edible Columbus | Fall 2015 | Issue No. 23

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Issue No. 23

Celebrating Local Foods, Season by Season

Fall 2015

Wild Game

Backyard Mushrooms • Blossom Acres Edible Ginger • Chef Richard Blondin Unprocessed Eating • Amish Beekeepers Tim Ryan • Mindfulness & Food

Fall 2015 Contents

Departments 4 6 8 10 18 20 22 28 32 34 38 47 62 60 64

Letter from the Publisher Letter from the Editor Local and In Season Notable Edibles Edible Reads Edible Wellness Edible Traditions Urban Homestead In the Garden From the Farmer’s Perspective From the Good Earth Edible Outdoors Advertiser Directory Local Foodshed Last Seed

Features 26

Real Food, Real Policy U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio on improving our food, our health, and building stronger coalitions to advance the healthy food movement

By Bryn Bird

42

For the Hunt

50

At the Top of His Game

It’s all about food independence and living off the land for local hunter Steve Berk

By Tara Pettit, Photography by Ryan Benyi

Chef Richard Blondin of The Refectory Restaurant and Bistro shares his expertise on classic French cooking and wild game

By Nancy McKibben

57

A Year Unprocessed Gary Paul Nabhan talks to Edible Baja Arizona’s managing editor, Megan Kimble, about her book, Unprocessed: My City-Dwelling Year

of Reclaiming Real Food

By Gary Paul Nabhan

9 53 54 55

Warm Spinach Salad with Maple Vinaigrette Whole Grain Mustard Spätzle Grilled Venison Tenderloin Wrapped in Double-Smoked Bacon Warm Apple Tart with Rosemary

Cover One of the many pheasants at Cherrybend Pheasant Farm in Wilmington, Ohio. See story on page 42.

Photo by © Dave Liggett www.daveliggett.com

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PhOTO By © CAROlE TOPAlIAN

RECIPES

letter from the Publisher

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love a good story; it’s why publishing this magazine means so much to me. I take sheer delight in sharing the stories behind the amazing people in our community who influence the food we produce and enhance the quality of our lives in the city we call home. Recently, I had the good fortune to learn the history of the building we renovated to house both our Edible magazine office and our cooking school, The Seasoned Farmhouse. Like so many places in Columbus, our offices are replete with stories.

edible Columbus Publisher & Editor in Chief

Tricia Wheeler Managing Editor & Editor

Colleen Leonardi Recipe Editor

The story of 3674 North High Street is inextricably linked with Walter and Kate Boenheim, Louise’s paternal grandparents. The story begins half a world away: Walter and Kate met and made their first home in West Prussia, Germany. They were both Jewish and by 1933, Hitler’s rising ideology made it evident that the two of them had to leave. They settled first on England. Yet, in weighing his options, Walter, a physician, discovered that he would have to take five more years of intense study if he wanted to practice medicine in England, whereas if he crossed the Atlantic Ocean, he could practice immediately in America. So, in a twist of fate, Walter and Kate journeyed to Columbus and Walter prepared to take his medical board exams. They embraced the community here and decided to put down roots and purchased a house on North High Street in Clintonville. They lived there, our very own 3674 North High Street, for more than 50 years, turning a house into a home in part by cultivating a beautiful yard abundant with flowers, raspberries, and an apple tree.

The house was filled with music, heirlooms from Germany that had traveled with them across the sea, and their three sons. When Kate moved into a nursing home at the age of 90, a local publication published an article about her—my greatest takeaway from reading the piece was a piece of Kate’s philosophy. She believed life is beautiful and she attributed her long life to the fact that she has always cared for others. What a wonderful way to view life.

In touring the property, Louise remarked that her grandmother Kate would love that flowers and fruit are still growing in the yard. In a strange coincidence (or sign of fate), we have roses, raspberries, and even an apple tree in our current garden. They also knew Kate would appreciate the way we bring people together at our cooking school and how we celebrate what is special about our community in Edible Columbus. Kate’s and Walter’s spirits live on.

This issue is filled with stories we hope you will enjoy and will inspire new ways to connect within our community this season.

Come visit us at The Seasoned Farmhouse—our cooking class schedule is online at theseasonedfarmhouse.com. We would love to share this special space with you.

Have a wonderful fall!

Yours,

Tricia Wheeler

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Sarah Lagrotteria Copy Editors

Doug Adrianson • Susanna Cantor Editorial Intern

Jake Fernberg Design

Melissa Petersen Advertiser Director

Sarah Maggied Contributors

Ryan Benyi • Bryn Bird Cheyenne Buckingham Michelle Demuth-Bibb • Julia Flint Julie France • Janine Harris Degitz Molly Hays • Claire Hoppens Ashley Huffman • Emily Kaelin Debra Knapke • Maria Khoroshilova Sarah Lagrotteria • Dave Liggett Gene Logsdon • Nancy McKibben Gary Paul Nabhan • Matt Neumeier Mary-Lynn Niland • Tara Pettit Nicole Rasul • Stephen Tackas Sharon Teuscher • Carole Topalian Stephanie Wapner • Sarah Warda Contact Us

P.O. Box 21-8376, Columbus, Ohio 43221 info@ediblecolumbus.com ediblecolumbus.com Edible Columbus

@ediblecbus

@ediblecolumbus Advertising Inquiries

tricia@ediblecolumbus.com maggie@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.

PhOTO By CAThERINE MURRAy, PhOTOKITChEN.NET

My education into the history of our property begins with a stranger’s email. Louise and her husband, Martyn—who both had ties to the home where we work—corresponded with me about touring the renovated home. I was, of course, happy to host them for a visit, and over breakfast they nourished me with the story of our property’s past. It is a story about two people in love, an unexpected refuge, a home they adored, and a city that became home for more than half a century.

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the basics.” Food education is key, as is coalitionbuilding so these issues gather people power.

Healthy food habits, however, come in many shapes and sizes. Health takes root in the place where you live and eat as Sandusky-based writer Gene Logsdon details in his book, Gene Everlasting (page 18). And health thrives in environments like what locavore mother Lisa Clark created for her daughters by raising them with a regard for local food so that no matter where life takes them they always seek out good food practices (page 22).

T

he pheasant—a game bird native to Asia and brought to America in the mid-1800s—is a symbol of abundance and fertility, its multitude of colors symbolic of all of the creative possibilities in life. In autumn we live in reverence of these virtues. We sit together, talk together, and cook together—bringing the brightness of the outdoors inside—out of a sense of gratitude. Here in America, we have so much we often forget what it means to have little. Our fall issue reminds me of what we take for granted.

In this issue, we’re so pleased to share contributor Bryn Bird’s in-depth conversation with U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio. One of the things one can take for granted is good health until one is met with a health crisis. It saddens me deeply that this generation of children is the first generation to have a lower life expectancy than their parents. Healthy food, no matter where you come from, should be a right in this country.

Yet there are very real policies in place right now that keep healthy food from our youngest Americans, setting the stage for a national health crisis.

Rep. Ryan is dedicated to turning the tide on what he suggests is a “sick country” continuing to fund its own illness (page 26). A catalyst for change, he’s published A Mindful Nation and The Real Food Revolution, and he’s just begun, asking visionary questions of our government. As he says, “In my district, like many districts around the county, we have 40–60% or more students on Medicaid.” It’s a painful problem that demands we, as Rep. Ryan says, “get back to

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Pediatrician Mary-Lynn Niland offers tips to parents for their child’s healthy eating habits during all the stages of their life (page 20), and farmer Eli Yoder of Blossom Acres Produce makes his case for why sustainable, organic soil brings us healthier food (page 34).

for your food in the ways Steve and Matt do requires tremendous mindfulness—the communion that comes when one takes the life of an animal for their own.

Hunting for your food, standing up for healthy food for the next generation, raising honeybees, passing on good food practices to your children—these are sacred gestures. We hope this issue connects you to what you find most pure and true this season. May your fall be filled with the blessings that come from eating well and sharing your harvest with others.

In gratitude,

Colleen Leonardi Email me and let me know

Well-being can also come from a healthy imagination, as Clintonville-based growers Michael Hayes (page 28) and Janine Harris Degitz (page 64) demonstrate with their homegrown backyard mushrooms and honeybees.

And writer and editor Megan Kimble in her book (page 57), Unprocessed, illustrates how living a life of eating unprocessed foods for a year offers its own path to wellness.

It’s this regard for the raw, for the whole, for the wild that inspired us this issue when we looked at hunting in Ohio. Local food advocate and hunter Steve Berk (page 42) shares his passion for pheasant hunting and living off the land, and archer Matt Neumeier tells his candid story about maturing as an archer to hunt whitetail deer (page 47).

We’re also thrilled to feature Chef Richard Blondin of The Refectory and his wisdom and recipes for preparing what one might gather on the hunt for wild game from his book, The Hunter’s Table (page 50).

I’m not a hunter. Yet being in the field with Steve and his hunting dog, Lulu, watching pheasants fly off as a cluster of their delicate feathers floated down to the ground, struck me to the core. I was suddenly reminded of how hunting can be spiritual. Engaging with the wild

what you’re enjoying most this season at colleen@ediblecolumbus.com.

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PhOTO By © SARAh WARDA, SARAhWARDA.COM

letter from the editor

PhOTO By CAROlE TOPAlIAN

local and in season

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What to Eat Fruits: Apples, Blueberries, Apricots, Blackberries, Cantaloupe, Grapes, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Strawberries, Watermelons, Tomatoes Greens: Collard, Mustard, and Turnip Greens; lettuce, Kale, Spinach

What to Cook Warm Spinach Salad with Maple Vinaigrette Serves 4 Book clubs. Conversations about characters and choices and what is happening in your real lives. Or, if you read a memoir in which the writer describes a breakfast pancake topped with asparagus, shaved Gruyère, and a heavy pour of local syrup, conversation about how else you can indulge in savory cheese and sweet syrup balanced by a bit of green. My answer is spinach salad. For this to taste as it should, splurge on real maple syrup and go crazy with the Gruyère. This is their show and it is a warm, nutty, and deeply sweet one.

—Sarah Lagrotteria 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 small shallot, minced 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons best-quality maple syrup Salt and pepper to taste 2 to 3 bunches (1½ pounds total) flat-leaf spinach, trimmed, cleaned, and dried

Cabbage Crops: Broccoli, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Radishes

1 large sweet fall apple (I like honeycrisp), thinly sliced 1 wedge Gruyère cheese, for grating

heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat until warm. Add the shallots and cook gently, stirring often, until soft and nearly translucent, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the vinegar, Dijon, and maple syrup. Continue whisking over medium heat until the dressing thickens slightly. Remove from the heat and taste for seasoning.

PhOTO By EMIly KAElIN, EMIlyKAElIN.SqUARESPACE.COM

Root Vegetables: Beets, Celery, Green Onions, leeks, Okra, Onions, Carrots, Parsnips, Potatoes, Garlic

Place spinach and apple slices in a bowl and pour warm vinaigrette over. Toss lightly and then top with a very generous grating of Gruyère. Serve immediately.

Last of Summer: herbs; hot, Bell, and Sweet Peppers; Sweet Corn Squashes: yellow Squash, Zucchini, Winter Squash, Pumpkins edible COLUMBUS.com

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notable edibles

Building good food projects with crowd-funding

I

magine this: An online crowd-funding community customized for people who advocate the consumption of good quality food, sustainable farming practices, and all things health and wellness. Thanks to Eileen Gordon, founder of Barnraiser, such an eclectic environment sprouted in 2014. Barnraiser is an online platform and virtual community whose mission is to put $1 billion into the hands of food innovators as they reshape how the world farms and values healthful food solutions.

Eileen describes the opportunity to launch this fast-growing platform as a reawakening experience.

“I was fortunate enough to have worked along side my husband, restaurateur and television host Michael Chiarello, in his career as a chef, and was inspired by growers, chefs, and artisan food producers,” she says. In the past decade, the couple gained stewardship of 20 acres of vineyards in Napa Valley. Since then Eileen has been inspired by the people in this agrarian California community that devote their lives to artisanal delicacies, sustainable farming, and healthy habits.

She believes the movement toward adapting a “good food culture” is still in its beginning phase. Yet she acknowledges the people who farm locally as emerging modern-day heroes in society. Moved by their persistent efforts, she felt compelled to create some kind of system that would enable these remarkable individuals around the United States to unite and form a partnership. With Barnraiser, Eileen hopes to accelerate the “good food” movement. And she’s making progress. Barnraiser has already hosted projects in 32 states in just one year.

“We want to unleash the power of millions of people to fund, grow, and celebrate the thousands of projects that, collectively, can drive us to the tipping point of good food,” says Eileen. What truly separates Barnraiser from other crowd-funding platforms is its dedication to helping scale good food and sustainable farming, while seeking partners who are pursuing complementary work along the way. Some of its top partners include Edible Communities, Good Food Awards, National Farm to School Network, Animal Welfare Approved, and Slow Food USA.

Projects on Barnraiser have an estimated 70% success rate due to the personal support and tools the platform supplies. The best way for various Barnraiser projects to be recognized, of course, is by sharing stories of their progress with the community. Eileen says, “When farmers and food producers tell their stories publicly, they gain a vital set of supporters and customers.” The crowd-funding aspect is a fundamental component of the business plan because it connects people, so that they can form a group and demonstrate to others in the community how to build even greater support for these organizations.

“Using the power of crowd-funding to grow and support the people shaping how we farm and eat, one project at a time, allows millions of consumers to vote on what they want to see in the world,” says Eileen. She emphasizes that this form of funding helps equip growth capital or fundraising for the demand for growing nutritious food. Additionally, it is a quick, risk-free way to gain consumers and supporters. An empowering tool that gives the public the option of what they would like to fund and see flourish in their town.

Barnraiser projects raise on average between $5,000 and $25,000 and members of Edible Communities serve as a thriving example, as Eileen says, of a company that publicizes this health-inspired movement through its collection of publications in cities across the United States. “If you have a project to get funded, our team will personally support it by launching it, as well as customizing the planning and marketing toolkit as a part of our relationship with Edible,” says Eileen.

