Sunflowers and Zinnia

by Jim and Melanie

Much of Iowa holds “the best of both worlds.” If you live in a rural area, you might not be very far from a bustling town. If you live in town, you probably have farm fields within a dozen miles of your home. Just north of us is a small farm actually within its city limits. On the farm grows corn, but it’s best known for the large pumpkin patch, open for weeks in the fall for happy families to visit. The pumpkins that families purchase make grinning, gap-toothed Halloween decorations and harvest decor that lasts for months.

Besides the pumpkins, the farm owners have developed another field growing sunflowers. Recently on a sunny morning, we stopped by to enjoy the brilliant orangey-yellow petals, held aloft on sturdy stems.

This one reminded Melanie of a person tapping her face with her fingers.

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Sunflower vs Squirrel

I cut the dried heads off of two tall sunflowers from last summer. I put them on the patio for birds to finish cleaning them of seeds. I returned later to find a squirrel had destroyed one and was in the process of tearing the second one to shreds. I hope he got a belly full.