Sunflowers, Ottawa

Why do some farmers plant rows of sunflowers at one-week intervals through the spring? Because people like sunflowers enough to pay for the privilege of photographing them. Because people like sunflowers as backdrops for portraits. Because people like sunflowers and will spend money at co-located retail stalls selling flavoured sunflower oils.

But why do people like sunflowers?

If you were an Early American, you might have liked sunflowers because you could crush the seeds to make flour for bread. If you were a Slav in the 1700s, you might have liked sunflowers because they were the only oil-containing food not banned by the Russian Orthodox Church during Lent.

As sunflower oil was permitted people became obsessed
with the flower and by the early 19th century Russian farmers had grown over 2 million acres of sunflowers! – Bloom & Wild

Beyond their food value, though, people in many cultures just seem to find sunflowers to be cheery and uplifting. Certainly the Big Guy was cheerier and upliftier after 40 minutes of trailing after me in a sunflower farm about 30 minutes from our house. As we dodged professional portraiture groups oblivious to any-and-every-one else, we still managed to enjoy our visit. If you have a sunflower farm near you, consider dropping by. The flowers should be good until the first frost.