edible COLUMBUS | Summer 2019 | Issue No. 37 by Edible Columbus

Complimentary

edible COLUMBUS THE STORY OF LOCAL FOOD

D irector of A griculture +

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SUMMER 2019

SUMMER 2019 | CONTENTS

DE PA RTMEN T S 4 EDITOR’S NOTE

6 #EDIBLECOLUMBUS 8 LOCAL & IN SEASON 9 EAT 12 CULTURE 16 DIY

18 TRAVEL 20 ARTISAN 37 ADVERTISER DIRECTORY 40 HERO

FE AT U RE S

22 DOROTHY PELANDA

A Q&A with the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s first female director By Nicole Rasul | Photography by Maria Khoroshilova

26 THE FIRST

Dreams come true at Covey Rise Farms By Julia Flint | Photography by Julian Foglietti

30 A GROWING INFLUENCE

The Ohio State University’s InFACT Buckeye ISA project empowers community gardeners By Nancy McKibben | Photography by Maria Khoroshilova

34 JUST LIKE JAZZ

Plant-forward cuisine, improvisation and respect for thinking green come together on the table at Comune Story and photography by Julian Foglietti

RE CI P E S 8 9 10

Classic Bruschetta Summer Squash and Lemon Muffins with Blackberry Glaze Ethiopian Spice

Visit ediblecolumbus.com for exclusive online-only summer recipes.

C O V ER

SUMMER 2019

Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Dorothy Pelanda at Harrison Farm, Groveport, Ohio. Photography by Maria Khoroshilova.

䘀䰀伀圀䔀刀匀 ☀ 䈀刀䔀䄀䐀圀攀戀攀氀椀攀瘀攀椀渀猀椀洀瀀氀攀瀀氀攀愀猀甀爀攀猀㨀 ˻漀眀攀爀猀Ⰰ 戀爀攀愀搀Ⰰ 愀渀搀愀最漀漀搀挀甀瀀漀昀挀漀û攀攀⸀ 䈀攀愀甀琀礀Ⰰ 猀甀猀琀攀渀愀渀挀攀愀渀搀挀漀渀瘀攀爀猀愀琀椀漀渀⸀ 圀攀渀攀攀搀愀氀氀琀栀爀攀攀⸀ 圀攀昀漀甀渀搀攀搀䘀氀漀眀攀爀猀 ☀ 䈀爀攀愀搀眀椀琀栀琀栀攀戀攀氀椀攀昀琀栀愀琀猀椀洀瀀氀攀瀀氀攀愀猀甀爀攀猀愀爀攀洀漀猀琀洀攀愀渀椀渀最昀甀氀眀栀攀渀礀漀甀瀀愀爀琀椀挀椀瀀愀琀攀椀渀琀栀攀椀爀挀爀攀愀琀椀漀渀⸀ 圀攀愀爀攀愀琀栀攀愀爀琀愀氀攀愀爀渀椀渀最猀瀀愀挀攀Ⰰ 愀瀀氀愀挀攀琀漀氀愀礀搀漀眀渀礀漀甀爀瀀栀漀渀攀愀渀搀攀渀最愀最攀礀漀甀爀栀愀渀搀猀椀渀琀栀攀漀氀搀ⴀ眀漀爀氀搀琀爀愀搀椀琀椀漀渀猀漀昀戀爀攀愀搀戀愀欀椀渀最Ⰰ ˻漀眀攀爀愀爀爀愀渀最椀渀最Ⰰ 愀渀搀挀漀漀欀椀渀最昀爀漀洀愀眀漀漀搀ⴀǻ爀攀搀漀瘀攀渀⸀

䄀爀琀椀猀愀渀䈀爀攀愀搀猀愀渀搀䘀爀攀猀栀䘀氀漀眀攀爀猀䈀愀欀攀爀礀䌀愀昀攀䌀漀漀欀椀渀最Ⰰ 䈀愀欀椀渀最愀渀搀䘀氀漀爀愀氀䌀氀愀猀猀攀猀倀爀椀瘀愀琀攀䔀瘀攀渀琀匀瀀愀挀攀

䘀漀爀猀攀愀猀漀渀愀氀挀氀愀猀猀氀椀猀琀椀渀最猀Ⰰ 愀渀搀琀漀猀挀栀攀搀甀氀攀愀渀攀瘀攀渀琀Ⰰ 瀀氀攀愀猀攀瘀椀猀椀琀漀眀攀爀猀愀渀搀戀爀攀愀搀⸀挀漀洀 .com

SUMMER 2019

EDITOR’S NOTE

edible

want to take a moment and thank the land. We take her for granted, don’t we? For without her none of what we do at Edible Columbus would be possible. And none of what the people featured in our summer issue do would matter to you. There would be no stories to tell or good food over which to savor those stories.

Our summer issue digs deep into stories about farmers and the land as this is the season for catching the tales as they come off the sun-infused summer breeze so we might humble ourselves and perhaps pay our respects to the land by shopping at a farmers market, joining a CSA or growing some of our own food. Yet as evidenced in these stories you’re about to read, life offers challenges. Some of us have to immigrate to a new country to make a life. Some of us are diagnosed with cancer in our 30s. Some of us have a dream and—against all odds, and despite what people say—we dare to dream it into being. Some women become the first woman in a leadership role our mothers never had the opportunity to know. Some of us grew up in a city and love the land so much we decided to devote our lives to understanding how she thrives. Read our stories and see the threads that connect one restaurant to a farm, one immigrant to a local chef and his take on a classic Ethiopian spice. Despite life’s challenges,

PUBLISHER

Franklin County Farm Bureau

SUMMER 2019

Colleen Leonardi

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Steve Berk

COPY EDITOR

Doug Adrianson

I believe we’re all holding each other in good stead from a fundamentally true, good seed in each one of us. We have few recipes in this issue, and it’s intentional. We want you to get out this season and visit the eateries that make Columbus a destination for local flavors and true heartland community. We want you to visit someone else’s table and sample their way of cooking to experience a new land and listen to stories embedded in hearts made of gold. We want you to join hands with this local food community with your dollars and show the people who work with the land in all their various ways why you want them to keep going. I want to thank the land because she has sustained so much over the last 10 years as Edible Columbus has grown and changed. She is all we have and everything we love about food, culture, environment and sense of place. She is our guardian and gift. She is we. Let’s not take her, or each other, for granted anymore.

Eat Well, Love Well, Live Well,

Colleen Leonardi

EDITOR IN CHIEF

@ediblecbus

@ediblecolumbus

Digital Editor

Evan Schlarb DESIGN Devin Trout

WEB DESIGNER

Edible Feast

PHOTOGRAPHY + Illustration

Kirsten Marihugh kirsten@ediblecolumbus.com Suzanne Vela suzanne@ediblecolumbus.com CONTACT US

P.O. Box 21-8376, Columbus, Ohio 43221 info@ediblecolumbus.com ediblecolumbus.com Edible Columbus is published quarterly and distributed throughout Central Ohio. Subscription rate is $25 annually. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without written permission from the publisher. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please accept our sincere apologies and notify us. Thank you.

