Filed under: Art, Phoenix | Tags: Art, Downtown Phoenix, Flora, Global Community, Greater Good, imagine, Learning, Phoenix, Valley of the Sunflowers
“People freaking love sunflowers,” says Kenny Barrett, a downtown Phoenix artist. And that is why an empty 2 acre lot in the heart of downtown will be filled with sunflowers. The Valley of the Sunflowers is a collaborative project between downtown artists, activists, community members, educators, big business, and city officials. The vacant lot is the future home of the Arizona Cancer Center but, meanwhile, the sunflower seeds will be planted and engineering students at a high school next to the field will press the sunflowers for oil and produce biodiesel fuel for a hybrid car they are developing. Some of the sunflower oil may also be sold at the Phoenix Public Market, a farmer’s market held a couple of blocks away.
Volunteers are working in the lot and have the sprinklers ready and the soil tilled. Seed planting will begin next week. The first harvest will be in November or December followed by another spring harvest. Intel provided grants totaling $22,000 for the project.
Apparently the sunflowers are going to be the big huge ones. Can you imagine two acres of giant sunflowers? I can’t wait because I do freaking love sunflowers. This is such an interesting, creative, and ambitious project for beautifying the downtown area and creating excitement and tangible benefits. The bees should be happy, too.
You can read more about the project here and here. They also have a Facebook page where you can find out about volunteering, if you’re a local, or other ways you can help or watch their progress.
In a couple months, I hope to have brand new photos of sunflowers instead of having to use photos I took last year. Stay tuned.
15 Comments so far
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That is truly a “good news” story, Candace! I love to learn of things like that! Thanks!
Comment by montucky September 6, 2011 @ 6:29 pmVery cool! I definitely love sunflowers. When I went to Utah and Idaho these last two weeks, they were everywhere. They were the small and medium size though, not giant ones like these. Can’t wait to see the shots once they bloom!
Comment by Eva September 6, 2011 @ 6:53 pmWhat a fine project for these special high school students. Your series is a fine documentation of this preparation for planting. Very interesting post, Candace.
Comment by Don September 7, 2011 @ 8:03 amGorgeous capture! Thank you for your kind comment on my blog.
Comment by Jeanne Klaver September 7, 2011 @ 3:56 pmI’m pleased to hear about this project because sunflowers are great. So far I’ve featured them more than any other native wildflower on my blog. A few examples are:
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/mandala/
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/a-pretty-fly/
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/prairie-redux/
Comment by Steve Schwartzman September 9, 2011 @ 7:19 pmWhat a fantastic project! I freaking love sunflowers too!
Comment by Pat September 10, 2011 @ 7:57 amGreat initiative, indeed sunflowers provoke something special in many people (me included!). Nice to see the water system too!
Comment by niceartlife September 10, 2011 @ 11:17 amhow cool ! i really like this project ..you certainly have the sun for it!!
Comment by elk2 September 10, 2011 @ 7:35 pmWhat a beautiful and inspiring project!
Comment by Anna September 12, 2011 @ 6:46 am[...] Valley of the Sunflowers [...]
Pingback by Mas Calaveras « Glenrosa Journeys September 13, 2011 @ 7:56 pmDon’t forget to support their kickstarter! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kennybarrett/valley-of-the-sunflowers
Comment by KarinPTS September 22, 2011 @ 12:11 pmI did already!
Comment by Candace September 22, 2011 @ 2:09 pm[...] Valley of the Sunflowers [...]
Pingback by Kickstarter « Glenrosa Journeys October 15, 2011 @ 6:00 pm[...] Sunflowers, my favorite local project right now, in the heart of downtown Phoenix. You can see my September shots, when the field was being readied for planting, and my October shots, soon after the seeds were [...]
Pingback by From Brown to Green to… « Glenrosa Journeys November 11, 2011 @ 7:44 pm[...] too late to see all the sunflowers in bloom at Valley of the Sunflowers (which I have blogged about 1, 2, 3 other times since September) because they had started to harvest them 2 weeks ago. Today the [...]
Pingback by Harvest Time « Glenrosa Journeys January 7, 2012 @ 12:03 pm