In This Issue: #32

Original artwork by Michael J. Rosen

Life is full of grief. That’s why I cook and make art. I like to think each issue of Edible Columbus is a work of art. And while our subject matter is local, sustainable food and farming, there is a tangible beauty to the stories we tell—enough beauty to warrant pause and admiration, as one would a painting, ballet or piano sonata.

So, for our ninth year in print we share stories about the relationships between food and art, nature and the soul, as a way to begin the year. We offer an issue to sit down with and cultivate a place in print to be quiet and reflect, as lilacs blossom and American Goldfinches find their way back to Ohio.

There is wisdom among these pages from young and old alike. We’re excited to feature three new departments for the year—one dedicated to the intersections between yoga and food, one to cultivating a “Mindful Kitchen” and “Edible Poetry,” which will feature poems about food each season. We had a blast in the kitchen with BalletMet, and we bow down to Willowbeez Soulveg and the inspiring work they’re practicing with souls and food in Columbus. Our story about 4-H gave me hope during a week when mass shootings of our youth have officially become a horrific normal, a deep grief we, as adults, must come to terms with, if we are to have a next generation. 

The rest I’ll let speak for itself. Let’s begin, then, with art by two local authors and artists—Donn Vickers and Michael J. Rosen.

May you travel with spring this season.

Eat Well, Love Well, Live Well,

- Colleen

Traveling with Spring

This year, spring arrived on time.
Daffodils once more, then lilacs,
flooding the land with fragrance,
then fading to allow peonies their day.

And so it was from south to north,
across backyards and hillsides,
spring advanced its seventeen miles a day
scattering buds and blossoms with an abundance
that filled the last of winter’s barren places,
confirming what made hope seem right.

—by Donn Vickers with original artwork by Michael J. Rosen