Sunshine, Seeds and a few Surprises

Lewis Vincent of East Bolivar grows a labor of love sunflower patch each summer. This year, he had two huge surprises to grow over 16 feet tall and weigh over 20 pounds each. Every August he begins the cycle of pulling all the flowers down before the birds start to eat the seeds. He then lets the flowers dry out completely, and “shucks” the seeds almost like the way you get corn from cobs. The following spring, he re-plants the previous year’s flower seeds for the next years flowers. All this time and energy is spent for a month of sun shining beauty, and maybe a few surprises, in an empty field.