ROCK, Mich. (WZMQ) – It is officially sunflower season in Delta County when Hall Farms opens its field to the public.
Right now, sunflowers stretch nearly as far as the eye can see at Hall Farms. The Hall family has been growing sunflowers for about 14 years, and this is their tenth season sharing the field with the public.
“A friend of ours was growing sunflowers in Wisconsin, and he told us that it was a really good business to mix with deer corn, because the people who feed deer corn are feeding the birds too,” said co-owner Teressa Hall. “We decided to try about four acres of sunflowers, and it just kind of grew from there.”
In fact, it has grown to about ten acres, which equates to roughly 300,000 sunflowers.
For the price of a freewill donation, visitors are welcome to walk through the field, check out the viewing decks, take photos, and enjoy kids’ activities. Guests can also take flowers home for a dollar each.
Hall Farms opened for the season on Friday, August 8. Hall says it feels great to have people on the property again.
“It’s nice,” she said. “You get a lot of good comments, and we enjoy educating the people about how sunflowers are grown.”
For the Halls, prep work begins in mid-July.
“We have to make the paths and get the wagons and the steps on,” said Hall. “We rototill the ground so you have nice, smooth paths. It takes us a couple weeks to prepare everything.”
If you’re hoping to catch this year’s bloom, it’s best to act quickly. All this yellow only lasts for a short period of time.
“Ten days to two weeks,” Hall said. “I’d say during the week and maybe this weekend is going to be the best. When their heads get filled out, they start tipping their heads down because their heads are heavy. Then, they’ll lose their petals and they’ll start drying down.”
However, that won’t be the end of the sunflowers.
“About mid-October, we’ll harvest them for bird seed,” Hall explained. “We bag it and sell it right here off the farm. There is a purpose other than pretty.”
They also serve another purpose—to provide resources for pollinators.
“There’s lots of bees,” said Hall. “The bees will not bother you if you don’t bother them because they’re pollinating the flowers. You can see they’re very busy. Anything that’s trying to be pollinated, that’s what we want.”
While the Hall family says growing and maintaining so many sunflowers is a major undertaking, it is one that they love. They also know how much the community loves the sunflowers.
“None is the same, you know?” Hall said. “One’s got its own personality, and another’s got its own personality. I think they just bring a lot of sunshine and prettiness to everybody. You can’t be mad in a sunflower field!”
While the sunflowers are in bloom, Hall Farms is open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The farm is located at 2623 St. Nicholas 31st Road.
For updates on field conditions and additional information, follow Hall Farms on Facebook.