Photograph by Rachel Joy Barehl

So I want to take a moment while I have your attention to thank the land here in Ohio, the Midwest and beyond for sustaining life. From the soil to the sky, I want to say thank you for the water, air, plants, animals, sunlight and moonlight that keep us connected, healthy, whole and content. From Lake Erie to the hills of southern Ohio, I say thank you for allowing us to work with you to grow food and raise animals for the continuation of humanity. From the center of Central Ohio, I say thank you for allowing so many to grow food amidst the concrete of Columbus. Thank you for the flowers and bees, the buckeyes and yellow perch, the ginseng and the shade of a sycamore. Thank you.

COLUMBUS

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SUMMER 2019

#ediblecolumbus

Share your edible endeavours with us on Instagram via #ediblecolumbus! Here are a few of our recent favorites... â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Evan Schlarb

Top: @ontheplatewithkate, @spiffycolumbus, @thejeremyking Middle: @lilyicious016, @tastingcolumbus, @614_eats Bottom: @eat_thewholething, @splashofsherri, @_tenaciousspaces_

SUMMER 2019

SPONSORED CONTENT

Helping Schools Teach the Value of Food

etting kids to eat their food can be hard enough (broccoli, anyone?). Getting kids to not waste their food—even food that they like—can be equally difficult, especially if mom and dad aren’t around to eat the leftovers. Yet the underlying principles of eating a healthy and nutritious diet, and not being wasteful with our food, are part of a deeper-rooted foundation for the behaviors and values we instill in our children. It’s because of this belief that the Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative (www.cofwi.org) prioritized working with schools as a key starting point for launching food waste prevention, rescue and recycling efforts. Schools serve as the cornerstones of our community. They educate, nurture and socialize our kids. We as parents and family members share in the experiences and impressions they absorb in school, and we as a community respond to the ambitions and ideals of our children. By working with schools, we help establish the values and habits that our children will carry into their adult lives.

This year, with funding from the World Wildlife Fund and SWACO, Columbus City Schools began to pilot educational efforts aimed at creating awareness about food waste and food waste prevention through assembly programs, lesson plans, field trips and school gardens. To understand the impacts of these efforts, SWACO is helping to evaluate the amounts and types of food being wasted in cafeterias. Needless to say, changing these types of systems, behaviors, operations and policies can be very challenging. That’s why we’re proud to have partners like Hilliard City Schools, Columbus City Schools and the World Wildlife Fund who understand the value of reducing food waste and know that together we can make a difference. Through these efforts we hope to create

new programs and resources that will serve schools throughout Central Ohio in our collective effort against wasting food. The Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative is a collaborative network of communities, businesses, schools, nonprofits and local government, all working toward the goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030 in the Central Ohio region. The initiative, which was launched in the fall of 2018, recently created and released the Central Ohio Food Waste Action Plan, which will help guide efforts into the future. You can learn more about the projects mentioned in this article and how you can get involved in reducing food waste by visiting www.cofwi.org.

To get things started, the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) has been working collaboratively with Hilliard City Schools and Columbus City Schools to pilot food waste prevention and composting efforts. During 2018, SWACO provided a grant to Hilliard City Schools to support the establishment of a food waste composting program throughout all of its elementary schools, with plans for expansion to all schools in the district over the next few years. Upon completion, Hilliard City Schools will be one of the first school districts in all of Ohio to have a comprehensive composting program. Shifting our thinking about food waste also means that we must look beyond composting alone, which occurs at the end of the process, and start thinking about food waste prevention. .com

SUMMER 2019

Photograph by Carole Topalian

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Edible Flowers

Fruits: Apples; Blackberries; Black, Purple, Red and Fall Raspberries; Cantaloupe; Currants; Everbearing Strawberries; Grapes; Gooseberries; Peaches; Tomatoes; Watermelon Vegetables: Asparagus; Bell, Hot and Sweet Peppers; Broccoli; Carrots; Cucumbers; Eggplant; Garlic; Green Peas; Leeks; Lettuces and Greens; Okra; Potatoes; Rhubarb Tomatoes and basil. One of the world’s best combinations, always. Summer gives us both, fresh and flavorful right off the vine. For dinner parties, barbecues and even a light late-night dinner, I turn to bruschetta. Growing up in an Italian household with my father, it was a staple along with linguini spiced with garlic—a lot of garlic—and parsley. It’s so easy to make a classic bruschetta. Find fresh, vine-ripened plum tomatoes, the tinier ones that nestle narrowly in the palm of your hand. Gather basil—from your garden, ideally—with the leaves left whole. And then get some buffalo mozzarella. (I recommend the Italian grocery Carfagna’s.) Slice the tomatoes, pluck the basil leaves from their stems and cut the mozzarella into thin rounds. I go breadless with my bruschetta. I can better taste the flavors of the fruit and herb and the bite of a good olive oil. Stack tomatoes, then basil, then mozzarella, arranging all three in a spiral on a round plate. Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and serve with a fork. There you have it. My classic bruschetta. And a baguette can certainly accompany the plate. Wine Pairings: Sangiovese for a red and an Italian Pinot Grigio for a white wine. Wine suggestions provided by Camelot Cellers.

SUMMER 2019

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EAT

SUMMER SQUASH AND LEMON MUFFINS WITH BLACKBERRY GLAZE By Chef Josh Wickham, Photography by Julian Foglietti

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In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt, mix well and set aside.

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SUMMER 2019

ETHIOPIAN SPICE By Chef Adam Hagar, Photography by Julian Foglietti

ometimes we have a huge assortment of spices in our cabinets and we don’t know what to do with them. A good way to utilize the spices on hand without having to run out for too much more is to consider combining them to make the Ethiopian spice berbere (see story on page 12). This red pepper spice will bring a new sensation to any meat, fish or poultry dish. I especially go to this if I’m entertaining vegetarians and vegans. It’s a simple way to elevate ingredients such as lentils, chickpeas and eggplant to a whole new level. The ingredient list is long but it’ll keep refrigerated for up to three months. Of course, if you don’t have the majority of these ingredients then you could always buy a prepared berbere mix. This recipe will make a lot, so play with it. Throw it in a sauté pan and toast the mix or try using smoked paprika for even more flavor enhancement.

Makes 2 cups Ingredients 1 teaspoon fenugreek 1 cup ground dried red chilies ½ cup paprika (try a little smoked paprika too) 2 tablespoons salt 2 teaspoons ground ginger 2 teaspoons onion powder 1 teaspoon ground cardamom 1 teaspoon ground coriander ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg ½ teaspoon garlic powder ¼ teaspoon ground cloves ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon ground allspice

Directions Grind the fenugreek with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Combine the remaining ingredients and store in an airtight container refrigerated for up to 3 months.

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meat, consider investing in your local 4-H exhibitors at the Franklin County Junior Fair Livestock Sale. It’s simple. Show up. Place your bid. Pay on site. Arrange to have your meat prepared by one of our local processing partners. Enjoy high quality meat at your table year round. You can also choose to donate your meat to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank, helping them connect hungry neighbors to fresh, nutritious food.

