Sunflower Farm Near Wall

Sunflower Farm Near Wall, 6x12

IT'S BEEN INTERESTING to start thinking about and learning about sunflowers as a crop, not just a pretty decoration or a beautiful flower to paint. 

Sunflowers are a major part of the economy of South and North Dakota. In fact, there are more sunflowers grown in these two states than anywhere in the US (more in North Dakota than South!). 

But the Dakotas' sunflower production is a drop in the bucket compared to the acreage of sunflowers usually grown in Ukraine. 

This year, because of the war, crop production in Ukraine is way down. And prices in the US are expected to climb, according to a story on South Dakota Public Broadcasting. 

About 1.4 million acres of sunflowers are planted annually in the US, and the Dakotas account for more than 1 million of those acres. But sunflower planting is a little down in 2022 from 2021, the story says, because of the science behind crop rotation. It's interesting but complicated; you can get the details by clicking on that link. For me, it's enough to know that crop rotation - which involves next year and the year after, and the year after that - is more important than one year's potential profit.

According to Country Partners Cooperative, farmers in South Dakota grow two types of sunflowers  - "oilseed" types that are used as bird seed and for sunflower oil, and "confection" types that are used for food. 

The oilseed kind has a small black seed - it's what comes in the bags of bird seed. The other kind, the kind the baseball players all eat and spit (or used to, before Covid), has a larger, thicker hull and a larger seed. The shells on these are usually striped. 

Most of the sunflower acres in South Dakota are planted with the oilseed type. 

After our 5 cent coffee, free ice water and short buying spree in Wall (see below), we begin asking about nearby sunflower fields. Several people tell us about this field, just north of town, and so we go - and find the flowers just beginning to droop. But they are still beautiful! 



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Wall Drug


FOR MILES AND MILES and miles as you drive across the prairie, you see signs for Wall Drug. Free ice water! Coffee for 5 cents! There are other signs, too, but those are the main ones. The series of billboards is not as long, as constant or as politically incorrect as the billboards for my fave South of the Border - but it's entreating enough that, well, you HAVE to stop! 


And so we do. On the morning we leave The Badlands, we trek back to Wall Drug for 5 cent coffee and a donut. They don't have gluten-free donuts, so I can't partake, but Carol says her donut is fresh and delicious. 




Above Wall Drug's Art Wall, with Western paintings by many artists, including N.C. Wyeth. 

THE WALL DRUG story begins in 1931 with Ted Hustead, a pharmacist who was looking for a small town with a Catholic church, and thought that Wall, SD, where there was a pharmacy for sale, would be ideal. 

The going was slow until Hustead's wife came up with the idea of offering free ice water to travelers heading to Mount Rushmore, and advertising the giveaway on signs along the roadway. 

Today, Wall Drug does have a drug store, a cafe, and a horde of other shops. If there's something you want, chances are you can get it at Wall Drug. 

The population of Wall is 724, and looks to be pretty much devoted to helping tourists - in addition to Wall Drug, there are restaurants, motels, gas stations and the like. I have no idea where people who live in Wall do their grocery shopping or get medical care. Probably Rapid City (which out here is "Rapid"), about an hour away. 

Bill Bryson, in his book "Lost Continent," said of Wall Drug, "It's an awful place, one of the world's worst tourist traps, but I loved it and I won't have a word said against it." 

I kind of agree! 

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Dog of the Day


It's Lucy, whom we meet in Wall Drug. Her humans are two of the 740 people who live in Wall! 


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