It’s quite easy to say that the last six months of life have been pretty crazy for just about everyone in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the globe and many people have been seeking out the little things in life to garner a smile! And during this pandemic, one farmer did what he could to put smiles on the faces of those who may be struggling with the depressive nature of the coronavirus pandemic.
Farmer Scott Thompson of Bristol, Wisconsin lives and works on his families farm — a farm that has been in his family for 7 generations. In all of that time, none of his family has seen something like the pandemic that we are seeing today. He discussed it with his wife and they decided to lift people’s spirits by planting sunflowers on the Thompson Strawberry Farm.
Thompson spoke to CNN, saying: “We just did it … and we just kept building. As the season went on, the pandemic never went anywhere … and we thought people might be looking for something to do, and what a great way to social distance and … smile, basically.”
After planting the field of sunflowers, they found that many people were attracted to the area. Thousands of people have come by to take pictures and to pick a flower.
Amy Lieb Knobel is a Facebook user who recently visited the farm and took a picture. She posted the picture online to share the day with others.
Typically, the family will plant raspberries, pumpkins, or strawberries in the fields. They still had plenty of room left to plant those other items, but they used 15 of the fields to plant sunflowers. All in all, they planted 22 acres of sunflowers!
In order to add even more color, they also planted zinnias and wildflowers.
During the month of September, you can go to their fields to pick your own flowers. They are open from 10 AM till 7 PM every day. The cost is $25 per car, but you can bring up to 6 people. Up to a dozen flowers can be picked.