Today we’d like to introduce you to Khadeem Thomas.
Hi Khadeem, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story begins or takes shape in my opinion, when I dropped out of college in 2016. After 3 1/2 semesters I lost the fervor I began with, the more I delve into who I was through the Bible and Numerology, the less interested I became in a college degree in Accounting. So I left and never looked back. As I read the Bible and learned that farming was a way of life in the days of Genesis, it spoke to me. I can do the same, experiencing ultimate freedom and sovereignty. I would no longer have to spend much on food if I was growing it myself. My mind shifted. From there that revelation led me down a path where I needed to become a producer of producers. I needed to learned some of everything so that I can be as independent of society as possible, from farming to home births, home schooling and entrepreneurship. Today, I’m a husband, father, farmer and businessman. I’ll be celebrating 5 beautiful years of marriage in the fall. I’m a father of 2 rambunctious young boys. I’m also the visionary behind Sun People Sanctuary, an Edible Botanical Food Forest and first ever u pick grocery store located in Junction City, Georgia.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No it has not been a smooth road, not even slightly, however I have had God with me every step of the way. From facing a $1,600 ticket payment to having it thrown out on a technicality. My wife and I’s wedding day being on a cold and rainy autumn day and viewing it from a positive stand point (blessings are raining down on us). We had two home births and the second of two, I delivered my son because our midwife didn’t make it in time. We endured a lot of loss during our transition to our new home two hours south of Atlanta. We lost over 50 chicken, a goat and had our guardian dog run away. My wife was pregnant at the time and we moved the bulk of our farm together, alone. We had some help but had to do a lot of driving back and forth to move items, then to pick up my then 1 year old son from grandparents. Oh and did I mention we developed raw land that had been untouched for over 30 years! I leveled our land out after our utilities were installed with a shovel and a rake, that’s it. We exhausted all of our finances just getting moved in and settled but that was only the beginning. We learned a lot along the way and have come out on the other end much more developed people. We have become a universal man and woman.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Sun People Sanctuary?
Sun People Sanctuary is a beacon of hope and change. We represent what is truly possible when you follow your dreams and are willing to work for what you want. Our mission is to help people to heal themselves from within using food as medicine. We are building an Edible Botanical Food Forest, which we have never seen before, let alone had programs like a U Pick Grocery store! We grow and have grown rare varieties of vegetables that are unavailable to the general public through the typical food systems. This is by design to remind people of the variety that exists within nature. Our farm is less of a competitor and more of a creator incorporating thoughtful designs with proper utilization.
We remind people that change doesn’t have to be painful or undesirable. We can enjoy healthy food and healthy living. Our community is slower paced, however they are not innovators. Our community on a micro level is pretty dated and we are bringing them forth into the 21st century! We are showing our people that you can grow your own food naturally, in coherence with the land, disease and pest free with proper cultivation. We grow everything, literally. All brassicas, legumes, nightshades, squash, just about every vegetable we are familiar with in America with a variety not found in stores. Many of our people will taste flavors they’ve only dreamt of and yearned for. Since we are plant-based, we cook plant-based meals for our family, extended family and community to give a live example of how much of what we desire in meat based dishes is flavored by plants!
Our goal is to use our initial project site as a demonstration of what is possible with food. Healthy food isn’t expensive, it is delicious, and it isn’t hard to come by. What it requires is a change of mind, perspective and heart. What we’ve learned is that once we change internally, the world around us changes as well, and we want to share this knowledge with our people. We can be healthy too; we can love ourselves too; we can grow our food too. We are covering the entire process from start to finish, dirt, seed, plant, fruit, harvest, preserve, prepare, ingest, digest, rest, and repeat. This means from growing the food from seed, caring for the plants, harvesting the fruit to eat, the leaves and medicine, preserving overflow to create new products, preparing delicious dishes, and remedying any remaining ailments through use of herbal medicine.
What are your plans for the future?
First will be production and outreach. Buying a tractor to increase productivity and hosting farm-to-fork meals with my wife to demonstrate “food ‘das foodin’’ as we are also chefs and herbalists. We will put more food in the ground, transplant the thousands of plants we currently have in our greenhouse including an array of veggies with herbs and fruit. We desperately need fencing to protect what we are planting from the surrounding wildlife. The deer, rabbits, and oh yeah, a wild peacock that protects our land but loves our strawberries! Once the seasons change and we experience some cold weather we would shift from summer planting to cold crops and continue clearing more land.
The next 6 months following will be pruning and expansion. We prune our fruit trees when they are dormant and propagate. By this point we would have about 30 different types of fruit trees (we currently have over 20) and be able to prune the majority of them and replant them to multiply our food forest into the land we are clearing. We will also be expanding our business model of healing people from within with several successful farm-to-fork breakfast, brunch, lunch and/or dinners. Our community will know what we represent in the health and wellness space being even more willing to support us in our endeavors. Our project site will be a better representation of a food forest as we will be further along in our process. By the final 6 month period, we would be in a position to create content with all we have documented over the journey. I also have a knack for storytelling and feel that ours is one of inspiration and motivation. I would be in a prime position after a year of focusing on our project solely to share our story with the masses through media. As we continue to plant, as we are always planting, a Biblical principle we practice, we will place a focus on documentation to help paint the picture.
Pricing:
- Food Forest Design – $500 – $7k
- Tasty Medicine – $150 – $2k
- Life Design – $250 – $2k
- Branding – $500 – $5k
- Bookkeeping – $50-$75/hr
Contact Info:
- Website: sunpeoplesanctuary.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sun.people.sanctuary/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunpeoplesanctuary/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmjoz14p9GvJkAhMpzlejGQ
Image Credits
If it’s not a selfie, the image credits go to my wife, Skyy Thomas. The photo of us together is credited to my mom, Anita Walker of Working for Christ, a non profit she founded.
