Sunflower Harvest Season Has Begun....

Our sunflower field has suffered this year..... for lack of time to devote to it. Between The Farmer and I, we are now doing 5 Farmers Markets. The time we usually devoted to the Sunflower Field (late afternoons and early evening) has now been slurped away by the markets. The field is on a heavily traveled road which we are on at least 8 or 10 times a day. All summer long, I drove by both embarrassed by the shambles it looked and with the angst of the pressure to weed. Who says farming is low stress and lots of fun? Don't believe it!

But you know, the plants and flowers have not anxiety at all. We were able to weed quite a few of the rows and once the plants got big enough, we just forgot about the weeds. As sunflowers always do, they grow quickly and pretty soon they just put a smile on everyone's face. Last weekend, after a quick end of the summer trip to Lake Champlain, I started my annual harvest. All week long, I've been cutting the flowers in the morning and evening and they are traveling away to neighbors' kitchen tables, I assume.


This year I found a new variety to plant. It is called The Giant. It is a single stem (that means you only get one bloom per plant). It is stunning but sadly, they are all done. I got the seeds from this website Outside Pride.com.


Johnny's Selected Seeds is where I usually get most of my sunflower seeds. They have cut out some of my favorite varieties much to my chagrin. I especially liked a flower called "The Joker" but it is gone now sadly.

Every year, we talk about not planting the sunflower field because of the extra work. And then harvest time comes and I start picking. And I remember how much fun it is to walk through the rows thick with multi-headed blooms, full of bees and butterflies, ladybugs, and all kinds of little critters. We'll see about next year. Gotta take it one day at a time and these days it is all about picking and spreading the sunflower love... Good week everyone!