Barnraiser was the perfect name for this company, evoking the act of a community coming together to put up a barn for their neighbor—to build something that enables people to benefit from better food.

“We’re all in this together,” Eileen says. “The more you share, the more people will discover, celebrate, and fund these wonderful people who move us toward the tipping point.”

For projects, email projects@barnraiser.us, and to join, visit barnraiser.us.

“We provide a simple way for local artisan producers to build their business, grow their community, and get people involved in their growth,” Eileen says. It is this kind of community-driven effort that accumulates diverse ideas and motivates people, which permits the public to vote for what they wish to see on their plates.

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— Cheyenne Buckingham

PhOTO By AShlEy hUFFMAN

notable edibles

Green T Machine Gardens

he Green Machine is revving its engine. The local organization gives those with developmental disabilities a boost by offering a rich working environment in paid positions that involve farming, harvesting, and customer service.

Located at the Opportunity Center in Carroll, Ohio, which sits on the western half of Fairfield County, the Machine is known for producing microgreens—shoots of leaves that are much more nutritious than leaves in their larger state. If you can name the vegetable or fruit and it can be grown in Ohio, they probably grow it, too. They boast tomatoes, green beans, summer squash, zucchini, onions, raspberries, peppers, and more. “Just everything,” says Ann Brocker, a master gardener volunteer.

Giving those with disabilities the seeds to grow

Established three years ago, the Machine is still focused on its original mission of imparting a bounty of work experiences to those with developmental disabilities, and Ann has been there for almost the entire journey, seeing its gardeners and the program flourish.

“It started small and continued to grow,” says Ann. Starting off as just a garden, the Machine soon opened the Green Machine Farm Market where its gardeners were able to sell their produce along with seeds they collected and hypertufa planters.

The job is certainly different from other jobs that those with developmental disabilities may have. Some of the gardeners do have other jobs, Ann notes, but the program is unique in that it lets the gardeners see the value of their work, full-circle, unlike one-task jobs.

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“It’s a real hands-on project and it’s a fulfilling project because [the gardeners] see it from start to finish. They have a real sense of accomplishment and this is something that they have produced and they know that people want it and that they can eat it,” says Ann. “I love it when I see them eat in the garden. You know, it’s good. They can tell the person at the farm market, ‘this is good.’”

Gardeners can let customers know when produce is good in places beyond the market, however. The Machine offers free tours of the garden for individuals or groups to give its gardeners more exposure to interacting with the public in what Ann describes as “reverse integration.”

When the gardeners aren’t interacting with others, they are weeding, planting and harvesting and the hard work pays off with a total of four restaurants serving up their delicious grown goodness: Shaw’s Restaurant and Table 1 in Lancaster, Village Wine in Canal Winchester, and the restaurant at the Inn at Cedar Falls. More restaurants may be added as the gardeners have seen how altered farming techniques can make all the difference.

Recently, the Machine has switched to a vermiculture—where worms are at work—to help produce its microgreens. “They’re a special kind of worm, smaller than what you see in the garden. What we do is we plant right on the top of the dirt and the worms come and after we harvest, the worms come and eat the roots, what’s left of the microgreens, and then the worm castings help fertilize the dirt and they help eat the roots,” says Ann. “So, it’s all a big process so we do not have to put new dirt in the trays every time;

we just plant them in the same ones and the worms take care of it for us. We found that it almost doubled our production.”

With extra time and doubled production, employees have time to get creative.

“Something that all the gardeners are looking forward to is a 15-foot-long tunnel and we’re planting gourds on it and the gourds that grow will hang down into the tunnel,” says Ann. “So when you walk under it there will be gourds all over.”

While waiting for the gourds to come in the fall, gardeners explore more of their craftiness by making scarecrows.

But what’s really cooking next for the Machine is cooking—the program is looking to teach its gardeners how to prepare the food that they grow.

Although new ideas continue to sprout so that the program never hits a stopping point for growth, learning goes both ways. For Ann, the program isn’t just beneficial to those with disabilities.

“It gave me a purpose,” says Ann on her volunteering for the Machine after retiring from a career as a librarian, “and I’ve learned so much from the gardeners.”

The market is open Monday and Friday 11am–2pm, and Thursday 1pm–6pm.

Contact fairfieldcountygreenmachine@yahoo.com for tour information.

—Julie France

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PhOTO COURTESy OF MIChEllE DEMUTh-BIBB, ThE ChEF’S GARDEN

notable edibles

The Root L of it All

auded by Forbes magazine as one of the 11 greatest hotels in the world, the Mandarin Oriental hotel of Hong Kong is sending several of its chefs to Milan, Ohio—and Disney is following suit, bringing 12 of its resort chefs.

The occasion? To eat trash. Well, that’s only part of the reason. A trashthemed dinner featuring foods that would normally be thrown away as a way to counteract the fact that Americans waste 40% of the food they produce, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, is just a part of the third annual Roots Conference.

The Chef’s Garden bringing chefs from all over the world to Cleveland to talk food solutions

The conference will take place September 21 to 22 and feature 20 speakers and 10 moderators speaking on a range of topics that all prove alike on one thing—taking action. The venue for the conference is the Chef’s Garden, a Milan, Ohio, family farm focused on meeting chefs’ needs. As for the number of attendees, initiator of the conference, farmer Lee Jones, the son of the family farm’s founder, Bob Jones Sr., expects to host 200 to 300.

“Lots of conferences leave you all inspired and you go back and go back to work,” says Lee. “This conference isn’t just feel good—it’s about real issues.”

Above: Chefs prepare for The Roots conference dinner

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The seed for the Roots Conference grew in Lee’s mind only after taking a step back from the average American’s relationship with food. After visiting the MAD Symposium in Copenhagen, a conference that blends the importance of a good meal and healthy environment, Lee wondered why similar conferences in the States weren’t happening. Named after the Danish word for food, MAD is spearheaded by Danish chef René Redzepi of Noma,

voted 2014 number one restaurant in the world by theworlds50best.com, giving Lee big footsteps to follow.

But it didn’t take long for the family at The Chef’s Garden to find their niche in stressing involvement rather than inspiration in food issues concerning farmers, chefs, and everyone else. This year’s conference will pose solutions to the problem of depleting resources.

Prannie Rhatigan of Ireland will speak on some unexpected food sources as it becomes more difficult to sustain the world population on farm produce.

“She wrote this book [Irish Seaweed Kitchen] that has amazing but weird delicious-to-cook-with seaweed recipes,” says Lee. “We are running out of food, so we are looking to be sustainable and eat things we wouldn’t normally eat—things that come from the ocean.”

Lee notes that chefs are crucial to starting trends that can then catch on to end up as a dish on the average Joe’s table. He is hoping that chefs can do just that to save endangered plant species.

“Chefs are a huge component in making that demand [for plant species].

This year we have 200 different heirloom varieties where we only have three or four seeds of each from Seed Savers Exchange because they’re so rare,” says Lee. “We could end up with several 1,000 seeds, it just takes a chef to say, ‘This is really cool, I want to work with this.’”

Lee is hoping that the third time for the conference is even more of a charm.

Last year, Alexander Rapaport of Masbia soup kitchen in New York City came to the conference as a speaker, expressing how important patrons’ pride is at the soup kitchen he co-founded. Patrons are given menus and dine at white-clothed tables. In addition, it is the only free soup kitchen in New York City that serves kosher meals.

Nearing the end of last year’s conference and wanting to support Masbia’s cause, The Chef’s Garden was able to partner with FedEx so that the farm can regularly ship produce that it would normally waste, though edible, to the soup kitchen without any shipping costs.

And as for attendees’ actions after each Roots Conference, Lee says they are unpredictable—in a good way.

“The attendees are so interested in food and so empowered by food and empowering others. I’m amazed at what I hear back from this networking process—I can’t predict what people will do, but the conference has a ripple effect,” says Lee. In other words, however big issues may be—the conference knows that every bite matters. “How do you eat an elephant? You eat it one bite at a time,” says Lee.

The Roots Conference: A $350 entry fee pays for the two days of events, two breakfasts and lunches, and one dinner. Registration is available on chefs-garden.com.

Visit ediblecolumbus.com to read editor Colleen Leonardi’s main takeaways and action steps from the conference.

—Julie France

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notable edibles

Harvesting for Hope The Ohio State University’s Garden of Hope for cancer survivors

E

at five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables daily, incorporate a colorful variety of produce into your diet, and be consistent.

These are three principles that Dr. Steven K. Clinton of the James Cancer Hospital and Dr. Colleen K. Spees of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences have been instilling in the people who visit the JamesCare for Life Garden of Hope, or Survivor’s Garden, since its inception four years ago.

Located in the midst of The Ohio State University’s (OSU) Waterman Farms, the Garden acts as both a service to those who have been touched by cancer, as well as a research project. Studies are designed to promote dietary and lifestyle patterns that can be adopted to diminish the risk of redeveloping cancer and ultimately aide survivors in their quest to acquire a more healthful way of living.

The Garden of Hope enables those who have been afflicted by cancer to harvest fresh, phytochemical-packed produce such as beets, berries, eggplant, and sweet potatoes several times a week. Coined as an “urban oasis,” this bountiful garden not only provides current and past patients with a plethora of cancer-fighting crops and herbs, but it also serves as a place of solace and support.

“Survivors feel like it’s their own,” Colleen explains. “In their world of cancer chaos, it’s the one place they can come to feel a sense of peace and tranquility. They can say, ‘This is my space and these people understand my journey, they know where I am at right now.’” Steven describes the time surrounding cancer diagnosis as a vulnerable state for those affected, one where self-control and independence are sacrificed for succumbing to rigors of tightly scheduled medications, surgery, and radiation.

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PhOTO COURTESy OF COllEEN SPEES

“A plant-based diet with a diverse array of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains over time is how you can reduce your risk of many cancers,” Steven advises. “Next to tobacco, the most important risk factors for cancer are food, nutrition, and lifestyle.”

“You want to do things to help yourself, but yet so much is being done to you,” says Steven. When rigorous cancer treatments end, one adapts to an entirely new mindset—how can I live a better life for the years I have remaining? The JamesCare for Life program, a sponsor of the Garden of Hope, facilitates this process through educational opportunities both in the classroom and out in the Garden.

Anna Deri, a 65-year-old survivor of breast cancer, learned a wealth of information at the biweekly lectures when she was a participant in Colleen’s Healthy Harvest Study this past season. Expert food educators voluntarily came in to talk about the nutritional benefits of the produce offered in the Garden, provided cooking demonstrations and taught food safety practices and preserving methods like canning and freezing.

many of the survivors are immunocompromised post treatment. In addition, no pesticides are used in the Garden.

When asked how the Garden was established, Steven proudly says, “This originates with Abraham Lincoln.” He expands on this thought by explaining how Lincoln signed the Land-Grant College Act of 1862, which proclaimed that new states west of the East Coast needed to have universities that serve the people of the state. OSU is a land-grant university that was supported by that initial vision. So with the collaboration of cancer researchers and other faculty at OSU, the Garden of Hope was born to help fulfill this desire to grow food products with a high concentration of phytochemicals to help fend off the reoccurrence of cancer.

At the completion of the study, Anna saw positive changes across the board.

Most notably, she dropped nearly 13 pounds and improved in several biochemical measures of nutritional status.

As for future plans, both Steven and Colleen would like to expand the program, recruit more volunteers, and continue to seek grants and funds that will enable the Garden to thrive. “There is a cycle of life you can witness over a season. There is renewal and comfort that comes from seeing yourself as part of that process,” says Steven.

“I walked away with everything,” Anna says. “I was really hung up on organic,” but she learned that the locality aspect of food is of greater importance than if it is organic. “The Garden enables survivors to come in touch with where their food comes from,” says Steven.

The Garden of Hope indeed restores a sense of self-sufficiency and hope.

At the present time, the research team has not chosen to certify the area as “organic” for many reasons. According to Farm Manager Glenn Mills, “the organic fertilizers use composted animal manure for their nutrient source, which could lead to E. coli or Salmonella exposure,” especially because so

If you want to get involved by volunteering in the Garden of Hope call 614-2936428, or visit cancer.osu.edu/giving-back/volunteering/jamescare-for-life for more information.

—Cheyenne Buckingham

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edible reads

Garden Therapy Along with Chemotherapy From the book Gene Everlasting

by Gene Logsdon

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have a notion that it is a little easier for gardeners and farmers to accept death than the rest of the populace. Every day we help plants and animals begin life and help plants and animals end life. We are acculturated to the food chain. We understand how all living things are seated around a dining table, eating while being eaten. We realize that all of nature is in flux. I work in all seasons on a strawberry patch that for only three weeks produces fruit. All year Carol cares for a patch of irises that bloom in magnificent glory for hardly two weeks. The amaryllis plant sits in somnolence in its pot in the basement all winter, then suddenly awakens in March and puts forth two unimaginably beautiful blossoms. In just ten days the flowers fade and the show is over for another year. This is reality; this is the fact of life and the fact of death that is so hard to accept.

Shepherds spend night and day in early spring playing midwife to ewes, sometimes working desperately through the night to save lambs from dying at birth. Kneeling in manure and afterbirth with your arm up to its elbow inside a ewe is hardly fun. Then all summer the ewes and lambs must be watched and wormed and protected from maggots and wolves and coyotes and the neighbors’ damned dogs. Why do we do it? It’s certainly not for money, because most of us don’t make much as shepherds. But when those lambs go bouncing across the green spring pasture, all the pain and suffering that got them there is forgotten and the shepherd rejoices. Then comes autumn, and those lambs upon which one has spent so much labor and love are shipped off to the stockyards and to death. A friend, a farmer all his life, tells me a story that brings tears to his eyes. Once, after he had hauled his steers off to the stockyards, he stayed to watch them sell. The large building in which the animals from each farmer were penned separately until they were auctioned off had a catwalk above it from which the animals could all be viewed. My friend went up there to look at his charges one last time, and as he talked with another farmer, his steers recognized his voice, lifted their heads, and bawled at him piteously.” They heard me. They were crying out for me to save them,” my friend says. “It just shook my soul.”

