ROOTED

ROOTED
Where Food Becomes Foundation
Exclusive Interview with jøn kent
Featured in 'Innerviews'
Hosted by Allié McGuire

​Sanctuary Farms did not begin with a blueprint. It began with a belief that access to healthy food is not a privilege, but a right, and that land can be both a teacher and a refuge. In this conversation, jøn kent shares how cultivating connection, between people, resources, and purpose, became his way of restoring community and self alike.

ALLIÉ: Let's go back to the beginning of all of this. Before Sanctuary Farms was land, plans, or possibility, I imagine it was a feeling. Can you take me back to the moment when you first realized that this wasn't just something you wanted to do, but something you had to build?

JØN: I've always been a very caring person. My grandmother says that at a very young age she was aware that I had a conscience, but she was also alluding to her being a very spiritual woman.

Growing up in the city of Detroit, I got to experience and see a lot of divestment that was going on in the city. I had the experience of the tale of two cities, because though my parents weren't very wealthy, they were sure to show me a life in which people had. I want to be very clear, I didn't miss any meals. I was very fortunate. We were very wise about utilizing very limited resources to extend their longevity.

​JØN: (continued) I went on to do theater and acting, and acting is what I call the art of empathy. Acting is all about putting yourself in another person's shoes and being unjudgmental about why the character acts the way they do, which really opens up your own understanding of self and invites you to investigate who you are. There, I found that love is true to the core of my being, and I think that is true for many others, however it may manifest differently.

I became aware of the Anthropocene, this epoch we're living in, as a teenager. Wanting to understand more about myself and what I cared about, I realized I cared deeply about this because I saw that we were causing harm to something that has given us life. That has always stuck with me.

I went on to college at SMC, where I met Parker Jean, who is a dear friend and brother. We got involved in Associated Students, the student government at our community college. I would also meet my wife there, unbeknownst to me at the time. I have a lot of love and appreciation for SMC.

During our time in Associated Students, we were heavily involved in sustainability projects. Fast forward, I moved back home to Detroit. I had moved out to Santa Monica when I was a young teenager to pursue acting. When I moved back home, Parker was here, and we picked up where we left off on sustainability conversations.

We were both in our late twenties and not happy with our positionality in the world. We didn't feel like we were really doing anything to give back. We also didn't feel like we had power within our respective roles at the time. For us, it was asking how we could do something that we were passionate about, something we had agency in, and something that was actually good.

Parker got into landscaping, and he mentioned that composting wasn't being done at the level it could be in the city. That sparked everything, and here we are now.

ALLIÉ: And here we are now. The Sanctuary Farms story seems to be one about working in harmony with the land, not just cultivating food, but building relationships, stewardship, and community. Working with the land, what has it taught you about patience, trust, or leadership? What has it taught you that no traditional classroom or course could ever teach you?

JØN: I want to be very clear and hold up the contradictions, because I'm not a farmer, and I don't spend as much time on the land as I'd like to.

When Parker and I first started, I leaned on his ability and farm experience to help guide us. It began with building things together. I'm also very big on brain trust and speaking with elders, so I spoke with many people to understand the context of this work, what the gaps were, and how we could join in to make an impact, build upon their triumphs, and learn from their failures.

In doing so, I realized that both of us being on the farm full time was not going to get us to the next level.

​JØN: (continued) I’m really good at connecting with people. I am a storyteller. I know how to write. I'm relentless when it comes to reaching out to people and making the vision happen.

Parker works more directly on the land, while I'm behind the scenes putting the pieces together and making sure everything works as it relates to policy, funding, and bringing on team members. The goal is eventually to get to a place where we have such a robust team that I can sit down more and enjoy it.

I think if I'm the viewer, it would beg the question, why are you so passionate about this if you hardly get to enjoy it?

Because I have enjoyed it. I do continue to enjoy it. It's not that I'm never at the farm.

The closest I've been to divinity is in nature.

There have been many pivotal moments in my life where I wasn't sure where I was going to go or where life was going to take me. Going into nature, deeper nature, mountains, Santa Cruz, the beach in Santa Monica, it has always informed me and endowed me with the spirit of resilience and connection.

I want to be part of something that I didn't necessarily have access to growing up in Detroit.

I became far more connected with nature when I moved across the country to a space that was very well resourced, but didn't have a lot of people who looked like me. This work is very important to me because I want to ensure all humans have access to that.

I'm not here to save the world. I don't think one person can do that. But I am here to help my community the best way that I can.

I believe the way we are doing it, through food sovereignty, nature equity, and creating quality soil, is our way.

ALLIÉ: I love everything about what you just shared. Sanctuary Farms isn't just helping people, it's restoring access, agency, and dignity. How do you personally define food justice? And what do you think most people misunderstand about that?

JØN: Food justice is ensuring that people who historically have not had power within the system are helping create that system and have agency within it.

Food access and food security mean there is enough food. But you could have food security in prison. That does not mean food justice.

Food sovereignty means people have ownership and equity within the land or business that produces food.

Together, these create a transformative food system.

ALLIÉ: That is so brilliantly defined.

JØN: I didn't come up with that. I'm a student. It is important to iterate what one has learned and emphasize that this comes from many works within the past. What I'm here to do is help make sure it is implemented where we have control.

ALLIÉ: The word sanctuary carries a lot of weight. When someone steps into Sanctuary Farms for the first time, what do you hope they feel?

​JØN: Home. Peace. Connection. Appreciation. Respect. Love. Community. Confidence. Responsibility. Accountability.
Sanctuary was fitting because it spoke to the sacredness of the land and this space being a refuge.
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ALLIÉ: Creating something rooted in equity, healing, and community is powerful, but rarely easy. What has been the hardest truth you've had to sit with as a founder?

JØN: Is the work enough?

Are we replicating models that are still part of harmful systems?

Sanctuary Farms does not exist in a vacuum. We must constantly examine ourselves and ensure we are not operating in ignorance of our misalignments.

Intention does not correlate to impact.

Ignorance is not an excuse. It is an opportunity to learn and grow.

ALLIÉ: Years from now, long after seasons change, Sanctuary Farms will leave something behind. When future generations tell its story, what do you hope they say it stood for?

JØN: The love of land and people.

Love is responsibility. It is honesty. It is trust. It is care.
Love is the redemptive force that allows us to rise again. ∎

Learn more about Sanctuary Farms:
www.sanctuaryfarming.com

Follow on Instagram:
@sanctuary.farms