Wednesday 6 April 2011

sunflower harvest & some seeds for you...

Sunflowers make me happy. Waiting for them to flower, admiring their big sunny heads & when it's all over you get lots & lots of seeds!
Our sunflowers have been hanging their heavy heads for a few weeks now. When the back of the heads turned yellow, I knew it was time to start the harvest.
It's a slow process, especially when you have a Huckle helper who prefers to grasp full handfuls & throw them about like confetti. There was a lot of interest from the chookens too, which meant a lot of shoo, shoo, shooing. I managed just one today & there are still many to go.
I now know why sunflower kernels are pricey... the time & effort to harvest them. I'm sure they use a machine, or at least have some age old trick that I'm yet to learn. Maybe by flower number twenty, I'll have that figured it out.
Some of these seeds will be saved for next years planting & the rest will be hulled for eating in muesli & salads. Yummo!
I'm going to make up 4 packets of 50 seeds to give to you my lovely readers. If you'd like a pack, leave me a comment. Maybe you'll tell me your favourite flower, or maybe just say hi. I'll leave that part up to you.
I'll draw some names on friday.
This is only for my Aussie readers of course, as customs would snatch these babies up.

8 comments:

Tania said...

Nice sunflower pics :) Did not manage to plant any this year. Thanks for the generous giveaway. Fingers crossed!

xx Ness said...

Oh! Oh! Oh! Sunflowers always make me smile. I used to harvest some we had years ago (when the birds didn't get to them first) - they are wonderful flowers. I would love to be a part of your giveaway and promise, if I win, to plant them in my land, love them and send you a pic to make you smile, too...

xNess

Linda Woodrow said...

Has anyone found a really neat way of hulling them? I find it just so labour intensive.

teddybearswednesday said...

I love Sunflowers too, there cheery faces almost smiling at you.
I'd love some seeds. My favourite flower is Lily of the Valley.
how gorgeous are you?xo

Christina Lowry said...

I love sunflowers too. That one looks positively enormous! No wonder Huckle and the choocks were so impressed. :)

(How cute is he in that hoodie?!)

My favorite flowers are tulips, poppies, lavender and hydrangeas. I tried, but could not narrow it down to just one.

xx

Leese said...

Wow! Your sunflowers are huge! We planted miniture versions this year but unfortunatly our chooks got the flower heads before I got to the seeds! Hope your are enjoying this gorgeous weather! :)

Catherine said...

wow - we've just been talking about sunflowers today, and how big and tall they are!
I love your gorgeous photos too!

cityhippyfarmgirl said...

That sunflower head looks gorgeous. There is a house around here that always plants them by the footpath, so each year when they spring up, walkers by get greeted by the these towering yellow beacans of a whole lot of happy.
...good to hear Huckle was helping too ;-)