WHAT do you do with a large field that\u2019s too wet to plant other crops in?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a question faced by Murray McConachy last spring, who turned the challenge into an opportunity to raise money for the Royal Children\u2019s Hospital\u2019s annual Good Friday appeal by seeding sunflowers.<\/p>\n
As a result, last Saturday people came from near and far to the large and now dusty field just north of Meredith to cut the bright yellow blooms and make a donation to the cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got about nine hectares planted here, which is plenty of flowers, I can\u2019t give a number but it\u2019s many thousands!\u201d Mr McConachy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son was in the Royal Children\u2019s Hospital back in about 2014 for a week or so, he was pretty crook, and they looked after him very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr McConachy\u2019s day job is as a cropping manager for the nearby Meredith Goat Farm, and he said that getting the sunflowers in and blooming has been a combined effort between himself, his kids, and other staff at the farm.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Davey and Nina Lisenko were a couple of the many people out in in the field collecting huge armfuls of blooms.<\/p>\n
The pair had come up from Bell Park in Geelong, and along with supporting the cause, their motivation was simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love sunflowers,\u201d Ms Davey said. \u201cThey\u2019re just sunny and happy, they make you smile when you see them.\u201d<\/p>\n
With thousands of flowers in the field, Mr McConachy said it was unlikely they would all be cut and sold on the day.<\/p>\n
If there were leftovers he was in talks with a major supermarket chain to sell the rest in their nearby stores as a way of raising more money.<\/p>\n
If there were still flowers in the ground after that, which there very well could be due to the sheer volume, Mr McConachy has a solution for that too.<\/p>\n
\u201cDepending on what\u2019s left we\u2019ll bring a harvester in and harvest some,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully they\u2019ll all be gone, but I think there\u2019s just too many.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WHAT do you do with a large field that\u2019s too wet to plant other crops in? That\u2019s a question faced by Murray McConachy last spring, who turned the challenge into an opportunity to raise money for the Royal Children\u2019s Hospital\u2019s annual Good Friday appeal by seeding sunflowers. As a result, last Saturday people came from […]<\/p>\n