On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other hazards
Joyce Bupp
It took a moment to make
sense of the scribbling.
“August Sunflower Month”
Then I remembered. The note
had been jotted at the bottom of
July’s calendar page as a remind
er to write about those homey,
cheerful flowers of August in die
upcoming weeks.
Except for one problem. Out
side our windows, at least, it ap
pears that Sunflower Month
came early. By August, ours will
be well on their way to garden
history.
“Grandma, you have sunflow
ers blooming,” observed grand
son Josh one day at the begin
ning of the month, as we took
yard/garden inventory. Indeed
they were, and probably are some
of the earliest blooming sunflow
ers we’ve ever grown.
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“Yep,” I replied. “I planted
some out in the garden and God
planted those. But God’s are
blooming already and mine
aren’t very big yet.”
We concluded that God is a
better gardener than grandma
(who actually helped a little bit).
When the thick cluster of sun
flower plants sprouted on the
bank between the house and the
dairy bam (seed drops from an
cestral plants of last summer), I
moved about a dozen of the vig
orous seedlings a few feet away
into a row along the split-rail
fence. After a few hand waterings
as a boost through our continu
ingly-drought-stricken summer,
the stems streaked skyward and
burst into bloom as Fourth of
July, floral fireworks.
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About the same time the bam
bank volunteers were pushing
down roots, The Farmer helped
neighbors seed a wildlife-food
plot. Before he headed back
home, they offered him a bag of
their sunflower cover-crop seed
to plant. After carefully distribut
ing the seeds across the long seed
box on the field drill, he backed
the planting machine into a cou
ple of small, unplanted comers
below the house. These unused
nooks and crannies of soil lie be
tween summertime field equip
ment parking areas and round
bale stacks, inevitably producing
stands of incredibly large,
healthy, durable weeds.
Well, those spots still have
some weeds. But towering over
the weeds are dozens and dozens
of four to five feet tall sunflowers
which virtually all on the same
day opened into wide, cheerful,
yellow blooms. Since sunflowers
literally track the sun with their
blooms, the glowing faces all gaze
in the same direction: east, to
ward the sun (Hence the name,
sunflowers).
Unfortunately, the house is
west of those mini-plots, meaning
the stands of sunflowers have
turned their backs on us. The yel
low sunflower effect is still pretty
and cheerful, even from the back
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side. But to experience the full
impact of their bright color, you
have to walk down the field road
“a little piece,” and turn around
to appreciate this sea of happy
flower faces.
Each of the three plantings,
however, has a rebel sunflower,
which defiantly faces westward,
toward the house and away from
the sun. Our daughter has
dubbed them “Caleb flowers,”
bent on doing their own thing in
defiance of the normal behavior
of this particular species. Her
label of the upstart sunflowers is
a salute to their second son, who
takes after his grandfather. The
Farmer, in many ways.
Meanwhile, a single sunflower
seed, which wedged itself into an
expansion crack at the jointure of
the milk house, its concrete
porch, and a retaining wall, also
sports a cheery, yellow, six-inch
bloom at eye level. It’s sort of an
unofficial dairy bam welcoming
committee of one; its colorful
blossom obediently faces the sun.
Numerous other sunflower vol
unteers stand random watch
Survival Skills For Child
Care Directors
MONTGOMERYVILLE
(Montgomery Co.) A six
hour course for directors of
child care centers is being of
fered by Penn State Coopera
tive Extension on Tuesday,
July 30, from 8:30 a.m. to 3;30
p.m. at the Quality Inn on Rt.
309 in Montgomeryville. Reg
istration is required and the
cost is $3O per person for the
day. Session meets DPW
guidelines and all participants
will receive six DPW credits
and .6 Continuing Education
Units from Penn State Univer
sity. Act 48 credits will also be
available. Lunch is included in
the registration fee.
The course will include
“Communicate Across
Generations,” presented by
Michael Conti; “CBK, PDR,
Keystone Stars What Does
It Mean?”; “Results from the
Bucks-Montgomery Salary
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 20, 2002-B3
around the yard, volunteers from
drops of previous plantings and
from the birds which stuff their
mouths full of seeds and lose
some en route to the treetops and
utility lines. A few tall, vigorous
specimens guard the garden, and
one lone stalk languishes a bit in
the dry shade under the maple
trees. Unless they interfere with
lawn mowing, we let them do
their thing.
Our sunflowers should remain
cheerfully bright yellow and at
tractive for a few weeks, before
maturing to seedheads fat with
black-oil-type seeds. That should
attract flocks of seed eaters to
hang out in the meadow while
they partake of the fruits of the
harvest. Even just a few sunflow
ers gone to seed in past summers
brought in lots of finches and
chickadees, which like to hang on
the seed-thick heads and pluck
their dinner direct. Sort of an
avian fast-food stop.
We’re considering re-labeling
August, at least in our backyard.
Sunflower-Seed-Eaters Month
may be more appropriate.
and Benefits Study” and “The
Latest Legal Issues in Child
Care,” presented by Ron
McGuckin, J.D. There will
also be a luncheon speaker on
criminal charge information
in child custody matters.
For more information and
registration form, call Penn
State Cooperative Extension
in Montgomery County (610)
489-4315. Registration deadli
ne is July 19. Penn State is an
affirmative action, equal op
portunity university, and all
residents of Montgomery
County, regardless of race,
color, sex, national origin, sex
ual orientation, age or disabil
ity, are encouraged to attend.
The meeting room is accessi
ble to a person with a physical
disability.