ranch

The acquisition kept the land out of the hands of a developer with plans to carve its spectacular rock ranges, lava flows, sand dunes, valleys and cactus gardens into 40-acre ranches.

The working ranch continues, 12 miles outside Avalon, and is often open for Saturday tours.

Ladd said one of his sons, who grew up on the ranch and now lives in Phoenix, recently needed some palm trees cut.

Besides the ranunculus fields, the ranch’s offerings this spring include:

My late father grew up on a cattle ranch in Uruguay, a country where there are three times as many cows as people.