By Cindy Fertsch
“Where are the sunflowers” That is the question Donald Westergom, owner of Good Old Days Sunflower Farm has been hearing all summer. Typically his fields in the Petersburg section of Upper Township are bursting with sunflowers from June through August. This summer, a hale storm on July 1st destroyed all his crops. “The storm was only 20 minutes long,” recounts Westergom. “But it beat the plants down in all eight fields. The hale started out the size of marbles and grew to the size of golf balls.”
Although each flower sells for only 50 cents, placed in an “honesty can” on the sunflower stand, Westergom estimates it was about a $10,000 dollar loss. “It costs six thousand dollars to plant them alone, not including the endless hours of work,” says Westergom. “I plant several hundred thousand seeds. But if you are a farmer you know you can’t control the weather and this can happen. You are rolling the dice.”
The good news is that as soon as the fields dried out, Westergom was hard a work replanting his sunflowers. Those flowers are blooming like a burst of sunshine and weather willing, will be available throughout September.
It is a labor of love for Donald Westergom, who has been farming sunflowers in this same location, for 20 years. Now together with Ketty Lippie, they tend to the sunflowers that Ketty affectionately calls “their girls.” Each morning, Donald cuts a couple hundred for the day’s sales.
In recent years the sunflower farm has become more and more popular. Westergom attributes that to Facebook, with more folks sharing photos of the sunflowers along with information about the farm’s location.
Westergom also has a special interest in antiques. He has a 1954 car and a 1957 flatbed truck on the farm which together with the sunflowers, creates spectacular photo opportunities. As you can imagine, the Sunflower Farm has become a very sought after place to take photos for special occasions. Westergom shares that many engagement and wedding photos are taken in those sunflower fields. It has become so in demand that they had to add another honesty can, charging $5 per photo session.
Artists come from all around to sketch and paint the sunflowers. Art clubs go into the fields and set up their easels on a regular basis. But the strangest request that Westergom ever got was when a rock and roll band came to shoot their music video in the sunflower fields.
Interestingly, a poet once visited the sunflower farm and wrote a poem about the sunflowers in her book “Passion of a Poet.” A photo of Ketty in the sunflower field appears on the back cover of the book which was sold internationally.
“Photographers love to come in the evening,” says Ketty. “The flowers change color, becoming a richer shade of gold. It is so beautiful.”
When I asked Westergom why sunflowers, he smiled and replied “I like how happy it makes everyone. Nothing else makes people so happy.” I had to agree.
Good Old Days Sunflower Farm is located at 121 Old Tuckahoe Road in Petersburg. For more information you can call 609 536 4080.
