In Our Spring 2022 Issue

Watermelon radish photographed by Rachel Joy Barehl

It was a clear and cold January morning with single-digit temperatures and a few inches of snow on the ground when the mail carrier delivered my catalog from Johnny’s Selected Seeds of Winslow, Maine. It immediately brought welcome thoughts of spring—and fond memories of my father poring over his seed catalogs in the middle of winter.

I must confess that as a kid I failed to comprehend why he loved those catalogs or why he spent so much time pondering which vegetables to plant in his garden plot in a corner of our Toledo backyard. I did enjoy the fruits of his labors, however, and his plump red Big Boy tomatoes are among my earliest memories of summer garden produce.

It took me many years to begin to understand that in a garden, as in life, the journey is as important as the destination. What I learned from my father is that seed catalogs and warm thoughts of the approaching garden season can carry you a long way through a gray and cold Ohio winter. Digging and planting and watering and weeding can be joyful and productive ways to decompress after a day at a stressful job. If your garden eventually yields bountiful produce, that’s a bonus, because it already gave you other rewards.

During this winter made difficult by the pandemic as well as the weather, my spirits were lifted by learning more about gardening from some very talented people who you will meet in these pages. Michelle Nowak, the accomplished farm manager at Franklinton Farms, took time to educate me about radish varieties and let me sample some of her favorites. Master gardener Katie Carey offered practical advice on starting an edible garden, and we asked her to share it with all of you in this issue.

Spring officially arrives with the vernal equinox on March 20. The first full moon after that rises on the night of April 16 and is known as the Pink Moon, named for the pink phlox flowers that bloom in the springtime. That full moon also tells us that Easter will be on April 17, because Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Easter is the rare Christian feast that changes dates each year based on the sun and the moon.

If your Easter basket this year contains a solid chocolate bunny, it might be one of the thousands produced by the Anthony-Thomas Candy Co., and in this issue we tell you the story of this local family-owned company celebrating 70 years in business. Keep reading and you also will encounter interesting jams and cocktails and even kwek kwek (a Filipino dish of battered quail eggs), as well as spring recipes and more.

As we push past a challenging winter, my hope is that spring gives you a fresh start on your journey, whatever your destination.

—Gary Kiefer
gary@ediblecolumbus.com