I used to ask myself what kind of perversity drives us gardeners and farmers to settle for such a life, but it was only when I faced death from cancer that I could start to answer that question with any conviction. Carol had to do most of the gardening that spring because I was so weak. But sometimes between chemotherapy sessions, I had energy enough to sit in a chair and, seated, weed by hand and with hoe. Actually, pulling weeds or hoeing from a sitting position is not comfortable, so what I really did most of the time was get down on my hands and knees, pull a few weeds, use the chair to pull myself up, sit awhile to catch my breath, stand up and hoe a bit, and sit down and rest some more. Working this way forced me into a very close relationship with the life around me. One of the first tasks that I set out to accomplish was to clean up the black raspberry patch, which had been neglected for a year. Instead of roaring down between rows with the tiller or hacking vigorously along with the hoe, always in a hurry, I was sort of enclosed within the raspberry vines, which had spread out from the original rows and seemed more like a little jungle than a garden. I could only weed or hoe or prune the vines closest to the chair, then pick up the chair and advance a little farther along. I had to step on some of the vines, or push them out of the way or get entwined within them. I was, in other words, in close communion with raspberrydom.

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Being that close to the plants for long periods of time, I became very aware of a whole kaleidoscope of natural life around me, much of which I had never really focused on before. I expected to find the perverse chickweed, the cursed sow thistle, and the stubborn dandelion, but where on earth did that lovely dill plant come from? Could I just leave it to grow there? (Yes— when you are weak, companion planting of just about anything suddenly works fine.) And what was this strange grass that was spreading so rapidly over the ground? It looked a little like bluegrass until it went to seed, which it did in what seemed like three hours. In fact I counted nineteen different kinds of weeds under the raspberry plants. This was in an area of about fifteen feet wide by thirty feet long. One of them was bedstraw. Where on earth had that come from?

Tree seedlings were gaining a firm toehold, too, much to my dismay. A raspberry patch, at least the way I manage one with leaf mulch, becomes a tree nursery heaven, especially when located next to a tree grove. In just one year of not weeding, there were at least a score of white ash seedlings and a dozen black walnut seedlings that had popped up under the berry vines. That’s how I learned that the fervor for planting trees à la Arbor Day rituals is mostly unnecessary. If there are trees anywhere in the vicinity, just lay down a foot of leaf mulch where you want more to grow and stand back. The trees will come, believe me. There were several two-year-old ash seedlings among the raspberry canes that, because I had not had the opportunity to sit still among the vines, I had missed the previous year. They were five feet tall already and growing above the berry vines! A transplanted seedling will never grow that fast.

These seedlings were telling me something else. Just because all the old white ash trees were dying out from emerald ash borer depredation, it did not mean the end of the white ash. Seedlings were growing all over the place, and they will continue to grow, like elm seedlings had done, to seedbearing age before the emerald ash borer can wipe them out. The ash borer, like the elm beetle, will run out of big trees to feed on and be so drastically reduced in numbers that the young trees will start producing seed for more trees before the borer can kill them.

That’s when the thought hit me. In nature, nothing much really dies. The various life-forms renew themselves. Renewal, not death, is the proper word for the progression of life in nature. If I died of cancer, the proper response would be to bury my flesh and bones for fertilizer in a celebration of natural renewal.

A prolific nonfiction writer, novelist, and journalist, Gene Logsdon has published more than two dozen books, both practical and philosophical. Gene’s nonfiction works include Holy

Shit, Small-Scale Grain Raising, Living at Nature’s Pace, The Contrary Farmer's Invitation to Gardening, Good Spirits, and The Contrary Farmer. his most recent novel is Pope Mary and the Church of Almighty Good Food. he writes a popular blog, The Contrary Farmer, as well as an award-winning column for the Carey Ohio Progressor Times, and is a regular contributor to Farming Magazine and Draft Horse Journal. he lives and farms in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. you can visit his blog at thecontraryfarmer.wordpress.com.

This excerpt is adapted from Gene Logsdon’s Gene Everlasting (January 2014) and is printed with permission from Chelsea Green Publishing.

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edible wellness

A Healthy Child Tips on how best to feed your kids through all the stages of childhood

By Mary-lynn Niland

Healthy food. Healthy play. Healthy life.

This mantra adorns the Wellness Wall in our pediatric exam rooms. It serves as a reminder to physician, parent, and child of the simple foundation for a healthy childhood. Diet-related disease is an ever-increasing cause of illness and death in the United States, with one-third of premature deaths attributable to poor nutrition and physical inactivity. One-third of children aged 2–19 are overweight, with obesity rates doubling in children and tripling in adolescents over the past 20 years.

One Family. One Meal: As infants become toddlers, it is developmentally normal for their appetite to vary, some days eating multiple servings, others, refusing anything on their plate. Many parents panic when their toddler won’t eat what is served, often making a second meal to ensure their child eats something. We promote the tenet “Parent Provides. Child Decides.” In today’s busy world, there isn’t time to be a short-order cook. Preparing one healthy, balanced meal for everyone saves time, money, and frustration.

Decrease Snacks & Sugary Drinks: U.S. children have moved toward snacking

When completing my pediatric training in the late 1990s, we didn’t see “adult” diseases such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type II diabetes. Now such conditions are becoming commonplace in children.

We’ve all heard the sobering prediction that today’s children are the first generation that will live a shorter life expectancy than their parents. Hoping to halt or reverse this trend, pediatricians aim to provide nutritional building blocks for children and families.

three times a day with 40% of calories coming from highly processed snack foods and sugar-sweetened beverages. Our culture believes that kids “need” to snack all day long. Not so. Children who graze throughout the day don’t learn hunger or fullness cues. When offered, snacks should be viewed as mini-meals, consisting of at least two food groups and nutrient-rich foods.

Most snacks should contain fruits and/or vegetables and be served seated at a table, not carried around by the child. Children also do not “need” juice or sugary beverages. Milk and water are nutritious offerings.

As a pediatrician, I meet families at varying points along their wellness journeys. Some parents quote Michael Pollan, make all their food from scratch, and wouldn’t dream of eating from a drive-through window. Others are overwhelmed with busy lives, juggling jobs, children, and activities, and rely on the ease and cost of pre-packaged, processed foods to feed their families. Many parents believe that fruit snacks are actually fruit. (For the record, they are not!) Others battle their own weight issues and want something different for their children. Most parents simply want to feed their children as best and affordably as possible. While exciting to see families already living la vida local, it can be even more gratifying to work with parents who view the addition of a new baby as their entry point into healthier eating for the entire family.

Make Meal Planning, Prep, and Dining a Family Affair: The importance of eating family meals at least three times a week cannot be over-emphasized.

Coming together at the dinner table not only improves nutrition, but increases early child vocabulary, helps academic performance, and decreases many high-risk adolescent behaviors. Planning meals, shopping, and preparing food together allows everyone to express their preferences, learn essential cooking skills, and have fun. When children participate in growing, purchasing, or preparing food, they are more likely to eat that food. Families tend to eat healthier at home; as home cooking increases, obesity decreases.

Family meals also provide a chance for parents to model healthy eating behaviors and attitudes to their children.

Pediatricians are asked more questions about HOW and WHAT to feed children than any other topic. The introduction and advancement of foods in a child’s diet causes some parents great stress. Nutrition messages are often misleading, as they are created by corporate marketers as opposed to health experts. As a pediatrician, I work to guide families towards healthful eating at all stages of childhood. How do we tackle this as early as possible?

First Foods: An infant’s first solid food has traditionally been white rice cereal. We encourage parents to choose less-processed, more nutritious first foods, such as whole grain cereal, vegetables, or fruits. We also encourage parents to make at least some of their baby’s food from scratch. Some find this idea daunting, but it truly only involves steaming and blending whatever the family is eating. This helps parents think about feeding their young one “real” food and avoids an early habit of eating from a box or jar.

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These habits create a foundation for healthful eating from the earliest age.

Regardless of where a family is on their wellness path, making small, incremental changes that incorporate more real, whole foods into the diet benefits child and parent alike.

Mary-Lynn Niland, a physician with Step by Step Pediatrics, holds a special interest in childhood nutrition, fitness, and obesity prevention. She believes the medical home should be a focal point for total family wellness. her practice offers in-office cooking classes, CSA pickup, and (coming soon) family fitness and yoga. She shares her own family’s cooking efforts at “What’s McClellan Cooking?” on Facebook.

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edible traditions

Raising a Locavore

A Mother-Daughter Story

By Molly hays • Photography by Maria Khoroshilova

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T

he low point, for Emily Grazier, looked like boxed crackers with spice mix on top, a.k.a. dinner, her freshman year at St. John’s College. Craving the flavorful food of her childhood, unsatisfied with cafeteria fare, she “cooked” up a well-seasoned (if dry) solution.

Then, resolved to do better. Three years later, the cracker’s a wry memory.

The oldest of three girls, 20-year-old Emily grew up in a home where food came first. The sourcing. The cooking. The eating. The gathering. Lisa Clark, Emily’s mother and longtime Columbus resident, knew no other way.

“I was raised all over,” Lisa recounts, by collegestudent parents whose itinerant lives never compromised their deeply held food philosophies.

Even as 1960s America’s infatuation with convenience exploded, “we always ate seasonally,” Lisa recalls, purchasing produce from Syracuse, New York, farmers markets, rarely eating citrus in summer, and patronizing small, family-owned grocers. “No one ate the way we did,” she reports.

With hindsight’s mix of empathy and irony, she remembers lecturing a friend’s mother on the evils of hot dogs, at age 8. “I wasn’t invited back,” she adds, grinning, and acknowledging diplomacy was a double-digit skill.

From her parents, Lisa learned invaluable, practical lessons. Her scientist-mother taught “the lost art of cooking with cleanliness,” from proper preparation of raw meats and produce, to starting always with a hot, sudsy sink. “Baking is like chemistry class: follow exactly and you can’t go wrong. Cooking, however, is improvisation.”

Lisa’s father excelled equally, differently. Influenced by Child, Pepin, Beard, “his cooking was a mad whirlwind that took an entire night to clean up, but was totally amazing.”

Keen bonds with grandparents, both sets with still-strong ties to the land, reinforced Lisa’s food learning. She spent summers on her Swedish grandmother’s farmstead, preserving the bounty, “from strawberries to grapes.” Her grandmother’s cookbooks still hold pride of place on her shelf, including the Swedish sausage recipe, inscribed in spidery script on the endpaper, that begins “16# pork… .”

Even today, conversation between Lisa and Emily is regularly interrupted by fond, smile-prompting mentions of fruit soup, Swedish coffee cake, and a treasured family soup whose dried yellow peas must be specially ordered. And, every year, are.

Little surprise, then, that Lisa returns time and again to her conviction that “good food is available for all.” And entered adulthood with a deep-seated respect for food’s origins and impact.

Opposite: Old cookbooks and family recipes helped pass on the art of cooking from one generation to another Above: Lisa Clark (right) with her daughter Emily Grazier (left) enjoy sharing their experience in cooking real food

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“Just because you’re a college student, doesn’t mean you can’t eat well. A little well-sourced food goes a long way!”

A respect she’s powerfully instilled in her children.

“Most of my earliest memories are about food,” recalls Emily, the oldest of Lisa’s three daughters.

With a wide smile, Emily remembers “eating the ends of warm bread.” From a tofu recipe “written” at age 2 (“just scribbles, but I still have it!” Lisa laughs), Emily began baking in earnest around age 8, “muffins, pancakes, the basics,” appreciating the clear instructions and delicious results, alike. Within a few years, she was cooking “alongside, or under direction:” salsa, pesto, garden fare.

Meanwhile, Emily was learning the true value of food. Homeschooling, her mother points out, integrated this vital lesson into her daughters’ days. They were right alongside as Lisa sussed out Columbus’ best, and devoted precious food dollars to treasured, trusted vendors. Bluescreek Meats, North Market Poultry, farmers markets, without fail: Lisa’s girls learned, week in, week out, the how, where, and why of good food.

Enough so, that the summer before college, Emily worked to buy a Chemex coffee maker.

Enough so, that instead of gaining the traditional Freshman Fifteen, Emily lost the same, following a year of cafeteria fare. (“I didn’t recognize her,” Lisa marvels, remembering a freshman photo. This, despite bi-monthly care packages from home, packed with jam, bread, granola, and other comforts.) Enough so, that “one of the first things I did was find a farmers market, within walking distance,” Emily recalls.

She went every week. Still does. And has convinced countless friends to follow suit.

Indeed, adopting a farmers market is just one genius tip Emily offers. Ask what lessons she’d share with new students and Emily’s advice is so sound, so sage, it ought to be handed to every incoming freshman. “Cook from scratch. Source locally. Cook simply. Use spices. Invest in quality.” Ingredients and equipment, both.

soned cast-iron skillet is worth any number of cheap, lightweight “college” pans. Learn techniques, she emphasizes. Knife skills, basic methods, cooking fundamentals. Then, practice, practice, practice. And finally, and perhaps first and foremost, Emily stresses the importance of cooking with people. Of gathering, together, at table. “Even if they didn’t want to participate, I’d ask friends to just sit and study while I cooked. They helped with the dishes. We ate together. It helped build this amazing community.”

A community that stretches well beyond Emily’s kitchen table, to St. John’s entire student body.

Since freshman year, when work-study offered a food blogging partnership with the Dining Hall’s renowned executive chef, Emily has written “Formaggio Elettrico: Randall Hall at St. John’s College Food Blog” (gastrokitty.blogspot.com).

Part information clearinghouse (think menus and hours), part first-person student’s perspective on independent eating and cooking, Gastrokitty’s a forum for Emily to explore her passion for food. Reviewing everything from restaurants to caviar, recounting student “family” Thanksgivings and red beans and rice’s humble glories, Emily serves up a lively mix of recipes, anecdotes, resources, and recommendations, underscored always by a true cook’s wisdom, and the curiosity of one hungry for the world.

A wisdom and hunger clearly rooted in her childhood; her mother, Lisa’s, kitchen; and the countless generations who laid the foundation for a lifelong love of good, fresh, local food.

Visit ediblecolumbus.com to find Lisa’s top cookbooks for the home and family.