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SUMMER 2019

CULTURE

FROM ETHIOPIA TO AMERICA

Food traditions from around the world converge in Columbus, and your home kitchen

By Colleen Leonardi, Photography by Michael Perkins

t’s a Sunday afternoon and I’m in the kitchen with Netsanet Woldemedhin, a New American originally from Ethiopia. Elegant in her traditional Ethiopian hand-embroidered dress, she tells us about a spice blend from her country called berbere. It’s prepared with jalapeño peppers that are carefully washed and then ground down with a mixture of fresh herbs. The blend is set out to dry for a week and then, along with salt, another 12 to 13 spices are added to the mixture. It delivers a hot, chili-pepper-like sting to the tongue. Woldemedhin smiles, “It’s very tasty.” Above: Netsanet Woldemedhin

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SUMMER 2019

Yet Woldemedhin doesn’t buy berbere here in the U.S. Her mother in Ethiopia sends it to her. It’s this relationship and regard for family and tradition that proves to be the most delicious ingredient in the meal Woldemedhin prepares for me and my friends, gathering to take part in the new Food Ambassadors program from the Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services (ETSS) organization. ETSS is a local nonprofit dedicated to helping immigrants and refugees new to the U.S. —New Americans, in ETSS terminology—“gain self-sufficiency in Columbus through programs and services that encourage community integration, sustained employment, education, health, and strong families.” Recently, ETSS founded the Food Ambassadors program as an extension of this mission to connect their clients to the culture of Columbus through food and native cooking traditions. “Part of the reason I teach English classes is for the relationships,” says Kathleen M. Gibbons, social enterprise business manager at ETSS. The Food Ambassadors program is her brainchild, which arrived after she was up one night thinking about meals she had savored during her travels abroad. Spending time with Gibbons, it’s evident how much she cares for her English as a Second Language (ESL) students and wants them to feel at home here in America. And food is one of the first ways they feel at home. She has seen firsthand how proud Woldemedhin and other refugees and immigrants are of their cooking traditions.

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SUMMER 2019

A traditional plating of injera with various vegetarian dishes prepared by Woldemedhin.

“I’m almost certain all of our students have a garden or a way of growing their own food,” Gibbons says. And that’s because food is a “love language” for the ETSS community, so growing their own peppers and garlic for their kitchens is essential to making a new home. Coming to a new country presents many challenges for immigrants, one of which is learning a language. Yet food traditions can be the constant language, and Gibbons has found it’s the one topic through which she and her students can always connect. The Food Ambassadors program gives people like Woldemedhin a chance to express their “love language,” while educating people about their culture and building a bridge towards new friendships in their new home country. ETSS chefs come from many countries around the world, including Ethiopia, East Turkestan, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Liberia, Ghana, Haiti, Nepal and Macedonia. And each chef has an amazing story to tell. When you take part in the Food Ambassadors program you can request a chef from whichever country speaks to you. All dietary restrictions (and spice levels) are fully adhered to and the ETSS chefs come to your kitchen and use local, fresh organic ingredients as much as possible. ETSS also has a community garden on site where students grow their own vegetable plots for the season, and the Food Ambassadors will also feature fresh vegetables from the garden in their meals.

Woldemedhin immigrated to the U.S. when she was in her late 30s. When I ask her what she loves about cooking she smiles for a moment. Earlier in our conversation she told me how Ethiopian girls learn to cook by studying their mothers and learning from them. She described how, from the age of 8, she watched her mother in the kitchen. Over time, after she left her mother’s home and started her own, she learned more about cooking from cookbooks and TV shows. When she came to America, preparing homemade injera, a traditional Ethiopia bread made with teff, was hard because the climate in Ohio was so different from Ethiopia, but she persisted. And succeeded. So when she finally replies, her bright, beautiful smile evocative of the joy she feels inside for food and cooking, I know why her fresh injera and red lentils are so delicious—they’re filled with love. “After I cook,” she says, “ I love sharing with the people. When I see they are happy it makes me happy.” Visit ediblecolumbus.com for more stories from the Food Ambassadors program. To learn more and to book your own private meal, contact Director of Development Keri Allen-Hogan at Keri.AllenHogan@ethiotss.org. Colleen Leonardi is editor in chief of Edible Columbus and managing editor of Edible Indy.

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OSU Master Gardener Volunteer in Franklin County? Applications will be available this summer for our next Master Gardener Volunteer training class which begins in January, 2020 To receive application information, send an email to hogan.1@osu.edu

kirsten@ediblecolumbus.com | 614-354-3876 suzanne@ediblecolumbus.com | 614-897-5794

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SUMMER 2019

DIY

AIR BEE & BEE

How to make your yard welcoming for these essential pollinators By Lynn Marie Donegan, Photography by Evan Schlarb and Devin Trout

id you know Ohio is home to approximately 500 native bee species? These incredible pollinators are crucial to maintaining a healthy ecosystem, and their recent decline, due to habitat loss, pathogens and pesticide use, is cause for alarm. You can help by encouraging pollinators to thrive, right in your own backyard. “Making your backyard garden an inviting place for native pollinators is easy, cost effective and fun,” says Steve Berk, COO for Edible Columbus. Learn how to make your own backyard a pollinator motel following a few simple steps.

Be a Hospitable Host Plant native flowers, shrubs and flowering trees, use pesticides sparingly (if at all) and allow some weeds to grow. Most plants, even those we consider weeds, actually play a vital role in a healthy ecosystem. If you’d like to learn more about planting native flora, your local Soil and Water Conservation District (ofswcd.org) and OSU Extension (extension.osu.edu/lao) are great resources.

Give ’em Shelter Native pollinators, such as Masson bees, make their homes in cavities and will gladly occupy a hole drilled into old wood. While many commercial pollinator hotels exist, a little bit of elbow grease can produce a one-of-a-kind accessory for your garden.

Photos taken at Groovy Plants Ranch

Step 1: Any type of container, vegetable basket or old planting pot can serve as the framework for your hotel.

Step 2: Cut old scraps of firewood or branches and arrange so that they all fit snugly in the container. Many native pollinators prefer softwoods over harder varieties such as walnut, oak or sugar maple. Step 3: Create ready-made cavities by drilling holes four to six inches deep using both ¼-inch and 3∕8 -inch drill bits. Space openings evenly. Step 4: The best part of a DIY project is that you can make your hotel as ornate as you like. Place it on top of stones, bricks or wood blocks to avoid moisture soaking through the bottom. Photo by Evan Schlarb SUMMER 2019

Treat â&#x20AC;&#x2122;em to a Drink Providing a reliable water source in your garden is also a great way to attract pollinators. Water sources help provide vital nutrients and minerals and only require a few items you probably already have on hand. Step 1; In a shallow dish, bowl or pan, place an assortment of rocks that will serve as landing spots for native pollinators. Step 2: Fill with water, leaving the tops of the rocks exposed. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t worry if the water is muddy or has sediment in it; the bees will gladly use the mud to help build and fortify their homes. Step 3: Use larger rocks and any type of netting or chicken wire to create a dome over the top of your water source. Native pollinators are vulnerable to predation while drinking and carrying mud back to their homes, so a secure netting will offer a brief respite from hungry birds. Step 4: Place the water source on the ground in a shaded area, to prevent water from evaporating quickly, and refill periodically as you notice the water level getting low throughout the summer. Photo by Devin Trout

Native

pollina t gentle ors are an make g d backya reat rd gue sts.

