Columbus Winter Farmers Market

December 13
January 3 & 24
February 14 & 28
March 7 & 21
April 4 & 18
10am-1pm

to be held in the fellowship hall at the
First Unitarian Universalist Church
93 West Weisheimer Rd.
Columbus, Ohio 43214
Located 3 blocks North of West Henderson Rd., the church parking lot is behind Panera Bread at 4519 North High Street, Columbus, Ohio

Summer may be over but you can still purchase wonderful local homemade, handmade, home grown items, at our winter farmers market to include chicken, eggs, baked goods, herb dips, rubs, seasonings, goat milk cheese, pies, bread, gourmet chocolates, meats, honey, seasonal produce & much more….

Sign up for our mailing list at http://www.columbuswinterfarmersmarket.com

Local Food Cannery & Shared-Use Commercial Kitchen

Idea  stage:

A non-profit shared commercial kitchen and food processing facility specializing in creating value-added and preserved foods from local farm products.   The focus will be on producing foods to be sold in the state of Ohio.  A commercial meat canning license would be maintained.  Cheese making capability can be considered if sufficient demand exists.

Chicken Wars

How much chicken could a chicken shop sell if a chicken shop could sell chicken?  Good questions if you could swallow it with out choking.  The chicken industry is all choked up.  Let me tell you about it.  If you want to sell chicken in this town you either have to buy a farm in a different county.  Or drive over a hundred miles to the Indiana border to process it at the only open to the public chicken processing plant.  Those doing it are selling their chicken for 3 to 4 dollars a pound.  And!  There is a market.  Now if you were amish then you and your neighbors would work together to do it.  There are over 100 of these farms selling free range chicken in the state.  Then there is OEFFA who represents 600  organically certified farms in Ohio.  But only a few of these offer chicken and meat. Everyone else in the state buy their chicken from factory farms of hundreds of thousands of chickens in a big barn on a 5 or 10 acre field with a couple dozen employees.  Then it is shipped to a processing plant where a hundred or so immigrant workers clean and package it.
There’s a lot wrong about this system.  I wish I had the time to tell you about it.  But you can guess the rest.

by Karen G.

The previous (and very different) version of this post is behind the cut.

Food Co-Op for Info Shop

There are a number of ways for the average person and family to have good healthy food on their table.  They can buy it from the number of organic groceries that are expanding in the cities.  They can go to farm markets, join CSA”s,(farmer owned and operated buying clubs).  They can grow it themselves.  And they can form their own buying clubs or co-ops with friends and neighbors.  This writing will deal with the co-op.

It is a simple matter for someone to get a vendor’s license in Ohio.  Currently it cost $25.  This entitles you to buy wholesale from anyone and is also tax exempt.  It is a business so you will have to fill out a separate tax form and make sales tax payments on the profit.  But you may also write this earned income off if you are deducting your IRA.  Very necessary for self-employed people actually making income.       So!  Second step is to get a group of friends together to buy bulk.   Do your market research.  When buying bulk you can get most things at 50% of their retail value.  Make a list of the staples you most need.  Price them out and make up a shopping list.  You’ll be buying case lots of 25 to 50 lb at a time.  Plan to spend $200 to $500 for your first big purchase as a group.  Individuals could budget $50 a month to purchase this way.  Many places don’t have minimums after the first purchase.  You’re on your way to saving money.

The quantity and quality is your choice.  Places like Restaurant Depot have just about everything one would need.  The nonperishable health foods, personal products like soap, shampoo and paper products can be shipped to your door from companies that you really believe in.  But to make this a really good deal you want to find the best local produce from a farmer you know and trust.  You could even go to a produce auction and buy a lot.  You could learn to can.  But freezing is very easy to do.  Buying in season is really cheap.  Plus you control the amount of salt in your diet. You’re not paying for a can that’s half water. And you know the food is fresh and only hours from the field before you cook it.  You know you’re supporting the local economy.  It can be an  exhilarating thing to do for the fun of it.  Then you go home and have your friends come over to split it up and share the tale.  For those who know someone with a deep freezer you can even buy a
half or quarter cow for $3- $5lb.
The following is a check list of items available:  Start simple for your initial shopping trip.  I’m leaving dairy products off this list for now.

Meat:                               Vegetables
ribs          pork     beef         carrots       baby            large  hamburger     2 lb roll             onions        red      sweet  cooking
chicken      whle      breasts      potatoes     baking         boiling  sausage                             tomatoes    slicing         cherry  steaks                              cabbage      red            green  brisket                             celery
salad          head        leaf

Baking/Cooked supplies/Condiments
flour     white                  whole wheat
peanut butter                    popcorn
rice                                                                  honey                            sugar
pasta    cous cous      orzo
olive oil                        cooking oil
cornmeal
vinegar  red         cider       balsamic
oatmeal
bean     pinto         navy      split pea       lentils

Fruit:  You name it!  10 to 25 pounds at a time for half off!     Once your group gets into the groove you can start experimenting with many things previously out of your range.  High quality cheese, prociuttos,  pizza party ingredients, sauces.  It’s all out there.  And yes cookies and snacks too!
So what are you waiting for.  Start calling.

by Karen G.