edible COLUMBUS | Fall 2012 | Issue No. 11

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edible Columbus

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Issue No. 11

Celebrating Local Foods, Season by Season

Flavors of Fall MOCKINGBIRD MEADOWS • GROWING MATTERS HEALTHY FOODS IN OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM OHIO’S ARK OF TASTE • ROCKMILL BREWERY

Fall 2012

Fall

Contents 2012

Departments 4 6 7 8 16 18 24 34 42 59 63 64

Letter from the Publisher Letter from the Editor Edible Events Delicious Collaborations Local and In Season From the Kitchen Young Palates Edible Nation A Home Cook’s Diary Worth the Trip Advertiser Directory Last Seed

Features 29

A Civic Agriculture How Growing Matters is bringing homegrown food to backyards throughout the city of Columbus

By Joannie D’Andrea • Photography by Jessica Opremcak

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Mockingbird Meadows A family-run, biodynamic honey and herb farm offers the healing experience of medicine as food

By Colleen Leonardi • Photography by Kristen Stevens

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Come Aboard!

The Ark of Taste Sets Sail for Ohio An exotic fruit and a plucky fowl are among the heritage foods of our state By Nancy McKibben

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The Road to Beautiful Beer Crafting organic, Belgian-style brews, Matthew Barbee of Rockmill Brewery has found his calling

By Claire Hoppens • Photography by Catherine Murray

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Butternut Squash Fondue Maple-Glazed Swiss Chard with Shallot Creamy Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Pine Nuts Sausage, Apple, Fennel and Jalapeño Dressing Ginger, Ginger Cake Mockingbird Meadows Herb Tonic Vegetable Soup Fall Vegetable Korma Food & Beer Pairings from Rockmill Brewery

About the cover: Photographer Catherine Murray of Photo Kitchen captured this lovely photo of a turkey at a local farm during one of our photo shoots.

To learn more about Catherine and view her portfolio visit photokitchen.net.

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PHOTO BY © JESSICA OPREMCAK, OPREMCAKPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

RECIPES

letter from the Publisher

edible Food is so essential to our health and happiness, yet sometimes we spend so little time planning or preparing a meal.

Columbus Publisher & Editor in Chief

Tricia Wheeler Editor

Colleen Leonardi Copy Editor

Doug Adrianson Editorial Interns

Claire Hoppens • Rebecca Wojno Leah Wolf Culinary Intern

Audra Sedluk

What will I cook? I mentally take note of what is in our garden. What do I have left from my weekly visit to the farmers market? If I am going out, which restaurant should I choose? My mind is quite consumed by these details, especially when we travel. On my honeymoon in France I would look at menus all day long as we walked around Paris, keeping mental notes about all the possibilities for dinner. My husband finally said, “Just stop. It will turn out all right.” So, that night I let him pick our dinner spot, and it turned out to be one of the most memorable meals of my life. Hard to go wrong with filets topped with fois gras and truffles!

A wise friend said to me recently “Animals feed. We eat.” I have been thinking a lot about the meaning of those words: “We eat.” We have a choice every day about what we eat.

Some of us think about it more than others.

Food is so essential to our health and happiness, yet sometimes we spend so little time planning or preparing a meal. Eating well takes effort, education and commitment. It is a commitment to shop at farmers markets, or to spend our food dollars at grocery stores that stock locally grown food, and to learn about how our meat is raised and what is inside the packages we buy. All of the mixed marketing messages don’t make it easy for us.

As I write this letter, there is a big fight shaping up in California over a proposed law to require labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMO), for voters to decide on the November ballot. If it passes, food manufacturers will be required to label their packages if they contain GMOs (as they are in parts of Europe). This would be a win for all of us. Unfortunately, the money being raised primarily by Big Ag interests to defeat the bill is $23 million, compared to the $6 million raised by supporters of natural foods. I believe this fight is about how much money brands would lose if we knew what was in their packages. I am hoping the good people of California come out and vote, and that they are informed about what is really at the heart of the matter.

I am hoping that this very public debate in California will add momentum to the movement all across the United States towards us thinking more about what we eat. In this issue of Edible Columbus, we have woven together stories of amazing people and projects in our community that link together the importance of food and health. I hope it provides some food for thought this fall.

Eat well!

Tricia Wheeler

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Design

Melissa Petersen Business Development

Tammi Gourley • Shelly Strange WEB DEVELOPMENT

András Rátonyi Contributors

Brooke Albrecht • Troy Amber Janine Aquino • Colleen Arnett Joannie D’Andrea • Molly Hays Oran B. Hesterman • Claire Hoppens Colleen Leonardi • Jim McKibben Nancy McKibben • Catherine Murray Jessica Opremcak • Sheryl Pfeil Genevieve Reiner • Polly Rich Madeline Scherer • Kristen Stevens Carole Topalian Contact Us

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

@ediblecbus

Advertising Inquiries

tricia@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

I

am one of those people who wake up every morning obsessing about what I am going to eat that day.

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hat’s your food story?

Beyond the facts of what foods you loved as a child and when you cooked your first meal all on your own, what’s the poetry of why you eat what you eat? Why do you love the foods you love?

Your food story has meaning.

My food story begins in Vermont, with fresh, local raw milk, and continues down in Florida, where I enjoyed straight-from-theocean seafood and ate mangoes and meringues all the time with our Cuban friends. Part II begins in Chicago, where I learned why threecourse meals are magical with my grandmother Patricia, and discovered that I love Greek, Japanese and Indian foods as much as I love my mother’s home-cooked meals. Well, almost as much.

My story takes a turn, though, when I started to realize how food is truly medicine and my medicine should be like good food to me. I have a story not nearly as life-threatening but related to Oran B. Hesterman’s article “Healthy Food in Our Health Care System?” where I sat in a doctor’s office and the light bulb went off. I’d need to eat and prepare more whole, fresh foods in order to find greater health for my body, mind and spirit. It was no longer about taking a pill. It was about taking responsibility.

1990 essay The Pleasure of Eating, “I begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act.” The land, then, is an intimate partner in our health.

Our feature article on Ohio’s Ark of Taste highlights some heritage foods native to Ohio, including pawpaws and the Buckeye Chicken.

Dawn Combs of Mockingbird Meadows shares her story of being rescued by the healing power of herbs. And our feature article on Matthew Barbee’s Rockmill Brewery will make you want to head down to Lancaster to listen to his food story over a glass of Saison and taste the good water that gives birth to his amazing brews.

Your food story has meaning. Why you eat what you eat means something to you, to your community, to us here at Edible Columbus. As the days get cooler and the nights longer, give thanks for being able to participate in this most glorious act of cooking and eating by unraveling your food story with someone close to you, and listening to their story, too. Share in your love of good food. Set the table and stay awhile. Find poetry in your simple choices to eat better.

For there is solidarity in storytelling. And action.

With love & gratitude,

In this issue of Edible Columbus, we feature stories that explore food as health. We share these stories knowing full well that food is not divorced from the land where it is grown and harvested. As Wendell Berry writes in his

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Colleen Leonardi

PHOTO BY © SARAH WARDA, SARAHWARDA.COM

letter from the editor

edible Columbus

Fall Events & Cooking Series For details and registration, please visit ediblecolumbus.com

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All About Fresh, Local, Naturally Raised Meats at Blystone Farm It is our pleasure to introduce you to Blystone Farm & Butcher Shop, located in Canal Winchester on the scenic historic family farm of Jane and Joe Blystone. The Blystones will teach us about raising open-pasture livestock and how they humanely process their meats. We will also get our own butcher demonstration. It is best to come to class with your freezer empty!

You will have a chance to shop at their onsite butcher shop and Tricia will cook up dinner on the grill so you can try the wonderful meats they offer.

6:30pm | $40 | Blystone Farm, 8677 Oregon Rd., Canal Winchester, Ohio

Eating & Talking About Mushrooms with Joseph Swain Urban farmer Joseph Swain will be our guest for a talk about cultivating mushrooms. You might have met Joseph at his booth at the Clintonville Farmers Market. He is the guy with the beautiful mushrooms that sell out quickly! Joseph will talk all about mushrooms as Tricia teaches you several recipes prepared with the mushrooms Joseph cultivates. This is going to be good! 6pm | $35 | The MI Homes Demo Kitchen at Easton, 4047 Gramercy St., Columbus

Dinner on the Grounds of Rockmill Brewery You will see by our feature story on page 53 that Rockmill Farm is a magical place. Matthew Barbee and his charming family will welcome us to their farm for a special evening dedicated to pairing wonderful food with the beers being created on the farm. Matthew will discuss brewing in the Belgian farmhouse style. You will be treated to a memorable progressive dinner and beer tour through the farm. Edible Columbus Publisher and chef Tricia Wheeler will be joined by local culinary expert Jim Budros in crafting an unforgettable evening under the stars. 6pm | $100 | Rockmill Brewery, 5705 Lithopolis Rd. NW, Lancaster, Ohio

Culinary Road Trip to Cleveland’s West Side Market We have rented a bus to transport us to Cleveland for a day of culinary fun! Marilou Suszko, an Edible kindred spirit, has just finished her book in celebration of the West Side Market’s 100th anniversary. She will be our tour guide for a behind-the-scenes tour of the West Side Market. Marilou is an expert on the stories and facts that have made this market a significant cultural icon for 100 years. We will shop at the market and at the surrounding Ohio City food shops, and then will head to lunch at Jonathon Sawyer’s Greenhouse Tavern. We will end our day at the bakeries of Little Italy!

8:30am–6:30pm | $110 | Cost includes transportation, tour and lunch

November The Taste of Fall

PHOTO BY © CATHERINE MURRAY, PHOTOKITCHEN.NET

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Fall in Columbus is full of wonderful fruits and vegetables. This cooking class will celebrate the harvest with recipes inspired by the fall harvest season. This vegetarian class will be extra special. Tricia will be bringing seasonal spice blends from North Market Spices to incorporate new flavor and depth to our recipes. We will conduct a tasting of fresh spices and Tricia will cook up an array of fall dishes sure to become favorites throughout the season. Noon–1:30pm | 6pm | $35 | The MI Homes Demo Kitchen at Easton, 4047 Gramercy St., Columbus

December Back from Paris

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Just back from a week-long eating and food shopping tour of Paris, Tricia will cook three courses inspired by her travels and share interesting ingredients and stories of her cooking lessons at Le Cordon Bleu. Noon–1:30pm | 6pm | $35 | The MI Homes Demo Kitchen at Easton, 4047 Gramercy St., Columbus

December All About the Humble Potato

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This class celebrates one of our favorite vegetables: the potato. Potatoes are wonderful ingredients that can be cooked so many different ways. We are going to learn new techniques for turning the humble potato into a culinary masterpiece. You will leave with six new potato recipes and a new respect for the versatile spud. The Chef’s Garden will send their wonderful potatoes for our class! Noon–1:30pm | 6pm | $35 | The MI Homes Demo Kitchen at Easton, 4047 Gramercy St., Columbus

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delicious Collaborations

School Food Gets Better in Bexley

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chool lunch fare has been a popular topic of discussion over the past several years, as school systems work to balance affordability with nutrition. The 2010 Ohio law “Healthy Choices for Healthy Children Act” required that school districts ensure access to healthy meals for Ohio school children. While many school systems are working to comply, the Bexley school district has taken a novel approach to ensure that the parents of school children have a voice in redesigning school lunches.

Additionally, a district-wide survey was circulated to Bexley households with children in elementary or middle school. The survey’s goal was to understand how parents make decisions about school lunches and determine what would motivate their children to purchase food at school. Among the responses were requests for more fresh and whole foods. As a result, Bexley schools turned their attention to purchasing more local food.

James Anderson, food services director of Bexley City Schools, also switched from white bread to wheat, removed sports drinks from vending machines and has worked enthusiastically with parents to incorporate the “Try It Tuesday” foods into lunches.

Bexley parent Betty Brown said that while the steps in the schools have been small, they’ve been important. Parents have started versions of “Try It Tuesdays” in their own homes, and last year’s success ensured that it would be continued this school year. Betty determined that these little initiatives are effective in making the changes parents want to see in school lunch programs.

“We’re not going to change everything overnight,” she says, “but embracing those little changes will help us make bigger, better ones down the road.”—Genevieve Reiner

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Some of the offerings for lunch at Cassingham Elementary School in Bexley

PHOTOGRAPHY BY © JESSICA OPREMCAK, OPREMCAKPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

In January 2011, as part of a parent-led movement to encourage healthy behaviors, school board member and Bexley parent Marlee Snowden helped organize a health and wellness summit. Parents discussed ways to promote physical activity and positive eating choices. From those discussions came “Try It Tuesdays.” Funded by a private grant, the goal of “Try It Tuesdays” was to introduce elementary-aged Bexley students to new and healthy foods. Parent volunteers came to each of the elementary schools once a month, with samples of fruits and vegetables such as blueberries, jicama and UGLI fruit (Jamaican tangelo) for students to taste and critique. Parents paid close attention to the opinions of their young taste-testers, and those foods that went over well were incorporated into dishes on the school lunch menu.

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delicious Collaborations

Denison University’s Search for a CSA

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he diets of most college students are typically limited to what they can order in the dining hall, or what they can make in a microwave or with an electric kettle. But for the students of Denison University in Granville, a unique collaboration between a local farm and a student organization is bringing the opportunity for fresh, locally grown produce to students who want an alternative.

This fall marks the second anniversary the Denison Community Supported Agriculture share (CSA), the brainchild of two forwardthinking Denison University organizations: the Denison Office of Sustainability and the student-led group People Endorsing Agricultural Sustainability (PEAS). PEAS promotes local and sustainable agriculture at the university. In 2011 they were seeking a way to start a CSA on campus. Through the Denison Office of Sustainability, they were put in contact with Bryn Bird of Bird’s Haven Farm, and a plan for an 11-week CSA with a dropoff in a university parking lot was developed.

With modest goals, PEAS and Bird’s Haven hoped for 15 CSA memberships from the student and faculty body. Instead, they had to limit the CSA to 30 subscriptions. For Bryn, whose family farm has been in Granville for 16 years, it was a wonderful opportunity to connect with a new group of community members. She was surprised to find some students did not know how to evaluate produce, and offered the basics of picking ripe and ready produce to the CSA members. She met students for whom the CSA became a way of connecting with their peers; one student purchased a large-sized subscription and would spend each weekend cooking for his neighbors.

Jeremy King, Denison’s sustainability coordinator, was thrilled that the venture was well received. “The CSA was an overwhelming success. Everyone involved raved about the

great produce and were excited to see what would be available each week. Bird’s Haven did an excellent job and exceeded everyone’s expectations.”

That success led to an expansion of the CSA, with 50 subscribers, and a series of universityled cooking classes to show students what they can do with their produce. “It helped expand my culinary knowledge with different recipes and techniques,” said student Tyler Miyawki. “I had more than enough produce to experiment and try different ways of making things.”

As one of the founding members of PEAS, Denison student Nicki Jiminez’s goal was to help students and staff connect with the people who grow their food. Working with Bird’s Haven turned out to be mutually beneficial: The farm called on students if it needed extra hands for a big work project on weekends during the school year, and the PEAS students then used those wages to host Slow Food student dinners. As Nicki said, “It’s a great partnership in education and helping each other meet our needs!”—Genevieve Reiner

PHOTOGRAPHY BY © JESSICA OPREMCAK, OPREMCAKPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

Denison students took the lead in every aspect of making sure the CSA was a success: They

volunteered at Bird’s Haven, and promoted and advertised the CSA over the summer, targeting senior students who have small kitchens in their dorm rooms. The students of PEAS also developed a weekly newsletter that provided recipes and information about the produce each week.

The farm stand truck used transport CSA produce

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Fresh Swiss chard from Bird’s Haven Farm

A Denison student from PEAS

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delicious Collaborations

Three Kids T and A Kitchen

he concept for Three Kids and A Kitchen started in December 2010 as Erin Spalding, a stay-at-home mom of three, was preparing holiday treats for friends and family.

She decided to make a few caramels to give as gifts, and the response was overwhelming.

Not only did everyone say how great the caramels were, but they also confessed “how they didn’t share them with anyone,” says Spalding.

This feedback, plus the fact that she is “literally stuck at home” all day with her little ones, inspired Spalding to try her hand at starting a business. And Three Kids and A Kitchen was born.

She launched the following month. “Once I knew it was OK, I had to go ahead and get going or else I would have got caught up in the details.”

Before becoming a mom, Spalding worked in the corporate and real estate world. Three Kids and A Kitchen provided the perfect opportunity to run a business and do what she had always wanted to do—stay at home with her children, ages 5, 3 and 2. “It was important for me to stay at home with them while they’re young,” she says.

Despite the name, the only role the kids play is “official taste testers,” though Spalding confirmed that the spoon they sometimes get to lick is not the same spoon used to make the caramels. Everything else “happens while they’re sleeping.” In order to get everything done, Spalding is usually up by 4am, six days a week, either making the caramels or getting them packaged and ready to go. The kids’ reward is that “they get to eat all around town,” when they tag along on delivery runs to places such as Our Cupcakery in Dublin and 5 Bean Coffee in Reynoldsburg.

PHOTO BY © CATHERINE MURRAY, PHOTOKITCHEN.NET

Her first year in business, Spalding was making and selling approximately 1,000 caramels a month; now she’s making around 2,400 caramels a month, and the numbers continue to grow. Her original business model was just word of mouth and selling through her website, but now she’s “embracing retail,” selling at various locations across Central Ohio. Her newest vendor is Weiland’s Gourmet Market in Clintonville. A complete list of vendors can be found on her website, along with ordering information at threekidskitchen.com.

And we can confirm that her homemade caramels are 100% delicious.—Colleen Arnett

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PHOTO BY © TROY AMBER, TLASTUDIO.COM

100 Delicious Years and Counting As the West Side Market looks to the future, there are plans to make the physical space a place for the community to visit and learn more about Cleveland’s rich edible history. Plans are underway to improve the infrastructure of the building and to develop a second-floor space where kitchen demonstrations and cooking classes can be held, and the community can gather to enjoy the wide variety of culinary surprises available throughout the Market.

As part of a capital campaign to raise the funds for updates and repairs, the Market is hosting a Centennial Gala on November 3, to kick off, as Market Manager Christine Czuniga Eadie says, “...the first day of the Market’s next century.” The gala will be co-chaired by renowned Cleveland chefs Michael Symon of Lola and Jonathon Sawyer of the Greenhouse Tavern. Great Lakes Brewing Company is brewing the official Centennial brew for the festivities. For the dinner, Symon, Sawyer and other nationally renowned chefs will work with local Cleveland chefs to prepare a veritable feast for 700 guests. Food for the gala dinner will be sourced from the Market vendors.

The West Side Market is a remarkable monument to history, culture and a thriving food community, and can undoubtedly look forward to another 100 successful years.—Genevieve Reiner For more information on other Centennial events in Cleveland visit wsm100.org.

Inside the historic West Side Market

To mark the 100th anniversary of West Side Market, two wellknown local authors, Marilou

In recent years, the West Side Market has been instrumental in developing the surrounding neighborhood known as Ohio City. As the Market has blossomed, the surrounding area has matured as well, with more than two dozen new businesses—many food related—moving in. Some, like Campbell’s Popcorn, started in the Market but grew so popular they expanded their production and retail space to a building one block away.

Nearby restaurants order their meat and produce from the Market, a testament to its importance as a source of high-quality products.

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Suzko and Laura Taxel, have written Cleveland’s West Side

Market: 100 Years & Still Cooking—The Fascinating Life and Times of an American Public Market.

Arriving October 1, 2012, the book “treats readers to a nostalgic look at the Market building and outdoor arcade, and takes them into the lives of the vendors and Market families who are the true foundation of this historic public space.” A wonderful collection of stories and vintage images,

Cleveland’s West Side Market is a publication worth having for locals who love Cleveland’s historic food scene. (242 pages, University of Akron Press, $39.95)—Colleen Leonardi

PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF AKRON PRESS

C

leveland’s West Side Market celebrates its centennial anniversary this year, and is throwing a yearlong party with events to honor its culinary history and merchants. A cathedral to foodstuffs from nearly every culture around the world, the market opened to shoppers on November 2, 1912. Since then, hundreds of vendors have been hawking fruits and vegetables, cheeses and meats, and breads and pastries to generations of Clevelanders. Inside the great hall, the market’s legacy is evident in the number of merchants that have been there for 60 years or more. Some have been a market fixture since it opened.

local and in season What to look for from September through October

Fruits:

Apples, Blueberries, Apricots, Blackberries, Cantaloupe, Grapes, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Strawberries, Watermelon, Tomatoes

Greens:

Collard, Mustard and Turnip Greens; Lettuce, Kale, Spinach

Cabbage Crops:

Broccoli, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Radishes

Root Vegetables:

Beets, Celery, Green Onions, Leeks, Okra, Onions, Carrots, Parsnips, Potatoes, Garlic

Last of Summer:

Herbs; Hot, Bell

and Sweet Peppers; Sweet Corn

Squashes:

Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Winter Squash, Pumpkins Breakfast Baked Apples

By Tricia Wheeler Serves 4 In the fall and winter I like something warm for breakfast. Apples are abundant in a variety of flavors at our farmers markets throughout the fall

4 large baking apples*, cored 1½ cups of your favorite granola 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons butter, melted, and some extra for greasing the dish Preheat oven to 400°. Use extra butter to grease baking dish. Combine all ingredients except for apples and butter. Place apples in baking dish; fill cored center with granola mixture. Drizzle melted butter over apples. Bake for 30–40 minutes, until apples are slightly soft.

*Favorite baking apples include Jonathan, Melrose and Braeburn varieties.

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PHOTO BY © CATHERINE MURRAY, PHOTOKITCHEN.NET

season. This is a delicious way to enjoy them first thing in the morning!

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from the kitchen

By Tricia Wheeler Illustrations by Brooke Albrecht

Fall is a special time of year in Ohio. After summer, we are blessed with another season of vegetables and fruits that can carry us through the cold-weather months. These recipes were created knowing all of the ingredients could be sourced from our local farms. These dishes would be wonderful on your Thanksgiving table, or on any crisp fall evening. Enjoy!

Bowman Landes Turkeys In Ohio we are fortunate to have a wonderful source for free-range turkeys: Bowman Landes.

Bowman Landes is a third-generation business founded in 1948 near Dayton, Ohio. They raise their animals in the open air, without the use of antibiotics, and they feed them vegetables. You can visit their farm shop this season during the week of Thanksgiving to pick up your fresh turkey, or check with Columbus retailers Hills Market, Huffman’s Market, Weiland’s Gourmet Market or North Market Poultry and Game to secure your turkey this holiday season. Also, visit bowmanlandes.com for some great turkeyroasting tips and a wonderful brine recipe.

Bowman Landes 6490 E. Ross Rd., New Carlisle, Ohio 45344 937-845-9466 • bowmanlandes.com

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I was inspired to create this recipe after reading about Julia Child’s creamy pumpkin soup baked in a whole pumpkin. The idea of using a pumpkin or squash as your cooking vessel to create a soup or fondue is lovely. My husband and daughter could not stop eating this creamy fondue! I hope it becomes one of your family favorites.

Ingredients

1.

Preheat oven to 400°.

1 large Butternut squash (choose one that will fit upright in your oven)

2.

Cut baguette in half. Cut 1 half in half again, longwise; reserve other half for serving. Smash garlic cloves with back of knife. Rub smashed garlic over cut baguette halves. Mince leftover garlic and set

1 baguette 1½ cup heavy whipping cream (Snowville preferred)

aside. Cut garlic-rubbed baguette into 1-inch pieces. Place bread on baking sheet and toast until golden brown about 6 to 8 minutes.

3.

3 cloves garlic, peeled

Cut off top of squash far enough down so that you can clean out the insides of the squash. Reserve the top. Scrape out seeds. Salt and pepper inside of squash.

1 cup chicken broth or vegetable broth 4.

Whisk together cream, broth, mustard, garlic and ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Put a layer of bread in the bottom of the squash and cover with a cup of cheese and ½ cup of the cream mixture.

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Continue layering until the squash is filled to about ½ inch from the top.

5 cups coarsely grated Gruyere cheese (can substitute grated Swiss cheese) Salt and pepper

5.

Replace top on the squash. Rub olive oil all over the outside and place in a baking dish. Bake until squash is tender and filling is puffed, about 1½ to 2 hours. Serve with crisp apple slices and rest of baguette. (Be sure to scrape out some of the squash with each dip!)

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Sometimes hardy greens need a little sweetness to help them shine. This easy recipe is a good way to get the whole family to enjoy their greens.

Ingredients 1 pound Swiss chard, ribs removed, chopped into 1-inch ribbons 2–3 tablespoons olive oil 4 shallots, sliced 2 tablespoons maple syrup Salt and freshly ground pepper 1.

Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add Swiss chard and shallots and sauté about 5 minutes, or until wilted.

2.

Stir in maple syrup, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 2 more minutes.

Adding a little heavy cream at the end of cooking elevates this simple Brussels sprouts recipe into something special. I sauté Brussels sprouts quickly in a hot cast-iron skillet, ever since I learned that roasting them in the oven often makes them a little more bitter.

Ingredients 1 pound Brussels sprouts, washed, trimmed and sliced in half 3–4 tablespoons olive oil ½ cup pine nuts, toasted ¼ cup heavy cream (Snowville preferred) Salt and freshly ground pepper 1.

Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat.

2.

Add Brussels sprouts and sauté until lightly golden.

3.

Add heavy cream and cook for an additional 4–5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

4.

Serve with toasted pine nuts sprinkled on top.

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Do you know the difference between dressing and stuffing? They are the same, except stuffing gets its name from being stuffed in a bird, and dressing is baked in a dish. This dressing is a “fancied-up” traditional dish with great flavor and some kick!

Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for the baking dish 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 4 spicy sausage links, casing removed 3 celery stalks, sliced thin 2 medium onions, chopped 1 fennel bulb, chopped 2 tart apples, cored and chopped 2 jalapeño peppers, chopped fine ¼ cup chopped fresh sage Salt and freshly ground pepper 1 large baguette, cut into ¾-inch pieces and toasted until bread is dry (leave in oven overnight to dry further!)

2–3 cups chicken stock 2 large eggs, lightly beaten with a fork 1.

Heat oven to 375°. Lightly oil a 9- by 13-inch baking dish.

2.

In a large skillet add olive oil and sausage and cook sausage until crumbled and cooked through. With a slotted spoon, remove sausage and set aside. To the pan drippings add butter, onion, celery, sage, jalapeño, apple and fennel and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

3.

In a large bowl mix the vegetables, sausage and bread together with the eggs. Slowly add in broth, enough to moisten the mixture but not to soak the bread. The bread should remain slightly firm.

Transfer to the prepared baking dish and cover with foil.

4.

Bake the dressing for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until browned, about 20–30 additional minutes.

Edible Kitchen Notes 1.

For a truly decadent stuffing, drizzle with ¼ cup heavy cream (Snowville!) before it goes in the oven. (A drizzle of cream is a good way to rehydrate any leftovers before warming.)

2.

Thurn’s Specialty Meats is a great source for exceptional sausage that works really well in this recipe.

Wine Pairings A rich, full-bodied Pinot Gris from Washington State.

A lighter-bodied Pinot Noir. (Chile makes some nice ones.)

A very crisp, light true French Champagne.

—Janine Aquino

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By Polly Rich Adapted from Maida Heatter’s Cakes

This is a sour cream “pound cake”–type cake using candied and fresh ginger. It is so incredibly amazing and scrumptious. Serve with a dollop of Snowville whipped cream or Jeni’s Vanilla Bean ice cream. It will become a big favorite for any occasion.—Polly Rich 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour (I bought a hand sifter and I love it and now sift all my flour and powdered sugar when I bake.) ¼ teaspoons baking soda 6 ounces (about ¾ cup) chopped candied ginger (You can find excellent candied ginger at North Market Spices in the North Market.)

3 to 4 ounces fresh grated ginger (use a piece about 3 to 4 inches long and about 1 inch thick) 16 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter (Go the extra mile and make your butter fresh using Snowville!)

2¾ cups granulated sugar 6 eggs, separated 1 cup sour cream Preheat oven to 350° degrees and place rack in middle of oven.

You will need a 10- by 4¼-inch angel-food type pan. Butter and flour pan; set aside.

Sift flour and baking soda; set aside.

Cut candied ginger and grate fresh ginger; set aside.

Cream butter in a clean bowl and beat in the fresh ginger and 2¼ cups of the sugar; set aside. (Save the remaining ½ cup of sugar for the egg whites.)

Separate the eggs and add egg yolks to the butter and sugar mixture. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients, alternating with the 1 cup of sour cream. Then stir in half of the candied ginger.

Now you need to whip up all those egg whites until they hold a soft peak.

Slowly beat in the last ½ cup of sugar and beat a little longer until the egg whites hold a stiff peak.

Now in three additions fold the egg whites into batter—⅓ of whites at a time—very gently. Turn into your pan and smooth top. Sprinkle on the rest of the candied ginger. Bake for 1½ hours, until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes. Then invert and turn out of pan to finish cooling. Happy baking!

Editor’s Note: This cake performs well as a gluten-free dessert. Use your favorite combination of gluten-free flours or a pre-made baking flour mix and follow the remainder of the recipe as is. It can be served at a dinner party or enjoyed as breakfast bread, so simple and not overly sweet it is. Enjoy!—

Colleen Leonardi

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A Mother & Daughter’s Food Journey How one family chooses to eat healthy

By Madeline Scherer

“It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car,” writes Michael Pollan in his book Food Rules, An Eater’s Manual.

This is one of my favorite rules. His book sits on our kitchen table and is, in fact, our second copy because we read through the first one so much it fell to pieces.

I’d like to talk to you a little bit about my food journey, why I like to eat healthy foods and cook them. It’s kind of a short journey since I am only 11.

The first memory I have of thinking about healthy food is all of us playing in the playroom one day and my mom telling my dad about a book she was reading about which foods you should eat organic. She said, “They spray, like, 52 chemicals on the strawberries,” and it was hard for me to believe that you needed to spray that much stuff on food to make it grow bigger, faster and shinier. I

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started asking more questions and getting more answers.

I was interested in healthy food even as a baby.

My mom tells me that when I was a baby, there wasn’t a single vegetable that I wouldn’t eat. She fed me avocados and celery, spinach and peas, and I gobbled it all up. I guess I was fascinated by healthy food before I even knew it. I do have to say—I always loved carrots!

As I got older, I became even more interested in cooking healthy foods. I love to help my Mom make green smoothies. We fill the blender full of Swiss chard, spinach, kale, dandelion greens, and then we throw in a handful of organic fruit and maybe a beet or two. I love beets!

One of my favorite foods to cook is oatmeal.

It’s simple, but you can make it gourmet. I soak the oats overnight with a spoonful of whey and in the morning I heat them just a

My mom tells me that when I was a baby, there wasn’t a single vegetable that I wouldn’t eat.

Mom Remembers I was too little to remember the beginning of my food journey. My mom, Kristen, wanted to tell you how we got started.—Madeline Scherer “I don’t have a clear, defining moment. I will hear friends say, “I watched Food, Inc. and never ate meat again!” For me, it was a gradual desire to get back to my roots. I am the oldest of six children and my parents raised us “off grid” for many years. We drove to a local farm for raw milk and eggs, had a huge vegetable garden and brought our slaughtered cow home each year and packed it into our deep freeze. We didn’t have a grain of sugar in our home, and my father likened soda to drinking gasoline. (…Hmmmmm, he might have been on to something!)

I started researching the Standard American Diet (SAD) and decided my parents actually were on to something. They were always considered as being on the cutting edge of food and medicine. I remember my mother telling stories of how she “knew” she should breastfeed in the ’70s when her pediatrician told her it was a ridiculous consideration when scientists had created the “perfect food” for infants.

Our family’s food journey started when Madeline was very young and continues today. I love teaching the principles of healthy, organic food to our five children and seeing them apply it to their food choices, even in small ways. Recently, we were at a festival that included a puddingeating contest that one of our daughters entered. She quickly returned to us and said, “That was NOT food!” I had to stifle a belly laugh! —Kristen Scherer

tiny bit so they are still raw. Then, I add cinnamon, nutmeg, chia seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, a raw apple cut up and a dash of Ohio maple syrup from a local farm. All this talk of oatmeal and I might have to make it for lunch!

I also love to learn about new healthy foods and I love to read about them. I recently read Omnivore’s Dilemma for Kids, also by Michael Pollan. I mentioned in my last article that I am also writing a health class that I plan to offer one day. My class is called Eat Real Food, and I am going to teach people about avoiding GMO foods as well as MSG and high-fructose corn syrup, and how to eat organically on a budget.

The journey continues and we don’t have it all figured out. My brother still has to choke down his green smoothie every morning, and my mom can’t stand lima beans. She tells me she “forgets” to buy them when she’s shopping!

But I am enthusiastic about eating healthy and how good it makes me feel. I hope you will join me on this journey.

About me: My name is Madeline Scherer and I am 11 years old. I have a big family—seven of us. Mommy, Daddy, me and I have two sisters and two brothers—all younger than me. I am homeschooled—or alternatively schooled, as my mom likes to say. I take classes all over the city!

My favorite things to do are practice the piano and violin, read books and go to my Uncle Tom’s farm. I absolutely love to cook and started cooking as soon as I could read recipes, at least that’s what I remember. I make a great guacamole and a pretty good hummus, too.

Someday I want to become a farmer and cook all foods from my farm.

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A Civic Agriculture How Growing Matters is bringing homegrown food to backyards throughout the city of Columbus

By Joannie D’Andrea Photography by Jessica Opremcak

One week last spring, Growing Matters’ program coordinator Trish Dehnbostel parked her truck in Weinland Park and started unloading soil, tools, plants and seeds into different yards. They started at one house and moved down the block. Everyone pitched in to get it done. Growing Matters installed eight gardens on that block in one day.

The key to making it happen? Collaboration.

A cherry tomato from the Godman Guild garden, harvested by one of the high school students working in the garden for the summer

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Filling the Gaps Growing Matters grew out of the cracks in the soil of Local Matters, whose mission is to “transform the food system to be more secure, just, prosperous and delicious.” Local Matters was already doing much to provide education and access to healthful food, but people wanted more than just access. They wanted to grow the food themselves. That is when cofounders Michael Jones and Noreen Warnock connected with Trish Dehnbostel, program coordinator at the time for their Food Matters program. Growing Matters was launched in the spring of 2011. It is a small team, headed

by Trish, one employee and scores of volunteers and community members.

One of the gaps they aim to fill is the distance that separates gardener from garden. Enter yard gardens, which, as Trish explained,

remove barriers for gardeners, like having to find transportation or child care. With a garden in your yard, all you have to do is step outside your door. With this convenience, Trish explained, “[people] realize it’s not as hard as it seems.”

Growing Matters is also working to broaden the definition of community gardening. Traditionally considered a shared plot of land, yard gardens form a different sort of community garden. In Weinland Park, you see a block with five yard gardens in a row. Look closer and you’ll notice neighbors helping each other, sharing tools and tips. Though they are not all working on the same plot, they are clearly working together.

“There are many different ways to look at the ways community and gardening come to-

gether,” Noreen Warnock said. “That is the fun and beauty of it.”

Growing Leadership Roger Beck retired several years ago from a career in education with the intention of starting an urban garden at his church, First English Lutheran, on Columbus’ Near East Side. With six gardeners from a congregation of 60, Roger proudly states that 10% of the congregation is now involved in the garden.

Last spring, Roger and his fellow congregants set out to grow food and write recipes to feed a family of eight.

He soon connected with Local Matters and asked for help with the garden’s second growing season. Besides soil, volunteers, early

Planning for Planting When the Growing Matters team first meets with a family interested in a yard garden, they begin by asking a lot of questions. How many people are you trying to feed? How much time do you have? Determining a family’s favorite foods and even colors are important. For those who don’t have yards, not to worry: There are raised beds, asphalt or container gardens.

After the plans are drawn up, all that is left to do is plant, tend and harvest. Growing Matters often provides tools, soil, plants and hands to help. Yard gardens are typically installed one street at a time.

“My co-workers are a whole street of people,” said Trish.

After helping install a garden, Growing Matters takes a back seat. Though they remain available to answer questions and bring materials, don’t expect to see a volunteer dropping by daily to weed or water your garden. That is your job. “[The key is] believing that people can do it and trusting [them],” explained Trish. “After the planning and installation, [it’s all about] stepping back and waiting for them to come to me. It’s their property and their project.”

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Fresh tomatoes right off the vine, ready for picking

“A garden is common ground.” spring plants and a tiller, one of Growing Matters’ most memorable contributions to the congregation’s garden was the guidance of their in-house chef to help create a gardener’s cookbook.

“If I come into Weinland Park and say something about agrarian urbanism they’re going to look at me like I’m crazy,” Yolanda explained. “But if I say, ‘Do you want a backyard garden?’—that makes sense.”

“She helped us get off the block to start menu plans and shopping lists,” said Roger. “She held our hand until we realized we didn’t need help at all!”

According to Yolanda, it’s the combination of hands-on action and familiar, trusted faces that makes a difference.

By creating recipes featuring garden vegetables like tomatoes, onions and garlic, Roger said they were able to create countless tasty and affordable recipes for the home cook. “Some of our meals for a family of eight were coming in at $4 to $5 total.”

Growing Matters pays special attention to the needs and ideas of the community it’s looking to help start a garden.

For example, last year, when Roger and his fellow gardeners were finished tilling their own plots, they took a look around the street and had an idea. A little guerilla gardening was in order. So they knocked on doors and asked neighbors if they would like a small patch of their yard tilled up.

Some hours later, the street was filled with small garden plots. This year, Growing Matters has committed to put in 50 more yard gardens in the Near East Side of Columbus.

Common Ground Picture it: A lot that has stood vacant for years suddenly bursting with spring daffodils. As spring turns into summer, you notice more green things growing—radish tops and the tiny start of tomato plants. As summer days grow longer (and hotter), a row of corn and sunflowers grows along a chain link fence.

What was once an empty lot is now a source of beauty and plenty, a meeting spot in the neighborhood.

When Debora Arnold, a landscape designer, built a house on the Near East Side a year ago, she soon noticed a community garden four lots down the street. Established in 2009 by Mt. Vernon AME Church and Homeport Housing Advisory Center (an agency devoted to helping Ohioans find affordable housing), its growth had been slow but steady. Debora

Yolanda Moser, Weinland Park Community Garden Coordinator at the Godman Guild

Children at the Mt. Vernon Avenue AME Church Community Garden

And this is where collaboration is key to Growing Matters’ operation. Yolanda Moser, Weinland Park Community Garden Coordinator at the Godman Guild and former Food Matters educator, describes the working relationship between her organization and Growing Matters as one of give and take. While Growing Matters is able to provide resources and expertise for backyard and community gardens, the Godman Guild hosts various workshops and connections to residents.

Yolanda also credits the hands-on nature of their work with bringing heady city planning initiatives to the ground level, specifically with Weinland Park’s new grant dedicated to promoting agrarian urbanism.

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Over and over again, you will hear the same refrain: I didn’t know my neighbors until we started a garden. Whether it’s a community garden in a once-vacant lot or a handful of yard gardens scattered on a block, neighbors are pausing to start conversations about growing their own food.

“A front yard with a big plume of asparagus, edible flowers [and] herbs draws a lot of attention,” said Trish Dehnbostel of Growing Matters. “A garden is common ground.”

Looking Back. Moving Forward Recollecting a lost way of life is a common sentiment among those involved in the gardening projects, said Trish.

Debora Arnold at the Mt. Vernon Avenue AME Church Community Garden among the tall sunflowers

was eager to learn how to grow her own food, so she joined the community garden.

After attending the Grow Your Own workshop last winter, Debora connected with Growing Matters. Today 10 individuals living within a three-block radius and three Homeport employees tend the garden.

Participation grows through word of mouth and walk-by conversations. Weekly Thursdaynight gardening hours give residents a chance to work and talk side by side. A sense of community and trust is growing out of the garden, Debora said.

“We look out for each other,” Debora said.

“Not just our garden plots, but we look after each others’ homes now too.”

“[They say], ‘I missed this, I did this with my grandmother,’” said Trish. “Cooking, family meals—those things that we are losing are a big focus of our work.”

While some are reconnecting with the past, back at the Godman Guild Yolanda prepares a new generation for a lifetime of health. A group of 10 high school students is employed to care for five of the community garden plots.

The teens work 20 hours a week, watering, weeding and selling their harvest at farmers markets. According to Yolanda, they are learning skills that they can carry with them to future jobs—marketing, customer service, resume writing and more. Plus, this summer job is just plain fun.

Across town, Trish is wrapping up the garden meeting at Mt. Vernon AME Church. After sharing her preferred method of squashing a squash beetle (“Watch this, I wipe it on my skirt”) and recommending Epsom salts for struggling pepper plants (“They need extra calcium in drought”), she leads the group to the communal bed of herbs at the front of the garden. Getting on her knees, she looks

A boy at the Mt. Vernon Avenue AME Church Community Garden sharing some fresh vegetables from the garden with us

up with a smile, “Who’s up for pulling some weeds?”

Joannie D’Andrea credits her passion for flavor to her years working under Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. In her time as a Dairy Heiress, Joannie worked as a scooper, a baker, a writer for the marketing team and everything in between. These days, Joannie is in pursuit of a career in special education. She lives in Columbus with her husband, Nick, and their houseplants. Most nights, she rushes home from work to try out a new recipe with Nick.

Get Involved Growing Matters relies on volunteers to accomplish much of its work. If you are interested in volunteering, installing your own yard garden or attending one of Growing Matters’ many workshops, visit Local-Matters.org for more information.

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Healthy Food in Our Health Care System: A Possibility?

By Oran B. Hesterman, PhD President and CEO, Fair Food Network

U

p close and personal. That was my experience with the health care system when I was 36 years old and lying in a hospital bed with IV lines running into my veins. The doctors warned me if my ulcerative colitis did not improve, they would need to remove my colon. A few days later they wanted me to try eating something and sent in a tray of food—a plate of roast beef with a mound of mashed potatoes and a big piece of yellow cake with chocolate icing. I politely declined the offering and called a friend and asked, “Can you save my life today?” She rushed over to the hospital, bringing me a wonderful dinner of tofu, steamed greens and brown rice.

The good news is that I recovered and am today completely healthy with the help of a conscious diet that nourishes my body and soul. That experience made me newly aware of the healing power of food and the lack of choices available to people who don’t have the knowledge and/or opportunity to access the healing food they need, both inside and outside a medical setting. But it is particularly critical for our health care system to support a healthy and healing diet.

Healthy Food in Health Care Institutions If hospitals are supposed to make us well, why does so much of the food found in them seem so unhealthy? By one estimate, hospitals account for approximately $12 billion of annual food purchasing power.1 This figure includes meals for patients and for visitors and health care workers in cafeterias. Though it represents only a small fraction of our total food system, it offers a huge opportunity to demonstrate the connection between personal health, healthy eating and a healthy food system. By shifting how health care institutions source food, we can make an immediate difference and demonstrate a more integrated approach to health in the long run.

Consider the efforts of Dr. Preston Maring, who works in California at Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest health care institutions in the country. I have long respected his leadership efforts to provide healthier, local food through the creation of farmers markets on hospital property, as well as his tireless work to use more locally and regionally produced organic foods in hospital meals. Starting with a single farmers market in the hospital parking lot at Kaiser Permanente’s facility in Oakland, the program has now grown to include 40 farmers markets in six states, either at Kaiser Permanente hospitals or at locations they sponsor.

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Jamie Harvie, Leslie Mikkelsen, and Linda Shak, “A New Health Care Prevention Agenda: Sustainable Food Procurement and Agricultural Policy,” Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition 4 (2009): 409–429.

2 “Kaiser Permanente Makes Great Strides in Sustainable Food for Health,” November 8, 2011, http://xnet.kp.org/newscenter/aboutkp/green/stories/2011/110811sustainablefood.html, accessed November 11, 2011.

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Kaiser Permanente now spends approximately 15% of its overall food budget on locally grown sustainable food, nearly twice as much as most other hospital systems of its size. By the end of year 2015, that number is expected to grow to 20%.2 This means that locally grown fruits and vegetables are now being served in patient meals at more than 30 hospitals and medical facilities. In 2011, this translated into more than 190 tons of produce!

Another group working in this arena is Health Care Without Harm, an international network of more than 450 public health, nursing, environmental, labor and health care organizations. It was started by health care

workers and activists who were concerned about the lack of healthy food choices in health care institutions as well as the life-threatening and environmentally dangerous unintended consequences of current health care practices.

Their Healthy Food in Health Care program seeks to transform the system of food sourcing to promote sustainable agricultural practices and to encourage changes in institutional and public policy that lead to a healthier food system. More than 300 hospitals in the United States and Canada have already signed the program’s “Food Pledge” to purchase foods that both are grown in an ecological manner and follow principles of social justice. To accomplish this proposed shift in purchasing priorities, the organization provides model contracts for hospitals. Most of the larger health care systems have signed the pledge, and attention is now turning to third-party certification, such as that of the Food Alliance.

Oran B. Hesterman, PhD, is president and CEO of Fair Food Network, a national nonprofit organization working at the intersection of food systems, sustainability and social equity to guarantee access to healthy, fresh and sustainably grown food, especially in underserved communities. His book Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All, published in June 2011, has been recognized by leaders in the field and the national media as a “must read.” During his 30-year career, Hesterman has become a national leader in sustainable agriculture and food systems and has made a significant contribution to the funding of healthy food and farming nationwide. A native of Berkeley, California, he started his career as an organic farmer and then established one of the first sprout businesses in America in 1973. He sold the business to attend graduate school at University of Minnesota, where he earned his doctorate in agronomy, plant genetics and business administration. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

How You Can Create Change How can you get involved? First, you can advocate for better food from food service directors in health care institutions, taking a bottom-up approach. If you are a health care worker, you can choose healthier and more sustainable foods when you buy catered meals for meetings and maybe even create a farmers market at your local facility—and then patronize it and encourage your colleagues to do the same.

