Winter Local Eating in Columbus, OH

I grew up in Worthington, Ohio- a suburb 10 minutes Northwest of Columbus. This weekend, my roommate and I drove down to Columbus for a visit- his girlfriend is at Ohio State and my parents still live in Worthington.

massive carrot harvest! (mom's hands)

Since I was never really an adult in Columbus (except for that crazy, hectic year of grad school), I am not super familiar with where I can "buy local". I wasn't raised "anti-local", or anything like that- my mom loves to garden and always had a veggies garden along with beautiful landscaping that always looks effortless. My dad's side of the family is from Kentucky/West-Virgina and gardened/farmed throughout the years. Enjoying home-grown food is in my blood! It's just that I truly developed interest in supporting local farmers and businesses in the past 5 years, and I've been in Michigan almost all of that time.

Every time I come into Central Ohio, I make a point to stop by the Olde Worthington Farmers Market, one of the few Columbus Farmers' Market I'm familiar with. I hadn't been to a Winter Market in the area, but I assumed that they exist- Columbus is a big city! I did an Google search and stumbled upon a list of all Winter Farmers' Markets in Ohio, and discovered that the Old Worthington Farmers' Market has a Winter Market! SO off we went on Saturday morning to check it out.

Goodies from the market

I didn't need much in the way of groceries, but the Old Worthington Winter Farmers' Market was nice and homey- I'm glad we went!

There seemed to be a fair amount of customers coming in and out, and a nice mix of fresh winter veggies, honey, cheese, meat, breads & baked goods, etc. I came home with some sweet potatoes, a few heads of garlic to replenish my local stash, and a copy of edible Columbus, central-Ohio's edible communities magazine.

veggie seeds for 2012

We also made a pit stop at the Dublin location of Oakland Nurseries, which is an Ohio gardening & nursery business. My mom and I had been pouring over seed catalogues, and were excited to find both Botanical Interest seeds (organic) and Livingston Seed Co. seeds (based in Columbus), so we went ahead and made most of our seed purchases for the 2012 gardening season. Oakland is a great store- I'd recommend checking it out if you're ever in the area.

If you're in Ohio and you're looking for some homegrown goodies in the Winter, check out this list of Winter Markets! Edible Columbus also is a great way to learn about the food hubs in the Columbus-area, and get a better feel for some of the restaurants, businesses, and organizations that work with food, sustainability, and gardening in "Cap City" Ohio.