Proud Member

Jonny Thomas here - owner of REGENERATE Garden Co., based in southwest Ohio, USA.

 

I come from a long history of farmers and ornamental gardeners hailing from California and the Midwest. My first job was working alongside my mother at a garden nursery and assisting her with various gardening jobs. We even built a heated greenhouse in our backyard so we could have a green sanctuary during the bitter Minnesota winters. I graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2011 and went on to work as a designer and visual artist, but plants have been a part of my life all along. In 2013, I headed for the hills of central Costa Rica to learn organic farming and permaculture (producing food ethically, sustainably and in alignment with natural systems).

 

My next stop was New Orleans, Louisiana, where I became immersed in the urban farming scene. This time was vital in shaping my idea of how food-production can be highly localized and specialized to fit the needs of a community or an individual family. Eventually, it was time to return to my home-state of California, where I worked on a number of growing operations, including the certified organic Wild Blue Farm in Tomales, set amongst the dairy farms and beautiful rolling hills of West Marin county.  

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In 2015, I began working as lead edible gardener at the Oakland, CA based Pine House Edible Gardens - led by author and revered designer, Leslie C. Bennet. Here I had the opportunity to exercise my food production skills within an ornamental gardening framework. During my time at Pine House, one garden I managed was featured in Sunset Magazine and another in Better Homes & Gardens magazine.

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In 2018, I moved to Southwest Ohio with my family. I worked for the National Audubon Society for two years before starting REGENERATE Garden Co. in 2020. Based in the burgeoning Dayton area (and servicing all of SW Ohio), I'm now focused on continuing my passion of creating beautiful, regenerative green-spaces.

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