Sunflower Day

Join us on Sunday 13th September 2026 for our new 'Sunflower Day' in celebration of U.K grown sunflowers and the products they can offer.

We are working with a neighbouring farm (links to follow) who grow and run a small, local 'PYO Sunflowers' business.

The Sunflower Day - What It Includes

• A trip to our neighbour to hear a talk about growing sunflowers in the U.K, varieties, seeds, growing, harvesting, problems and best practices for growing.
• A wander through a field of sunflowers to pick your own bunch of approximately 8 heads.
• Return to Wild Harvest School to make the following...
• A fresh sunflower flower crown to wear for the rest of the day (and possibly the whole week after, if your work colleagues approve!)
• Break for a sunflower themed lunch provided by award-winning healthy-food chef Dena Smiles. Dena will serve a lunch using sunflowers as the main source.  See video for her food ideas using sunflowers.
• Have a go at pressing seeds and extracting oil using a seed press.
• Learn how to navigate using sunflowers due to turgid cells in their necks that allow them to follow the sun.
• Make a golden natural lip balm using just sunflower oil and U.K beeswax.
• Any other sunflower uses we think of !

Why have a Sunflower Day?

I first came up with this idea while in the Dordogne recently and seeing all the yellow sunflowers EVERYWHERE,  after stopping to take the obligatory field of sunflowers photo I just felt cheered by the sight of the huge yellow heads bobbing gently toward the sun...and vowed to my leggy field companions that I would learn more about them so that I could appreciate sunflowers for more than just their beauty.

Then by sheer coincidence (or fate working her magic) upon returning to the U.K I saw that my own neighbour, (insert link) right here in Yorkshire was successfully producing sunflower fields on my doorstep.  I just had to reach out to her in a joint celebration of Yorkshires own crop of floral sunshine.

When you think about it, the humble sunflower has soooo many uses, it's the perfect permaculture plant in this respect (every element of a design should have a least two purposes).  

Some Uses of Sunflowers are:

• Beauty in the garden
• Bird Feed
• Give an oil for cooking
• Give an oil for skin care
• Flowers for vases and weddings and (obviously flower crowns:).
• Good for pollinators
• The oil can be rubbed into bare wood (eg for chopping boards) to protect the grain.
• I have also rubbed sunflower oil into paper to make my own cake lining instead of buying greaseproof paper.

What other uses can you think of....? Come along on the day and share your own uses!

Much of the sunflower products we use in the U.K are from imported oils and the sunflowers we see in shops are mostly imported - Why?  Farmers like Corrine are changing this and offering us the possibility of buying sunflowers locally; reducing transport miles and increasing British farm reslience.

This day is in celebration not only of this elegant pragmatic popular plant but also the innovative farmers like Corinne who are working hard in all weathers behind the scenes to give us local supplies of a national favourite flower.

Where is The Sunflower Day Based?

Join us at Wild Harvest School, in the rural outskirts of York.  Map link.

When is it?

• Date : Sunday 13th Sept 2026
• Times: 11am - 5pm

How Much is The Sunflower Day?

Early Bird Ticket Price is £79.99 a person to include the visit to the PYO farm, the talk by the sunflower farmer, your sunflowers, lunch, flower crown, oil pressing have a go, a tin of sunflower lip balm. 

Standard Ticket Price is £85 and Early Bird Tickets expire after the first 6 are sold, so book now!

How Come I Can't See a Child Discounted Rate?

The price is the same for all attendees due to the costs being the same for all attendees and us having literally 20 seats. We cannot offer a child rate sorry.  We are traditionally an adult education business and this course follows that format, in other words we teach YOU so you can teach your children.  Children ARE obviously allowed, (I love kids so much I had three) but we have to price the same as adults, so it's up to you if you choose to come sans la famille for a bit of 'you time', OR pay for a full space for them.

We DO offer child free places on certain offerings eg. our Wild Food Walks are FREE for under 14's, where the space/price dynamic isn't so predetermined by the infrastructure available and resources included. We also run many free and subsidised events as part of our social responsibility policy so we are not without understanding but we are also rooted in the practical reality of running a small business.

For some of Dena's sunflower cooking ideas (and a sneak peak at some of the things you may get to try if you join us)... check out her video here: