Jon joined the Center for Land-Based Learning as the Beginning Farmer Training Program Manager in May of 2021. Jon is honored and excited at the opportunity to help fellow farmers grow into their potential. Prior to coming onboard at the Center for Land-Based Learning, Jon tried on a number of careers including photographer, sales manager, and government office worker, before realizing that agriculture is where he belonged. He is the owner of The ReFarmery in Rio Linda, California, where he has been farming since 2016. Before that, he worked the land as a homesteader.Farms grow and change and his farm still operates, selling at farmers markets, through a Community Supported Agriculture program, and supplying restaurants with his farm goods. Jon grows vegetables, herbs, flowers, and raises chickens (egg layers and broilers), geese, and rabbits and also hopes to find space for sheep again, one day.Born and raised in Sacramento, Jon has moved out of the area a few times, but has always been drawn back, in part, by the constant access to fresh local food. His grandfather attempted to grow massive gardens and orchards in the rocky foothills above Marysville, and he taught Jon about the challenges of tending the land. Especially since most of their spoils ended up feeding the local deer. These experiences growing up in the gardens and playing under the trees played a formative role in Jon’s passion for farming. When not growing food or helping others on their journey to grow food, Jon can be found spending his time in the kitchen baking, cooking, fermenting or brewing, and outside of the kitchen reading or spending time with friends, and family.