To most visitors, the sunflowers on the Munsell family farm are probably nothing more than a pretty view.

The farm, off Mason Road, near Smith Road in Handy and Iosco townships, has a good 60 acres of sunflowers in full bloom right now.

“Man, they’ve been taking pictures there for the last week,” Gordon Munsell said of all the visitors. “They are pretty. There’s no weeds in them, and they’re always yellow. It’s an unusual sight.”

Yet, for the Munsells, who started growing sunflowers five years ago after selling their cows, the plants serve as an important part of their livelihood.

The Munsells harvest 60,000 pounds of seed and earn $12,000 a year from selling the seeds for bird feed. Munsell said the sunflowers on some farms out West are harvested for their oil.

Normally, the sunflowers would have bloomed well before now.

Sunflowers on John Mills’ farm, which usually has the pretty plants off Oak Grove Road in Howell Township and near the Interstate 96 interchange south of Howell, are already past their “beauty stage” and are drying out, according to staff.

Munsell said hot weather, plus good moisture, determines when the flowers bloom, which is why he was thrilled to get some rain last week.

“We got them in a little late this year, on account of the weather last spring — we won’t harvest them until October,” Munsell said. “We’re harvesting pumpkins right here and we don’t have time to come by them anyway. It works out better for us that way.”