![lesher poultry farm lesher poultry farm](https://seaofblush.com/wp-content/uploads/leshers-sunflowers.jpg)
That will happen in about two months, at which time the Lesher field crew will come through with a combine and harvest the sunflower heads, which will be sold wholesale to companies that use the seeds for birdseed. "When they are fully mature, they will literally be dripping with oil," Bowman said. The variety is called black oil sunflowers and the seeds are used as birdseed or the oil is pressed out and processed as a cooking oil. Bowman estimates he'll harvest about 1,000 pounds of sunflower seed this fall. Today, the flowers are drooping and pedals falling, but Bowman says the plants are still hard at work, maturing the seeds and preparing for winter, or harvest at least. The peak blooming season is in late August and the first week or 10 days of September. Now that is a regular practice, making it safer for those admiring fans to enjoy the blooms and take their photos.
![lesher poultry farm lesher poultry farm](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2021/06/01/Hagerstown/ff8917df2b7eff866d7962a0648c4365.jpg)
The second year, Bowman gave a lot of thought to those visitors, concerned that the side-of-the road stops might be a traffic hazard, so he left a big swath bare at the side of the road where the sunflowers were planted.
#Lesher poultry farm professional#
Next, professional photographers discovered the field of flowers, and tagged it as a good backdrop for photo shoots. People began pulling over at the side of the road to admire the flowers, take pictures of themselves in the sunflower field and post them on social media. When Bowman first decided to plant sunflowers in 2012, it was the neighbors who first admired the big, yellow blooms, but it didn't take long for others in nearby communities to discover their beauty, especially as acre after acre of blooms popped up. Now, almost 100 years later, the farm is owned and operated by third- and fourth-generation family members.
![lesher poultry farm lesher poultry farm](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/RC0EVLgxKcgHGrInd3_7Iw/l.jpg)
The poultry farm began as a small backyard flock about 1918. The fact that their neighbors loved the flowers that bloomed in the late summer was a bonus for the family.īowman, whose mother was a Lesher, is a third-generation member of the family business and a part of the farm's management team. The idea was to add another crop to the soil rotation plan, according to Leslie Bowman, the company's crop manager, and sunflowers fit in the late summer slot for almost 70 acres of the Lesher family's extensive acreage in Guilford Township. GUILFORD TOWNSHIP - When Lesher Poultry Farm decided to start adding a sunflower field to its crop rotation plan five years ago , the owners had no idea the difference it would make in so many people's lives.