Lynn Marie Donegan grew up in Howard, Ohio, and is a freelance writer for Edible Columbus. She received her BA in English from Erskine College in 2016 and now works as a copywriter for a marketing company in Greenville, South Carolina. .com

SUMMER 2019

TRAVEL

PEARL VALLEY CHEESE Swiss tradition brings Old World artisan cheese to Ohio Photography and Story by Evan Schlarb

he story of Pearl Valley Cheese (PVC) in Coshocton County commenced 95 years ago when Swiss immigrant Ernest Stalder settled in the scenic hills of eastern Ohio. Four years later, Stalder and his wife, Gertrude, founded the Pearl Valley Cheese Company, still family-owned and -operated today. The tradition of PVC in my family begins before my lifetime. When my Grandpa Ken returned home from serving in World War II, he operated a dairy farm that supplied milk to Pearl Valley. My first memories of Pearl Valley began with the cheese plates served at family holiday events, and the tasty Colby and Swiss snacks I enjoyed during much-anticipated visits to my grandparents’ farm. I remember walking from the farm to the cheese factory with my family, and being warmly greeted with samples of the various cheeses made at Pearl Valley. Recently, I had the opportunity to take an individual tour with third-generation owner Sally (Stalder) Ellis, and learn the history and some interesting facts about the family cheese-making operation. “We make more cheese in a day than we made in a whole year when we first started,” Ellis says at the beginning of our Saturday afternoon tour together. That equates to approximately 35,000 pounds of cheese per day, five days a week. Our visit offers a wealth of remarkable facts: A pound of cheese is made from 10 pounds of milk; air, and not temperature, causes cheese to mold; the longer a cheese is aged, the sharper it tastes. I learn that immediately after production, Swiss cheese does not have the characteristic holes (or “eyes”)—those develop over five to six weeks as the lactose is converted to carbon dioxide bubbles. The vegetable coloring called annatto creates the distinct orange color of Colby cheese. All varieties of Pearl Valley cheese are lactose-free and gluten-free. And then I learn what I had known since first tasting my favorite cheese at Thanksgiving and Christmas family gatherings as a kid: Pearl Valley cheese is the best in the world. Pearl Valley has received international acclaim several times for their artisan cheeses, including a gold medal at the 2014 World Cheese Contest. National-level recognition includes a second-place award at the 2018 American Cheese Society Competition for their Colby cheese; at the state level, Pearl Opposite: Sally (Stalder) Ellis, above, and with her mother, Grace, below.

Valley won 2018 Ohio State Fair Grand Champion awards for their Swiss and Gouda cheeses. Ellis and her family have seen consistent change throughout the history of their business. While cheesemakers once laboriously stirred milk in relatively small copper vats, cheese is now produced in digitally controlled 4,000-gallon stainless steel containers. Dairy farmers now deliver milk via semi-truck-transported tanks rather than individual milk cans. Methane gas generated by upcycling a byproduct of cheese production now provides a percentage of the electricity used to power the cheese factory. The strong values held by the Stalder family and the qualities of the cheese they produce, however, have remained timeless. Pearl Valley cheese is available to order online at pearlvalleycheese.com. Guided tours of the Pearl Valley Cheese factory are available weekly throughout the summer, Wednesdays at 9:30am. Private tours are available by calling 740.545.6002 or via the contact link at pearlvalleycheese.com.

Coshocton County Day Trip Head east and spend a summer day with the family on the road. On the way to Pearl Valley Cheese you can stop in Granville for lunch, visit the farmers market in Newark and adventure through Flint Ridge. Visit PVC to stock up on local, handcrafted cheese for summer picnics and patio dinners and then on the way home stop in the quaint, historic Roscoe Village for a taste of old Ohio living. Evan Schlarb is the digital editor of Edible Columbus.

community microfarms food security economic opportunity systems approach nutritious food sustainable agriculture our community at justice studentJoin co-ops social discovery.osu.edu/InFACT community microfarms food security economic opportunity systems approach nutritious food sustainable agriculture .com

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ARTISAN

THE PEARL IN THE OYSTER

Chef Jonathan Olson’s tale of adversity, perseverance and transformation

By Nancy McKibben, Photography by Rachel Joy Barehl At 38, Chef Olson is tall (six feet four inches) and slim and as blue-eyed and light-haired as you might expect of a man with a Swedish surname. Raised in Gahanna on food his mom cooked from scratch, he graduated from Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Culinary Institute in 2002. For the next 10 years, Olson cooked in the hotel kitchens of the Ritz-Carlton empire in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston and New Orleans, winning awards and rising in the ranks, then moving to the new Sheraton on Capitol Square as executive chef in 2011. In 2013, he went west to learn more about “really fresh food” at the Calistoga Ranch Auberge Resort in Napa Valley. “I had never smoked, didn’t drink much, ate well.” Despite his apparent good health, less than a year later he was on a jet back to Columbus, doubled up in his seat, “in terrible pain” after an earlier emergency room visit and hospital stay for stomach pain. The diagnosis was Burkitt lymphoma, and Chef Olson was headed back home for treatment. He checked into The James in March 2014, shuttling home to his mom and stepdad between hospitalizations.

Chef Olson “likes to have fun and push boundaries” with food that is “classic, but lightened up.” Among his local sources: Covey Rise Farms (see story page 26), Luck Bros’ Coffee, Merry Milk Maid, Happy Chicken Farms and Johnson’s Real Ice Cream.

ife can be hard more often than it’s easy. It can be hard in tedious, everyday ways—the co-worker who has it in for you, the credit card you can never quite pay off, the spouse who snores in your ear—or in cosmic, unexpected ways, like finding out at age 33 that you have a rare and potentially fatal cancer. What makes people admirable is their response to challenges like these, so I was curious to interview Chef Jonathan Olson of The Keep about his battle with the disease.

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Burkitt lymphoma is a fast-growing cancer of the lymphatic system, fatal if untreated, which demands aggressive chemotherapy. Despite the rigors of this treatment, Olson counts himself as “incredibly fortunate,” because his doctor, Dr. Kristy Blum, was “one of the top specialists in the disease.” Four months in, he had experienced multiple side effects and allergic reactions to the drugs. Worse, the chemo was damaging his heart and kidney function, accompanied by memory loss so severe that he could not remember the name of his 3-year-old son. He moved to the Ross Heart Hospital and consulted “every kind of specialist and neurologist.” Ultimately

On the starter menu at The Keep, Chef Olson’s lump crab cake, served with a tomatillo-avocado sauce seasoned with cilantro, mint and charred jalapeño, with chow chow relish and fried hominy.

he was treated with a massive infusion of his own stem cells in July 2014 and declared cancer free in June 2016.

