sunflower trail

Today we walked the sunflower trail at an orchard in Washington, NJ. It's across from the community college.

It rained this morning so we knew it was going to be muddy. It was overcast most of the day. It drizzled at the orchard.

We left the barn/store and headed toward the fields. Past the berries, the peach trees and the apples. We arrived at dead sunflowers! What the hell? We could see yellow in the distance. Now I know that these fields are planted in succession, maybe 2-weeks apart so that there is always something blooming.

We followed the trail and it was pretty depressing. Thankfully, the second field was not as dead. The field hand took this picture and said that there was a new field opening for the weekend. But I want to go now.

The trail thru area two was better, but still pretty depressing. We headed back to the farm. The direction sign now had two arrows. Could we really go? I walked to the barn and asked. Yes we could. We would be the first people in the field.

It was spectaular. The trail serpenteened thru the field. And every flower was prettier than the next. Lydia was freakin a little with the bees. I kept trying to tell her they wanted the flowers, not her.

Miles/Steps:            2-ish

Weather:                low 70s, overcast, humid

Wildlife:                  Butterflies and bees, of course. The dead fields were loaded with birds. Almost, but not quite, Hitchock-like.