Extracting the seeds from the sunflowers.

My recent back problems have been a nuiscance and prevented me from doing anything which requires bending. However, if you recall my sunflowers did very well this year, so I am now going to try to save some seeds. What to do with the rest is the question. I am torn between eating them myself, trying to extract oil from them, and letting my grandaughters hampster eat them! I wanted to collect some hazlenuts this year but at the moment its out of the question. I was going to have a bash at making hazlenut oil using my new fruit crusher. Lets hope it wont be too late when I do finally get back to normal!

My sunflowers are enormous!

I am not sure why……but they are much bigger than everyone elses and I didn’t feed them. I put it down to chicken poo…….I tried to take some photos today but the sun was in the way, in the end I got this one…its slightly on the turn, but if I tell you I am standing underneath it it will give you some idea. I like sunflowers, they are such cheerful plants, and very  useful. When I put the seeds in I put them in the same time as some dwarf ones and forgot they needed to grow so tall. As a result they were late out but the bees have been busily working them, they are great pollen plants. Last time I tried feeding some of the seed  heads to my chickens. John Seymour said you could just chuck them the head and they would pick at it, his were obviously more intelligent than mine. They hadnt a clue,they looked at them as if they had come from outer space. They do enjoy some fruit from the trees though and like raspberries when they can get their hands (or feet?) on them..

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