Kibarn,
I live in SW Ohio and struggled with the same question. A big thanks to Uno and others for helping me out. You may want to do a search on Foundations on the Forum as well.
What I decided was to dig down past 30 inches (frost depth here) and put in a 6+ inch thick footer. I then dry stacked my blocks (~4 course below ground/~4 courses above ground) and then I poured concrete/rebar in EVERY core for good measure. I did this all by hand and with "bagged" concrete. YES I should/could have gotten a concrete truck but this allowed me a lot more control given weather, work and helpers. It actually wasn't too bad ~2 FULL days of digging, 1 day for footer, 1 day to dry stack and 1 day to fill the cores. (Did I mention the drain pipe I had to re re-route
Not sure where but I think someone posted a reply about a new footer technigue. Basically you don't have to dig down as deep but you have to insulate under and to the sides... Basically preventing the soil underneath from freezing. Might be worth checking into.
Good luck and happy holidays.
Dick
PS I think it's definitley something to think about as other pointed out, if you have a bad foundation you could put your whole project in jeopardy.