Central Ohio hosts a number of outdoor farmers’ markets providing freshly-harvested produce. Leading a group of these markets is Abbe Turner, a farmer herself. Abbe is the new Executive Director of Common Greens which runs five local farmers’ markets every week. Be it a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday, Common Greens has one or more markets in action that day. Operating times for downtown’s Pearl Alley, Clintonville, Bexley, Upper Arlington and the innovative OhioHealth’s Riverside farmers’ markets can be found at the Common Greens website. You have until the end of October to catch the action, except for Clintonville’s market where they will tough-it-out through November.

For the 2025 season, Abbe was excited to recruit 30 new vendors. Common Greens now hosts 170 unique vendors including both home- and farm-based specialty food producers. Market volunteers help to count attendance. “This season we are on track to record 140,000 shoppers,” Abbe said in excitement.

“We are here to give farmers direct access to the retail food market and improve their farm’s profitability. Nothing is more exciting to me than to see a beginning farmer sell their first produce,” Abbe shared. Many shoppers experience a similar emotion just getting to personally know farmers and vendors whose fresh food keeps them coming back—it’s addictive! Indeed, one can overhear comments like, “My children will only eat your (product).”

“Our markets offer entertainment and food education free of charge, creating an engaging market experience. We are not a sterile grocery store transaction. When you go to your nearby farmers’ market, not only do you buy fresh food, you see friends, make new friends, laugh meeting neighbors, and develop a relationship with your food,” Abbe said. “Our markets create what is known as a Third Place which reduces social isolation and builds real civic commonality and community. Whether red or blue, we all need more fresh greens in our diet,” Abbe laughed.

Local organizations have taken note of the impact farmers’ markets have on communities. Not only do they cycle money back into the local economy, thereby strengthening it, they offer outreach opportunities. A leading example is The Columbus Foundation who sponsors Common Greens markets to popularize the foundation’s Center for HumanKindness programs. Other sponsors include COhatch Columbus and OhioHealth at Riverside. With the latter, having a major local hospital sponsor its own farmers’ market for its own employees and the public at large is a significant development. “It’s encouraging that a large institution dedicated to wellbeing is supporting local food and farms, and we are proud of this affiliation,” Abbe said. Ancient quips like “food is medicine” and “you are what you eat” are being taken more seriously given widespread diet-induced illnesses and the cost of healthcare.

The health of our soil, too, is on the minds of farmers’ market growers, who avoid chemical-industry pesticides and herbicides that ravage life both in the soil and above it. Honey bees, for one, pollinate “for free” our flowers and food crops. On a positive note, the State of Ohio adopted last year an annual Ohio Soil Health Week to raise awareness about Ohio’s most valuable natural resource—our soil. This new program was the result of OEFFA’s lobbying, whose members started many of our state’s farmers’ markets in the 1980s. Ohio now has farmers’ markets “again” in all 88 counties, and in 2008 they banded together to form the Ohio Farmers Market Network, of which Common Greens is a proud member, Abbe stated.

To kick off their 2025 market season this Spring, Common Greens hosted a movie at Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse. And “on tap” for the film’s panel discussion was a member of Ohio’s most famous farm family, Bob Jones, Jr., of The Chef’s Garden. This multi-generational farm family growing food crops certified for environmental stewardship became famous nationally among elite gourmet chef’s demanding fresh, vibrantly tasty and nutrient-dense foods for their pricey concoctions! Even national media fell in love with this Ohio farm family located in Huron County near Lake Erie’s shore.

Joining the movie’s panel discussion was Kate Hodges, one of three women running Foraged and Sown Farm; and Mark Arceno representing Slow Food Columbus, a co-sponsor of the movie. In the hometown of Wendy’s and White Castle, our own local Slow Food chapter is part of an international food movement begun in Europe to counter the fast-food invasion from America. Slow Food is guided by the principle of “good, clean, and fair” food for all.

Abbe Turner is a big fan of the food system documentarian Ruth Reichl, whose latest film, Food and Country, was seen by attendees at its Studio 35 showing. Deeply concerned about the survival of small farmers and ranchers, hobbled by America’s policy of giant farms producing “cheap” food, the film follows—through the Covid epidemic—hard-hit farm innovators risking everything to transform our food system for the better, including Ohio’s own Bob Jones, Jr. of The Chef’s Garden.

Abbe’s own career as an innovative farmer has helped her to mentor new farmers wanting to make a living off of farming. “I am carrying forward the legacy and vision of the many strong women that came before me with the desire to support farmers and feed families at local farmers’ markets,” she emphasized. Abbe has served in previous leadership roles as a board member of farm organizations and as a consultant helping small farm businesses to write grants to enhance their operations and income.

On her farm, Lucky Penny, Abbe raised her children and developed a line of specialty goat, cow and sheep cheeses. “At our peak, we were producing cheese for nine farmers’ markets a week in addition to supporting 50 restaurants across Ohio. All told, we sold over 50,000 goat cheese cups which gave me a strong understanding of what our vendors at Common Greens face in developing a profitable farm business,” Abbe shared. She is currently growing shitake mushrooms and medicinal herbs. Abbe’s Executive Director bio on Common Greens website states she is “happiest wearing muck boots and drinking coffee.” But beyond cool, she collects “unidentified kitchen utensils.”

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Scott Williams is a retired fundraiser for nonprofits who specialized in developing strong grant programs for public advocacy and service agencies. His life-long interest has been to collect the printed and visual history of cross-cultural experiences on the planet Earth. He may be reached at scott.williams99@att.net