Heading southeast from Columbus to the Ohio River there are more than 20 Witten Farm Markets dotting the landscape. The Wittens are known for selling a lot of produce – tomatoes, melons, strawberries and even flowers – but fresh-from-the-cornstalk sweet corn is their specialty.

They claim to have the earliest sweet corn harvest in the state and are proud that ears picked from their fields under spotlights at 2 a.m. will be sold at one of those produce markets when it opens later that same morning.

“We had maybe 12 or 14 farm markets six years ago,” said co-owner Scott Witten, who runs the produce farm with his brother, Tom, and sister, Julie. “Now we have 22.”