Carlsbad, California – Each spring, the rolling hills come alive with an rainbow of ranunculus flowers.
The more than 50 acres of flowers attract thousands of visitors to the flowers of flowers, a farm of locally iconic flowers along the interstate 5.
The retired school teacher turned into a volunteer, Mary Ellen Courtney, has returned every year for more than a decade.
“It’s heaven. It’s beautiful. It’s peaceful. It’s spiritual. It’s comforting and everyone has a good time,” Courtney said.
The flowers and the people who visit are the ones who keep it as a volunteer.
“As a retired teacher, it allows me to connect even more with the children,” he said. “That was the favorite part of my work, was to connect with children in the classroom, and this is just a different type of classroom.”
The voluntary concert has also led to part -time work on the farm, where it works two -hour shifts talking with children or teaching visitors about flowers and the environment.
But, Courtney said, even when he is not working, he is there volunteer.
“I have a purpose every day, every day,” he said. “This is where I will be.”
On an employed day, the farm can attract almost 10,000 visitors. And in recent years, social networks have increased their popularity.
“I had seen Tiktoks in the Flores field here,” Alanis Mendoza said during a recent visit. “We are from New York City, so we don’t really have many fields and vegetation, so it was like, wow!”
The 80 million estimated flowers are in flower for only about 10 weeks, but its beauty keeps many, such as Courtney, returning.
“When people leave, you don’t have an unhappy person. They are not happy to have ended,” he said. “Everyone is happy to be here, and everyone only see the joy here.”