Want to have a broader impact on the area of health care? Write to your local paper and galvanize your community into collective action around this issue. Urge your local health care facility to purchase local, sustainable food and increase the types of healthy choices available in their facilities. Physicians can collectively encourage hospitals to sign the “Food Pledge.” Patients and families can write letters praising positive food choices and suggesting changes in food options that do not support this healthy approach to eating. Finally, as recommended by Healthy Food in Health Care leaders, administrators and hospital leaders need to call for a national leadership conference focused on changes to the food system, both in institutional procurement and public policy changes.

Conclusion After seeing all the varied changes underway to improve food quality in hospitals and other health care environments, I hope that if any one of us needs to take advantage of the quality care provided in many of our health care institutions, we will not be faced with the same dilemma that I experienced with hospital food as a young man. With your active concern and intervention in moving the system toward greater awareness, we can ensure that the food we eat in these settings will be more local, fresh, sustainable, and healthy for our bodies and for the earth that feeds us.

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A view of Mockingbird Meadows and the surrounding farmland

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A family-run, biodynamic honey and herb farm offers the healing experience of medicine as food

By Colleen Leonardi Photography by Kristen Stevens

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ippocrates’ age-old adage “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food” is the cornerstone of Mockingbird Meadows Honey and Herb Farm, a 3.5-acre biodynamic family farm in Marysville, Ohio. For Dawn Combs, along with her husband, Carson, food as medicine and medicine as food is a way of life. Mockingbird Meadows is their little plot of land where they share these values with others, and express their regard for nature as the ultimate healer.

Whether preventative or prescriptive, eating natural, wholesome foods and herbs for better health is nothing new. It’s a way of thinking about the interdependent nature of the Earth, what we eat and the human body that has been around for a long time. One can read studies and stories about how peppermint is good for an upset stomach, how lavender helps with sleeplessness or how rose petals help open the heart.

It’s no secret that herbs have harbored healing properties for centuries.

Dawn believes we have lost this connection “to traditional ways of eating and healing.” She wants to renew some of these traditions and educate people on the benefits of plant and herb life to restore the connection between nature and our health.

“I was always drawn to plants,” Dawn says, as we talk about her background as an herbalist. A native of Central Ohio, Dawn earned her BA in botany and humanities classics before studying with the “godmother of American Herbalism”: pioneer herbalist Rosemary Gladstar of the Sage Mountain Herbal Retreat Center in Central Vermont. But it was when Dawn faced a health crisis of her own that her purpose as an herbalist was revealed.

“They always say when you talk to an herbalist you’ll find that an herb saved their life. That’s kind of how people come to herbalism. The herbs are there for someone, and they save their lives,” Dawn says. “For me, my life wasn’t saved, but it was definitely rescued. I really wanted kids and I was diagnosed as infertile and there really wasn’t anything that they could do for me from a Western medicine aspect, so I turned to the herbs.”

After her research and work with medicinal herbs for her own infertility, Dawn gave birth to a beautiful boy and, later, a girl. The experience transformed her, and she now specializes in consulting with women who want to regain balance in the body using medicinal herbs as a basis for improved fertility.

Dawn’s sees her experience as one example of many when it comes to the power of plants. Mockingbird Meadows, designated as a United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary, is the place where Dawn believes she can help people grow their own health independence by visiting a working farm and learning about the benefits of herbalism. “We’re

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“Dawn has created an open communication line between her and the land,” Brooke says, “and in turn the herbs and the honey speak to you.” trying to bring people to the farm to experience it, to experience the plants, to learn, to eat.”

For herbs to provide the maximum health benefits to individuals, the herbs have to be healthy to begin with. For Dawn, this means maintaining biodynamic farming practices so the spirit of the plant is nurtured and cultivated in harmony with the whole farm, season by season.

Dawn attunes her biodynamic practices to grow and harvest each plant during special times of the year and honor what each plant needs. That, she believes, gives rise to more fully nutrient-laden herbs.

“Plants respond when we interact with them on that level,” she says.

“They become more embodied in themselves.”

What does an embodied plant look and taste like? Take their roses as an example. Rosa rugosa bushes will soon ring the farm due to the popularity and demand for Mockingbird’s roses. The petals are used in the Rose Petal–infused honey (using raw honey generated and harvested straight from Mockingbird’s 29 hives on the farm), tea blends, a Rose Glycerite and a new, exclusive product set to release around Valentine’s Day. Dawn gets giddy when she explains how she harvests the petals each morning when the roses are in season. “It’s definitely something I love to do.”

The taste of the petals is remarkable—a solid, fragrant, nectar-like flavor that soothes and energizes. Her Rose Glycerite has garnered national attention in the yoga community, an audience she is hoping to work with more in the future.

“They’re alive, these roses that we’re growing here. They’re almost glowing and iridescent. People are responding to our Rose Glycerite because of the energy that’s coming from the farm. They’re just really special and they make gorgeous, delicious things to eat,” Dawn says.

“It’s exciting to put that into things I can share with other people…”

Brooke Sackenheim, recreation coordinator at the Ohio Herb Education Center and an herbalist herself at Twin Brook Botanicals, believes Dawn’s work provides essential offerings to the Central Ohio community. “There is a rich history of herbs in the state of Ohio. At one point in time, Ohio was the epicenter of the Eclectic Medicine movement,” Brooke says. “Now most people think of California and Vermont as herb meccas. Mockingbird Meadows is a shining example of how Ohio is reclaiming its past. Dawn Combs is revitalizing a much older tradition of blurring the line between food and medicine.”

tures for better immunity, increased vitality, a better night’s sleep and more, all blended with honey. The honey spreads are more accessible than tinctures and delicious to consume, making taking your medicine a more pleasant experience.

Dawn is also looking to collaborate more with local chefs to create unique farm-to-table meals. She wants people to experience eating good food in combination with her herbs, and be inspired to bring some of her regard for herbalism back into the kitchen.

While some of Mockingbird’s products have garnered national attention (her infused honeys were named One of the Best of the Good, Clean and Fair Products in the United States by Slow Food Nation in 2008), Dawn continues to look to the land and listen to the quite power of the plants to tell her what the next new product or experience needs to be.

“It’s a dance with nature. Nature isn’t fixed. Our business model mirrors that—you don’t just make a product and you make that for the rest of your life,” Dawn says. “I’m a conduit. The plants want to communicate things to us and help us … and sometimes those are different messages from year to year.”

“Dawn has created an open communication line between her and the land,” Brooke says, “and in turn the herbs and the honey speak to you. I have given many, many people samples of her rose-infused honey, and every time people smile and say ‘Mmm, that is good.’”

Dawn hopes more people will come visit Mockingbird, as spending time on the farm, touching the roses, tasting the honeys, smelling the peppermint, seeing the bees cluster along the rim of the hive and watching the animals relax in the sun, is all a part of the healing experience she is hoping to offer to others.

“I learned that we’ve lost our power, we’ve lost our connection—you talk about how people have lost their connection with nature, we don’t know where our food comes from, we don’t understand quality of food—it’s the same with our medicine,” Dawn says. “It’s a birthright that we used to have that people could go out to the backyard and use comfrey to heal a cut. I mean, really basic stuff. I’d love to be able to help people have control again. I want people to live a healthy, vibrant life.”

Mockingbird Meadows: 16671 Burns Rd., Marysville, Ohio 43040; 614-3545162; mockingbirdmeadows.com. Visit their farm store to pick up honey and herbs, open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 3 to 7pm. Mockingbird

Mockingbird grows primarily herbs for consumption, no fruits or vegetables, and raises bees and practices sustainable bee keeping for their line of raw honey products. But Dawn thinks of her herbs and honey as food—with vital nutrients that we all need more of in our diets. She has created a line of Vita-Seasoning Iron and Calcium blends. The seasoning can easily be added to soups, salads and other meals to saturate the food with extra minerals. Her infused honeys range in flavors from the more healing Gourmet Lemon, Ginger, Garlic honey to the Gourmet Coffee honey. And she is excited about her honey spreads featuring herbal tinc-

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Meadows can also be found at the Worthington, Clintonville, Westerville and Bexley farmers markets through October.

Colleen Leonardi is a writer, choreographer and editor of Edible Columbus.

Autumn is her favorite time of year, for the apples, sweet air and all of the fire-colored falling leaves. Learn more at colleenleonardi.com.

Top: A leaf from Mockingbird’s comfrey plants Bottom: Carson shows us bee pollen from their 29 hives on the farm

Visit Mockingbird Meadows Join Dawn and Carson Combs on their farm this fall for a series of events designed to help you experience the healing power of herbs and food. They offer The Homesteader’s Table dinners, where guests are invited to enjoy a farm-to-table dinner featuring a seasonal menu with ingredients straight from their biodynamic farm, plus a chance to experience homesteader skills hands-on. And their seasonal workshops on herbal skincare, PHOTOGRAPHY BY © KRISTEN STEVENS, KRISTEN-STEVENS.COM

first-aid care, sustainable beekeeping and more are fun and informative.

The Homesteader’s Table $60 | 5pm to 7:45pm Harvest Moon Table: September 29 Blood Moon Table: October 29 Frost Moon Table: November 11 Moon of Long Nights Table: December 21

Fall Workshops Herbs for Women on Sunday, September 16 from 1:30 to 3:30pm, $35 Herbal Skincare on Friday, October 19 from 6:30 to 9:30pm, $45 Visit mockingbirdmeadows.com to learn more and register.

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A Fall Vegetable Soup from Mockingbird Meadows With an autumn chill in the air, a homemade soup using vegetables and herbs is one of the best remedies for colds, general sluggishness and all-around good health. So I asked Dawn to share one of her family’s traditional recipes for a vegetable soup using herbs that are good for this season. She writes: This recipe is an herbal modification of the recipe that was handed down to me by my grandmother, June Garman. She was an amazing woman and particularly talented with roses. I feel her presence in my business more and more each day as we do more with our roses.

Enjoy, as Dawn would say, “In green health!”—Colleen Leonardi

Herb Tonic Vegetable Soup 1 medium onion, finely chopped 2–3 cloves garlic Olive oil 2 quarts beef broth 1 quart tomato juice 2–3 celery stalks, cut up fairly small 2–3 carrots, cut up fairly small 3 medium potatoes, diced 1–2 fresh yellow dock roots, sliced into thin pieces 2–4 fresh dandelion roots (Taraxacum officinale), sliced into thin pieces 2–4 fresh burdock roots, sliced into thin pieces 1 pound of beef leftover from a roast, cut into small pieces 1 small (or ½ a large) cabbage, finely sliced 2 cups green beans 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root 2 cups corn Salt and pepper to taste Apple cider vinegar

1.

Sauté an onion and 2–3 cloves of garlic in olive oil until golden.

2.

Add the broth and tomato juice and bring to a boil.

3.

Add all celery carrots, potatoes, yellow dock, dandelion and burdock roots.

Cook about an hour, or until the vegetables are cooked through.

4.

Add beef, cut into small pieces.

5.

Add cabbage, green beans, ginger and corn, and cook for another 20–30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6.

Great when served immediately with a little apple cider vinegar splashed in each bowl. Truly fabulous the next day and beyond!

Additional notes from Dawn based on June’s original recipe: If you don’t have enough good broth, cover a soup bone with water and cook for about an hour before adding the tomato juice and vegetables. (Editor’s note: Bluescreek Meats at the North Market is a great place to purchase soup bones.—CL) My mother notes that soup bones in those days did not have much meat on them. My mom also says that my grandmother chopped all of these vegetables into fairly small, uniform pieces.

There is a lot of room for modification in this soup.... people should feel they can add or subtract the vegetables as they have them available, or as their taste dictates.

