COLUMBUS, Ohio – Just south of downtown Columbus lies German Village. Built by German settlers this attractive area is defined by its brick homes, tree-lined streets and many shops.

It is home to pastry shops, coffee shops, bars and live entertainment. Now a family wants to add a grocery store to the area. 

Jamie and Kyle Pritchard, of WIT Farm in Blue Rock, Ohio (70 miles east of German Village), aim to change the village’s landscape with a neighborhood grocery store, something that will happen this fall. The new store will be called Farmer’s Larder.

According to Jamie, 90 percent of her food will be locally raised, with the other 10 percent being gourmet foods that you might not find in Ohio.

“We’re highly focused on local farmers and producers,” she said.

The Pritchards could have set roots for such a store anywhere else in central Ohio, but the thought of German Village not having access to locally grown fresh foods was a lure for Jamie.

“German Village is known for having some real nice shops, but there is no grocery store at all there,” Jamie said. “German Village is a place where people walk everywhere. There is a grocery store in the area but it’s across the highway and people aren’t going to walk across the highway to get there.”

Jamie said her shop will focus heavily on local sourcing. Plans include fresh, seasonal produce, locally raised meats and dairy, baked goods, pantry staples and grab-and-go prepared meals like salads, pastas and salsas.

In addition, she said her store will help customers learn how to cook with locally sourced ingredients, and connect with regional producers. While her store will specialize in her own grass-fed meat, she has a staff of vendors anxious to help supply her store.

“We’ll have plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, anything that you’d normally find in a typical grocery store,” she said. “The shop will bridge the gap between farmers markets and traditional grocery stores by offering year-round access to local products in a walkable, historic neighborhood.”

WIT Farm in Blue Rock (the “WIT” stands for “Whatever It Takes,” a phrase Kyle brought from his time in the U.S. Marine Corps) is home to beef, pork and poultry on this pasture in southeastern Ohio.

“That was my battalion motto in the Marines and it applies perfectly to the farm,” Kyle said. “Whether it means hauling buckets of water in the middle of a snowstorm or bottle feeding a piglet in the house, we will do whatever it takes to ensure our livestock is happy and healthy.

“The motto applies to our farming as well. Gotta get up at 1 a.m. to load up to 300 chickens so you can get them to the processor on time? You do it. Hauling buckets of water in the middle of an ice storm? You do it. Move 8,000 pounds of feed 50 pounds at a time? Yep, we do that too.”

Jamie is a first-generation livestock farmer. In 2017, she moved from Missouri to pursue farming part time, starting with a few pigs. After joining a farmers market for one year in 2019 and having success with it, she quit her corporate job to farm full time. She also married Kyle that year.

After two years of selling to friends and family, Jamie joined the Saint Mary’s Farmers Market. That move opened more doors, as Jamie and Kyle ventured into producing pet treats, fresh meat and candles.

“My success the first year there convinced me that I could farm full time without additional income,” she said. “And each year we’ve double our sales.”

Jamie’s skills as a former project manager are evident in her creativeness in using the whole animal for each of the 1,300 animals raised on the Blue Rock farm. WIT Farm candles use lard from their pastured pigs. The pet treats the make use the less popular parts of their meat chickens including livers, gizzards and hearts, which may otherwise go to waste. The Pritchards are working to make bacon from all parts of a pig.

Seven years later, she is a self-taught farmer always working to expand her operation. “And everything we do happens right in the state of Ohio,” Jamie said.

Her poultry is sourced in Cincinnati, hogs in Bloomington, her all non-GMO feed comes from a farm in Pleasantville and the animals are processed in Baltic.

The couple handles heritage breed pork, focusing on the Durocs. They have added meat chickens, meat ducks and laying ducks to the farm. In 2021 they began raising and selling Thanksgiving turkeys. And, they’ve added bacon to their list of for-sale items.

“By far, bacon is our most popular product,” Jamie said. “It alone accounts for 11 percent of our sales, and we have over 100 items that we sell.”

Jamie said her business model builds on nearly a decade of experience in livestock farming and says her new grocery will serve as a resource for quick, high-quality meals made from regional ingredients.

The couple already supplies local, pasture-raised beef, pork and poultry to their customers in German Village, as well as through delivery across the greater Columbus area. Now, their intention is to open a grocery store in the heart of German Village to reach these customers much more easily.

“I joke that Kyle and I are first generation farmers,” Jamie said. “No one taught us how to farm. We’re believers in doing it and adjusting along the way.”

Jamie has been a vendor at the German Village Farmers Market for about eight years and has built relationships with customers and has become a familiar face in the community. And this has paid big dividends as many local vendors have already expressed interest in participating in her new store.

“I already have a huge following in German Village,” Jamie said.