Tag: the big sunflower project

Meleena (Fulbourn Primary School)

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To be honest I had never heard of The Big Sunflower Project and I had most certainly not heard of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy before 2017.

I received an email through school about taking part – I run a primary school gardening club and I thought “Yes, why not get involved”.  What a great way of combining growing something from seed and explaining how some peoples’ bodies do not grow strong because that have rare disorders.  A few of the children struggled to understand fully the impact of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy (quite complex when you are only 5) but they all grasped how some people are born different and have illnesses or disabilities.

The sunflower seeds arrived in their little brown packet and were eagerly received by the gardening club children.  Some of the children had not grown sunflowers before and to which ends we set about planting up one seed in a pot for each child in the club to take home and nurture.  The home results were mixed!  Some were forgotten and left without water, some were planted out too early and eaten by slugs, some were dug up by cats!  The ones that were given care and attention grew big and strong and added a splash of colour to the children’s garden.

The remaining seeds were broadcast sown in an area that had been dug over in our wild life area.  The seed were added to by a local farmer and the results were quite astounding.  A whole host of sunflowers that Van Gogh would have been pleased to paint.

We subsequently harvested the ripened heads (after explaining that each seed has been formed by an individual flower – wow!) and they are drying in our poly tunnel ready for planting again next year.  We will also pass some of the seeds on to other local schools and hope to raise awareness of The Big Sunflower Project for 2018.

Sunflowers grown at Fulborn Primary School

Nish

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Nish lives in South Oxhey in the UK and took part in The Big Sunflower Project in 2017. Below he writes about taking part in the project.

My favourite flower are sunflowers. I also have a belief that whatever you sow into the ground, you have a chance that it may grow regardless of the external conditions. It just requires a little bit of hard work and a lot of faith.

Sunflowers are significant in Hindu culture too. The symbol of the sunflower is known as the flower of the Sun (Suryar Mukki). The male Hindu Sun God (Surat dada) is worshiped through the sunflower and thus all the female Goddesses also love the sunflower. So in our Hindu culture if you are a devotee of a Hindu Goddess then it is custom to adorn their photo or statue with a sunflower…. it will please the Goddess very much and the male Sun God will provide equal blessings towards your home and family.

Goddess and sunflower
I have grown sunflowers in the past and they have given me so much joy. My family love sunflowers too. Especially my niece and nephew who have witnessed the tallest sunflowers grow in our garden this year. That is all thanks to The Big Sunflower Project.

The sunflowers have been a major blessing to me. Everything I could have wanted and much more. It’s also been quite spiritual for me too. The sunflowers have given me so much happiness especially at times when I’ve been down or at my lowest.

I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the sunflower varieties bloom this year. The anticipation and excitement has given me so much happiness and sense of youth too. This year has been exceptional.

Thanks to the free seeds from The Big Sunflower Project I have been able to grow exotic and tall sunflowers this year. Two plant pots produced the tallest and highest yield of sunflowers. I am truly humbled and grateful to have been gifted the seeds. I’ll never forget how much happiness you have given me and my family in 2017. Thank you.

Donations to The Big Sunflower Project

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This week, we have become aware that some people have been trying to donate to The Big Sunflower Project but these donations have been going instead to an organisation called 38 Degrees.

After an investigation, 38 Degrees traced one of the donor PayPal reference numbers to their Bee Seeds Campaign and specifically to the donation page for this campaign.

The donation has now been refunded and the donor has been notified by 38 Degrees that they now know this was not intended for them. It is hoped the other donations will be refunded shortly.

38 Degrees have also taken down their order page which was posted on the WOW Free Stuff website – this appears to be where confusion has arisen, as both the 38 Degrees campaign and The Big Sunflower Project were featured there at the same time.

If you think you have donated to The Big Sunflower Project but have not received your sunflower seeds, you may have been affected too and should check your PayPal receipt to see where your donation has gone.

If you find you have donated to 38 Degrees, you should contact them quoting The Big Sunflower Project in any correspondence. You will need to provide a screen shot showing your donation receipt and the reference number for your donation, in order to receive a refund.

Please note, if you are wanting to donate to The Big Sunflower Project, there are only two ways to do this, either:

The Big Sunflower Project will not receive donations that use any alternative donation facility, so donors will not receive sunflower seeds from The Big Sunflower Project. However, the project is happy to send seeds to anyone who donates in either of the ways detailed above.

Conrad and the sunflower

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In 2013 an email arrived out of the blue, it told the touching tale of a child born with myotubular myopathy and a sunflower. Thank you Emma for taking the time to write, your kind words and for sharing lovely story with the world.

After trying for some time, last July, my husband and I found out I was pregnant. Earlier the same year my husband and I had some stumps ground out of our lawn leaving a few substantial piles of dirt in the yard. In one of the piles a sunflower grew – seeming to come from nowhere. We enjoyed the sunflower all summer and into the fall.

When our precious Conrad was born he was not breathing and was floppy. Long story short, after genetic testing we learned that Conrad had myotubular myopathy.

In my frantic search for information about Conrad’s condition, I came across the Information Point and read about the Sunflower Project. In that moment I knew that our mysterious sunflower was God’s way of telling us that He already knew what Conrad had and that he was preparing the way for Conrad’s life even while he was being knit together in my womb. Even when it seems that nothing is fair and the world does not make sense, God is in control and He has a plan for our darling little boy.

I am learning already that boys with MTM and the families who love them are very special people. Thank you so very much for all the work you have done to raise awareness about centronuclear and myotubular myopathy and for being here when I and my family needed you.

Pernilla

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Pernilla lives in Sweden and in 2013 grew a sunflower in memory of her son Ragnar. Pernilla says:

In early January 2010 our second child Ragnar was born. He was diagnosed with MTM1-x. A year or so after he left us I got in contact with the Information Point as I saw that the Big Sunflower Project was celebrating its third year the same as our Ragnar would have been. What a wonderful thing to do for him and all other kids like him.

I grow some sunflowers last year by myself but they didn’t get to flower. This year I put in a bit more love and attention. And I got four big plants. My daughter helped me and they are really beautiful. I also enjoyed seeing all the other flowers that people grew.

Helen, Paige and Ollie

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Twins Ollie and Paige along with their mum Helen have been growing sunflowers for the Big Sunflower Project at their home in Chester since 2011 when the twins were just four years old. In 2011 Paige’s sunflower was the very first of all the sunflowers to bloom and she also received a certificate from her school teacher for knowing so much about how to take care of seeds. Paige’s advice for growing sunflowers – they need a whole lot of love.

Paige and Ollie