Editor’s note: You can find fresh burdock root at the Asian Markets in Columbus or at Whole Foods. Mockingbird Meadows carries dried Yellow Dock and Dandelion root throughout the season.—CL

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a home cook’s diary

The Other Potato Ohio’s Excellent Sweets Story and Photography Molly Hays

I feel a little sorry for the sweet potato.

Every year it arrives in earliest September, squeezing in between the eggplant, tomatoes, peppers and abundance. There it sits, dull and lonely, passed over (and over, and over) for its neighbors. It’s the party guest arrived 10 minutes early, only to find the hostess still in her housedress.

And who can blame us for our unprepared stares? We’re not yet ready for this ambassador from planet fall, when summer’s still bursting at the seams. And how can the farmer not bring what is ripe and ready?

Fortunately for us both, the sweet potato’s a patient sort.

Probably like you, I consider potatoes a pantry staple throughout the cool months. Perhaps unlike you, mine are most often orange. I like ordinary potatoes well enough, with their ivory insides and mild, easy meat, but they always seem so, well, pale, by comparison. Sweet potatoes don’t do pale. Sweet potatoes do bold. And vivid, and versatile, and deeply caramel soft sweet. Sweet potatoes are what Russets want to be when they grow up.

A potato with personality. A many-splendored thing.

I admire their flavor: sweet but not overly, as comfortable with sugar as salt and heat. Played up, the sweet betters many a baked good, bringing not only flavor but enviable damp. Think carrot cake, run a little rampant. Egged on, it adds depth and color to custard, tucked into a crust or flying solo, as flan. Baked in their jackets until near collapse, split, salted, buttered and barely brown-sugared, they become one of my most-longed-for meals. Dessert, dinner, you decide.

But my favorite direction, my default position, is to walk sweet potatoes down the savory road. They purée like a dream into sunset-bright clouds, zizzed up on orange or ginger or both. Ordinarily, I enrich them with a knob of butter—it doesn’t take much; they’re naturally creamy— but sometimes, I’ll substitute good bacon fat. (Dreamy.) These same purées, thinned with water or broth, topped with bacon or sautéed apples or plain whole yogurt, make about as nice a soup as an October evening could want.

And then there is roasting. Sweet potatoes are born roasters. Their natural sugars stand at attention under high heat, intensifying, caramelizing, bronzing in spots. Cut thick, salted and glossed in olive oil, ruddy wedges become a bang-up oven fry. Spice them up before the fact—try crushed coriander and chili, or lemon and fresh thyme—for extra zip. Or gussy them up after, with smoked-paprika-spiked mayo.

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Cut small, into cubes, these same roasted sweets become bite-size additions to all manner of salads. Toss them warm with black beans and a lime-soused vinaigrette, plus lashings of cilantro, queso fresco and pumpkin seeds, and you’ve a gorgeous fall salad that doubles as dinner. Or point them toward the Middle East, toss them with tinned chickpeas and drizzle with garlic-tapped lemon-tahini dressing. Earthy, sweet, nutty, warm, creamy, fast, magic. Sweet potatoes love legumes. Make a note.

But it’s when we venture in the direction of Southeast Asia that I think I love the sweet potato most. Like pumpkin or winter squash, it is firm enough to braise, holding shape in a curry or coconut milk bath.

(Unlike pumpkin or winter squash, it peels easily, like a carrot, avoiding that awful Freddy Krueger cleaver moment.) Simmered in chili-blushed coconut milk, tarted up with fish sauce, lemongrass and kaffir lime, sweet potatoes lively up a class red Thai curry. Add whatever else vegetal the fall market has to offer: corn, late tomatoes, tiny quartered eggplant.

Add cilantro, and mint, and holy basil, if you can. Add chicken, or shrimp, or tofu, or don’t. The protein is optional. The produce is star.

Much as it is in this Indian Korma, a standard, stunning vegetable preparation from the subcontinent. An aromatic base is built, first from onions, well-browned, then garlic and ginger, softened and mellowed.

To this heady sludge, spices are added: coriander, turmeric, a bit of chili.

The firm vegetables are tipped in: tomatoes, a few white potatoes, a heap of sweets, followed by coconut milk. Bingo: broth, fragrant, creamy, intoxicating. The roots swim in this until they turn tender, imbibing their drink along the way. Gentle souls—green beans, sweet peas, whatever’s fresh—are added last and cooked briefly, to preserve their vim. A good squeeze of lime, for zip and sparkle, plus a throw of fresh cilantro, and dinner is served.

It’s a team effort, to be sure, a celebration of all fall’s bounty. But those amber cubes are the main event, their plush sweet a fine foil for the warm hum of spice. Certainly something to pity no more. All in due time, my dear sweet potato.

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

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Fall Vegetable Korma adapted from Plenty, by Diana Henry This is a mild, ecumenical curry, which travels well through the season. Add the last zucchini, or the first cauliflower, or ribbons of kale, as summer’s green beans give way to fall’s greens. Like all curries, leftovers are wonderful.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds 1 large onion, finely chopped 4 garlic cloves, minced (2 teaspoons) 1½ inch fresh ginger, peeled, finely chopped (2 tablespoons) 1 fresh red chile, seeded and chopped, or 1 whole dried arbol chile ½ teaspoon ground turmeric 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch chunks (3 cups) 6 ounces waxy white potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch chunks (1 cup) 12 ounces fresh tomatoes (or a 15-ounces tin whole tomatoes, drained of juices), cut into chunks 1 cup regular coconut milk, well shaken 8 ounces green beans, cut into 2-inch lengths 1 cup frozen green peas Juice of ½–1 lime 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

In a large, heavy saucepan, heat oil until shimmering. Add onion and fry over medium-high heat, stirring regularly, until browning, 5 minutes.

Add mustard seeds and continue to cook until onions are bronzed and sticky, lowering heat as needed to prevent burning, 2–3 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and chili, reduce heat to medium and cook 3 minutes.

Add turmeric and coriander and cook another minute, to meld.

Add tomatoes, sweet potatoes, white potatoes and 1 teaspoon salt, then stir to coat with aromatics. Cook 4 minutes to relax tomatoes, then add coconut milk, plus enough water to just cover vegetables, ½–1 cup.

Bring to a steady simmer and hold, cooking until potatoes are tender, 10–15 minutes. The sauce should generously coat the vegetables.

Add beans and simmer until just tender, 4–5 minutes. Add frozen peas and simmer 1 minute. Remove from heat, add juice of half a lime and taste for seasoning, adding salt, pepper and/or more lime, as desired. Stir in chopped cilantro and serve.

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PHOTO BY © CATHERINE MURRAY, PHOTOKITCHEN.NET

An interior view of a wild pawpaw found in the woods near Olentangy River Road

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Come Aboard!

The Ark of Taste Sets Sail for Ohio: An exotic fruit and a plucky fowl are among the heritage foods of our state

By Nancy McKibben

A pawpaw and a Buckeye chicken walk into a bar. After a couple of drinks, they discover that they have a lot in common: Both are from Ohio, both are delicious. Both are making a comeback from decades of obscurity. They become fast friends, book a cruise on the Ark of Taste and sail into the sunset . . .

PHOTO COURTESY OF RENEE WILSON © WARREN COUNTY, OHIO

The fortunes of heritage foods like the pawpaw and the Buckeye chicken are tied to the efforts of both individuals and conservancy groups like Slow Food USA. Bear Braumoeller, an Ohio State University political science professor and co-founder and president of Slow Food Columbus, explains the concept behind the group’s U.S. Ark of Taste.

“The Ark promotes biodiversity—the food that you don’t find in the stores,” he says. “We want foods that are delicious, sustainably produced and neglected by the industrial food system.”

Slow Food USA has invited over 200 foods onto the Ark. Local chapters encourage their members to save these foods by growing them, or asking local growers and markets to provide them.

“The most important thing is that the food is delicious, like the Buckeye chicken,” Bear says, then asks rhetorically, “Why is nobody around Columbus raising Buckeye chickens?”

Which leads us to the story of . . .

The Indomitable Nettie Metcalf and Her Buckeye Chickens From the 1916 American Buckeye Club Catalog: “... when I took the neglected chickens in hand on the old Ohio farm, because I wanted more spending money, I had not the slightest idea that it was going to lead up to the originating of a new breed and a national reputation no, indeed.” So begins Nettie’s tale, told in her own words.

In 1879, Nettie and her husband, Frank, and three children were living on a homestead in Trumbull County, near Warren, Ohio. Like most women of her time, Nettie kept chickens for “pin money.”

But Nettie could not find a breed that suited her. The Brown Leghorns were “into everything, scratching and destroying more than their necks were worth.” The white-feathered Light Brahmas were easy for hawks to spot, “while what broiler I did manage to raise were slab-sided and gristly.” Black Langshans had objectionable black pinfeathers; Barred Rocks ate too much grain.

One of the few photos of Nettie Metcalf, the first and only American woman to create a breed of chicken entirely on her own

Crossing her Barred Rocks with a neighbor’s Buff Cochin produced a “big, lazy fowl.” Undaunted, Nettie bred another neighbor’s Black Breasted Red Game male (“so handsome”) with her half-Cochin hens. And here at last was the trait that put a twinkle in Nettie’s eye—some of the offspring were red. She decided to breed for that trait.

“How I was laughed at for the attempt,” Nettie says, “but whoever heard of a woman stopping for anything, once her mind was made up?”

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Her first results seemed to justify her naysayers.

“My! What a flock I raised that year! No wonder my friends laughed! Green legs and feathered legs, buff chicks, black chicks and even red-and-black barred chicks; single combs and pea combs, and no combs at all, but fighters from way back.”

A milestone for women But Nettie persevered, breeding out the feistiness and refining the standards that she had established for her new breed: dark red feathers, black undercolor, yellow legs, Cornish body shape, pea comb (a smaller comb that resists freezing in cold weather).

A practical woman, she bred the Buckeye as a layer and a meat chicken rather than an exhibition bird, but admitted that “the great beauty of the Buckeyes” could make them a show bird as well.

In fact, Nettie’s Buckeyes were in such demand that she finally gave up breeding—”I felt that health was of more consequence than money,” she says tartly—and retired to California with her son to “keep just a few choice birds.”

A rare bird Despite their beauty and utility, the Buckeye breed declined after 1920. Since 2005, yeoman efforts by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy through their Renewing American Foods project—in collaboration with the Center for Sustainable Environments, Chef’s

Collaborative, Cultural Conservancy, Native Seed/SEARCH, Seed Savers Exchange and Slow Food USA—have brought the Buckeye chicken back to the American barnyard.

Jeff Lay, the founder of the 200-member American Buckeye Club, began raising Buckeyes on his Crains Run Ranch in Miamisburg out of historical interest and an admiration for Nettie Metcalf. He describes Buckeyes as friendly and docile: “My Buckeyes see someone walking towards them and will run out to greet them.”

In addition to selling his line of Buckeyes (which maintain Nettie’s original breed standard), Jeff keeps a list of breeders at the website. He also donates chicks and eggs to 4H kids for their chicken projects. “Those kids are the future of any breed, so that’s a big project of mine, to support 4H clubs across the country.”

A Buckeye chicken on Jeff Lay’s Crains Run Ranch in Miamisburg

PHOTO BY © JIM MCKIBBEN

In the late 1890s, Nettie indulged in a brief fling with crossbreeding her chickens with the new Rhode Island Red, only to become further convinced that hers were a breed apart. Finally, in February of 1905, the American Poultry Association admitted Nettie’s Buckeyes.

Nettie thus became the first and only American woman to create a breed of chicken entirely on her own.

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Ohio’s Secret Fruit

Autumn Heritage

Another passenger on the Ark of Taste, Asimina triloba or pawpaw, has grown in Ohio for millennia, as evidenced by the 11 late-prehistoric pawpaw seeds in the Ohio Historical Society collection. European explorers noted as early as 1540 that Native Americans ate both wild and cultivated pawpaws, which may account for its wide range across the eastern half of the U.S.

