A Wrong Turn to Sunflowers

A week ago, I made a wrong turn and discovered thousands of sunflowers— golden fields on gentle rolling hills. I pulled off on the side of the road to stare at the beauty. I was less than ten miles from home, but I had never seen sunflowers grown on a large scale before. Most sunflowers grown in the United States are raised in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota, not Pennsylvania.

Later I went back to the sunflower fields with my sister and nieces to take more pictures. We parked at Spring Grove Old Order church and walked west on Precast Road to the fields.

A neighbor passing by told us that previously tobacco had been grown in these fields.

“I like this better,” said Brenda.

“Me too,” said the neighbor.

I know that at Good’s Store we sell sunflower seeds for birdseed, some of which is grown in Pennsylvania. The sunflowers in these fields are raised for seeds, not sure if it goes for birdseed or not, but these flowers are too big for cut flowers.

Still, we had lots of fun posing with the flowers.

Yesterday, I went back to the sunflower fields. By now, the beauty is fading. The petals are drooping and the heads heavy with seeds are beginning to hang. But I found some other local treasures. There’s EverFresh Produce, with a pick-your-own flower field.

Next to the flower patch, is the produce stand.

Also in the neighborhood is Sunnyside Pastries. I’d had their doughnuts at work already, but never been inside the bakery. It had doughnuts, pies, whoopie pies, and more.

Sometimes what seems to be a wrong turn, can turn out to be the right road after all!