On Saturday, June 20, our students departed for a new host family and a new setting to begin their Service Term, the second half of SST. Stay tuned for more updates about the communities in which the students are living and the volunteer work they're doing with nonprofits, community organizations, and municipal governments!
News
Dream Farm and the beauty of flowers
Feb 11 2024
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.
At the end of the tour, we all got flowers. Most gave them to their host families because “who doesn’t like flowers?”
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