Molly Hays graduated from the University of Washington with two degrees, one Mellon Fellowship, and no idea when to buy a melon. Since moving to Ohio in early 2009, Molly and her family of five have been getting to know Columbus one ice

“Just because you’re a college student, doesn’t mean you can’t eat well. A little well-sourced food goes a long way!” Likewise, Emily stresses the value of a few good tools, pointing out that one well-sea-

cream scoop at a time. Molly writes about food and life at remedialeating.com.

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Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan on improving our food, our health, and building stronger coalitions to advance the healthy food movement

By Bryn Bird

A six-term Congressman, Rep. Ryan from Ohio’s 13th district came on to the food policy scene in 2014 after the publication of his book, The Real Food Revolution: Healthy Eating, Green Groceries and the Return of the American Family Farm. For many in food policy, his passionate look at farm and food policy in the United States comes as a pleasant surprise. He is not on the agriculture committee, nor representing a majority rural community. Instead, Rep. Ryan came to champion reformed food and farm policy through his work on the House Appropriations Committee and his concern that the government is subsidizing cheap convenient food that is causing many of America’s health problems.

“We look to balance the budget and cut spending but we are funding an agriculture system high in processed and sugar foods that ultimately translates back into our staggering healthcare costs. On the appropriation committee there is concern about the rising cost of healthcare in the budget but there has not been a conversation around the disconnect between our farm and food funding and our healthcare expenses. We know there is a direct correlation between healthcare and nutrition, and we need to get back to the basics.”

Where Policy Meets the Road

Back to the Basics U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan arrived at the coffee shop in Bermuda shorts and flip-flops early one Saturday morning in Youngstown, Ohio, as I nervously waited in my business suit fresh from the farm field. After an introduction and the kind of hug you give a long lost friend, the Ohio con-

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One example that Rep. Ryan discussed during the House Appropriation Committee meeting on June 24, is the highly government-funded school meal program. The program has been in the national spotlight since First Lady Michelle Obama took on the issue and championed for change. As Rep. Ryan points out, however, the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) continues to report that a typical school lunch far exceeds the recommended 500 milligrams of sodium; some districts, in fact, serve lunches with more than 1,000 milligrams. The USDA also reports that less than a third of schools stay below the recommended standard for fat content in their meals.

Despite science-based evidence that eating high levels of fat and sodium can lead to obesity and diabetes, Congress continues to argue over the

role the government should play in regulating school meal programs.

“In my district, like many districts around the county, we have 40–60% or more students on Medicaid. These same students, roughly 32 million, also consume over half their daily calories in the form of school meals through subsidized school meal programs. We will now sit back and wait until the student develops diabetes, where we will then fund their healthcare. Then Congress will come back and argue again about funding their healthcare after we failed to feed them healthy and nutritious food each day. We are a sick country, and only funding our illness.”

Congress needs to make these connections in all aspects of our food and healthcare funding and realize we cannot continue on the current path and be able to afford its consequences long term.

It’s Rep. Ryan’s belief that Congress must make decisions and start innovating to bend the cost curve of our healthcare system.

Simple Solutions Rep. Ryan says just because we have a complicated problem, doesn’t mean we need a complicated solution. To start, we need to increase food and nutrition education for youth, shift subsidies to increase affordability and access to healthy and regional food, and build coalitions to create a healthy food political movement.

For Tim Ryan, food education goes beyond just having Americans learn the USDA’s MyPlate icon. Food education starts with a better understanding of how to grow food and cook healthy meals. This includes getting a school garden and salad bar in every school. In June, Rep. Ryan introduced the Salad Bar in Schools Expansion Act. The act would establish grant funding to provide training, technical assistance, and placement of salad bars in elementary, middle, and high schools across the country. Previous pilot programs have proven to be an effective and affordable way to make school lunches healthier and increase fruit and vegetable consumption.

This allows students to try different varieties and allows schools to incorporate local and seasonal foods into their menus.

Food and nutrition education go beyond youth education, though. Rep. Ryan is also concerned about our educational spending through current Cooperative Extension Programs. Originally, Agricultural Extension programs were funded through one-third federal, one-third state, and one-third county. Extension education and research budgets,

PhOTO COURTESy OF CONGRESSMAN TIM RyAN

Real Food, Real Policy

gressman sat down for an interview around one of his passions—food policy. What was supposed to be a 30-minute interview turned in to a twohour conversation as he attentively asked how farm bill programs and FDA rules were affecting the family farm. Soon I began to wonder who was interviewing who.

however, have continually been slashed over the past two decades and now only receive 10% of their budgets from the Federal government, causing universities and researchers to look for grant funding from outside sources. This type of sponsored funding has led to extension research being heavily geared towards commodity and larger agricultural production farms.

Extension’s original mission was to seek scientific research aimed at making farms and ranches more profitable. Rep. Ryan wants to be sure there is equal amount of research being done for commodity growers as well as specialty crop and organic growers. Farmers rely heavily on county extension agents and programs. The lack of research and support coming from local offices for producers looking to transition, or begin specialty and organic farms, creates a knowledge gap too big for many to overcome. Rep. Ryan believes we need more federal funding for extension programs that allow for research to better equip producers to grow food that will lead to the best healthcare outcomes, and in turn, allow for taxpayers to get a true return on our investment. The goal is more profitable farms that lead to better health outcomes for us all.

Coalitions for Healthy Food Rep. Ryan knows that for many the idea of eating healthy food is more wishful thinking than a reality. Our current food policies have subsidized the food industry’s creation of cheap, mostly unhealthy calories. Despite our history, however, he is determined to end that reality.

On many occasions he has spoken about the need to shift the nearly $14 billion the USDA spends on crop insurance subsidies to more innovative ways of subsiding fruits, vegetables, and healthier foods. This would include increasing grant funding to develop and build specialty crop infrastructure and more regional food economies, and look to develop policies that would require prisons, schools, and universities to spend federal dollars on local and regional food.

As we sat in the coffee shop in Youngstown, Rep. Ryan was discussing policy reform that, as a farmer, I had only dreamed a congressman would propose. He is in the minority on Capitol Hill, though, and when I finally asked him where do we start and how do we get Congress to start listening he simply said, “coalition building.”

Rep. Ryan is quick to note that large agricultural and food corporations have enormous lobbying power. It will take all of us concerned about healthy farms and food to come together and demand change. We must bring environmentalist, renewable energy, foodies, organic lovers, locavores, dieticians, healthcare professionals, school administrators, nutritionists, and anyone who is concerned with where our federal dollars are going in both farm, food, and healthcare policy to the table. Rep. Ryan encouraged those seeking change to organize around specific policies, such as extension funding and school lunch programs. Then work to identify leaders and get individuals elected on to school boards and county commissions throughout the state in key districts who will work for change.

Coalitions need to start counting their numbers and take those folks demanding change to Congress members and hold them accountable. Tell them you are watching and make sure they know how many of their constituents are on the side of reform. We so often feel like we cannot make change, or that Congress doesn’t listen, but they do. Rep. Ryan assured me they do pay attention to just how many constituents stand together in an educated and informed coalition.

We have a champion in Congress wanting to make radical change in food and farm policy— Ohio’s Congressman Tim Ryan. Now it’s up to us to build political pressure and ask Congress: How will you fund the healthcare costs of the future with the farm policy of today?

Bryn Bird is a farm girl hailing from a dirt road outside Granville, Ohio. She grew up raising live-

“By increasing marketplace demand and increasing our research on the development of more profitable specialty crop farms, we will grow more farmers, more infrastructure, and bring down the price of local and healthier food. We need to be innovative and take a hard look at crop insurance funding and how can we use even a fraction of those dollars to make healthier food more affordable and accessible to every American.”

stock and produce on her family’s farm, Bird’s haven. She holds a master’s in public health from George Washington University and is now empowering the rural lifestyle through her work with the Canal Market District in Newark, Ohio, and serving on the board of directors for the Ohio Ecological Farm and Food Association.

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urban Homestead

Mindful About Mushrooms Local grower Michael Hayes and his backyard kingdom of edible mushrooms

By Claire hoppens Photography by Maria Khoroshilova

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B

ehind a quaint house in Clintonville shrouded in lush summer growth, there’s magic at work at the home of Michael Hayes. A pile of oak, maple, and mulberry logs, each perforated with dozens of holes, is neatly stacked at the base of a towering pine tree. More lean against the trunk. The ground is soft after weeks of steady rains. Sunlight is patchy, but the shade has its purpose. All the better for the tiny threads of mycelium packed tightly into each log, ready to explode from the bark as mushrooms.

Michael is vivacious. His passion for the mushrooms is rivaled only by his admiration of the growing process, one that hastens what will occur naturally when wood, water, spores, and time are left to their own devices.

For 24 years Michael and his wife Cynthia have lived in their Clintonville home, a corner bungalow flanked by tall trees.

“That’s why we chose this house,” Michael says. “We drove through the neighborhood and just loved the trees. It felt substantial.” For the past five years, Michael has cultivated edible mushrooms in their backyard, not for sale but for personal enjoyment, save for the occasional trade with a neighbor. Michael, an architect by trade, has always been a gardener.

“When I was a little boy I collected mushrooms in the forest with my grandmother who was this old, wonderful Polish lady. We’d collect grocery bags full,” he says, holding his arms out wide for emphasis, supporting the imaginary weight of the mushrooms. “She knew just what to take in the forest.”

“I grew up eating mushrooms. We always had a garden. So I guess the whole thing came from my interest in horticulture,” he says.

Michael first cultivated mushrooms as a side project—a way to grow the mushroom varieties he enjoyed eating most, shiitake and grey oyster—and eventually realized growing mushrooms is easy. “It’s not that hard,” Michael says. “You can grow mushrooms in coffee grounds, in rolls of toilet paper.

There’s a very easy methodology for doing it. There’s whole kits you can get,” he adds.

Michael’s logs come from an oak felled on a friend’s land. “They said ‘pick a tree, any tree’ and I picked a nice white oak, a beautiful straight tree,” he says, looking up at the slender pine off his shoulder. After all, shiitake means “oak flower” in Japanese. Michael then drills holes in a diamond pattern into each log before pushing inoculated wooden dowels, just like the ones used to build furniture, into the holes.

“That’s mycelium,” Michael says, cupping a few dowels in his palm before settling them back into a bag he ordered from an online mushroom retailer.

“Depending on the size of the log, there may be between 40 to 60 spawn plugs in each log.”

He’ll seal the pegs into the holes with wax, creating the right environment for growth. Thus begins the year-long process of inoculation in which the mushroom spores slowly colonize the log, laying the ground work for years of growth to come. A log, once inoculated, will produce for five to seven years. But patience is a crucial factor.

Then, one by one, he drops the logs into a metal trough filled with recycled rainwater. “By soaking them the water is absorbed and production is stimu-

Right: Michael Hayes of Clintonville getting the logs ready for soaking

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lated. The mycelium says, ‘Oh, it’s raining outside. It’s time to flower,” Michael says.

Michael leads the way through the backyard thick with vegetation, much of it edible. Inside a low wooden fence, the garden thrives. Carrot tops are as vibrant as kale. Micro-greens grow in small clay pots at the fence line.

Michael shows off healthy tomato plants grown from the seeds of a feisty volunteer that shot up between two cobblestones last year. It’s nearly transformative, the greenery.

“It all comes down to health, right? I want to know what I eat so that’s what started this whole thing, educating myself about “you are what you eat,” so I try to grow my own food as much as possible in my little yard,” he says, proudly. There is little space he has not laid his hands on.

Michael savors the process. As a student of classical architectural and a general practitioner today, he guides structures of varying size from infancy to opening. Just as small glimmers of life peek through the dampened logs as the fungi forms, so too does a building take a slow and careful shape.

“Everything overlaps in my life,” Michael says. “I think it was Frank Lloyd Wright that said a good architect should be able to design a fork as well as a city. Design at every scale. I don’t see any distinction. Things overlap for me a lot, horticulture with architecture,” he says.

“Mushrooms are integrated with my gardening. I compost. I’ve got worms in the basement—vermiculture. That takes me through the winter, I’ve got compost here in the backyard,” he says.

“Our volume of compostables has really grown since we gave up most processed foods. And it turns out compost makes the best soil, so my garden is augmented with the compost, with the worm casings, all that stuff. My point is everything integrates. Everything’s tied together. If you follow nature’s guide you can’t go wrong.”

Michael wants to build more than a varied garden. He wants to build a legacy of mindful growing and eating.

“I am teaching my daughters,” Michael says. “That’s a big thing for me, that they know this and can carry it on.”

Visit ediblecolumbus.com for Michael’s recipe for Shitake Mushroom Omelet.

Raised in a nomadic and adventurous family, Claire Hoppens called five states home and attended three colleges before earning her degree in magazine journalism from the Scripps School at Ohio University in 2011. Claire is currently a managing partner for Northstar Cafe, one of the many Columbus mainstays to solidify her love of people, food, and our vibrant city.

top to bottom: The logs will spend 24 hours in this basin then are stacked and labeled.

Wooden dowels (plugs) with spawn are inserted into drilled holes in the logs; shiitake mushrooms ready to be harvested; wild harvest of chanterelle mushrooms, gathered in the forest near Athens.

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in the garden

Fruit of

Venus The history, cultivation, and savoring of the European pear

By Debra Knapke

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liny, in Historia naturalis, says that the pear is the fruit of Venus. Surely its heady perfume and nutty, buttery flavor would have appealed to the goddess of love.

The pears we eat today are attributed to two species: the European pear (Pyrus communis) and the Asian pear (P. pyrifolia). Historical records indicate that these species have been cultivated for approximately 2,000 and 3,000 years respectively. Pears are one of the longer-lived fruit trees, up to 200 years. Their prime fruiting range is significantly less than that, but older pear trees can be quite picturesque.

While I enjoy the crisp crunch of an Asian pear, it is the European pear that holds a place in my heart and diet, and is the focus of this article.

Pear butter, baked pears with maple sugar and nutmeg, pear-cranberry pie, fall greens topped with pears, toasted pecans and Maytag blue cheese—is your mouth watering yet?

