Today was my first time actually harvesting sunflower seeds out of my flowers. I was amazed at how many seeds come out of one giant flower. And I have two garden spaces full of them.

I grew several varieties of sunflowers, but these “giant” ones seem to have the most seeds. They have these beautiful stripes on them, and were pretty easy to extract. I think it made it easier that it dropped when I cut it and you can see the corner seeds got knocked out. I did end up breaking it apart as some areas came out easier than others. And I left the seeds on the ground for the barn birds that were eyeing me suspiciously as I cut the flower heads off.

After removing the seeds I rinsed them in a colander and laid them in a thin layer to dry. Then I put them in a salt brine to soak overnight. It’s the same thing I do with pumpkin seeds. Tomorrow I will coat them in olive oil and sprinkle with some salt and pepper and slow roast them. I also clipped two flower heads and put them out for the chickens. They were thoroughly unimpressed and walked away from today’s “treat.” We will see if they figure it out and get the seeds out. But I still have some overgrown basil in the garden, and that’s their favorite so I’ll take them that this afternoon.

I’ll let you know how the seeds turn out! Have a great weekend.