Skip to content

Here comes the sun – Field draws shutterbugs

PHOTOS BY KURT & HEATHER IMMLER | DGKN

Blooming sunflowers have been attracting attention from passersby in a field along Kidron Road. Woodl-yn Acres Farm Inc. grows the organic sunflowers on a field rented from Ella Yoder.

SUGAR CREEK TWP.  You’re driving along Kidron Road and suddenly a field packed with bright yellow sunflowers catches your eye. Their delicate petals and lush green leaves wave and bow in chorus from a late-summer wind. Only a few puffy white clouds stand out against the sea blue sky. An iconic red barn stands resolutely in the background.

How’s that’s for an idyllic photo backdrop?

That’s what many people have been thinking as they pull off to snap some photos of the freshly blooming field along Kidron Road between Arnold and Goudy roads.

Eastern Wayne County is no stranger to sunflower fields. But this new field of happy-looking flowers along the busy road has been grabbing the attention of onlookers recently.

Scott Myers, who owns Woodlyn Acres Farm, with his parents is continuing a tradition of farming that he can trace back to his grandfather and great-grandfather. He and his wife, Nicole, live in Dalton and they have four young boys to continue the legacy.
For the first time this summer, the certified organic farmers who typically raise hay for dairy cows, along with corn, soybeans and other crops, decided to try out sunflowers. The field along Kidron Road is rented from Ella Yoder.

“Everybody loves sunflowers,” Myers said. “I’m glad everybody can enjoy them.”

This part of the country provides a longer growing season for sunflowers and it’s a crop that can be planted after corn and soybeans, Myers said.

“It only takes 75 to 80 days until they’re ready,” he said.

The Myers will harvest the flowers with a combine and send the seeds to make sunflower oil, which can be used as a healthy cooking oil.

Myers didn’t expect to get so much attention. He has been fielding phone calls and messages.

“If it makes people happy to see them – they look really neat out there,” he said. “The farm at Kidron Road is really picturesque.”

The family intends to continue raising sunflowers in the future.

Myers reminds people to be careful if they stop to take photos along a high-traffic road.

If you miss a photo op with this field along Kidron Road, Myers says another of his organic sunflower fields should be blooming soon off of Bair Road and it’s a less traveled road.

 

Leave a Comment