Coastal Ridge Sunflower Farm

On Friday, June 5, the boys and I took a little road trip. We drove to Picayune, MS and visited Coastal Ridge Farm, where fresh sunflowers are grown at the end of a country road. Kids get in free, and adults are only $12, which allows you entry as well as 10 large sunflowers, which you cut yourself from one of their seven fields. You can drive all through the fields and pick whatever flowers strike your fancy. Plus, you can take all the baby sunflowers and wildflowers you want.

We arrived shortly before 11am on a sunny and hot day. We checked in and were given instructions from the man working the front. I pulled over near the first field we came to, slathered sunscreen on all three of us, and then headed off to find our favorite flowers. I told the boys they could each pick out three, I would pick out three, and we would pick the last one together. It worked pretty well, and we ended up with some gorgeous blooms.

We brought our own pruning shears and buckets, and the farm provides water. We also quickly realized there were lots of bees and wasps flying around, drawn to all of the nectar inside the huge flowers. I thought this might be an issue (Riley recently developed a fairly big aversion to wasps), but they toughed it out.

Riley of course selected two of the biggest flowers he could find; they were really heavy and one was practically the size of his face! Rory chose more manageable flowers, and I found some gorgeous ones. Most of the flowers we saw were the traditional yellow, but we did find a few red and orange ones, which were a nice contrast. Each of the boys picked out one red flower to cut and bring home.

Once we had our allotted 10, we drove all the way to the back of the property, found some shade, and had a tailgate picnic lunch. Riley also discovered cow bones on the ground near where we parked. All of the baby sunflowers were also in the back, and I spent lots of time wandering among them, taking pictures and snipping flowers. It was all just so pretty.

We were at the farm for about two hours. When we had had enough, I secured our bounty in buckets, topped them off with water, and headed home. We actually drove straight to Nola's to show her what we got, and she made a few arrangements with the baby sunflowers and wildflowers. We left one with her and took the other two home, along with our 10 big ones. Those flowers brought such joy to me over the next week; I loved having them on display in our kitchen.

Plus, one of the flowers I chose actually had a number of smaller blooms on the same stem, and those opened a few days after we got home. So cool.

I'm so glad we were able to get out of the house and do this. It was such a welcome change from always being at home these days!

Ten Things

1. Nola and Nopsi were quite the social{ly distant} butterflies during the quarantine. They hosted a lot of fun gatherings in their side yard with their friends!

2. Post-Field Day boys, all smiles. However, about 20 minutes later, Riley crashed his bike on our way home and fell really hard. He hurt his elbow pretty badly but toughed it out and rode all the way home.

3. The military did lots of tribute flyovers during the quarantine, all over the country. I love the shot of the planes over Tiger Stadium. And the boys and I drove out to the lakefront on May 6 to see the Blue Angels fly in from over the lake. So cool.

4. Helping Daddy make pancakes, an unexpectedly and randomly sick wonk potatoes (he threw up once and then was good), and Star Wars chalk art on the path behind our house.

5. Modeling a new fundraiser shirt in support of Reginelli's and a local counseling group. There is HOPE.

6. May 7, 2020 marked fifteen years since I graduated from UNCW and received my master's degree. Seems like forever ago.

7. Get well cards for Luke after his tonsil-removal surgery and two super yummy take-out dinners from Rosedale.

8. Realizing how amazing healthcare workers are for wearing masks throughout their whole shift. I wanted to rip mine off after being in the grocery for only 20 minutes.

9. Attempting the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment (it did not work all that well), happy hour with the girls, and Maddie's drive-by birthday parade.

10. Kenny smoking ribs, Nopsi working hard on a new look for the front of their house (it looks amazing!), tent bed in Riley's room, and a sweet treat for good grades.