Nautical Nomad: Buttonwood Farms: Sunflowers For Wishes!

Keep your face to the sunshine
And you cannot see the shadows.
It's what the sunflowers do.
//Helen Keller

Last Wednesday night my brothers girlfriend Lindsay, her sister and I took a ride down to Griswold, CT to visit Buttonwood Farms. Every year at the end of July they do a 10 day fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation called 'Sunflowers for Wishes' The farm has been doing this for over ten years now, and what started as planting one acre of sunflowers for friends to take pictures of has turned into 10+ acre of sunflowers that attract thousands of visitors every year. This was my second year in a row going and each year it seems to get more beautiful. Sunflowers are one of my most favorite flowers, so seeing them in such abundance at full bloom really makes a gal happy. They offer hay rides for adults and kids, as well as other activities and ice cream. The main point of the fundraiser is that they sell fresh cut bouquets for $5/each, with all of the proceeds going to Make-A-Wish. Unfortunately, due to a rainy season this year they had a limited number of fresh cut flowers the first few days so we were unable to get some as we got there in the evening after work. I was really bummed, not only because I wanted to get bouquets for myself and others, but also because there were hundreds of people there at the same time we were and the farm was missing out on all that donation money! I know there is not much they can do about a late crop season, but it was still sad to see all of those missed funds. Regardless, we had a great time and were smiling from ear to ear the entire time we were there. You can't help but feel happiness when surrounded by a million gorgeous sunflowers and people you love. Without further ado, here are some (and by some I mean a ton) of pictures from our night at Buttonwood!

I named them Bluebell and Buttercup.

After you walk through the field there is a large hill on the back side that gives you a full panoramic view of the sunflower fields. Everyone climbs up and just stops and stares at the beautiful scenery. It's breathtaking! You can't help but take a million pictures... they even had a professional artist painting the scene with oil on canvas. It was so picturesque and we stayed up there for quite awhile taking it all in.

So, I had my big Nikon D300 with me and I saw a guy holding practically 7 Nikons and camera bags and lenses and so I thought hmm, what better person to ask to take some pictures of us girls!! Wrong. This turned out to be a prime example of someone who has all the gear, but has absolutely no idea what they are doing. My cameras were set on manual, and Lindsay took WAY better pictures than he did in the field knowing absolutely nothing. Really goes to show you to ask for samples of work before hiring someone and ask simple questions like "do you shoot on manual?". AWFUL.

You can see Mr. Nikon Gearhead to the left of this pic... oy vey.

The artist painting her masterpiece! This was her third day there working on it and she said she was just about finished and adding the final details. I am not positive but I THINK I overhead her telling someone else that the piece will be auctioned off as part of the charity event!

They have a smaller hayride for kids and a larger hayride for adults that take you through the fields and stop for pictures.

I love these sister pictures! Lindsay and Carly have been in our life for 8+ years now, so they are basically family to me.

We definitely 100% for sure positively no doubt followed the rules.

After the stroll through the fields it was off to get some ice cream! Despite the long line, it was well worth it for their home made ice cream. Tons and tons of flavors to pick from.

Our feet were SO dirty.

Her shirt reads "I will wear black until they make a darker color." I feel you girl, I feel you. #onlyinamerica

I absolutely had to try the SUNFLOWER ice cream. It was one of the best ice cream flavors I have ever had. With vanilla, honey, almonds and sunflower seeds it was the perfect blend of sweet and salty. I definitely recommend it if you ever go, so good! Linds and Carly both got waffle cones with some type of coffee/chocolate/fudge/almondy goodness.

See you next year Buttonwood!

Driving through the countryside back to the highway we randomly passed this waterfall/reservoir and jokingly said "lets pull over". Until we all laughed and realized we were fully not joking and stopped the car for some pictures. Thank so much for coming with me Linds and Carly! Love you guys.

I leave you with these last four photos. Lindsay brought her vintage polaroid camera and got these really cool shots! I think I may need to invest in one sometime soon.