PhOTO By CAROlE TOPAlIAN

Ralph Waldo Emerson exaggerated when he said, “There are only 10 minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat,” but pears are not “keepers” like apples. Once they are ripe, you either need to eat them or preserve them. Pears develop more “stones” around the seeds and the center of the fruit starts to break down as it reaches maturity, so it is best to harvest pears before they are ripe. A clue to determining this point is to watch the lenticels, or dots, on the pear’s skin. When the lenticels begin to darken, pick the pears and allow them to ripen fully on your kitchen counter. You can delay ripening for several days in the refrigerator, but the best flavor develops when pears are not kept cold.

If you decide to grow pears, pick a place in your landscape that is sunny, sheltered from northwest winds, and away from areas that may be salted in the winter. Pears are not salt-tolerant and are harmed by salt run-off from sidewalks and driveways. This is one fruit that will deal with our clay soils, but topdressing with compost is a welcome addition. After planting, pears benefit from a two- to three-inch layer of hardwood mulch over the roots. But do not snug the mulch up to the trunk; think “doughnut hole.” There should be an open area of four to six inches around the trunk. Avoid using high-nitrogen fertilizers as this can promote disease. This is an issue if your tree is close to a lawn that is fertilized with conventional nitrogen-heavy mixes.

Most cultivars are self-sterile, meaning that a flower will not accept the pollen from its own type. There are a few pears that are classified as being self-fertile—especially newer hybrids—but they will produce a larger crop if a different cultivar is present. Therefore it is best to plant at least two different cultivars that bloom in the same time frame (see the sidebar for a list of cultivars).

How do you know a pear is ripe? Gently press the top of the pear by the stem. When it depresses slightly, the pear is ready to enjoy.

How to choose between the different cultivars?

Obviously, taste is a prime consideration. Second, search for varieties that are recommended for your growing area. Your favorite “market” pear may not grow well in Ohio. Just as important is to plant disease-resistant varieties. Like many cultivated fruits, pears are susceptible to many pests and diseases. The major disease for pears is fire blight. No pear is totally fire-blight-resistant, but some are more resistant than others.

Season: (E) early; (M) mid; (L) late.

Anjou (Buerre d’Anjou) (l) green with a slight red blush when ripe; more fragrant and flavorful than Bartlett—in my opinion; Red Anjou has the same flavor and fragrance profile; more resistant to fire blight.

Bartlett (Williams) (E) the pear everyone

Another consideration is choosing the size of the tree. This will be determined by how much space you have in your landscape, how quickly you want fruit, and whether or not you want to use a ladder to harvest the fruit. Standard pears grow 18 to 20-plus feet tall by 12 to 13 feet wide; dwarfs grow eight to 10 feet tall by six to seven feet wide. Dwarf trees will bear fruit in two to three years; standards will fruit in four to six years. Dwarf trees are easier to harvest, but their roots may be slower to establish and the trees may require staking.

knows; often used for canning and canned when under-ripe; when ripe it is golden, sweet, juicy, and fragrant; Red Bartlett has the same flavor and fragrance; highly susceptible to fire blight.

Bosc (M) an heirloom variety; has thicker skin, firmer flesh, and a nutty flavor; good for baking and canning; highly susceptible to fire blight.

Comice (M) often called the Christmas pear as it is most likely the pear in your Christmas

Maintenance centers on using good pruning techniques as the tree matures. There are different techniques that promote good airflow and a structure that can handle the fruit load. Also important is the removal of suckers from the base of the tree and the canopy. It is imperative that you remove all suckers in the root zone. You do not want the grafted rootstock to overtake the desirable fruiting scion. For more information on pruning fruit trees, consult The Fruit Gardener’s Bible by Lewis Hill and Leonard Perry.

gift basket; ripens to a golden color; rich and buttery; pairs beautifully with brie or camembert; susceptible to fire blight.

Harrow Delight (E) very similar to Bartlett, but is fire blight-resistant.

Honeysweet (E) very similar to sweet, buttery Seckel; larger and more resistant to fire blight than Seckel.

Seckel (M to l) small, very sweet and juicy; very productive; must be harvested while

May you enjoy the gifts of a pear tree!

unripe or the core deteriorates; more resistant to fire blight.

Starkrimson (E) sport of Clapp’s Favorite

Debra Knapke is a teacher, lecturer, garden de-

(older variety); crimson skin color develops as it ripens; mild flavor and floral fragrance;

signer, consultant, and gardener. She enjoys

becoming common in the market; suscep-

snacking on plants as she tends her ⅔-acre

tible to fire blight.

garden. She has written five books and is a heartland Gardener: heartland-gardening.com.

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from the Farmer’s Perspective

Blossom Acres One farmer and his commitment to sowing good soil

By Nicole Rasul Photography by Emily Kaelin

A Soil Steward Standing on his 30 acres of farmland in Coshocton, known as Blossom Acres Produce, Eli Yoder recognizes that underneath his feet lies a treasure: rich and dynamic brown soil.

Eli, his wife Susan and their six children have called this farm home for four years. When the family purchased the property in 2011 the soil, which was previously farmed conventionally, was “lifeless,” says Eli. “Farming really boils down to what is in the soil. If your soil is healthy and full of microbes then in turn, the food that you eat from the soil will be healthy,” Eli notes as he gazes at his fields teeming with life.

In the three years prior to finding their home in Coshocton, the family farmed a small piece of land a few miles away. However with little room for expansion, they sought a new location where they could truly invest in the soil.

At Blossom Acres the biological life of the soil governs all production on the farm. Though not certified organic, the farm maintains sustainable agricultural practices. Eli is aware of the important role that he serves as a steward of the land. He knows that he is not the master of the soil—the land is his partner and must not be treated with reckless abandon.

Above: Eli inspects his soil by running it through his hands. Blossom Acres focuses on the health of their soil, as well as teaching others the benefits of farming sustainably.

Opposite: One of the Amish workers on Eli’s farm uses a horse cart to lay rows in the soil to prepare for planting. By using sustainable agricultural practices, Eli is able to focus on keeping his soil and crops healthy.

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“Our goal is to produce high-nutrient food,” Eli says while examining a bright green zucchini recently plucked from the plant.

Building Soil Fertility In addition to farming with minimal chemical inputs, Blossom Acres focuses on the use of cover crops and the application of micronutrient sprays and compost. An avant-garde chef, Eli recognizes that the best recipe for quality produce is understanding and aiding the biological stew brewing under his feet.

“Eli is doing such a great job; his effort is amazing,” says Christine Okonak, a longtime Blossom Acres Produce community-supported agriculture (CSA) subscriber. “He is truly farming for all of the right reasons; he is doing it to support his family and to share the value of eating healthy foods grown the right way. He is so passionate about providing healthy food to people.”

In cover crop farming a field is planted with the sole intention of building soil fertility. The crop is plowed under to add nutrients to the soil through the break-down of the plant’s organic matter. Cover crops also prevent soil erosion. At Blossom Acres Produce, Eli likes to grow a buckwheat cover since it attracts bees.

practices, chemical dependence, and soil erosion have depleted the amount and quality of this most precious resource.

Nevertheless, there is hope: Experts believe that sustainable soil management practices, like those practiced at Blossom Acres Produce, may yield up to 58% more food, which could help our world to meet the needs of a growing population in an ecologically conscious way.

As an environmental steward, Eli strives to help other farmers learn the benefits of farming sustainably. He hosts field walks for area farmers enabling them to learn from his successes and challenges. The evenings include a visit from a soil consultant to educate the producers about the life blossoming under their feet.

The Payoff Though he has had to weather a few storms, Eli has seen the attention he pays to the biological health of the soil pay off tremendously during recent growing seasons.

First and foremost, he reports that both the quality and the quantity of the produce grown at Blossom Acres has improved. Just this year Eli has seen his potato crop double due to recent soil quality investments.

Eli also applies micronutrients to his fields on a weekly basis making the produce grown on the farm taste good. By introducing a wide variety of micronutrients during the growing process he believes his harvest is also more nutrient-dense.

Additionally, he has watched the ecosystem on his farm come to life with a dazzling array of activity in the fields.

“If you grow something and you don’t add chemicals, you’ve got a naturally grown product. However, even with this natural plant, if the soil is not healthy then the fruit is not healthy,” Eli explains.

“I’ve seen the earthworm population multiply tremendously,” he notes. “The first year on the farm there were hardly any earthworms in the soil. That year we dug through our 14 inches of topsoil in several locations and only saw one or two worms each time. However, now when pulling up a plant, it’s not unusual to see eight to 12 worms just at the surface of the soil.”

The Big Picture

And his supporters have also taken note.

2015 has been declared the International Year of Soils by the United Nations. Home to a quarter of the world’s biodiversity, an important filter of water and the largest home of carbon on land, soil is vital to a host of natural processes. In just a tablespoon of healthy soil there are billions of microorganisms.

“I have never had produce that tastes as good as that grown at Blossom Acres Produce,” Christine says. “It may not be the biggest head of broccoli in your CSA, but it will be the tastiest broccoli that you will ever eat.”

Blossom Acres Produce can be found at the North Market and Powell farmers

With increases in farm technology, however, the Earth’s soil, a non-renewable resource, has suffered irreversible damage. Intensive production

markets on Saturdays. Additionally, the farm offers a CSA drop-off on Tuesdays from May through October in Westerville, Powell, and Hilliard, as well as a CSA drop-off on Saturdays at the North Market. The CSA includes vegetables, strawberries, herbs, and occasionally specialty breads baked on the farm. An egg share is also offered. To learn more, visit localharvest.orghttp://www.localharvest.org/blossom-acres-produce-csa-M51364.

Nicole Rasul loves all things food. Food history, food culture and profiles of our region’s brave producers especially strike her fancy. She lives in Clintonville with her husband and daughter where they enjoy the farmers market and their backyard garden.

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from the good earth

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Edible Ginger How a tropical crop is taking root in Ohio soils

By Julia Flint • Photography by Sarah Warda

P

lanted between rows of tomato plants and the complementary beds of basil, edible ginger (Zingiber officinale) looks like an escaped houseplant in hiding. While unaccustomed eyes may compare the plant’s appearance to a stunted stalk of corn, there is little else that it resembles in a Central Ohio garden. Ginger is still somewhat of a refugee in Ohio soils, not yet quite at home or established in our local-food landscape.

Long valued for its pungent flavor and medicinal properties, edible ginger has only relatively recently taken root on Ohio’s farms. Appropriately classified as young ginger, edible ginger grown in Ohio is harvested before the plant reaches full maturity. Preferring tropical or subtropical climates, edible ginger requires special treatment in Ohio—one of the reasons it is not commonly grown. Though technically the same plant as mature ginger, young Ohio ginger is vastly different from the thick-skinned, fibrous, dry root you’ll find in stores.

Instead, think pink—the color of the tops of the fresh ginger rhizomes where they connect to the stalk. Think crisp—the texture of a carrot. The skin of young ginger can be peeled off with your thumb. The rhizome retains moisture. It’s not what you’re used to.

Ginger in the Kitchen Chef Tom Smith of The Worthington Inn says he’s missed having access to young, fresh ginger ever since he left Hawaii. Today he purchases fresh young ginger from Green Edge Organic Gardens in Amesville, Ohio. He describes the Opposite: Natalie Horvath harvests fresh ginger at Green Edge Gardens.

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Ohio-grown, organic young ginger can be purchased at the following locations: Columbus Clintonville Farmers Market Worthington Farmers Market Bexley Natural Market Clintonville Community Market little Eater Produce and Provisions (at North Market)

Athens Athens Farmers Market The Farmacy The Village Bakery

Learn more about Ohio Ginger at The Seasoned Farmhouse September 27, 5:30pm to 7:30pm with Rachel Tayse

Farm-to-Plate Ginger Taste and compare varieties of organic Ohio-grown baby ginger with the farmer who grew them right here in Central

flavor of young ginger as more floral yet less assertive than mature ginger. He notes that young ginger is much easier to peel and that unlike mature ginger with its less appealing texture, there is no need to strain out the young ginger pieces after cooking. Tom uses young ginger in salsas and sauces for dishes at The Worthington Inn, though his favorite recipe is a homemade ginger ale using only a simple syrup, puréed young ginger, and soda water.

Michelle Kozak, proprietor and chef at Pâtisserie Lallier in Columbus, makes and sells organic ginger fruit candies from fresh ginger grown by Swainway Urban Farm in Columbus. Like many customers, Michelle buys and freezes the ginger to last throughout the year until the following harvest. Fresh young ginger can be processed before it is frozen, or stored as-is. While it doesn’t thaw well, frozen young ginger can be grated into dishes as needed and the remaining rhizome returned to the freezer.

On the Farm Three years ago Natalie Horvath read an article about growing ginger in temperate climates and wondered if it could be done in Ohio. Green Edge, her employer, was already well established as an innovator in the local food community.

The farm’s successful season extension model enables them to fill more than 150 communitysupported agriculture (CSA) orders through the dead and cold of winter. From that starting point, exploring new crops that are only possible with an extended growing season is a logical next step. Green Edge now has several beds of young ginger planted each year, thanks to Natalie’s initial curiosity, and has since added turmeric root as well.

In Clintonville, ginger plants occupy every available row of garden space in Joseph Swain’s backyard. Not your typical image of a backyard garden, this backyard is one of the three locations that make up Swainway Urban Farm, a partnership between Joseph Swain and the Harmonious Homesteader, Rachel Tayse. Also an innovator in the local food community, Joseph explains that with only one acre of land in production, the farm’s success depends on being intentional in their production choices. Ginger, he says, fits the farm’s focus of growing niche and specialty crops.

Ohio. Enjoy a meal including ginger syrup cocktail, baby greens with miso ginger dressing, seasonal vegetable, and Ohio pork stir-fry, and dessert.

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Confronting high up-front costs, limited parameters for growing, and untested local markets, both Green Edge and Swainway have taken risks with ginger. One difficulty growing ginger in Ohio is that it requires a long period of maturation compared to a short window for harvesting. That window at Green Edge is early or mid-August until late September, when the summer beds need to be turned over to start planting crops for the winter. At Swainway, harvests can extend a little longer as long as there is no risk of freezing temperatures.

