I love sunflowers seeds but tend to just buy the commercially grown and leave mine in the garden for critters. The birds and squirrels are so fun to watch!

When we bought our first house in the mid 70s, the former owners had an enormous garden, over a 1/4 acre. We were way overzealous in planting that first year!! 😄 Learned our lesson on that experiment. Our garden was reduced over the years as our enthusiasm and free time waned.

That first year, I grew sunflowers for the purpose of harvesting. They were so beautiful and the heads were huge! I was so excited to grow my own. That was a short-lived venture! It was a constant fight between keeping them safe from birds and squirrels, and then once they were dry they were incredibly difficult to harvest the seeds. It wasn’t worth the effort! But I still enjoy having ‘em in the garden but they’re exclusively entertainment for me, and food for the critters.
Try a health food store for your unsalted seeds if you can’t find them in the grocery store. Also, I know Amazon gets a bad rap, but they are available to order through them. You can also talk to the produce person at your grocery store. Often they order or stock foods for people with special requests. I’ve gotten our grocer to carry unsalted pistachios!

Aww, the story of McDuff and the seeds is so sweet! I can just picture this as the dog sat patiently waiting for each little seed like it was an offering from the gods. I’m such a softy for doggos… Our last Golden was a hoot! He loved green beans! He would actually go to the garden and harvest beans for himself! We had pole beans with a small fence to keep out the rabbits. He’d patrol that area to keep the bunnies out and then help himself to some beans! They had to be just the right size before he’d select them too. Weird dog. 😅. Here’s a picture of him snacking (2010). That garden and our sweet dog are long gone.