The Ventura County Garden Club will tour the Japanese Garden in Sherman Oaks Park, Van Nuys (San Fernando Valley), on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Journal of Japanese Gardening has ranked this number 10 for authenticity out of 300 Japanese gardens in the United States. This will be a self-guided tour; where members will arrive and walk at their own pace. The 6.5 acre garden is open from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. There is a $5.00 per adult or $3.00 per senior charge.

The garden, which is adjacent to Woodley Park, opened June 14, 1984. It was created by a Japanese garden designer, Doctor Koichi Kawana, who also created a dozen similar ones throughout the United States. The garden is located next to Tillman Water Reclamation Plant and is irrigated entirely with reclaimed water.

The Japanese Garden is divided into three sections: Karesansui, Chisen-Kaiyushiki and the traditional tea garden, with an authentic teahouse. Fall blossoms will be at their peak of season in October. Plants will not be for sale and all visitors are asked to follow proper garden etiquette. (Take pictures only; NO “samples”) Parking is limited; therefore, visitors are advised to carpool. An RSVP is not necessary for community participants, since the self-guided tour begins and ends with each person’s own schedule. For further information call Jacqualin at (805) 816-6019 or email [email protected]

On Thursday, Sept. 19, Rick Halsey, director of the California Chaparral Institute, will present “Exploring the Chaparral and Rediscovering Yourself through Nature,” a community lecture beginning at 7 PM at the Museum of Ventura County.

A part of Ventura Land Trust’s ongoing Environmental Speaker Series, Halsey will discuss how connecting with nature through local native habitats offers us a way to achieve what so many philosophers through the ages have identified as essential to achieving a meaningful existence – “to know thyself.”

“For more than two million years, evolution took place out in nature and was driven by our instincts,” said Halsey. “Today, as we try to reconcile the conflict between the demands of civilization, social expectations, and our ancient, wild selves, nature often provides the best remedy.”

Halsey is a writer, photographer, and the director of a non-profit research and educational organization dedicated to the preservation of California’s native chaparral ecosystem and supporting the creative spirit as inspired by nature. He has given more than 500 presentations and written numerous papers and articles over the past 15 years concerning the importance of reestablishing our connection with nature and understanding local habitats, especially the chaparral.

Ventura Land Trust’s Environmental Speaker Series is now in its fourth year, is one of the many ways VLT works to educate the public about important environmental topics. Reservations are highly recommended, and a $10/person donation is suggested at the door.

The Ventura Land Trust (formerly the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy) is dedicated to permanently preserving and protecting the land, water, wildlife and scenic beauty of the Ventura region for current and future generations. Founded in 2003, the 501(C)(3) non-profit organization is supported by over 650 members, local businesses and government partners. The land trust manages 90 acres of land along the Ventura River and is negotiating the purchase of its first hillside property. VLT’s office is located in the Poinsettia Pavilion, 3451 Foothill Rd, Ventura, CA 93003. For more information, visit: www.venturalandtrust.org

Richard earned undergraduate degrees from the University of California in environmental studies and anthropology. During graduate work he received teaching credentials in life, physical and social science and a Master’s in education. Richard taught biology for over thirty years in both public and private schools, was honored as Teacher of the Year for San Diego City schools and was awarded the Christa McAuliffe Fellowship.

RSVP at: https://www.venturalandtrust.org/enviro_lec

by Richard Senate

The Native American population declined when California came under Spanish control. This is a historical fact. An estimated 75% of the Native People perished in the time of the Missions leading some to classify them as “death camps.”

This distinction is misleading because the last thing the Spanish wanted was the death of the local peoples. If they should die all the efforts to bring them to the Christian Faith was for nothing, and in a broader economic sense, if the natives died, who would do all the work? The culprit wasn’t the Spanish but something they accidentally brought with them; germs. The Native Americans had no immunities for the illnesses brought by the Europeans. They died in great numbers despite the best efforts of the Padres to stem the tide of sickness.

