Bethlehem Priory of St. Joseph

A ranch at the end of Water Canyon Road

The priory sits in a valley of oak trees, pastures and a small lake, high in the Tehachapi Mountains, an hour from Bakersfield. Spring turns the hills green, summer turns them gold, and winter can bring snow.

When the sisters arrived in 1999, the property was an old 1960s ranch. They turned its game room into a chapel, brought in trailers to live in, and have been building ever since. Ground was broken in 2026 for a new wing, because the community has run out of room.

The sisters

Five women from Southern California started this community in 1997. Today there are more than forty, and young women keep joining. They belong to the Norbertines, an order founded in 1121 by a priest named Norbert in the valley of Prémontré, in northern France. This priory was the first community of Norbertine sisters in the United States.

The sisters live in a cloister: most of their day happens out of sight, behind the enclosure. You'll hear them first, singing in the chapel several times a day, much of it in Gregorian chant. You'll see them at the gift shop and around the farm, often with a dog or two.

The farm

"Ora et labora", pray and work, is the old monastic rule. Here the work is a farm. The sisters breed Labrador Retrievers and Anatolian Shepherds, and each litter spends its first eight weeks being handled and getting used to new people, children and other animals.

There are also East Friesian dairy sheep, a few dairy cows and a very gentle Dexter bull. Since 2023, sheep and cows graze together and move from pasture to pasture. A vegetable garden and a greenhouse keep the kitchen supplied.

The sisters make Mountain Priory Cheese by hand, from raw milk bought at a local dairy (Original, Italian Herb, Smoked Chipotle), and sell it at the gift shop with macaroons, biscotti, granola, jams, soap and lip balm from their kitchen and workshops.

Where you'll sleep

Guests stay in a mobile home on the property. It is basic, closer to a cabin than a hotel room, and it only takes a few people at a time, so you'll have the valley mostly to yourself. Bring warm layers: mountain nights are cool, even in summer.