Sunflower Picking at Holland Ridge Farms

Here’s a quick tidbit about me, I do not like flowers. Well receiving them as gifts anyway and I’m not one to tend to a plant. I’ve always been that way, I prefer to see them in their natural habitat than to see them in a vase. I’m also quite sensitive to smells, so certain flowers just give me headaches. Although I had been insta-stalking the sunflower fields at Holland Ridge Farms for a while now and I finally made the trip a few weekends ago. To me, sunflowers are unique, un-common next to a rose or tulip. You hardly ever see a sunflower in the flower section of your local grocery. Which is one of the other reasons why I wanted to visit the rolling sunflower fields in Holland Ridge Farms. And finally, the fields and the whole farm, by the way, give you ample excuse to shoot great Instagram content.

The Exhibitions 

When you first enter Holland Ridge Farms some of the first things you will see are a small gallery that showcased art done by artists, and in this case, pieces honoring front line workers. Next up were the exhibition buildings so to speak that housed vintage farm tools, and a theatre complete with hay bails as seating. Kids can also enjoy pony rides and a small hay maze before or after entering the sunflower fields.

The Food

Our first stop before even going into the sunflower field was the Bakery precisely named the bakeryBarn with Bobby “D” baker whipping up the confections. Because we were so hungry we didn’t even think about the food trucks a few feet away, but quickly got on the line forming. Once inside with social distancing and masks, we ordered a mini pumpkin pie, macaroons, a chocolate cream tart, and orange sherbert. It was all scrumptious! Seriously I recommend stopping there when visiting. They had a big variety of sweets and apple cider donuts of course. Something I decided to pass on since I had one while apple picking a few weekends back.

After picking our sunflowers we were famished again and so a stop at the convenient food trucks on the farm was a must. We had a few lobster items at Cousins Maine Lobster, and in my personal opinion, they can make the lobster rolls a bit bigger for the price. I also enjoyed the blueberry root beer from Maine Root that they offered. I had never heard of such a thing and thought it was very interesting and refreshing,

The Fields

Now for the main event! The sunflower fields were gorgeous, even as you pull into the parking lot of the farm you can tell the sunflowers will be a sight to see. To pick your sunflowers you are given a set of cutters and a bucket at a stand in the middle of the field past all the other types of flowers that are grown on the farm. These cutters are heavy and the bucket is big so that the sunflowers can fit inside, with that said you will need one person to hold the cutters and the other to hold the bucket. As you cut flowers, we found it was easier if one person cut the sunflower and the other hold the stem straight.

There are various picnic tables throughout the fields, that we found useful to put down our heavy buckets and cut more flowers. The tables were also useful as we (and others) would drop off our buckets and cutters to shoot content amongst the flowers.

In between the rows of flowers, there are also interactive cutouts to stick your head in and take pictures or you can sit in one of the giant Clogs and take some shots.

Price

Tickets for the 2020 U-Pick Sunflowers are timed and dated so you have to buy ahead of time online. I paid $25.59 with tax for two people. Once you are done picking sunflowers you can pay for them at the Holland Shop where they also sell souvenirs, flower bulbs, and seeds to plant at home.

When it came time to pay for my sunflowers I paid $6.40, as I didn’t pick many sunflowers. My non-loving flower and practical self told me they would die anyway. I did enjoy having the flowers in the house though, they were beautiful and maintained alive with sugar water longer than I thought they would.

In the end, I would recommend visiting Holland Ridge Farms and Sunflower picking in general. It’s a great activity to do with a loved one or friend and make great memories. Make sure you check out and like/comment on my IG Reel that I made in the Sunflower field! Have you been to a sunflower field yet? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe! You’re already here!- T.S.