One Step at a Time After 18 months in “survival mode,” the focus turned to recovery, which Olson calls “almost harder” than treatment. He weighed only 140 pounds, down from 180. He couldn’t pick up his feet enough to walk on carpet or grass. Given the long hours and physical demands of the kitchen, he wondered whether he would ever be able to work again in the profession he loved.

research at The Ohio State University. He is part of the James Care for Life program for cancer overcomers. In August, he and The Keep will host a first-ever event for the group that includes a cooking demo. “I’m in such a fortunate position now. I’d like to be able to share my story and inspire others.”

The Pearl in the Oyster Chef Olson marvels at what life has given him since cancer: his fiancée, Ashley; his return to health and profession; his baby son, conceived after doctors told him his cancer treatment would leave him infertile.

“I’m a generally positive person,” he says. “But it was hard.” Therapy helped, both the mental and physical varieties. “There’s no shame in going to a therapist, needing to talk, to get a different perspective. I think you should seek help when you need it.”

Being able to again be a father to his sons, Anders and Julian, Chef Olson says, is “reason enough to make me feel that life has its own path laid out, and no matter how hard it may be at times, there are equally and exceedingly wonderful moments ahead.”

He also attended the cancer survivor support group Livestrong. Today Chef Olson is “perfectly healthy,” with only a slight numbness in his toes and a somewhat lower white blood cell count as souvenirs of his ordeal.

Sample Chef Jonathan Olson’s culinary skills at The Keep, 50 W. Broad St. in Columbus, on the second floor of Hotel LeVeque. Reservations at thekeepcolumbus.com.

Although initially concerned about the year-and-a-half hole in his otherwise strong resume, he was able to return gradually to the culinary world, becoming executive chef for The Keep restaurant when it opened in August 2017. Today Chef Olson is clearly back. He rides in Pelotonia, an annual cycling event that raises funds for cancer

Nancy McKibben is happy to combine her loves of eating and writing with the opportunity to advocate for sustainable agriculture in the pages of Edible Columbus. Her latest project is Kitschy Cat Alphabet, a rhyming alphabet book in postcards. She is also a novelist, poet and lyricist, the mother of six and the wife of one. View her work at nancymckibben.com; contact her at nmckibben@leader.com. .com

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DOROTHY PELANDA A Q&A with the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s first female director By Nicole Rasul, Photography by Maria Khoroshilova

n January, Dorothy Pelanda was appointed the 39th director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) by Governor Mike DeWine. She is the first woman to serve as director in the department’s more than 150-year history.

a medical bill—for soil testing. Currently, soil test results are very complicated to read. We’re working to create an EOB for soil tests to better explain results and offer highlights. We’re going to work to make the tests more uniform, more understandable and more affordable.

A native of Union County, Pelanda still lives on the Marysville farmland where she was raised. She practiced law for nearly 30 years, and from 2011 to 2018 she served as a legislator in the Ohio House of Representatives.

We’ve also been hearing a lot of feedback on nutrient management plans in our meetings with farmers. Mainly, that the plans are expensive, difficult to manage and require too much accompanying documentation. We are working with various experts and professionals to create an online, expedited application program in line with soil testing that will require much less documentation and that will be affordable.

On a recent morning, Pelanda moved with ease among the livestock on Harrison Farm in Groveport, Ohio. Kind and comfortable, it was obvious that agriculture runs deep in her veins. While at the farm, she sat down with us for a conversation to discuss her priorities as ODA director, her thoughts on women in the industry and her vision for Ohio’s agricultural future. Tell our readers about your agenda priorities and what you’ve heard from farmers as you dive into your new role at ODA. My first priority has been to travel the state to have conversations with farmers in all of Ohio’s 88 counties about the issues that are important to them. Governor DeWine has established water quality improvement as a priority for his administration. [He has proposed substantial funding] to address water quality issues in all of Ohio’s counties. One of the most important things that I have discussed with farmers is what the water quality issues are in their neck of the woods. The number one thing I’ve learned in traveling the state is that there is no silver bullet, or single solution, to solving water quality or water management issues. A common refrain I’ve heard from farmers is that soil tests need to be more uniform. At ODA, we’re going to create what we call an “EOB”—or explanation of benefits, like on Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Dorothy Pelanda at Harrison Farm in Groveport, Ohio.

The money that ODA will be given from Governor DeWine’s water quality improvement budget will also be used to hire new people through soil and water conservation districts to go door-to-door to talk to farmers about soil testing and nutrient management plans. With the funding, we’ll also work with farmers on manure management programs and conservation efforts like cover crops and buffer strips. We’ll address equipment needs and incentivize farmers who are undertaking innovative conservation practices. I believe the way we are going to measure success is through the number of acres and the number of farms that sign up to engage in these programs. What other initiatives are on the horizon under your lead at ODA? I cannot fail to mention Ohio Senate Bill 57, which proposed, for the first time in a long time, legalizing the production of hemp in Ohio. [Editor’s note: At press time legislative action on this bill was still pending.] Hemp is a perfect crop for farmers who want to diversify or for beginning farmers. Senate Bill 57 would authorize the Director of Agriculture to promulgate rules and regulations surrounding the cultivation of hemp and the processing of its byproducts, including CBD oil. In anticipation of the law passing, we are traveling the .com

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nation, visiting states that already have hemp through a pilot program in the 2014 Farm Bill to see what they are doing, the successes they’ve had, the modifications they would suggest so that our team is ready to go back to the legislature to ask for the monies we need for the scientists, the equipment and the space to begin this exciting new industry. Another issue of interest to Governor DeWine is the fact that children often do not know where their food comes from or how it is processed. To address this, we have hired a deputy director to lead food and children’s initiatives for our department. The focus on children has become a common goal for all agencies and farm-to-school is a great way for ODA to support Ohio children. I’ve talked with schools and they say that farm-to-school presents challenges in terms of what they can serve and what they cannot. Our goal is to take those challenges away. Think about how that direct connection will help change the relationship between farmers and the general public and the relationship between farmers and a child who may consider agriculture as a career because of the things they experienced in school during those very formative years.

world as full of endless opportunity. I hope my appointment is an example for every youth, boy or girl, that you can do anything you want to do. What is your favorite summer fruit or vegetable and how do you like to prepare it? Tomatoes and peaches. There’s nothing better than a fresh tomato from the garden and eating it right in the field with salt. I have a tomato zucchini recipe with cheese that is a favorite in my family. And, of course, I love a caprese salad with tomatoes and Ohio cheese. I also have a frozen peach dessert recipe that’s incredible. There’s nothing better than peaches with a scoop of ice cream.

Nicole Rasul writes about food and agriculture. She lives with her family in Clintonville where they enjoy the farmers market and their backyard garden. Follow her on Twitter @rasulwrites or view her writing online at nicolerasul.com.

What’s an important aspect of agriculture in Ohio that you’d like to stress to readers of our magazine? I think the public has a lot of misconceptions about farmers. Farmers care about water quality and conservation. They want clean water too. A farmer told me recently, “I look at the challenges we are facing, and I welcome them.” Food and agriculture, I believe, has remained the number one industry in Ohio because farmers continue to be innovative. I also believe that agriculture is about human relationships, not science or data. It’s human relations when it comes to a family’s desire to keep farming, when we’re talking about connecting neighbor-to-neighbor, farm-tofarm and within a community. I always stress that the most important thing farmers can do is reach out and build relationships within their communities to tell their stories.

