As Chuck Hinton described the process of turning an unprofitable soybean field into a glowing field of sunshine:
“We got a big bag of seed, broadcast it and worked it in,” he said.
The result: 4 acres of vibrant yellow sunflowers, which have turned the Hinton Family Farm into a destination.
“In just a week, the Facebook page, Hinton Family Farm, had over 25,000 views,” said Jennifer Hinton, Chuck’s daughter.
The Hintons’ Sunflower Field is open to the public on Friday evenings, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 8 p.m., during the blooming season, which started in mid-August. Check the Hinton Family Farm facebook to see if it will be open this weekend.
There is no charge to visit the field, as the joy the family receives is a reflection of their visitors’ faces.
“Our family enjoyed the sunflower field, but seeing others enjoy it has been the best,” Jennifer said.
The family quotes the belief of Erasmus, the Dutch theologian: “There is no joy in possession without sharing.”
They do have a donation box out, with donations going to the Clinton Animal Shelter. Chuck was on the shelter board and volunteered there for years, walking the dogs. He now enjoys watching the birds, a hobby that led to the project.
“We fill the bird feeder with sunflower seed the year round,” Jennifer said. “So we thought, why not grow our own sunflower seeds?”
After seeing photographs of sunflower fields in Kansas, they decided to go big. A neighbor offered to help with the main task, sowing the seed.
“After a few phone calls and the help of friends and neighbors, here we are,” she said.
The enthusiasm of Jennifer’s daughter, Sarah Smidt, led to opening the field to the public. Sarah took photography courses at Central Missouri University, Jennifer said, and was excited about taking pictures.
“She thought others might be as well, so we decided to open the field to anyone who wants to come out,” Jennifer said.
When Chuck Hinton looks out over the field, he sees the 40-acre field where he used to grow soybeans. He has been working on the farm, man and boy, for almost 40 years.
The family’s history on the land goes back 77 years, Jennifer said, when Chuck’s parents, Earl and Pauline Hinton, bought 375 acres. Some of the land has been sold off, Jennifer said. In the past, the Hintons have grown wheat and corn as well as soybeans.
Jennifer said there are lots of articles in the Clinton Eye about her grandparents, her father and his sister, Betty Hinton Hill.
“My Grandma loved having something in the paper,” Jennifer said.
Some offer folk wisdom, including this one about area farmers jumping the gun and planting oats and sowing lettuce before winter is over.
“Earl Hinton, however, is waiting calmly for spring, as the wooly worm has told him it will be a late one,” according to one article Pauline cut out.
Other articles are sports related — Chuck played football at Clinton High School and Pittsburg State College. After graduating in 1960, he moved with Carol to Burbank, Calif., where Chuck taught science for three years.
Then they moved back to the farm in Clinton, where he was recruited to teach in Deepwater, where they needed a science teacher, Jennifer said. That was in 1967.
Jennifer is a 1985 Clinton High School graduate who attended CMU. She returned to the farm several years ago. Her brother, Brant Hinton, a 1988 CHS graduate, works at Black and MacDonald in Kansas City, and comes down every weekend to help, she said.
Asked if the family plans to plant sunflowers next year, Chuck replied cautiously, “We may.”
“Every time we’re down here, we have visitors,” he said.
“There are lots of families,” Carol said, “and lots and lots of bees.”
The Hinton Family Farm is located at 149 NE 201 Rd., Clinton Mo. 64735. From Vansant Rd., take NE 100 east to NE 201, and follow 201 until you see the sign for the sunflower field on the left. Go down the drive through the gate to the parking area on the grass.
Check the Hinton Family Farm facebook for open days. Taking photographs of the field is fine, but they ask professional photographers who want to do a photo shoot there for a small donation.
For fun facts about sunflowers, including growing sunflowers commercially for oil and birdseed, go to extension.missouri.edu. According to the website, sunflowers are the only native crop of all the major field crops grown in the Midwest today.
