By Tom Dayton
In a recent tour of the Seiberling Farm given by Chuck Seiberling’s third cousin Norma Nice, almost all the produce is growing spectacular since rainfall is plentiful. Chuck was right on when he thought the first batch of sweet corn would be available on Sunday July 25th.
Lots of sweet corn is coming on and even more than last year as the variety Sweetness was not coming up well so that Rodger Ramsthaler (another cousin) made another planting that doubled the size of that batch. It’s a strange hybrid as that the stalk is only about five feet tall and the ears are only one foot off the ground.
Some of Chuck’s favorite varieties in the order of ripeness are Sweetness, Tempress, Evolution, Cup of Joe, Allure, Spellbound, Essence, 0914, Pursuit, Remedy, Milky White and Aspire which is all yellow and most of the others bicolor.
While corn is wind pollinated and does not require pollinators other crops such as peppers, squash, potatoes, cucumbers and beans do require them. In order to supplement native bumble bees and mason bees, Curt Nice, another cousin of Chuck’s, has brought two hives of a special Russian strain of honeybees to the farm. The Russian strain according to Curt is more resistant to winter kill and mites.
The adequate rainfall has made overhead irrigation of the sweet corn unnecessary as well as drip irrigation of other row crops as well.
A brief summary of the Seiberling Family finds that they traveled from Pennsylvania in a wagon and after the three week journey bought 100 acres of land in Norton for $600 dollars with money that Catherine inherited from her parents. Shortly afterwards Nathan developed a sawmill business and became very wealthy enabling him to give $5,000.00 to each of his twelve children which is the equivalent to approximately $133,000.00 today!
Also of note, all the Seiberling’s were and still are farmers but many like to tinker with equipment and most notably F.A. and his brother Charles founded Goodyear Tire and Rubber in 1898 providing work for thousands in Akron and beyond.
Chuck’s mother Evelyn began selling sweet corn from the porch of the house in 1945 and Seiberling sweet corn has been a brand name ever since.
Even though the sugar enhanced gene holds the sweetness in the refrigerator for at least 3 days, the family sells no sweet corn the second day so that the freshness is guaranteed.
At our farm market at Dayton Nursery, we start out selling sweet corn from Marietta before Seiberling sweet corn is ready and then switch to this famous local brand as soon as it’s available.
On the farm though, produce is not the only thing they grow but young minds. Countless boys and girls have worked on the farm and learn the value of hard work, marketing and customer service! Some of the “kids” still work at the farm and have never left.
Not much else to say about the Seiberling Family except that their influence and benevolence extends well beyond Summit County.