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What are your thoughts about being the first woman to serve as the director of ODA? Growing up, both my mother and my father taught me that I could do anything that I wanted. My mother wanted her girls to be very resourceful. She taught us to sew as soon as our feet could touch the foot pedal. She also taught us to do millinery and to cook because she wanted us to be self-sufficient. Both of my parents enabled me to be resourceful and independent, which is what I would hope for every child, girl or boy, as they grow up. I hope that they can look at the

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THE FIRST Dreams come true at Covey Rise Farms By Julia Flint, Photography by Julian Foglietti

ive years ago, Charlie Payne decided he no longer wanted to live by the advice of others.

“I’d always been told that if you didn’t inherit a farm, it takes too much money [to own one] and you’ll never be able to do it,” he says, and he took those words to heart for many years. He went to school at Virginia Tech, found work as a wildlife biologist and eventually settled in Columbus. Then in 2014 a friend handed him a copy of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. It was the right book at the right moment—though Payne admits he didn’t make it beyond the chapter on Joel Salatin.

Against All Good Advice Salatin, regenerative farming icon and spokesperson, was exactly the inspiration Payne needed and a counterweight to the “you can’t do this” arguments. Salatin’s model of rotational grazing, creating a closed-loop system with minimal off-farm inputs and direct marketing to consumers all made sense. So at 26 years old, against the advice of everyone he knew, Payne bought seven acres of farmland, three colonies of honeybees, 100 meat chickens, 25 laying hens and several lambs. Payne’s original goal was to provide food for himself, though he also started selling wholesale to restaurants in Columbus that first year. He doubled his acreage the second year and has nearly doubled the farm’s production each year since. As he tells me this, we’re sitting on a pallet of building materials next to several shipping containers and an assortment of lumber and feed. This unassuming setup overlooking vast fields and a few scattered homes will soon be the 70-plus-acre permanent home of Covey Rise Farms, outside of Radnor, Ohio.

From the Ground Up As a first-generation farmer, Payne acknowledges that the advice and warnings he received have merit. By 2017, he knew that the farm would require more acreage to produce at the scale he wanted to reach. But without a large land base or equipment, securing financing to purchase a larger

farm was a serious challenge. He was laughed at by one lender who wasn’t interested in a 20-something kid with little farming experience and less collateral. Fortunately, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) had loan options available for beginning farmers, and though it took a year to complete the process, the USDA offered rates that were feasible for someone just starting out. Payne says he was also fortunate to have a seller who believed in him and was willing to work with the extended loan process. He had expected to be grazing on the new property last year, but he’s taking it one step at a time and is grateful to be where he is. Covey Rise Farms is still operating at full capacity on leased property and Payne still works off-farm, meaning he is an insanely busy person. But with the purchase of the new land, Payne and his girlfriend, Kerissa Jenkins, will have accomplished what he always heard was impossible: building a farm, and all the infrastructure that goes with it, from the ground up.

The Bigger Picture One advantage to being a first-generation farmer, Payne says, is that he didn’t have ingrained ideas about how things have always been done. He’s been able to look objectively at what works well, and what doesn’t. He chooses to raise his animals on pasture because he thinks it’s better both for the animals and the environment, and he knows that it produces a product that he is proud of. He also understands that he is only one part of a bigger picture and he is intentional about partnering with others whose values and ideals match his own. Covey Rise Farms audits the processers for all their animals, and they use Ohio-based suppliers like the Kraut Creek Natural Feed Company in Greenville. “With us, almost everything we do is done within Ohio. We use Ohio-raised grains, and we use Ohio processors. That dollar when you shop at a local farm gets transferred back into the community five or six times.” Keeping his focus as local as possible is important because he thinks that’s key to revitalizing rural areas where small

Opposite: Charlie Payne, owner and farmer at Covey Rise Farms. .com

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Farm, Family, Food & Fun!

Saturday, July 13 – July 20 Enjoy acres of fun at the Franklin County Fair this summer! Find your favorite foods, rides and family-friendly attractions you won’t find anywhere else. Massive monster trucks, High flying pirates, Log rolling lumberjacks, Speed racing swine, Magic and much more! Explore our expanded Nationwide Children’s Kids Zone and our livestock petting zoo. Looking for more action? Check out our 2019 Grandstand lineup featuring Monster Truck Thrill Show, Buckeye Rodeo, Motocross, Truck Pull, Harness Racing, Drag Racing and Demo Derby!

Daily Admission ONLY $7. 2 and under FREE. Parking FREE. Franklin County Fairgrounds 5043 Northwest Parkway, Hilliard, Ohio

www.FCFair.org 28

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businesses and shops have a hard time competing with large corporations. In agriculture, too, Payne says that the USDA’s “get big or get out” cheerleading in the 1970s and ’80s has meant that small to medium-sized farms have had a hard time competing as well. He acknowledges, though, that he’s still an outsider in the industry—the guy who raises chickens outdoors and wants only non-GMO feed. But at 31 years old, he’s around half of the age of the average farmer in the United States, and he believes that there are opportunities for changing the future of agriculture and for other first-generation farmers to make a contribution.

Debt of Gratitude Covey Rise Farms sells at two farmers markets, offers online purchasing with dropoffs in Columbus and shipping for anyone accessible by two-day delivery. You can also find Covey Rise Farms’ products at a growing number of restaurants in Columbus, including Watershed Kitchen and Bar, Comune (see story on page 34), The Sycamore, The Market in Italian Village, Wolf’s Ridge Brewing and The Keep Kitchen and Liquor Bar (see story on page 20).

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION

Enroll now in OSU Extension’s

Ohio M aster Urban Farm er W orkshop Series Eleven week evening class begins September 12 Learn how to develop an urban farm or urban food business Cost - $200 For more info: hogan.1@osu.edu

Payne says that restaurants were the farm’s earliest customers, before farmers markets or online sales, and their support for the 20-something kid with big dreams has helped the farm to grow steadily over the last five years. The positive feedback from Columbus chefs in particular has been an encouragement and has helped Payne to realize that he could make farming a full-time endeavor. “We owe a huge debt of gratitude to a number of chefs,” Payne says, “because without their support none of this would have happened.” You can find Covey Rise Farms at the Westerville and New Albany Farmers Markets, or online at coveyrisefarmsohio. com.

CSA Weekly Organic Produce June-October Field-to-Table Girasole Dinner August 18th Autumn Open House October 13th | 12p-4p

Julia Flint lives, writes and gardens in Southeast Ohio. She can be reached at julia.m.flint@gmail.com Opposite, middle: Talona and Kerissa Jenkins stand with Charlie Payne outside Charlie’s trailer on the Covey Rise Farm.

WEDDINGS | CORPORATE | COMMUNITY | SOCIAL EVENTS For more information, please visit jorgensen-farms.com

A GROWING INFLUENCE The Ohio State Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s InFACT Buckeye ISA project empowers community gardeners By Nancy McKibben, Photography by Maria Khoroshilova

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o see the Buckeye ISA (institution-supported agriculture) project in action, I visited the Linden home of project participants Clarence White and Cathy White-Davis on a rainy afternoon.