The pawpaw and the Buckeye chicken are not the only Ohio heritage foods to have hopped aboard the U.S. Ark of Taste. We asked local growers and chefs to recommend their own seasonal favorites for autumn. (The spiceberry bush is not yet on the Ark, but any reader can nominate it—or any other worthy Ohio native—by submitting at the Slow Food USA website or contacting Bear Braumoeller of Slow Food Columbus.)

Spicebush berries: Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams describes the flavor as “a combination of mace, allspice and pepper” and recommends it as both a sweet and savory spice in

During their travels in Missouri in 1806, the Lewis and Clark expedition looked to the pawpaw for sustenance. William Clark wrote on September 18 that for the next 150 miles they had only “poppaws” and “buisket” to subsist on. Fortunately, “the party appear perfectly contented and tell us that they can live very well on the pappaws.” (Spelling variations are Clark’s.)

autumn dishes like pumpkin or eggnog (or ice cream!). Try the twigs for skewers to flavor grilled meat; the dried leaves for tea; and the bush itself, golden-leaved with bright red berries, for landscaping. Chris Chmiel of Integration Acres Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Squash: A beautiful cream-colored acorn squash with cream-colored flesh and origins in Missouri. The seeds were passed on to a couple in Ohio, who maintained the variety and listed it with Seed Savers Exchange. Adam Welley of Wayward Seed Black Walnut: The hulls stain hands and sidewalks, the roots are toxic to plants and the nut is notoriously difficult to crack. Still, lovers of the black walnut consider these obstacles a small price to pay to enjoy its strong, distinctive flavor. The less ambitious gather the black walnuts on their lawn

Pawpaws are the largest native American fruit, flatter than an avocado, with a smooth, pale green skin that is flecked with brown when ripe, at which time they can be shaken from the tree. Inside, several large black seeds decorate the soft yellow fruit, whose taste has been compared variously to that of custard, vanilla, banana, mango and apple. Surveyorgeneral John Lawson in his 1860 History of Carolina called the fruit “sweet as anything can well be” and noted that “rare puddings” could be made from it.

and sell them at one of a dozen stations in Ohio, which will hull and weigh them and then ship them to Hammon’s in Missouri, where 65% of all commercial black walnuts in the United States are processed. Jeni; Chris Shagbark Hickory Nuts: Frontier men and women and Native Americans depended on the shagbark, the sweetest of the hickory nuts, and spent long winter evenings hulling, shelling and picking it from its shell. Boiling the wood and bark produces a sweet, sharp hickory syrup. Jeni;

Bear Braumoeller of Slow Food Columbus

But their popularity faded, and the pawpaw was largely forgotten until 1975, when plant geneticist Neal Peterson ate his first pawpaw as a graduate student at West Virginia University and became so enamored of the taste that he has since devoted his life to the promotion and cultivation of the pawpaw, developing six varieties to sell commercially.

PHOTO BY © CAROLE TOPALIAN

Nicknamed the poor man’s banana, pawpaws continued to be eaten mostly fresh, and because of their short season and shorter shelf life were not considered commercially viable. Ask an octogenarian, and she may remember eating pawpaws as a child during the Depression.

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Pawpaws to the People!

After Chris Chmiel and his wife bought 18 wooded acres near Athens in 1995, he decided that the pawpaw fruit rotting in his woods was a valuable resource that he did not want to waste.

“These plants are naturally energy efficient, naturally adapted to our soil. The only thing we have to do is to have the mindset to utilize them.” By 1996 Chris was growing and selling pawpaws commercially, and in 1998 he introduced the first frozen pawpaw pulp, a natural response to the fruit’s brief shelf life. Today, microbreweries such as Weasel Boy in Zanesville use the pulp to make Pawpaw Ale. In 1999, Chris organized the first Ohio Pawpaw Festival, which showcases pawpaw food, drink and lore (see below for details about the 2012 Ohio Pawpaw Festival in September in Lake Snowden).

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Today Chris’s business Integration Acres is the world’s largest pawpaw processor and supplier of pawpaw products. “It’s a way to create wealth and value and to do it in a way that’s sustainable and has a positive impact on the local community and on our knowledge base.”

“This is edible education,” says Chris, “raising consciousness with cuisine.”

Look for signs identifying Ark of Taste foods on the shelves of the Hills Market, the Greener Grocer and Weiland’s Gourmet Market. Resources for further information: slowfoodcolumbus.com; slowfoodusa.com; Integration Acres, Chris Chmiel and pawpaw products: integrationacres.com; info@integrationacres.com; 740-698-6060; pawpawfestival.com: American Livestock Breeders Conservancy, albc.com; Buckeye Chickens, americanbuckeyeclub.org; seedsavers.org; victoryseeds.com

A special thank you to Jeff Lay for sharing his Buckeye chicken historical research.

Nancy McKibben has been writing and eating for years, and is happy to combine those loves with the opportunity to advocate for local food in the pages of Edible Columbus. Her novel The Chaos Protocol was a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award for Fiction in 2000, and she was the winner of the Thurber House Essay Contest in 2003. She is also a lyricist and journalist, the mother of six and the wife of one. View her work at leader.com/nancymckibben; contact her at nmckibben@leader.com.

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Matthew Barbee of Rockmill Brewery on the family farm next to his experiment in growing hops on the land

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The Road to Beautiful Beer Crafting organic, Belgian-style brews, Matthew Barbee of Rockmill Brewery has found his calling

By Claire Hoppens Photography by Catherine Murray

M

atthew Barbee of Rockmill Brewery found himself creating artisan beer on a horse farm in rural Lancaster out of a love for the land. When I journeyed to Rockmill in late July to join Matthew in a tasting and tour of the grounds, I fell in love with the land too.

Rockmill Brewery is situated on a breathtaking 11 acres flanked by dense forests and a perpetual chorus of crickets. The family home, a renovated barn with its original wooden beams intact, sits at the crest of the property beside a horse stable, now transformed into the brew house.

Lush grass extends from the back porch of the home, sloping downwards until it meets a thicket of woods. Tucked in a shady corner, just before a hanging rope bridge, sits a tiny white chapel. And running throughout the woods, emerging as the headwaters of the Hocking River, are crystal streams and pure aquifers—Rockmill’s most valuable natural resource and powerful ingredient.

A Perfect Match “At first my parents were, like, ‘You’re going to start brewery? That doesn’t sound like your best idea,’” Matthew says, as he swirls a glass of Saison in one hand and explains his transition from a high-powered talent agency in Los Angeles to a farm not far from where he grew up.

Now, at age 35, Matthew reflects on how every day on his way to high school, he drove through the covered bridge on the outskirts of his family’s future farm. He knew of the land, knew the winding roads around it and the old grist mill on the edge of the deep ravine. Then Matthew left Ohio after college, studying under a sommelier in Chicago and cultivating a passion for viticulture instilled by his grandfather, who owned wineries around Ohio.

“I think in the back of my head I always dreamed I’d do a winery like my grandpa. So when I came back to visit my family and they had this beautiful horse farm, I did have that thought. Maybe we can do a winery here.”

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Matthew’s choices of charcuterie and cheeses from Katzinger’s Delicatessen for our tasting

A Picnic at Rockmill For a fantastic picnic or tasting with Rockmill beers, here are some of my

Matthew’s grandfather was the first to point out the potential in Rockmill’s water. “It was an instinctual palate he had from making wine for most of his life,” Matthew says.

favorite food pairings, all from Katzinger’s Delicatessen in German Village.

—Matthew Barbee Ossau-Iraty, sheep’s milk cheese from Basque region of France Ardrahan, cow’s milk cheese from Ireland Roaring Forties Blue, cow’s milk cheese from King Island, Australia Sottocerere al Tartufo, cow’s milk cheese from Italy

But when it came to growing grapes, Matthew’s instincts were elsewhere. Before venturing back home from Los Angeles, he tried a classic Saison-style beer on a whim. Infatuation ensued. “When they popped the cork all these aromatics wafted over towards me and I thought: ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is beer?’ It was a beautiful pairing with the food items.”

Taza Salt & Pepper Dark Chocolate Vosges Amalfi Chocolate Vosges Mo’s Dark Chocolate Bacon Bar Farmhouse Bread Delitia Burro di Parma Prosciutto di Parma Soppressata And I love making BLTs to pair with the beers around lunchtime: Rustic bread Bacon Tomato Lettuce Egg (over easy) Cave-aged Gruyere Mayonnaise

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Saison, a farmhouse ale from the Wallonia region of southern Belgium, originated prior to refrigeration, when farmers needed to provide a safe source of hydration for harvest workers. “What encompasses the style is what they did to enable the beer to keep from winter time to harvest,” says Matthew. The farmers ratcheted up their hops, a natural antiseptic, and increased the alcohol content. “The main key (in terms of ABV) is Saisons needed to be sturdy enough to last the summer, but still refreshing and restorative for the harvest-workers.” Matthew says. “That puts the sweet spot at approx 3%. Milder brews could have been made for immediate consumption, but would not have had the fortification necessary to last in the heat from March to September.” This, and brewing in frigid winters, helped the beer to keep into summer.

The basic elements of traditional farmhouse ales and brewing methods struck a chord with Matthew. What intrigued him most were those methods he could adapt with his resources in Lancaster: ample land, unsullied water and time. “I started studying the Old World method of

“I fell in love with brewing—the whole process— I connected to it in a way I wasn’t expecting.” brewing Saison … because I didn’t have the capital to invest in a technology-driven brew house.”

Recognizing his penchant for the brewing process, Matthew’s mother, Judy Smalley, and stepfather, Dennis Smalley, jumped on board. Not long after, Dennis, a hydrogeologist by trade, sent water samples from the farm to be analyzed by a lab. When the results came back, they confirmed a minerality breakdown nearly identical to the water in Wallonia.

“It was a perfect match for these styles of beers,” says Matthew.

Most of the minerality comes from soft Black Hand sandstone, deposited by the slow-moving glaciers that carved out the land long ago.

The sandstone is visible along the waterway, shaped by currents and wind erosion. The water needs no treatment after it’s pumped from a well deep inside the earth. It is ideal for consumption the moment it arrives, snaked up directly into the brewery.

Tasting with Matthew For someone so immersed in his craft, Matthew is relaxed. He welcomes visitors often to his home and bar, holding open tastings every weekend.

Matthew’s mission is to create connections between the land, the brewery and the people who venture out to experience it.

And it shows. At our tasting, cheese, chocolate and charcuterie are plentiful, clustered on wooden boards. Between hearty pours, Matthew tells stories of Rockmill’s beginnings and guides us through the beers.

Rockmill’s five distinct varieties of beer are crafted with inspiration from centuries-old Belgian brewers. As a result, Matthew brews small-batch, organic beer with meticulously sourced ingredients—yeast strains from southern Belgium, hops from New Zealand, malt from Germany and water from 100 feet under the ground.

We taste the beers in order of strength, each poured from the large-format, 22-ounce bottle traditional to this style of beer, hand-corked and fastened with a wire cage. Matthew explains how imperative the shape and size of the bottles are to secondary fermentation, which occurs after the beers are bottled, creating natural carbonation. The bottle conditioning process, “does a beautiful job of organically sealing the bottle for time,” he says, eliminating the need for chemicals or preservatives.

Witbier, a bright, citrusy wheat beer infused with orange peel and coriander, is the first. From there, we try the crisp Saison, the impetus for Matthew’s entire operation. It is aromatic beyond expectation, hopped up more than classic Saison, with a malt build to match. Next, there’s a robust Dubbel, the darkest variety of Rockmill beer. It’s a richer, smooth beer with a long finish, a hazy dark amber color when poured. Finally, we share the Tripel and its cask-aged companion, picking up big caramel undertones in the later. The Tripel is slightly sweet with fruity aromas, a true golden in color.

