeping with their founding philosophy, the purpose of the product sales, including kombucha, is to raise awareness of their cause, not just to generate income. The animals are the ultimate beneficiaries of the sales.

Robin shares the story of Peepal Farm in this interview.

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