Jess (They/Them) was raised mostly in Montana and spent their life traveling and living in many different bioregions across the country, finding recent purchase in Knoxville, where they have dedicated their life to expanding their knowledge and relationship with the living world around them. They advocate for indigenous practices of land stewardship and plant-human relations through their passion of ethnobotany study. The land and the people are their teachers. With a never-ending curiosity, they focus on community-based learning and hands-on experience. Part of their day to day includes foraging and growing native plants to support biodiversity in the ecosystem and restore native habitats, believing that food is medicine, not only for the physical body, but for the spirit and collective of every living thing.
They have been working with the Knox County Community Gardens and Growers Alliance as Assistant Garden Manager at the Pastor Richard S. Brown Jr. Community Garden since July 2025 – growing and harvesting fresh produce while imagining and supporting ways to bring people and plants together in community.