At Mission San Buenaventura an estimated four thousand died but the number must be a conservative one for it lists only converted Natives and not those who lived in the surrounding villages. Disease hit those in daily contact with the Spanish and those in the villages as well. It must have been a terrible thing for the missionaries to see their converts perish in such numbers. In the latter Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries medical science had not advanced to the level of Ancient Egypt (who at least understood the need for sterilization and cleanliness). There were few accepted treatments for the diseases that were decimating the Native peoples. Even if the padres had the best medical knowledge of their time, there was little they could do.

The problem was so great that the Padre’s built a hospital at Mission San Buenaventura. They were proud of the facility and wrote of its 100-bed capacity, the fact that it had running water and an attached apothecary shop to make and distribute medications. The Spanish turned to local medicine men in an attempt to understand the powers of local herbs. They also used medical books to try to make their own cures and, lastly, they ordered drugs from Mexico and Spain.

One of the most requested medications was deadly Mercury, then the only known cure for Syphilis. The secret was to give enough of the toxic Mercury to the patient to kill the disease but not enough to kill the patient! It was a balancing act that took both skill and luck. Did it work? Some of the time it did. Why did people take the Mercury? Left untreated syphilis advances into madness and a hideous death.

One of the biggest killers to strike was smallpox. An immunization was developed early in Europe for smallpox. It was discovered that people who had cowpox (a non-deadly form of smallpox) wouldn’t catch smallpox. The Spanish Crown paid to have the immunization brought to the new world and had the Native Americans treated. This was done for both economic and humanitarian reasons. Still, the only Natives given the inoculation were those under Spanish control. Ironically, about this same time Americans were giving out smallpox infected blankets in an attempt to destroy the Native Americans Tribes.
The Mission Converts received the inoculations late but, this was an attempt to stem the terrible plagues that were taking so many lives.

What of the hospital at Mission San Buenaventura? Today it is lost. The Spanish never wrote where it was located. They knew that isolation was good for containing some sicknesses so the hospital would have been some distance away from the settlement.

So, somewhere, under a building or parking lot, in downtown Ventura is that foundations of the lost Mission Hospital. If It’s ever discovered, archaeologists will have a major discovery on their hands.

The Ventura Port District will hold a Goal Setting Workshop at the Marriott Ventura Beach Salon III on September 14 from 1-5PM. Open to the public, the workshop will focus on the District’s development of its two-to-five-year goals, which includes improving communications between the Board, staff and stakeholders. The full agenda will be posted on the District’s website by Saturday, September 7th

To learn more, visit https://venturaharbor.com (and click on Port District Business).

Museum of Ventura County Library & Archives collection.
A controversial preacher took over
by Andy Ludlum, Museum of Ventura County Volunteer

In October 1883, one of the most controversial Ventura newspaper publishers bought the Free Press. Dr. Stephen DeMoss Bowers was a Methodist preacher and self-taught archaeological collector who also pursued a career as a newspaper publisher.

While preaching in Santa Barbara in 1875, Bowers had been the first to excavate burial grounds on both San Nicolas and Santa Rosa islands, stripping sites and selling artifacts and skulls. He also collected heavily on Anacapa, San Miguel, and Santa Cruz islands. Historians and archaeologists generally regard Bowers as a pothunter who destroyed as many artifacts as he preserved and rendered the sites scientifically useless. Bowers sent artifacts to collectors all over the country. The Smithsonian Institution, which financed Bower’s work, credits 2,200 to 2,500 of its Native American relics to his excavations.

Bowers ran the paper until 1887 when he moved to Los Angeles. He returned in 1889 to take over the Free Press, consolidating it with the Vidette which Frank Smith had begun publishing the year before. Bowers later founded his own paper in 1891, the crusading Ventura Observer.

Read more Ventura County History in the Museum of Ventura County Blog at www.venturamuseum.org/research-library-blog

Rubicon Theatre Company presents an encore run of I Dig Rock And Roll Music

with an all new group of singer/songwriters September 11 through September 29 at Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main Street in Ventura’s Downtown Cultural District.