Faced with the challenge of a limited harvest season for a crop that customers were unfamiliar with, Green Edge started looking for ways to extend young ginger’s availability. Last year, the farm started producing and selling jars of pickled ginger. Natalie worked closely with the staff at the local business incubator, the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks, or ACEnet, to create the product. Having no prior experience with creating value-added products or bringing them to market, Natalie says that ACEnet’s help was instrumental in bringing local pickled young ginger to market shelves.

It is safe to assume that a generation ago no one would have expected to find fresh ginger locally and commercially available in Ohio; nor would one expect to purchase fresh locally grown lettuce on the coldest days of January. Tom says there was a time when it seemed like he couldn’t find anything that was locally grown—now, he says, he can find almost everything. “It takes a community effort,” he tells me.

Farmers, chefs, customers, businesses, and community advocates each play a role. And as farms like Green Edge and Swainway demonstrate, within that network of support innovation can take root. By extending the growing season and introducing new crops, our concept of foods that are local, sustainable, and organic is limited less by our geography, and more by our ideas of what is possible.

Julia Flint lives, eats, writes, and gardens in Athens, Ohio, where she will be beginning a master’s program in latin American Studies this fall. She can be reached at julia.m.flint@gmail.com.

The Risks & Rewards As a new crop, young ginger offers new opportunities and new challenges for those growing it.

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For the Hunt It’s all about food independence and living off the land for local hunter Steve Berk

By Tara Pettit • Photography by Ryan Benyi

T

he hunt begins and ends with the land. And like with most ongoing efforts to rekindle the long-lost relationship of balanced give and take we humans once maintained with the Earth, the return to procuring one’s own food involves such an intrinsic and fundamental connection to the physical soil that it almost seems holy.

It’s when discussing the land and his relationship to it that you see passion flare in Steve Berk’s eyes.

Steve, a local hunter, sets out towards the fields of Cherrybend Pheasant Farm with his trusted bird-hunting dog, Lulu, propped at his side in the passenger seat. If it were a hunting day, he would have his gun and Lulu would be prowling the fields for the next catch.

It was not a hunting day. For both of them, however, just setting foot on Cherrybend’s 640-acre fields, teeming with bird wildlife and rich with agricultural diversity, just feels like home. Perhaps it’s because for five years of Steve’s post-Peace Corps life he adapted his multicultural agricultural background, gained from his time spent in Paraguay, to the flat farmlands of Ohio.

During those early Ohio farming years, Steve lived in the second story of Cherrybend’s hunters’ lodge where he fully immersed himself in living off the farm’s land while beginning to engage in the area’s local hunting and farming culture and developing a love for the land that made the type of life he was pursuing possible.

If there’s one thing Steve has learned (and there have been many things), it’s that there is a profound connection between his own sustainable efforts, his relationship with other hunters and farmers in the community, and ready

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access to the land they all share to produce the food that sustains them and that supports their very own local food economy.

“The land” is Clinton County—field-striped farm country where Wilmington, Ohio, is located—that is home to several family farms that work to sustain a significant local meat, dairy, and crop market there.

Clinton County is also home to the unique hunting spot that is the Cherrybend Pheasant Farm, one of Ohio’s most substantial guided small game hunt and clays operations, which serves as a highly valued access point for land that is crucial to Steve and many other Ohio hunters’ ability to hunt.

Cherrybend is owned and operated by a local family with a long history of farming in the Wilmington area since the mid-1800s. It offers quite an exceptional experience for those interested in hunting ring-necked pheasant and bobwhite quail, providing scheduled release and catch sessions of the bird wildlife they raise with the option to use one of their expert bird hunting dogs.

The farm itself sits back off the road with the hunters’ lodge and bird barns tucked in between acres of corn, soybean, wheat, and cover crop fields—all actively managed with annual crop rotations and to ensure full crop coverage. In between the sorghum and sunflower cover crops is where the birds hide.

Lulu senses something. A pheasant weaves in and out of the sorghum, and though she hasn’t yet spotted it, her demeanor intensifies and she’s immedi-

Opposite: Local hunter Steve Berk and his dog Lulu hunting pheasants at Cherrybend Pheasant Farm in Wilmington, Ohio

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“Cooking, buying local, hunting, and working to save up for land for your own farm teaches you one key element and that’s patience.”

ately on the prowl for what she has been trained to do: hunt birds. She spots the lingering pheasant, but it flies off as she charges towards it.

The hunting dogs are a key aspect to the particular hunting experience Cherrybend offers, where hunters are paired with one of the highly trained dogs to maximize each hunt in terms of success and enjoyment. Cherrybend’s hunt dogs, like Lulu, are trained by sense and instinct to guide the hunter through the pheasant and quail-propagated fields and to their next catch. Although kenneled when not out on a hunt, the dogs are worked with on a regular basis and are well taken care of.

“I would say, in a way, that these dogs have a higher quality of life than any dog you would see,” Steve says, “because they are getting to do what they are bred to do. They hunt all the time. At the end of the day, that’s all they want to do.”

For many hunters, like Steve, the close bond formed while regularly hunting with one of the dogs can sometimes serve as the motivation to hunt in the first place.

food leads him to endless interactions with the animals, local farmers, and various community members that function to support a local network of food production.

Local production, purchase, and support is what is most important about this life, Steve will remind you, and is very much a return to a more communal way of living, especially with regards to more holistic and connected food practices. It’s a way of life Steve is committed to following and that aligns closely with his overall philosophy around sustainable food production—whether it’s when hunting, growing, or buying—that has continued to expand in his life after engaging in other cultures’ practices surrounding food.

“My experiences have really solidified how I wanted to interact with the world and the environment,” Steve says. “Much of that formed the emphasis I wanted to place on my food. It was super unique and influencing to interact with a culture’s intentional approach to their food, very much a social, sharing event.”

“So, here’s a little secret. I’d probably not enjoy hunting as much if there weren’t dogs involved,” Steve says. “Watching a great hunting dog is better than the hunt itself. I love the companionship and relationship it affords. [Lulu] is ornery, spoiled and has a hunting drive like no other and I love her for it.”

Steve and Lulu share a very close bond reinforced by the time they spend hunting together. Throughout the season, they are out at Cherrybend regularly on the weekends, hunting to secure enough meat to last through the winter.

Hunting is one of many ways Steve strives for food independency in his life and in his effort to engage with and live off the land. While all done in his spare time, Steve’s lifestyle also functions closely with his professional career as the organizational director of the Ohio Farm Bureau where he has the opportunity to engage in the policymaking side of agriculture. His personal endeavors in sustainable hunting and food-gathering fit in nicely with the work he does for the Ohio Farm Bureau. Steve is pretty much dedicated to his mission in all aspects of his life.

Last year, Steve and Lulu captured about 75 birds throughout the hunting season—enough meat and more to last them the entire winter. Steve was happy to be able to share his catch with friends and neighbors. Sharing is one aspect of Steve’s “life off the land” that connects him to a way of living where he is not just pursuing food self-sufficiency for himself, but is actively participating in and contributing to an entire Clinton County economy of local food barter, trade, and sale. One neighboring family may run the local dairy business, while another may sell most of the area’s beef, while another may produce a wide variety of vegetables. So while his hunt may initially begin with his interaction with the land, Steve’s entire process for securing

At Cherrybend Pheasant Farm, quail and pheasant are released onto the farm for the hunt. Any birds that manage to fly past the farm’s property line become wild and repopulate Ohio’s pheasant and quail population.

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Although food practices of the Midwest in the United States are far from the communally ritualistic food practices of a place like Paraguay, Steve found that there are parallels between how local Midwest farming communities secure and interact with their food and what he experienced abroad; namely, that there exists a deeper intrinsic value to actively engaging with the production of food that is embedded somewhere in the core of all culture groups.

Thinking of his future, Steve’s gaze stretches out across the fields of Clinton County, past Cherrybend’s land he has grown so familiar with and beyond the acres of hunting ground he has covered. He knows this land, touches it every day, understands its natural cycles. He has a love and respect for this land that is a part of him.

Visit ediblecolumbus.com to read about a day in the life of Steve and Lulu as

“Being connected to your food really means a lot,” Steve says. “Local agriculture is a big part of that and is equally as important. It all kind of works together in the effort to really getting to know your food and its source.”

In the spare time he has between working full-time at the Farm Bureau, hunting, and investing in his sustainability efforts, Steve blogs about his own experiences and unique interactions with the Clinton County land he lives on. There, he passionately “ag-vocates” for living a life in connection to the agriculture, people, and land that you can see, touch, and experience in your everyday life. He remains mindful of the future, not just of the state of local agriculture, but of the direction of his own life as well.

“My next step is to move out and do some of the work I was doing in Paraguay here,” Steve says, “like producing as much of my own food as possible.”

they shop for local food in Clinton County and Steve discusses head-to-tail cooking and eating. Also find our recipes for preparing pheasant this fall. And check out Steve’s blog at agphilosopher.com Cherrybend Pheasant Farm; 2326 Cherrybend Rd.; Wilmington, Ohio 45177; info@cherrybendhunting.com; cherrybendhunting.com Hunting season starts September 1 and runs until March 31. Open 7 days a week. Reservations recommended.

Tara Pettit is a Dayton-based journalist and public relations specialist with a focus on community-centered cultural, social, and environmental issues. She is a graduate of Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism with a B.S. in

Steve’s plans involve saving up to buy at least 40 acres of his own land to make the work he envisions possible.

journalism and concentration in sociology and environmental biology. She writes for several local and regional magazines and is passionate about local food, arts, and activism. When she is not writing, she likes to paint and explore

“Cooking, buying local, hunting, and working to save up for land for your own farm teaches you one key element and that’s patience. You can’t just go buy a farm the next day. Just like all that goes into self-sufficient living, you’ve just got to have patience and understand that it cannot be instantaneous.”

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cities for the perfect cup of coffee. you can reach her at taramariepettit@gmail.com.

edible Outdoors

The Aim of Archery Deer hunting in Ohio for beginners

By Matt Neumeier • Photography by Stephen Tackas

“I love the taste of venison but I don’t know where to start when deer hunting.” I hear this a lot serving in the outdoor education section for the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Bow hunting is at its peak in popularity, and more and more people are looking for a source of safe, hormone-free organic meat. Venison fits that bill.

The truth is learning archery, and even learning to hunt deer, is not an easy overnight process. I often think of my own journey, the struggles and failures that I had early on in my archery and hunting career, and the mentor who helped shape me into the hunter I am today.

My archery and deer hunting careers started at about the same time. I can vividly remember my first real bow. It was the week before my 14th birthday, and my grandmother took me to

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Hittle’s sporting goods to pick out the bow so I could hunt deer. Based on the advice of Mr. Hittle and my best buddy, I received a Bear White Tail. It was a compound bow with a 50pound draw weight, large fiberglass limbs, an archaic string and pulley system, and a camouflage finish. There had to be millions of them sold in the ’80s and early ’90s. At the time, it was the bow to own. It was too heavy, too slow, and too large for me to shoot comfortably. I matched it with six brand new 32-inch Easton arrows, which were too large, plus some target points and hunting broad heads that were too small.

Mr. Hittle slapped me on the back and wished me luck. Man, I was ready to go. The deer in Northwest Ohio had some trouble coming their way.

My first target practice consisted of a paper plate stuck to a straw bale behind my buddy’s barn. I was anxious. My equipment didn’t fit me, so it scared me, plus I had no clue what I was doing. I nervously slid the arrow on the string, took aim, and shot my first arrow 100 yards into a standing cornfield never to be seen again. Not to be discouraged, I nocked my second arrow. This time I aimed harder and held it a little lower to make

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sure the arrow would make a hit on the target.

Bam! I hit the steel drum below the bale bending my arrow into an S shape. Hey, at least I found it.

day I walked out of that archery shop with a new compound bow and a new friend who helped make me into the archer I am today.

After just one year of frustration and poor archery, I gave up compound bows for a crossbow. It was state of the art, super fast, but most importantly it was fairly easy to shoot accurately. I learned deer hunting with my crossbow.

Instead of worrying about missing, I could focus on learning the habits of whitetail deer. I had many successful hunts and brought home a lot of venison, but in the back of my mind I always knew I wanted to shoot a compound bow.

Now, 14 years later, I am the state’s shooting sports coordinator and I get to teach other people archery as part of my job. From experience I know that finding an ideal mentor is half the battle. When it comes to mentoring new archers or guiding aspiring archers down the right path I think of that day in that small archery shop. While taking up archery is something you can try to learn alone, a good mentor with good information can save you time, money, and frustration, and help you get started in the lifelong activity of archery.

In 2001 I was in an archery shop with my grandfather when we struck up a conversation with the owner. I told him my tale of woe from past experience and he chuckled. The more we talked, the more I listened, and the next thing I knew he was measuring my draw length and fitting me with a compound bow. He matched that bow with the proper arrows and accessories and we headed to their indoor range.

Visit ediblescolumbus.com for hunting tips this season and a short history of deer hunting in Ohio.

Matt Neumeier is a Plain City resident who works as the Shooting Sports Coordinator for the Ohio

He taught me proper shooting form, walked me through my first shots, and by the end of the hour, I was consistently hitting my mark. That

Department of Natural Resources and enjoys spending time with his family outdoors boating, fishing, hunting, and coaching sports.

How to get started on the path to becoming an archer 1.

Find a mentor. Go to a local archery shop and visit with them. A lot of shops offer archery lessons, or at least can point you in the right direction. These people can gauge your interest and match you with the right equipment and lessons to accomplish your archery goals. Central Ohio Archery shops: Velocity Archery Range; 2480 Creekway Dr.; Columbus, Ohio 43207; velocityarcheryrange.com. Cabelas Polaris; 1650 Gemini Pl.; Columbus, Ohio 43240; cabelas.com.)

2.

Join an archery club. A good resource is the Ohio Bow hunters Association ohiobowhunters.net.

3.

Get more information. For information on state archery ranges or for information on how to get started in archery hunting and archery hunting opportunities in Ohio go to wildohio.gov. The Archery Trade Association offers a great website that contains everything archery at archery360.com. here you will find information on the history of archery, the different types of archery, how to get started, archery equipment, where to shoot and the locations of archery shops, shooting ranges, plus much more. Easton Sports Development Foundation exists to further the sport of archery by bridging the gap between first experience and elite experience. Information on how to get started in archery can be found at esdf.org.

