Mid-Ohio farm wraps successful growing season

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — The Mid-Ohio Farm at NBC4 is gearing up for the fall and marking the end of the growing season. The farm behind the station’s studios has a mission to provide people in the community access to fresh food.

Though the harvest season is ending, manager at the Mid-Ohio Food Collective Allison Davis is grateful for the seeds they have sowed and what they will bring in the future.

“A lot of work has gone into this farm in the past three years, but I would consider this the farm’s glow-up year,” Davis said.

With the final round of planting, harvesting is wrapping up but not without some major growth. Last year, about 150 pounds of food was grown while this year, the collective has grown more than 3,000 pounds of produce including lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

Watch: Mid-Ohio farm grows 3,000 lbs. of produce for community

The staff also has goals to expand its rate of production.

“We’ve been working on installing new growing systems and we are gearing up to triple our production next year with the addition of a 7,200-square-foot in-ground production space to produce as much healthy food as possible for the community and to create a space that is calming and enjoyable for people at the same time where we can provide educational opportunities,” Davis said.

Volunteer services manager Jeremy Brauning said that throughout this harvesting season, there have been 230 volunteers putting in the work and getting their hands dirty all to benefit the people of the community, bringing them fresh food for free.

“From folks that it could be their first time, or it could be their tenth time, what we’re hearing from our volunteers is they love the team out here,” Brauning said. “They love knowing that the work that they’re contributing is getting healthy food to our customers in the community as quickly and as efficiently as we can.”

Everyone at the collective is inspired to continue the journey, which means so much to them but even more to lives they can touch because of it.

“I want people to know that it’s absolutely a labor of love out here, that we love everything that we do and every day that we’re out here and that we are doing our absolute best to create as much food and assistance for people as possible,” Davis said.

Most of the produce is distributed at the Mid-Ohio Market on Norton Road.

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