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Please place your arm on the table, for I am about to give you a short, sharp injection of happiness. A banger of colour, love and hope that has been testing the tensile strength of the capillaries in my imagination since summer this year. I had no appetite to write about sunflowers while we were experiencing the months of our carefree warmth. I had, in fact, envisaged a greater value in their presence – one of an exploding life raft that could catapult us from any dark depths into the safety of light.
I adore sunflowers, perhaps more than most? For good or bad, I have a lifelong, gentle, and constant reminder of my affection for them. In my early 20s while in a hippy-induced, sangria-fuelled moment, I had a small one tattooed on my ass. And although the long and winding passages of my life now find my inky branding slightly more squidgy and splodgy, her faded outlines have not proved to be a reflection of affection diminished.
Traveling home from the far north in February, a great golden glow permeated from a sea of sunflowers in a paddock in Waipu. The sadness of that family holiday ending was suddenly replaced by an overwhelming gush of visual orgasm. A tingle that started in my toes, bounced around my heart and burst out like a firecracker through my eyeballs. A fire blanket of euphoria smothering any sense of perturbation I may have felt over my holidays’ end and my preceding regimental life that was about to restart.
So, I bottled this sweet perfume of joy and now I wish to share. A post on social media easily allowed me to track down this farmer who was sharing his cheerful palette with all. That man was Mr Zac Grant, who farms his family dairy farm on State Highway 1 in Waipu, and, oh boy, was I just busting to meet him. On my drive up to greet him, my imagination was running wild. My thoughts were of the world’s most romantic dairy farmer, with the grandest of all bouquets. Entire fields of flowers that he had planted for the love of his life. Rich paddock soils emulated big glass vessels for which to hold these stems of happiness. Wow! I had to wind down my window. Fresh air was needed to ease this classic case of toxic romance that I was suffering.
At the farm gate, I was greeted by a genuine young family man – tall in stature with that heartfelt and warm country demeanour. The little drive along his paddocks was surreal. Thoughts of Vincent Van Gogh and his famous painting “Sunflowers” entered my mind with Zac as the virtuoso. His tractor and drill the paintbrush, bare earth his canvas and the finished product a masterpiece hung in his community. Standing in his field of gold, Zac explained that his intention was to trial sunflowers for his girls’ (that is, his cows) dietary supplement – the ruminant’s version of a gourmet side salad packed out with protein. The intent behind this blooming crop was to allow the flowers to reach their full potential then a mulcher would process it much in the same way silage is prepared. Once mature, the sunflowers would be chopped down, baled, and stored for additional food later on in the year.
Of course, all this makes complete sense to a rational and logical thinking farmer whose primary concern is the wellbeing of their animals – but unfortunately not so me because my imagination had other ideas. Standing among thousands of sunflowers reaching above my head with streams of sunlight raining down through the gaps like shards of glass, I felt drugged out from the intoxicating beauty.
Visions, beautiful visions of cows picnicking together and chewing the cud. Zac going home to his beautiful wife after a hard day’s work with armfuls of them and the smile on her face. Engulfing their capsule of instant euphoria as one draws back the curtains to greet another day, and the young lovers holding hands running through them; endless summer, warm and tender. Those tingles of happiness I experienced that day lingered on inside me through the cold darkness of winter, and then through the months of ravaged sadness that the pandemic brought to all around us. I pondered both history and heartache and resolved that throughout suffering and pain, even the smallest beacons of hope are required for us to move forward. I recently spoke to Zac, eager to ascertain if he was going to plant his paddocks out with his cheerfulness again – God knows we need it! As it turns out, rats apparently have a higher appreciation for this gourmet delight than most and, unbelievably, even cows can be hesitant to eat healthy food, no matter how pretty the colours. At the time of writing, Zac was unsure if sunflowers would once again be part of his business plan this summer? But that need not matter. Zac has already bestowed upon us a dream to lift our spirits, and the gift that even a tiny little seed can help nurture hope inside us all. This summer, let’s run towards the light, banish forever the dark days behind us and plant sunflowers. Allow our rich sense of community to be the propagator for a better future. For we can glow in the face of adversity. To help spread the cheer Mahurangi Matters and I are providing free sunflower seeds for all. Let’s plant our little hearts out, and I encourage the rural and farming communities to do the same. Always remember, “when the sun shines, we shine together.”
Free sunflower seeds are available from local supermarkets and dairies, as well as in front of Mahurangi Matters office, 17 Neville Street, Warkworth.
Country Living