I spoke to Angela Latham, a Linden native and InFACT’s program director at OSU, who modestly describes herself as “the day-to-day contact and boots on the ground” who oversees the Buckeye ISA project.

I marveled at the couple’s already green and flourishing yard, where a wooden bridge arched over a koi pond whose inhabitants, I later learned, include Bozo the carp and Little Nathan the turtle. “The fish pond supplies natural fertilizer for the garden,” White says.

She explained the project’s four goals:

At 74, he is fit and soft-spoken. Although he grew up on farms in Tennessee and Georgia and “always put in a few tomato plants and beans,” White, now retired, drove trucks for 40 years for Mason and Dixon Lines, where he met his wife, then a fellow employee. “Four million accident-free miles,” he says with justifiable pride. But he always loved farming. The couple’s six children are now grown, and four of their 12 grandchildren live with their grandparents. When White heard about Buckeye ISA in 2018 from daughter Tiffany, who is president of the Northeast Area Commission and also a project participant, he and his wife were ready for the opportunity to grow more vegetables. They received seeds, materials to build five small raisedbed gardens, soil to fill them and gardening tools. They went to training meetings at Martin Luther King and Shepard libraries. They were rewarded with a harvest that included okra, cabbage and sweet potatoes. Their grandkids actually ate what they grew. Among the new additions to this year’s gardens are watermelon and Brussels sprouts, and White-Davis knows to look for her husband first in the garden. “I’m enjoying it,” he says, showing me a phone pic of grandson John picking beans. “It brings back good old memories.”

New Word, New Concept We know the term community-supported agriculture (CSA). The term institution-supported agriculture (ISA) was coined by Casey Hoy, Ohio State University (OSU) professor of entomology, Kellogg-Endowed chair in agroecosystems management and faculty director of InFACT, the university’s Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation, and author of the $750,000, three-year W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant that funds the Buckeye ISA project. Hoy envisioned a grant that would enable families with young children in food deserts (urban communities with poor access to affordable and nutritious food) to grow their own vegetables and sell the surplus to an OSU dining hall.

• To leverage OSU’s goal to increase production and purchase of locally and sustainably sourced food to 40% by 2025 in order to promote more urban farming in economically disadvantaged local communities by providing access to tools, seeds and expertise. • To provide training and workshops to Buckeye ISA families through the OSU Franklin County Extension program. • To partner with Nationwide Children’s Hospital to use biometric screenings of children of participating families to compare their health before and after participation in the grant. • To streamline the process of distributing produce from small producers like families to large institutions like OSU.

How Not to Re-invent the Wheel Families in disadvantaged areas with children age 8 or younger who live at home may participate in Buckeye ISA. Last year 32 families took part; this year the number is 64 and rising. To recruit families, organizers turned to seven community organizations already active in addressing food equality issues: Franklinton Farms (Franklinton); Greater Columbus Growing Coalition, GCGC (Linden); Charles Madison Nabrit Memorial Garden (East Side); A & L Afterschool Literacy + Institute (East Side); Local Matters (Weinland Park); Parsons Area Merchants Association (South Side); and Rural Action (Athens County). Each area is headed by a community liaison coordinator who helps recruit families, disseminate information and coordinate efforts. Community activist Charles Nabrit is the Linden coordinator. “The Kroger store [in Northern Lights Shopping Center] closed last year,” Nabrit says, “so food desert is not an abstract term in this zip code.”

Beyond the Family Garden Buckeye ISA families grow in community gardens, in their own yards or in container gardens, and they have the option to market their excess produce to Ohio State dining services to supplement family income. “It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of food that OSU buys,” says Latham, “but it offers these families an opportunity that they wouldn’t have otherwise.” .com

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Also part of the three-person Buckeye ISA business team, Nabrit helps families develop a business plan, addressing issues like tracking expenses, lowering costs and “thinking of themselves as businesspeople.” In August and September 2018, the OSU Traditions dining program at Scott House, which serves 8,000 to 11,000 students per day, received 665 pounds of vegetables in two deliveries from Buckeye ISA participants. Nabrit was “very pleased at the amount we were able to sell,” noting that “it was a learning process” and “a lesson on logistics and growing for production as well as a big boost in personal nutrition and business savvy.” On the dining hall side, OSU Corporate Executive Chef Lesa Holford praised the experiment as a success. “We bought everything they had.” Sourcing food, Chef Holford says, is “a big part of my job and a huge part of the 2025 local-and-sustainable goal. I’m all for it. I love being part of the local food system and supporting small and large farmers in the state of Ohio.” Latham and Nabrit emphasize that participating families can choose whether to sell their produce or not. Some may prefer to can it, freeze it or sell it elsewhere. It’s all good. “Our main focus is supplemental income,” Nabrit says. “We’re interested in ways for families to grow more healthy food and save money.” And some, like Minister Aaron K. Hopkins and his wife, Antoinette, choose to give away their bounty.

Paying it Forward Aaron Hopkins, a heavy construction equipment operator for Colvin Gravel and assistant pastor at Family Missionary Baptist Church, and Antoinette Hopkins, a deaconess there and a manager at Ohio Thrift, live on the South Side with three of their grandchildren. In their late 50s, both are energetic and involved in community organizations. The couple’s “passion for development” led to their discovery last year of Buckeye ISA. She took free classes at Franklin Park Conservatory, and he took extra classes to become a certified Master Urban Farmer. Their teachers were OSU Franklin County Extension agents Mike Hogan (see story on page 40) and Tim McDermott, “a wonderful dude and educator,” according to Aaron Hopkins.

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This year the South Side has two Buckeye ISA raised-bed gardens, each 136 by 35 feet, on Columbus Land Bank property on Wilson Avenue. While he gardens there with children and teenagers, Aaron Hopkins teaches them “gardening lingo—composting, integrative pest management, germination, irrigation.” When last year’s harvest came in, the couple bagged it and distributed it to neighbors—some 800 pounds of it. He points to “the difference in taste from what you can buy at the grocery” as one of the main benefits of gardening. She adds that “a pack of seeds only costs a dollar, so it’s affordable for sustaining a household.” Aaron Hopkins sees no end to the possibilities that urban farming might bring. A farm stand. A 4-H Club for teens. Water conservation and rain gardens. Growing landscape plants for “color and pollinators” in South Side yards. Selling produce to Columbus Public Schools. Food processing and entrepreneurship. This year they will sell some surplus produce at the Bronzeville Farmers Market in the King-Lincoln district, a “low-income African-American community that meets our goal to get vegetables into these households.” Aaron Hopkins shares the story of a diabetic parishioner who began eating greens provided by the church. Later, “She came to church and said: ‘The doctor told me I don’t have to take diabetes medicine anymore!’ Her diet had reversed the effects of her disease.” Now she wants to grow vegetables for her grandkids, too. Perhaps the Buckeye ISA project will supply that garden. Or perhaps, as its creators hope, when the grant expires in December 2020 neighborhoods will continue to grow greener and healthier as the participating families continue to grow, sell and pass on their enthusiasm and gardening know-how to friends and neighbors. OSU Franklin County Extension Gardening Classes are free to the public as well to Buckeye ISA project families. Find times and locations of classes and workshops at https://u.osu.edu/growingfranklin/. Top: Clarence White and Cathy White-Davis, participants in the Buckeye ISA program. Bottom: Minister Aaron Hopkins, assistant pastor at Family Missionary Baptist Church and participant in the Buckeye ISA program.