A sequel to Lonesome Traveler, which premiered at Rubicon in 2013 and transferred Off-Broadway, earning Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations, I Dig Rock and Roll Music is a celebration of folk-rock then and now. Described as a theatrical concert, the evening features songs of passion and protest from 1965 through the 1970s made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary; The Mamas and the Papas; Carole King; Joni Mitchell; Carly Simon; The Fifth Dimension; The Association; Otis Redding; Cat Stevens; The Youngbloods;The Beatles; The Eagles; and many others. I Dig Rock and Roll Music also includes original songs inspired by the era written by Noel Paul Stookey (Paul of Peter, Paul and Mary), and several of the performers.

The event was conceived by Ovation winner and Rubicon co-founder James O’Neil, Lifetime Grammy Award-winner George Grove, and LADCC-winner/Tony nominee Dan Wheetman. Musical direction is by Scott Anthony, with arrangements by George Grove and the performers.

I Dig Rock and Roll Music features six performers, most are singer/songwriters and multi-instrumentalists: Musical Director Scott Anthony, Yvette Cason (9/11-9/19), Harley Jay, Beau Moore, Charlotte Morris, Lillias White (9/20-9/29) and Charlotte Morris, with Emiliano Almeida on drums.

The trustees of the Harriet H. Samuelsson Foundation recently awarded a total of $580,000 in grants to 14 local non-profit organizations providing services to youth and adolescents. Grants ranged from $20,000 to $75,000, and were allocated to fund children’s services in the coming year, including:

● Health education; nutrition counseling; physical fitness activities; drug and alcohol prevention programs; and leadership and community service opportunities by the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Ventura

● Training in healthy parent-child relationships, trauma resolution, parent coaching, child development, and stable housing for homeless women and children by Step Up Ventura, Inc.

Grants are awarded in the spring and fall of each year. The deadline for letters of interest for spring 2020 grants is September 20, 2019. For more information about the Harriet H. Samuelsson Foundation, including instructions on how to apply for a grant, please visit the Foundation’s website at www.samuelssonfoundation.org.

The Harriet H. Samuelsson Foundation was established in 2005 upon the death of Harriet H. Samuelsson, an Oxnard philanthropist, at age 96.  The Foundation awards over $1 million in grants each year to organizations providing services for the health, education, guidance, or welfare of children under the age of 18 residing in Ventura County, or to organizations conducting cancer research.

On August 24, 2019, Channel Islands National Park seabird biologists confirmed the first record of a brown booby chick from an active nest on Sutil Rock off Santa Barbara Island.

This successful nest signifies a northward expansion of their known breeding range in the Gulf of California and along the Pacific coast of Mexico. The closest current breeding colony is located on the Coronado Islands off Northern Baja California, Mexico.

Brown boobies, once considered a rare visitor to the Channel Islands, were observed only 16 times in the 30 years between 1984 and 2014.  They were first seen roosting in small numbers on Anacapa and Santa Barbara Islands in 2013. There was a dramatic rise in their numbers in 2015 with over 170 individuals observed at Santa Barbara Island. Since that time, they have been seen consistently on both islands with fewer sightings occurring on Anacapa Island.

“Seabirds rely upon the rich marine resources and the isolation of these offshore islands to provide food and undisturbed nesting grounds safe from predators,” said Channel Islands National Park Superintendent Ethan McKinley. “With this successful brown booby nest, there are now 14 breeding seabirds that rely upon this vital habitat.”

Brown boobies, generally considered a tropical or subtropical bird, appear to have been extending their range northward since the 1990s when they first migrated to the Coronado Islands of Baja California from the Gulf of California and Pacific coast of Mexico. This expansion of their range coincides with shifts in oceanic conditions with warmer waters and changes in prey availability.

An impressive seabird species, brown boobies are known for making spectacular plunge dives from heights of up to 50 feet to feed on surface fish. They nest on islands, lay their eggs on the bare ground, and make nests with sticks, rocks, bones, and vegetation to protect them. They winter far out to sea.

Worldwide, brown booby populations have declined due to habitat degradation on islands where introduced predators have reduced their nesting success.