SST students and faculty visited Dream Farm, a flower producing facility in Guayllabamba, a small town 45 minutes north from Quito. We learned that the business of flowers is a huge source of revenue for the area, specially before Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Halloween, and Saint Patrick’s Day since their main consumers are in the US. These flowers are appreciated for their long shelf life which is attributed to the mineral mixture of the natural soil of Guayallabamba and the care of Ecuadorians.
The discarded rosebuds offer a frail beauty to the eye. I am sure there is a metaphor there, but I don’t yet know for what.
Joanna, our tour guide and HR director at Dream Farm, explained that the name came from the dream that the owners, three siblings, had of bringing flowers to the world. She also mentioned that some rosebuds are cut before they open to not overload each plant, this allows viable ones to reach markets in full boom.
Rosebushes are kept in green houses where temperature, humidity and nutrition are regularly monitored. This is Joanna’s favorite color.The tour gave us a lot to think about.Everyone deserves to feel beautiful. “Everyone, look at the rose!”Beauty is a giftAnd we must carry it on our shouldersRight?All of our children are above average.All of our children are above average and entertaining!From the series “All of our children are above average.”Some needed to be convinced of the importance of beauty.Stop and smell the…“Look, there’s flowers everywhere”Some familiar faces appeared among the rosebushes.Attention bloomed!Not all colors are completely natural, but they sure are popular.“Roses are red”? Or tie-dye instead? Bouquets are assembled Inside the packing station. It’s a very thorny situation.Our teachers and Casa de Espiritualidad administrators also received flowers from students… sadly I forgot to capture the moment. This image is from before.
At the end of the tour, we all got flowers. Most gave them to their host families because “who doesn’t like flowers?”