Local deer hunter Rich Malisiak practicing at the archery range in Delarware.

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At the Top of His Game Chef Richard Blondin of The Refectory Restaurant and Bistro on classic French cooking and wild game

By Nancy McKibben

hen Kamal Boulos, ebullient owner of The Refectory, describes the talents of his executive chef of 24 years, Chef Richard Blondin, the superlatives roll.

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His father cooked, his grandmother cooked, and his oldest brother, Bernard, was a chef. These influences “made me who I am now,” says Chef Richard. “When I was 14 or 15, I liked to make a few dishes—a little vinaigrette there, a sauce here.”

“Richard is an extraordinary culinary athlete with a commitment to excellence. That was my vision for The Refectory—to have the best chef I could find.”

Kamal clearly feels he has found that chef.

“Richard pushes himself to do new things. Every few weeks he does something I’ve never seen.”

Chef Richard followed the traditional French path into the world of fine dining, attending culinary school and working for a year or two at a number of Michelinstarred fine dining establishments in Lyon, even flirting briefly with becoming a pastry chef until sidelined by a gluten allergy.

The chef himself, neat and trim at age 54, says only: “We stay busy, so I’m assuming it’s okay for our clients.”

Under his direction as executive chef at Le Bellecour in Paris, the 39-seat restaurant within walking distance of the Eiffel Tower recovered the Michelin star it had lost just before his hiring.

“Volume is like a wall with fine dining,” Chef Richard says, explaining that with fewer diners, a chef can cook at a higher level of sophistication and vice versa. When he first came to the United States in 1989, he cooked at the much-admired but now defunct L’Auberge, which seated only 80. There he learned English and met his American wife, Jackie.

When Chef Richard came to the much larger Refectory in 1992, Kamal encouraged him to completely revamp the kitchen in order to do the kind of cooking he would become known for.

Becoming a Chef Chef Richard grew up near Lyon, France, where his father raised vegetables, fruit like pears and raspberries, and even rabbits. “The grocery store was for bread and starches,” he says. “Otherwise, we grew it.”

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Learning From the Best At age 18, Chef Richard worked under his first great chef. “From Pierre Orsi, I learned about the idea of sophisticated food,” he says. “I did really get from him organization and how to work very clean. The kitchen was disciplined—no talking. At the end of the night, he left and his wife, the maître d’, checked every station in the kitchen. None of us could leave until maybe 1am. But when we came back the next morning, it was like a brand new kitchen. This is definitely still in my mind.”

After two years at Pierre’s two-star restaurant, Chef Richard was ready to work under Paul Bocuse, one of the pioneers of nouvelle cuisine and the founder of the Bocuse D’Or, an internationally renowned cooking competition. With a single phone call, Pierre secured a place for Chef Richard.

“It is like the Mafia in France,” he says. “All the chefs know each other.”

Opposite: Grilled Venison Tenderloin Wrapped in Double-Smoked Bacon prepared by Chef Sarah Lagrotteria from Chef Richard Blondin’s book, The Hunter’s Table

PhOTO OF ChEF RIChARD COURTESy OF ThE REFECTORy.

Not from this modest chef will you learn that he was a finalist for the James Beard Award in 2012, or that The Refectory ranks first in Columbus fine dining in the hearts of both food critics and diners. No, he keeps the challenge of producing superb French cuisine for 160 diners per night (and up to 400 on holidays) ever before him.

“I like simplicity on the plate. Complicated doesn’t mean better.

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Game On Chef Richard Blondin of The Refectory offers his thoughts on cooking wild game

By Nancy McKibben

At Paul’s three-star restaurant, “we learned how to work at a fast pace. There were many different techniques and presentations that were out of this world.”

Chef Richard recalls roasting pheasant and duck on a rotisserie in the restaurant dining room in front of the guests. “I had to go back and forth from the kitchen, raising the meat higher as it cooked, then replacing the cooked bird. It was very technical and difficult. They cook there like they used to do back in the French court. And everything was fresh—no freezer, and no canned food in the kitchen.”

A highly regarded game chef, Richard Blondin showcased his best recipes in his cookbook, The Hunter’s Table, at the suggestion of The Grumpy Gourmet, Doral Chenoweth, former food critic for the Columbus

He adds, “It was like the military. You always had to say, ‘Yes, Chef!’ even if you were being scolded.”

Dispatch. Now sadly out of print, the book is still available used through Amazon.com. We feature one recipe here (see page 54), along with Richard’s game-cooking wisdom.

Frenchman that he is, Chef Richard admits to being partial to the use of game in terrines and pâtés, and game features prominently in his fall and

The Philosophy of a Chef Chef Richard’s food is first of all, French, but “not too much extreme French with roux and heavy cream.” He describes his cooking style as nouvelle French classic, but more contemporary in presentation.

winter menus at The Refectory. “last winter we did a tableside game dinner with venison, elk, and wild

“I like simplicity on the plate. Complicated doesn’t mean better. And I like what makes sense on the plate, what is seasonal.”

boar. It was very, very popular—I couldn’t get enough meat to keep up with the demand.”

Chef Richard explains that game served in American restaurants must be farmed, butchered, and USDA-inspected rather than shot wild. One meat

He emphasizes fresh ingredients. “I buy locally as much as I can. It is a much better product, and I can see it before I buy.” He laments that in the United States, some specialty items, such as veal sweetbreads and game meats, are only sold frozen.

specialist, D’Artagnon, meets this requirement by freezing wild-shot Scottish game birds like grouse and shipping them to the United States for inspection. When these birds appear on the table, Chef Richard says, “The servers always warn you to look out for buckshot.”

“I regard cooking as an art,” he says. “On the same plate, I want contrast of texture, color, and technique. Something crunchy, something soft. Something cold, something warm. I make sure there is as much color as possible.”

Specialty Meats in Columbus.

He pauses to shake his head. “Every contrast except sweet and salty. Some chefs do it, and it is okay, but—truffles and foie gras together in a dessert?

Mango with venison? That’s just not me, I can’t do it.”

In Europe, according to Chef Richard, true wild game is common in

Predictably, Chef Richard is his own most severe critic.

Of course, the home cook who hunts or knows a hunter can dress his own wild game or have it locally processed by experts such as Thurn’s

restaurants. “It has a very strong flavor. Either you like it or you don’t.”

The meat often looks different: “Wild pheasant meat is purple versus farm-raised, which is slightly darker than chicken dark meat.”

Chef Richard emphasizes that game meat is very lean and must be handled accordingly. Game can be substituted in recipes that use similar cuts (e.g., venison loin for beef loin) with these caveats for the home cook: •

Marinate the meat in fat or oil, NOT in an acid like wine or vinegar.

“I always question myself. I am 100% positive it could be better,” he says.

His satisfied diners would disagree, but no doubt it is Chef Richard’s drive for perfection that produces the food they love.

Enjoy Chef Richard’s cooking at The Refectory Restaurant and Bistro, 1092 Bethel Road Columbus, Ohio 43220; 614- 451-9774; refectory.com; reservations recommended.

Save the wine for a reduction sauce later. If you marinate in a Ziploc bag, you can use your hands to massage the meat from the outside.

•

Cooking times will be shorter. Overcooked game becomes tough and dry—this is true of any meat, but overcooking happens more quickly

•

Nancy McKibben is happy to combine her loves of eating and writing with the

with game.

opportunity to advocate for sustainable agriculture in the pages of Edible Columbus. her latest project is Kitschy Cat Alphabet, a rhyming alphabet book

Use seasonal ingredients: juniper berries, sage, cranberries.

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

You can find a selection of game locally at North Market Poultry and Game (59 Spruce Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, 614-463-9664) or order online from D’Artagnan.com. Weiland’s also has rabbit (locally-raised) yearround. They also carry pheasant in November for Thanksgiving along with duck (breasts and whole ducks, plus duck bacon). For local hunters, Thurn’s (530 Greenlawn Avenue, Columbus, Ohio, 43223, 614-443-1499) will process wild game that is field dressed prior to drop-off.

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nmckibben@leader.com.

The Hunter’s Table Recipes courtesy of Richard Blondin from The Hunter’s Table Chef Richard Blondin designed The Hunter’s Table for the home cook, so I approached it that way, asking myself how it would feel to prepare his recipes on a chilly fall Saturday while friends, the kind of good friends that a good fall day calls for, wander in and out of the kitchen.

My answer is this: This dinner does not require you to hustle. It comes together calmly, quickly, preferably with a glass of wine in hand, and yet it is rich with deep, autumnal flavors. The finished dishes may look like a lot of work, thanks to Richard’s impeccable technique, but the truth is in the short ingredient lists.

Each recipe has simple, strong flavors that thrill. The bacon-wrapped venison gives us sage and smoke, and the spätzle an actual pop of heat where other recipes are nothing but dough. And as for the apple tart, its blonde crown stands pristine, revealing nothing of the buttery, herbaceous compote waiting below. This is seasonal, ingredient-driven cooking at its best.

—Sarah Lagrotteria

Whole Grain Mustard Spätzle Serves 4 to 6 If you are in possession of a spätzle press or a ricer, this recipe will work perfectly as is. For success with a colander, I added two extras teaspoons of cream to help the dough fall freely through the holes.—Sarah Lagrotteria 1¾ cups flour 4 whole eggs 2 tablespoons prepared whole grain mustard 1 tablespoon heavy cream Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 2 teaspoons unsalted butter 2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and blend in the eggs, mustard, cream, salt, and pepper.

Bring a large saucepan or stockpot of lightly salted water to a full boil. Set aside a shallow bowl or strainer lined with paper towels.

To make the spätzle, use a spätzle press, or simply press small spoonsful of dough through the holes of a colander, to make round noodle-like bits about an inch long. Drop the spätzle directly into the pot from the press or colander.

When the spätzle rises to the surface, it is done. Do not overcook the spätzle; it should be al dente. quickly remove the spätzle from the pot with a slotted spoon or strainer and drain in the bowl lined with paper towels.

In a frying pan, heat the butter and sauté the spätzle until light golden brown.

Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chives.

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Grilled Venison Tenderloin Wrapped in Double-Smoked Bacon Thurn’s Specialty Meats sells double-smoked bacon locally. If using a grill pan, make sure to wipe off the bacon grease between grilling tenderloins.

Serves 4 as a main course

16 thin slices of double-smoked bacon 16 large fresh sage leaves

If grilling outdoors, prepare coals. If grilling on the range-top, lightly oil the grid and heat just prior to preparing the tenderloins.

4 venison tenderloins; thick, cylindrical cuts if possible (about 6 ounces each) (substitute wild boar, elk, or pork tenderloin) Freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons canola oil 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

On a cutting board, place 4 slices of bacon lengthwise with edges overlapping, to make a rectangle. Repeat until you have 4 rectangles, one for each tenderloin.

Press a fresh sage leaf on each slice of bacon, then place the tenderloin atop the sage leaves. Season with freshly ground pepper, then carefully roll the tenderloins inside the bacon to achieve a cylindrical shape.

Secure each with 3 or 4 lengths of kitchen twine and brush with canola oil.

Good kitchen twine Grill the tenderloins for about 4 minutes total for rare to medium-rare doneness, rolling them constantly with tongs so that they cook evenly.

When done, quickly clip away the twine and slice each tenderloin into medallions, ½–1 inch thick. Arrange the slices on the plate and top each with a large pat of butter.

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Warm Apple Tart with Rosemary Makes 4 individual tarts

10 ounces frozen puff pastry 5 golden delicious apples (substitute Anjou pears) ½ cup unsalted butter, divided in half ⅓ cup plus 4 tablespoons sugar ½ teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves, chopped fine 4 unblemished mint sprigs

Thaw the pastry and on a floured surface, roll it out to ½-inch thickness. Cut out 4 rounds, each 5 inches in diameter. Transfer the rounds to a baking sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 25 minutes.

Peel, core, and finely dice 1 apple (or pear). Place it in a small saucepan with ⅓ cup sugar and half the butter. Cook over low heat until the apple is very soft and the sugar is dissolved to make a spreadable compote. Set the pan aside to cool.

3 tablespoons sifted powdered sugar Preheat the oven to 350°. Cut four 6-inch squares of parchment or waxed paper. Arrange the squares on a baking sheet and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar evenly over the sheets. Place the pastry rounds on top of the sugar and prick the entire surface of the dough with a fork.

Spread a tablespoon of cooled apple compote over each pastry round. Sprinkle the rosemary evenly over the compote. Peel, core and thinly slice the remaining apples (or pears). Fan out the slices in a circular pattern on top of the tarts.

In a small saucepan, melt the remaining butter. With a pastry brush, carefully coat the tops of the tarts.

Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over the tarts.

Bake for 18 minutes, or until the apples begin to caramelize, turning light golden brown. Serve hot on dessert plates, dusted with powdered sugar and garnished with a mint sprig.

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A Year Unprocessed Gary Paul Nabhan talks to Edible Baja Arizona’s managing editor, Megan Kimble, about her book, Unprocessed: My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food (William Morrow 2015).

By Gary Paul Nabhan

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hile the amount of reportage on local food production and procurement has increased exponentially over the past two decades, the amount of elegant, compelling, and memorable prose about food has not. Megan Kimble has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Arizona, as well as years of experience as a working journalist; as she interviews a range of farmers, ranchers, millers, wine makers, and beekeepers, she coaxes out of her interviewees original, honest information about their lives and livelihoods, while at the same time embedding them into a literary narrative as cohesive as a good novel. As managing editor of Edible Baja Arizona, Megan has already become a voice in the food world that thought leaders are seeking out to move our conversations into new and unforeseen directions. In Unprocessed, Megan is sure to raise the bar for literary food writing one more notch, while engaging many in new explorations of how the raw becomes cooked, why whole foods matter, and, not least of all, how the money we spend shapes our communities. —Gary Paul Nabhan

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venture out on a Friday night and have a Sonoran hot dog, if that’s what the night calls for. To celebrate birthdays with friends and cake, or holidays with family and Grandma’s stuffing recipe. My year of reclaiming real food taught me how important food is for our bodies, communities, and landscapes, but it also taught me the importance of relationships—and how, sometimes, it’s as much about the food as who you’re eating it with.