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J u st L i k e J a z z Plant-forward cuisine, improvisation and respect for thinking green come together on the table at Comune Story and Photography by Julian Foglietti

night at Comune will likely turn even the most ardent of meat eaters into veggie believers. The story of its creation is one of community, sustainability and near-perfect timing. Five years ago, if you had brought up the idea of meatless fine dining in Central Ohio, you might have been met with scoffs and veiled laughter, but that was a different time in Columbus food history. Watershed only made alcohol back then, Service Bar was still a concept and much of the Columbus food scene was dominated by Cameron Mitchell properties. Yet as Bob Dylan said in his 1964 song, “the times, they are a-changing,” and this is never more evident than on a Friday night at Comune. Inspired by travels abroad, owners Brook Maikut and Joe Galati wanted to bring veggie-based fine dining to the tables of Central Ohio. With an all-star kitchen headed by Ben Kanavel, formerly of the Worthington Inn and Salt and Pine, as well as beverage director Ben Griest, the group began to develop the concept that would become Comune. Utilizing a design-forward approach and pulling its name from an intentional misspelling of the word “commune,” the team built a restaurant that would feel right at home on the streets of San Fransisco. “It really was a community effort from the beginning,” recalls Galati. “Greg Lehman from Watershed as well as Jen and Sang from The Table came a long way in helping us from the beginning. From there it was finding Ben [Kanavel], and Ben really allowed this vision to become a reality. What people see today and walk into today is built off their support.”

What results is a seasonal menu that feels more akin to a jazz improvisation that a traditional dining experience. “The menu is designed to absorb the waste,” says Kanavel of various sides and platings that can be changed on the fly to continue reusing their leftovers. In the case of their table bread, all the spreads change on a weekly to hourly basis depending on what Kanavel finds. “Total utilization of the ingredients is ideal, but it’s not always possible. When it isn’t, we work to compost anything leftover where it can be recycled into the food being grown,” says Kanavel. As leftover food is repurposed to grow the ingredients for the new food, you start to see the circle of it all. The menu reflects rebirth. Sustainability often starts with reducing waste and conserving natural resources. Yet there is a third level of equal importance: Sustainability is about the creation of an ecosystem, and rooted in an ecosystem is community, something at the forefront of Galati and Maikut’s minds as they began hiring staff.

Beyond the seasonal menu and vegetable foundation of all the dishes, Griest and Kanavel are constantly striving to get as close to zero waste as possible. The two work in tandem, often creating dishes with the leftovers from each other’s preparations. As Kanavel puts it, “Ben often asks me well in advance what I’m thinking of using for the upcoming menu. From that he begins to pull from the preparations what can be used in the upcoming drink menu.” “The exciting thing for me is all that matters is that it tastes good. There is a lot of room for experimentation,” says Griest. .com

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To create this space, the owners build trust with everyone who works with them. As Galati puts it, “Building trust is one of the key things that we do with every member of the staff. Their life experiences are so important to how we function, and it’s important to give them the freedom to express their creativity, style and be who they are.” These touches of personality can be seen from the disappearance of a dress code to the handmade quality in each aspect of the dining experience. When it comes down to building this openness, looking in the mirror is often the place to start. “You have to build it in yourself. It has to come from the top down,” says Maikut. “You have to be willing to say when you’re wrong above all else. People look to leadership sometimes as having all the answers, but you can’t have all the answers and you have to be willing to admit when you don’t.” The atmosphere this creates permeates one’s experience at Comune. There is an authenticity far deeper than the interior design, a warmth in everything from the food to the genuine smiles on the faces of those at work. For being such a junior spot, Comune has already figured out who it is. In many ways, this is an ultimate expression of what Maikut and Galati set out to do when the plans for the building first started coming together. With a new, seasonal menu hitting the tables, it will be exciting to see where this next level of expression is taken. Comune | 677 Parsons Ave. | Columbus, Ohio 43206 | 614.947.1012 | comune-restaurant.com | Instagram: @ Comune_Restaurant

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Julian Foglietti is an editorial photographer and visual artist based in Central Ohio. His work looks at Midwest identity and its effect on the cultures around him. Page 34: The World Tour cocktail This page, bottom left: Table bread featuring sweet potato pineapple purée, beet hummus and a white bean guajillo pepper dip.

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2019 Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association Service Award Winner By Lynn Marie Donegan, Photography by Maria Khoroshilova How have you seen urban farms in Central Ohio evolve over the last few years? What do you think is the future of urban agriculture in Columbus? First of all, urban agriculture, of which urban farms are a subset, has been growing. About five or six years ago, there were probably half a dozen urban farms in Columbus. Last summer, we knew of 30 urban farms in the city of Columbus, so growth has been very steep for urban farms. I don’t see the drivers of that growth changing over time. Even if they don’t participate in farming, or buy from an urban farmer or urban grower, a lot of people see urban farming as a valuable asset in the community, a worthwhile land use in an urban setting. We’re seeing some developers of residential developments in Columbus ask if there’s a way to incorporate food production, whether it’s on the rooftop of a building, or in-ground growing, or some type of community garden for residents. So, we’re seeing that interest not just from consumers themselves, but from others. Extension educator & associate professor at The Ohio State University

ow did you become interested in agriculture and urban farming?

I was born and raised in New York City, which is a little odd for somebody working in agriculture. My great-grandparents had a small farm and other relatives had a dairy farm in upstate New York. As a little kid, I spent weeks at a time up there in the summer and other seasons. I had come from the concrete jungle and was just completely enamored with everything that happened on the farm. It was the “aha!” moment for me as a kid of where food comes from. I went back to our apartment building in Brooklyn, chopped up concrete in the yard and put plants in pots on the fire escape. I like to think that was the beginnings of my interest in urban agriculture, so it kind of has come full circle towards the end of my career with me spending most of my time working in urban food system development and urban farming.

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What are some of the factors driving that interest? People want to make connections with their food. There’s more of a foodie culture compared to 10 or 20 years ago. Urban areas are growing much more than the rural areas, so that in and of itself is a driver. There seems to be a renewed interest in people connecting with the farmer, whether it’s through farmers markets or a CSA [community-supported agriculture harvest subscription program]. People like meeting and shaking the hand of the person who grew that food. People are interested in reducing food waste, buying local and being able to buy things that will last longer in the refrigerator or on the kitchen counter. And the concerns people have about food safety: buying food that’s less-processed—just the whole human health and nutrition concerns. Learn more from Mike at ediblecolumbus.com about how you can take part in sustainable agriculture with some of his tips and the new Columbus/Franklin County Love Food Guide at go.osu.edu/franklinlocalfoods.