by Theresa Garee

Oven mitts are an everyday necessity in the kitchen, so is food. The Mid-Ohio Farm on the Hilltop and the Hilltop Arts Collective teamed up to provide a fun workshop to residents of the westside on Aug. 23.

The Mid-Ohio Farm on the Hilltop isn’t quite open to the public but workshop attendees got to see the location in order to learn the art of sewing. The Hilltop Arts Collective asked local artist, Ronnette McKee, to help teach the oven mitt workshop. McKee is founder of Nia Grain, a business showcasing her fashions and teaching services, who can be seen at Franklinton Fridays.

Grain taught the students the basics of preparing their sewing machines for the first stitch to completing the project. Students were then welcomed to a brief tour of the Mid-Ohio Farm grounds.

The Hilltop Arts Collective has a goal of connecting local artists to students.

“We want to be a venue for artists who want to teach,” Emily Smith, chair of the Engagement Committee said.

Smith said the Hilltop Arts Collective will provide advertising and find the space for artists to share their talents.

“Not having a physical location ourselves, helps us to lean into the collective part of our name and reach out to local businesses.” Smith said.

The Mid-Ohio Farm welcomed the sewing class and had plenty of space to host.

Mid-Ohio Farm on the Hilltop

Farm Education Coordinator, Sean McKay, guided a tour of the Mid-Ohio Farm on the Hilltop to students from the Hilltop Arts Collective Sewing class on Aug. 23.

McKay shared information about several forms of farming that are taking place or being tested at the new 116 Wheatland Ave location.

The location is an 7 acre smart farm and the land is owned by the city of Columbus while it is leased to the Mid-Ohio Food Collective. The project is currently in Phase 2. The land is considered a brown field site, meaning if they were to dig into the ground they would run into concrete and other matter not ideal for farming. Therefore, most of the growth on the farm is done above ground.

From hydroponic farming to vertical farming, the location provides field trips for K-12 classes. The goal is to teach the process of seed to plate and how important it is to have a farm in the middle of a city. All of the food grown is given out at the Mid-Ohio free produce giveaways.

Phase 3 has hopes of including bee hives with workshops and having the location open to the public.