Q: How did living in a desert city influence your citydwelling year?

A: I was lucky to live in the sunny Southwest—my community-supported agriculture program runs year-round, so there was always fresh, local food. I ventured briefly into canning during summer’s bounty, but I would have had to be much more creative with food preservation if I lived somewhere like Minneapolis or New York City.

Megan Kimble, author of Unprocessed:

My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food

Q: Why did you write this book?

A: I’m not entirely sure why I stopped eating processed food. There was the environment—I’d come of age in an era when global warming was all but assumed, when natural resources were suddenly scarce and our food system increasingly dependent on fossil fuels. There were political reasons, as I considered the enormous influence food companies wield in our national politics.

And there were economic reasons—I wanted to spend what little money I earned endorsing my local food system, one that I hoped was visible, accountable, and scalable. I was also broke, tired of reading about what I should do. I wanted, instead, to explore what I could do, given limited resources of money and time.

I also happen to love process—how this becomes that, and how that gets from there to here. It’s why I got into journalism—to figure out how the world works, unseen and assumed. I love digging into the seemingly simple questions of our food system. How does a melon get from the 58

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soil in Sonora to a Safeway supermarket? How does muscle become meat? These are no longer simple questions with simple answers and I wrote Unprocessed to start to untangle these networks and to understand how I might sustain myself just a little closer to home.

Q: You touch on this in the epilogue, but how has your long-term relationship with food changed because of your year of reclaiming real food?

A: I eat better food. Better for me, but also better tasting. I eat real foods, so I’m usually full.

Like so many women—and men—I’d struggled with my weight for years. Eating unprocessed taught me, finally, how to eat real food in moderate amounts—and how to do it without guilt or restriction, but with joy and communion.

More than three years later, I still eat about 90% unprocessed. It’s nice, though, to be able to

Because unprocessing my food meant finding sustenance closer to home, the Sonoran desert was an essential part of my year. I learned about the heritage foods of this place, foods that people have grown and cooked here for centuries. One advantage to seeking out place-based foods is that they connect us to our communities, introducing us not only to the flavors of a place, but also to the people that are growing, processing, and preparing these foods.

Q: So much food writing today is dismissed as selfrighteously holier-thanthou in its stance. What values allowed you to avoid that trap?

A: It was as much about circumstance as values—when I stopped eating processed food, I was busy, broke, and living in a tiny apartment with a janky, understocked kitchen. From the outset, one of my goals was to show that eating whole, unprocessed food would not cost significantly more money—and that preparing that food would not take significantly more time.

What we eat matters, and so I understand how easy it is to climb on a soapbox, to become selfrighteous about what other people are eating.

But what we eat is also a very complicated thing, influenced by how we grew up and where we live and how much we weigh—and earn. People

often ask me, what makes food processed? And I spend a lot of time in the book trying to answer that very question. But I also think that we each have to answer that question ourselves, to find out where it makes sense to draw the line. Given constraints of time, taste, and income, what makes food too processed for you?

Q: You have worked as a bread-and-butter journalist, but also hold an MFA from the University of Arizona in creative writing and nonfiction. How do you balance those two sensibilities in the book?

Q: What experience during your year unprocessed makes you laugh with horror or disbelief when you look back on it?

A: I accidentally went on a date with a fellow who didn’t believe global warming was “a thing.”

As it turns out, that’s a deal breaker.

Gary Paul Nabhan is an internationally celebrated nature writer, food, and farming activist, and proponent of conserving the links between biodiversity and cultural diversity. he is the author of the award-winning Growing Food in a Hotter,

Drier Land and Coming Home to Eat.

Unprocessed: My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food is available at HarperCollins.com or wherever books are sold.

A: When I started writing Unprocessed, I had read what many of us have read—how destructive factory farming is to our soils; how terrible industrial food is for our bodies; how inequitably our resources are distributed. But what I continued to struggle with was: So what then? Given what we know, how do we live?

How can we, collectively and individually, create solutions and make change? Answering these kinds of questions required the sensibility of an essayist more than a journalist, and so I was grateful to my years in the MFA program that taught me not only how to write—how to ask big questions and make words into sentences into attempts at answers—but also why we write.

Q: How did you conduct your research?

A: Initially, eating unprocessed appealed to me because it was something quiet and personal I could do, on my own terms and in my own kitchen, without inflicting yet another dietary restriction upon the world. But as I quickly realized how little I knew about how plants, animals, and minerals become food, I ventured out into my community to figure out the answers. I didn’t know how wheat became bread, so I interviewed a miller. I researched supermarkets, visited with beekeepers, brewers, and vintners, and evaporated salt from the sea. I was raised by two vegetarians, so, to reckon with meat, I slaughtered, butchered, and processed a sheep.

Unprocessed emerged through the accumulation of experiences as much as through the aggregation of research.

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local Foodshed

Beekeepers Helping Beekeepers An unlikely partnership between Dwight Wells and the Amish is revitalizing Ohio’s honeybee population

By Stephanie Wapner • Photography by Emily Kaelin

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ne of Ohio’s most critical populations is in crisis. Between April 2014 and 2015, the United States Department of Agriculture estimates that Ohio lost approximately 50% of its honeybee population. This loss not only dramatically reduces the number of bees available to pollinate crops; it represents the loss of 350 years of genetic resilience that serves to protect the bees from a number of environmental challenges.

Dwight Wells, founder of the West Central Ohio Honeybee Breeders Association, attributes this reduction to several causes. In 1970 Ohio dairy farmers were incentivized to give up dairy farming and instead produce corn and beans, using Roundup® Ready crops, crops that are resistant to herbicides containing glyphosate.

Spraying glyphosate likely impacted local weeds and other flora that bees depend on for vital nutrition. In 1987 the varroa mite infected bees with a virus comparable to the human influenza virus and entered Ohio. And recently there has 60

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been a boom of well-intentioned amateur beekeepers, who lacked the proper training to sustain multi-year bee populations—something that can take up to five years, according to Dwight. The impact of these issues was magnified by the retirement of the only Ohio State University Extension educator specializing in beekeeping.

Dwight is working with researchers at several universities and other experts to improve the health of the queens and rebuild the gene pools to rebuild the bee population. One of these partners is Jim Kerns, bee inspector for Logan County.

Jim’s primary job is to open every hive in his county at least once a year to check the health of the queens and look for signs of disease. In addition to working to increase the ability of

queens to mate, he says the process for treating the bee virus is complex, and it is common for entire hives to be lost in the process. While daunting, he credits Central Ohio’s progress to Dwight’s “incredible dedication” to mentoring and activism to increase beekeeping.

Although Dwight has been pulled away from his own beekeeping to work nationally and internationally to strengthen the queen bee population, he has become an unlikely link between academic researchers and the Amish community of Belle Center, Ohio, where beekeeping has taken hold as a valuable endeavor.

The relationship began in 2012, when at a meeting of the West Central Ohio Beekeepers Association in Springfield, Ohio, Dwight was surprised to see seven young Amish men arrive seeking information and support. They had re-

Above: Bees swarm around the hives Marlyn tends to on his family’s dairy farm in Belle Center. Dwight and Marlyn, both, inspect the bees to make sure they, and their queens, are healthy.

cently become interested in beekeeping and wanted to learn from the experts. After three years of mentorship, Dwight is now a valued figure in the community, and together he and his apprentices have developed 300 new colonies and inseminated 10 new breeder queens.

The Amish are uniquely disposed to be successful beekeepers, Dwight explains. They come from a culture of respect for the land and already understand animal husbandry, or as he puts it, “for them, bees are just like cows, only smaller.”

Because they also adopt apprentices into their family businesses, they develop longstanding working relationships with experts and can commit to sustainable beekeeping practices.

Gaining their trust wasn’t simple and Dwight needed to withstand intense scrutiny to ensure he had no hidden agenda. As Dwight explains, the relationship thrived because he had no ulterior motive and worked with the community for no other reason than the satisfaction of helping other beekeepers.

almost immediately if something is wrong, both by sight and even smell.

Marlyn has also become an accepted expert in his community, and has taken on the mentor role for others. He is currently training Amish children in beekeeping practices as part of their 4H work, and hopes that he will one day be able to pass on the daily work of managing his hives to a new generation of beekeepers. He also hopes to follow Dwight’s example and travel the state educating new beekeepers and helping them understand the intersection of science, agriculture, history, and intuition that is critical for successful beekeeping.

To a certain degree Marlyn has already started this transition. At events or meetings he attends, people acknowledge him and ask him about his work, recognizing him as “the one who knows about the bees.”

Stephanie Wapner holds an MBA from the Ohio State University where she is now a PhD student.

She is an active participant in Central Ohio’s local food movement and writes about the connections between food, cooking, health, and community development.

Marlyn Miller, one of Dwight’s Amish mentees, examines one of his many hives for any problems. Marlyn has become a beekeeping mentor to others in his Amish community, hoping to one day pass his hives to the next generation.

After a career in radio and losing his wife in 2007, Dwight committed to beekeeping and became a powerful advocate for beekeepers. This devotion resonated with the Amish community.

Dwight further proves his commitment by driving more than an hour each way, five days a week, to help Marlyn Miller, one of his mentees, check his hives and teach him about how to respond to various issues. He also helps another mentee, Micah Hostetler with his woodworking business to build hives and the showcase frames that are used at state fairs and other venues to educate the public about bees. Dwight does this with no compensation and with no public recognition. Now there are several young Amish men embracing beekeeping and building networks of hives as part of their family businesses.

Marlyn’s family were dairy farmers for many years, and he explains that dairy farms are ideal for developing hives because the vegetation needed for the cows provides excellent food for the bees. His family’s farm sits on a beautiful hill in Belle Center, and the only immediate evidence of his beekeeping is a small sign by the mailbox advertising local honey available for sale.

When we visit the hives, situated on friends’ land wherever he can borrow space, the air is alive with the bees’ activity and movement. It’s this life that drives Marlyn, and over time he has developed an intuitive expertise for the bees’ health and wellbeing. Developed through his daily work with Dwight, he can now sense

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Weiland’s Market* weilandsmarket.com

Door to Door Organics doortodoororganics.com

Oakland Nursery* oaklandnursery.com

Wexner Center for the Arts* wexarts.com

Due Amici* due-amici.com

Ohio Division of Wildlife wildohio.gov

WOSU wosu.org

Franklin County Farm Bureau ofbf.org

Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) oeffa.org

Yellowbird Foodshed yellowbirdfs.com

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last seed

Mindfulness and Our Food

By Janine harris Degitz • Illustration by Sharon Teuscher

W

hile growing up on my family’s Indiana homestead, the honey bees taught me the value of community and our shared interconnectedness to the world. At 8 years old, I stood with my Mom under a large apple tree catching my first swarm of honey bees. Our hives swarmed often in those days. It was nature’s way of strengthening the hive and birthing something new. It was the mystery of the natural world in form.

During a swarm, with excitement and wonder, we would carefully and nervously place a box on the ground beneath the bees, ready for their arrival. I would observe as my Mom tapped a branch where the bees had collected, and watched with curiosity as they fell into the box, fanning at the entrance to let the others know, this is our new home. I remember how the bees calmly focused their efforts during a swarm, working together for the benefit of the hive, and realize that they taught me one of my first lessons in mindfulness.

The lessons of working with the bees from my childhood followed me to a small town outside of Tokyo, Japan, 23 years ago. There, I was struck by the abundance of farmers growing food on small plots of land tucked away between closely spaced houses. Like the bees, I witnessed a calm cultivation of the land in the midst of chaos, and immersed myself in a community that worked together for the benefit of the whole.

As I began to get to know my neighbors and shop owners that lined my street in Japan, I learned that community-supported agriculture 64

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(CSAs) and cooperatives were an organic extension of the culture. My new friends invited me into their world of seasonal food and shared the art of ancient food preservation techniques, like wild fermentation, to enhance the taste and value of the food. An ordinary visit to a nearby house revealed crocks teaming with fermented pickles, miso, and radishes of all kinds, on porches, in the hallway, and under kitchen cabinets, making the most of small living environments. I was in a vastly different culture, falling in love with my community and connecting through the shared language of food. I realized that developing relationships and bringing mindfulness into the way we source and prepare our food had health benefits beyond eating fresh, local, nutrient-dense produce.

Now through my studies and work with honey bees, my relationship to my food and the environment has deepened. I have fallen in love again with the honey bee. I learn to steward my bees in ways that increase their chances of survival.

Each week I visit the hives—hat, long pants, long shirt, hair tucked up and away, senses turned on, curious about what I will learn this time as I work with the bees. They seem to wait for me to see and sense their signals, stacking on top of each other on the front and side of the hive in a delicately connected chain. Swirling, fanning, diving in, and taking off into the sky with only a dance to show them the way.

into my eyes, having slowed my breath and my body down to meet the hum of the hive, I leave feeling more alive, grounded, and present to life after being with my bees.

For me, mindfulness is about being in relationship to life around us. Like the bees, we are stewards of our land. And like my now-distant neighbors in Japan, we harvest our food on similar plots of land that connect us all. Mindfulness happens when even in the midst of chaos we expand our care for each other and the planet that supplies the materials for our existence, the people that steward our land, and the community that connects us.

As I’m writing this piece, I have a 15 year old Japanese exchange student living in my home as a transition place to her year-long study program in Kentucky. We enjoy meals together that I’ve prepared with food selected from my garden. I can’t help but wonder what will spark her curiosity and deepen her relationship to life.

Janine Harris Degitz lives in Clintonville, is a natural bee keeper, the creator of Restorative living and Fermenting Abundance, teaches wild fermentation, natural bee keeping, and compassionate communication, writes poetry, gardens in her front yard, and is a steward of five hives of honey bees.

The bees and pollinators are just one part of the larger flowering world—whatever is done to one can be seen in the other. We, too, are a part of this relationship to the whole. Sweat dripping

She is a passionate advocate of being in relationship with the life around her.