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Spring is in full swing and the summer is nearing. We’re thrilled to see the start of the growing season and the return of locally grown food to our community.

What a fantastic few months we’ve had here in Columbus. We settled in to our new office and warmed up the space with a fantastic outpouring of support from the community at our first Open House. Two Caterers supplied us with delicious local food and Barley’s contributed tasty suds.

The biggest success of the Open House was the tremendous participation of each of you! We were so pleased with the fantastic conversations and interactions we witnessed, we can’t wait to do it again. After all, our connections to each other are what make our local food system stronger.

Now that we’re settled in our new space, we decided to dig in. Literally! We’ve begun the first stage of an edible garden in front of our office at 731 East Broad Street to add a touch of freshness to the block.

Every so often we like to take a moment to thank those who support us. We’re especially proud to have received support from the Cardinal Health Foundation for our Food is Elementary curriculum. We’d also like to thank Susan Schnitz of Perfect Balance CPA for keeping Local Matters’ books perfectly balanced. You're the best!

Finally, if you haven't already, please become one of the 1000 Friends of Local Matters. Your financial support allows us to continue our leadership role in the local food movement and to pursue the robust transformation of our food system.

Veggie Van to Roll Out in June
We’re firing up our Veggie Vans again this summer to help address unmet demand for healthy fruits and vegetables in communities that don’t have direct access to a grocery store (food deserts). We’ll be setting up Veggie Van stops around town including a partnership with local food pantries, in our quest to provide equal access to local, healthy food for everyone in Central Ohio.

School Year Wrapping Up
Local Matters’ teams of food educators are finishing the second half of our healthy food education program Food is Elementary, where children visit a different country and prepare a different dish from that region each week. Last week’s lesson took our students on a trip through the cultures of the Caribbean. We danced to Caribbean music and prepared Red Carlotta beans and rice, paired with a tasty pineapple and mango fruit salad. This program is expanding in the fall to allow us to reach over 1200 children each week!

Eating Local Through the Growing Season
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a great way to eat local. Central Ohio's farmers offer a limited number of CSA shares each year and locals gobble them up. If you haven’t signed up for a CSA yet this year, see our local food guide Fresh Connect and find one that meets your needs. Don’t delay or they’ll be all sold out. If you prefer to pick or pick out your veggies each week, there are dozens of community gardens and farmer’s markets sprouting around town.

Local Matters will be representing Central Ohio at the national Farm to School Conference in Detroit this May. We’ll be sharing information about our work and bringing back lots of ideas from all over the country to help our children form a new relationship to healthy local food.

In the Media

Recent stories featuring Local Matters

NBC 4 on Local Food Assessment

The MORPC local food assessment is making a splash. The committee, led by Brian Williams of MORPC, included Local Matters team members, all of whom worked hard to shape this much needed analysis of our regional food system. We recently heard that it has found it’s way to the White House! See this story from NBC about the report.

Columbus Underground on Local Matters

The folks at Columbus Underground took a look at our Food is Elementary program and shared their findings. A robust commentary ensued. Take a look!

Edible Columbus
Edible Columbus, an amazing new magazine dedicated to story telling about local food, debuted in April and will offer quarterly information and inspiration about Central Ohio’s local food system. The next issue will be out in June. Consider a subscription as $5 of the purchase price is donated to Local Matters!

Here's an excerpt from an article we contributed to the first issue:

"How much do we really know about the food on our plate?” I heard author and activist Michael Pollan speak these words a few months ago during an interview with Bill Moyers on PBS and was struck by how a statement like this could contain so many layers of complexity.
My colleagues and I at Local Matters spend a great deal of our time thinking and talking about food. We are especially interested in local, sustainably grown food, given our belief that it has the power to effect social, economic and environmental change…

Read the whole article here on page 37.