Growing Vegetables

Beets and beans. — Courtesy / Countryside Food and Farms

Farming vegetables in Cuyahoga and Summit counties began with Native Americans as early as 2,800 years ago. Ohio's Native American cultures grew corn, beans, squash, melons, apples, and a variety of garden produce. Corn remained the most important crop for farmers in the 1800s, who also grew wheat, oats, potatoes, apple trees, and other garden plants and vegetables.

As the industrial boom of the early 1900s lured farmers away to Cleveland and Akron, agriculture in the valley became more focused on truck farming. Truck farming meant that the farmer grew a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, and sold these products on a smaller and more local scale. Truck farms and gardens often provided families with all the food they needed for themselves, as well as provided additional income from roadside stands and markets.

Corn has been grown in the Cuyahoga Valley for almost 1,500 years, beginning with Ohio's Indigenous peoples. Valley farmers in the 1800s continued to raise corn and passed the tradition along to later generations. Since 1931, the Szalay family has picked and sold sweet corn at their farm along Riverview Road. The cornfields are a familiar sight to visitors in the Everett area. In Sagamore Hills to the north, the Polcens also operate a full-time sweet corn business, which Gerald Polcen's grandfather founded over 90 years ago. Gerald and his wife Marilyn sell their corn from a stand on SR 82 during the summer.

Hunt Farm Truck Farming

Helyn Toth describes her family's truck farm operation in the 1930s.

Credit / Author:

Helyn Toth

Date created:

07/01/2011

Audio Transcript

“And my parents started farming, and it was mostly like truck farming, mostly vegetables. But I think, as time went on, we started doing more because of the Depression. The Depression changed everybody's lives and we started really farming enough so that we were able to sell vegetables to other people, including some of the stores. We farmed for mostly vegetables and did just acres and acres of sweet corn and melons and watermelon and other vegetables, but by going into the truck farming it meant that we were selling to other people who were reselling and also, we also had our own little stand out in front.”

Szalay Farm Truck Farming

Irene Kusnyer talks about truck farming on the Szalay Farm in the 1930s, before the business grew in scale.

Credit / Author:

Irene Kusnyer

Date created:

07/01/2011

Audio Transcript

“Truck . . . what they call truck farming. Because it was everything: corn, tomatoes, beans, every kind of vegetable possible is what truck farming, and that's what usually farmers do, is take all those vegetables, cucumbers and things, and farm. That's farming.”

The Fulltime Farmer

Gerald and Marilyn Polcen describe what it takes to work as full-time sweet corn farmers.

Credit / Author:

Gerald and Marilyn Polcen

Date created:

07/01/2011

Audio Transcript

Gerald: “We're up about daylight, picking sweet corn. We hand pick a lot of it.”
Marilyn: “We do have a picker.”
Gerald: “We have a mechanical picker. If conditions are right it picks one row at a time and does a really good job. You have to sort it, you know, the small ears, it picks everything out of the field. It's a lot of work!”