Matthew’s mom, Judy, joins us at the table. She is charming and softspoken, happy to recount tales of trial and error at the brewery and elaborate on her work as a pediatric physical therapist. The tireless work ethic instilled in Judy’s upbringing on a dairy farm in rural Ohio is, according to Matthew, what very often keeps the operation moving. “Our skill sets complement each other,” he says of his mom. “It doesn’t work if one of us isn’t there.”

Although just shy of two years old, Rockmill beers have quickly gathered acclaim, finding their way onto shelves and menus across the state. In December 2011, Rockmill’s Saison was served by Cleveland native and Rockmill fan Chef Jonathon Sawyer of the Greenhouse Tavern at the James Beard House, and will make another appearance there this September, when Matthew serves the Saison in a featured cocktail. Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream created a Rockmill Golden Ale and Apricot–flavored ice cream with the Tripel as a seasonal flavor last summer. And most recently, collaborative efforts between Rockmill Brewery and Middle West Spirits produced a Cask-Aged Tripel, finished in the distillery’s whiskey barrels, where flavors from the white oak and spirits diffuse into the ale.

Walking Towards the Water Eager to capture the scenery before dark, we venture out. The woods are damp, illuminated by streaks of sunlight cast through breaks in the foliage. We walk toward the sound of water.

It’s low, revealing stretches of riverbed smoothed by constant current. A past botany professor of Matthew’s once took a trip out to Rockmill and told him, “There are all sorts of cool things about the river bed that indicate healthy water.” As Matthew mentions this, we pause in the center of the stream, sunken into the depths of sandstone walls and towering trees.

I begin to understand the magic in this place. It’s a magic that’s palpable. The craftsmanship, the solitude, the tedious experimenting over weeks and months before finding satisfaction with a recipe and a ratio— these are time-honored skills. But they are constantly evolving and eternally satisfying for Matthew. He invested his whole heart into the land, and the beer followed suit. Then, his family did. Now he has nothing but space and ideas to grow.

“I fell in love with brewing— the whole process—I connected to it in a way I wasn’t expecting,” Matthew says. “And next thing you know I was hooked. I don’t think I can imagine myself doing anything else.”

Raised in a family of corporate gypsies, Claire Hoppens has called eight states home and visited countless others. She recently earned her degree in magazine journalism from the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. When she isn’t writing, Claire keeps up social media for local business The Swanky Abode, acts as a Snowville Creamery representative and works for Northstar Café. Claire is inspired by the city of Columbus and hopes to put down some sturdier roots here. For a while, at least!

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The old grist mill and covered bridge in Lancaster

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worth the trip

An Overnight Escape to Lancaster

By Claire Hoppens Photography by Catherine Murray

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his fall, carve out some time for an overnight escape to Lancaster. It’s a beautiful drive to a worthwhile destination, made all the more enjoyable by how quickly you’ll get there. Situated halfway between Canal Winchester and Logan, Lancaster is easily reached in under an hour. Travel southeast and watch the terrain subtly shift from grassy farms to gently rolling hills.

This is part of the appeal of Lancaster. So close, yet the area is picturesque beyond expectation. It’s family friendly, too, full of museums, parks and just a short drive from the Hocking Hills, where zip-lining, hiking and camping await. Visit Lancaster in autumn and enjoy peak foliage along the way. Better still, visit Lancaster in combination with a trip to Rockmill Brewery and enjoy equal parts scenic adventure and small-town charm.

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Base your stay, and your evening, out of historic downtown Lancaster.

Tucked in the heart of the district is Shaw’s Inn & Restaurant, a vintage hotel turned getaway destination. Each of the 25 rooms is individually decorated and carefully restored, maintained by Susie Shaw and family.

As general manager and head chef, Susie builds creative menus that source from a long list of local purveyors. On the third floor Susie runs a cooking school where all hotel guests receive a discount on classes, held every Saturday. Additional weekend activities often include live music along the tree-lined square adjacent to Shaw’s, or beer and wine tastings.

But before turning in for the night, there’s a lot of ground to cover.

brewery tour. Be sure to hike to the waterfall, which plummets from the rocks into a deep pool below at the bottom of a 50-foot ravine. Above it, a six-story grist mill called Rock Mill is the oldest and tallest left in Ohio looms, built into the cliff. Rock Mill has been carefully restored in the last decade, now just awaiting a refurbished water wheel to bring it back to working order. It is a mesmerizing kind of beauty at Rockmill Brewery, and a great way to cap off your evening.

Sherman House Museum 137 E. Main St. • 740-687-5891 • shermanhouse.org

History buffs will have no problem getting their fix in Lancaster. The Sherman House Museum offers visitors the chance to explore the former home of Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman, a Civil War legend. Farther down Main Street, the Decorative Arts Center showcases rotating exhibits, many celebrating Ohio artists. Or visit the Ohio Glass Museum to catch a glimpse of unique collections from the glass-making industries that sustained Fairfield County’s economy for over a century.

The Decorative Arts Center 145 E. Main St. • 740-681-1423 • decartsohio.org Ohio Glass Museum 124 W. Main St. • 740-687 0101 • ohioglassmuseum.org Shaw’s Inn and Restaurant 123 N. Broad St. • 800-654-2477 • shawsinn.com

Whatever you do in Lancaster, do not miss a stopover at Rockmill Brewery, located 25 miles from Columbus and 3 miles west of Lancaster.

Grab some picnic fixings from Katzinger’s Delicatessen on the way down, (see Matthew Barbee’s suggestions on page 54) and make some time for Rockmill’s open house, held every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon to 8pm.

Try the beer first to get a sense of each of the organic, Belgian-style brews that Rockmill offers. Then soak up all the sights and sounds on a

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Rockmill Brewery 5705 Lithopolis Rd. NW • Lancaster, OH • rockmillbrewery.com

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edible columbus marketplace

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edible columbus advertisers Please look for a complimentary copy of Edible Columbus each season at the businesses marked with a star.

You can also subscribe to the magazine at ediblecolumbus.com.

A La Carte Food Tours alacartecolumbus.com

G. Michael’s Bistro & Bar* gmichaelsbistro.com

Northstar* thenorthstarcafe.com

The Grouse Nest Restaurant grousenest.com

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The Hills Market* thehillsmarket.com

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Greener Grocer* thegreenergrocer.com

Backroom Coffee Roasters* backroomcoffeeroasters.com

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Bexley Natural Market* bexleynaturalmarket.org

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Pam’s Popcorn* pamspopcorn.com

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams* jenisicecreams.com

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Silver Bridge Coffee Company* silverbridgecoffee.com

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Skillet: Rustic. Urban. Food.* skilletruf.com

Local Roots* localrootspowell.com

Snowville Creamery* snowvillecreamery.com

Market District Kingsdale* marketdistrict.com

Stonefield Hampshire 740-862-3165

Meza Wine Shop* vinomeza.com

Studio B* peacelovestudiob.com

M/I Homes New Home Sales Center* homeateaston.com

Sweet Thing Gourmet sweetthinggourmet.com

Mockingbird Meadows* mockingbirdmeadows.com

Tessora tessora-liqueur.com

North Market* northmarket.com

The Angry Baker* theangrybakerote.com

Bleu & Fig* bleuandfig.com Bluescreek Farm Meats* bluescreekfarmmeats.com Blystone Farm* blystonefarm.com Cambridge Tea House* cambridgeteahouse.com Camelot Cellars* camelotcellars.com Canal Junction Cheese canaljunctioncheese.com Dave Fox* davefox.com Dine Originals dineoriginalscolumbus.com Firelands Winery firelandswinery.com Franklin Park Conservatory* fpconservatory.org

Oink Moo Cluck oinkmoocluck.com

The Oilerie* oilerie.com The Worthington Inn* worthingtoninn.com

Pistacia Vera* pistaciavera.com

Till Dynamic Fare* tillfare.com Tim’s Organic Pantry timsorganicpantry.com Thurn’s Specialty Meats* 614-443-1449 Two Caterers* twocaterers.com Watershed Organic Lawn Care watershedorganic.com Whole Foods Market* wholefoodsmarket.com WOSU* wosu.org Yoga on High* 614-291-4444 yogaonhigh.com

Gateway Film Center* gatewayfilmcenter.com

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last Seed

Journey to Health …One Fork at a Time

By Sheryl Pfeil

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ow many of us claim to make healthy choices by being ardent label readers and looking for packaging with words such as “natural” and “organic?” The healthiest foods aren’t ones that are boxed, canned, supplemented or fortified. They are whole and truly nature-made foods.

Shopping just the perimeter of the grocery store is a start, and venturing outside the store to the abundant farmers markets, with their colorful fall harvests, is even better. Have you ever seen a list of ingredients on a blushing Honeycrisp apple?

It is remarkable that we put more thought into fueling our cars than fueling our bodies. Our bodies were designed to run on whole food. We’ve strayed so far from eating a predominance of whole, fresh foods that we now pace the aisles of supplements, seeking ways to replace the vitamins, minerals, fiber and trace elements that have been leached from our food. And we wonder why our bodies aren’t running at peak performance.

Good food and good health are inseparable. We’re finally starting to get the connection. Imagine if a visit to a doctor were followed by a “food prescription.” If integrating nutrition and medicine seems farfetched, look at our community health centers and the visionaries who are pairing health clinics and neighborhood food pantries side-by-side.

What an intuitive and natural fit. The OSU Wexner Medical Center is another great example. They have rolled out a sponsored CSA program, partnering with VanScoy Farms and Oink Moo Cluck through Azoti Employer Connect, so busy employees have on-site deliveries of fresh, locally grown food. It’s a win-win for farmers and for families.

There is no way around it: Good food is at the foundation of good health. My office-mate is a great example. He’s an energetic, vigorous man in his 60s who keeps pace with those half his age. Each day I walk past his office, peeking in around noon at his lunch for the day. He invariably has something colorful and enticing—some grilled fish and vegetables from the evening prior, a verdant salad, dressed with just a hint of olive oil, or a hearty soup and some whole-grain bread. It looks so terrific that I find myself thinking about ways to parlay a swap, like back in my school lunchroom days!

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Healthful eating is the summation of a lot of little choices. Our shopping carts, home pantries and dining tables are at the heart of it all.

We are deliberate in so many of our life decisions, yet when it comes to investing in something so fundamental, so important as our nutritional health, we’re all about fast and convenient. And we’re harming ourselves in the process.

Start to make small, simple changes.

Choose colorful vegetables and fruits.

Look for whole grains, beans and fish. Excite your palate with new flavors and spices.

Choose quality over quantity and beware of over-indulgence. So much of our eating has become mindless. We eat right past the point of satisfaction, straight on to satiety. Make eating a conscious and conscientious endeavor. You will notice improvement in the way you feel in a matter of days.

If you fill your diet with healthy foods, there will be less room for over-processed, nutrient-void foods. Expect to feel better! Who knows, you may see improvement in your weight, blood pressure or glucose level. You will definitely feel improvement in your energy, vitality and sense of well-being.

Try it. Take charge for yourself and for your family. Take an extra few minutes to plan good, nourishing meals. Check out the fall harvest at a farmers market. Taste a new vegetable or try a new way of preparing an old favorite. Share your successes with your friends and spread the word.

You’ll feel the benefit in seven days and be a convert in a month. Deliberate healthful eating takes some practice, and you can expect some stumbles, but I guarantee you, it’s a road worth traveling!

Sheryl Pfeil is a faculty member at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. She loves teaching medical students, especially the small group of students (Learning Community) who meet regularly at her home, where the shared meals are as meaningful as the shared insights and experiences.