I have not posted about my garden in a while. Mainly because it is dormant at the moment. The grass has stopped growing and the trees have just finished shedding their leaves. I have been added horse manure to the soil and there are now a lot of earth worms. We have adobe clay here and when it dries out it is as hard as concrete. Since we moved here about three years ago I have added gypsum and grass clippings, leaves and compost and horse manure, as well as turning the soil with a garden fork to mix everything in as it rotted. The fish in the pond have also gone dormant and will not wake for several months. I have planted some fava beans and have a lot of volunteer cilantro, and a few sweet peas. Later it gets too hot for peas, potatoes and lettuce. I have until about May  to plant them. I have a tomato plant still producing but the tomatoes are small. I have Swiss Chard in semi shade that thrives all year.


The sun going down behind the Liquid Ambar tree in my garden. The yellow
flowering plant is a Pot Marigold or Calendula. The pond is middle right.

I found a way to get down to the Arroyo Simi. Starting from where the horses pens are. I cut steps in the steep hill down to a plateau next to the arroyo. I also discovered a  grown over bulldozed path going down on another part of the hill. I need a saw to cut the elderberry and coyote bush that are growing on it. It will make another way to join one of the main horse trails  Then there is an animal trail leading into the bushes and directly down to the water. I spent some time today with a shovel making steps on a slippery slope. This will be great when it is very hot later this year.

 

 

 

Kole who dislikes water and me standing in the Arroyo.

All the pictures are of a Chumash Indian site. Exactly where the huts, fire pits, burial sites were will remain a mystery for the time being as there are absolutely no clues as to where anything was. It was a strenuous hike to get there, the views were amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of three sites marked on the map.

If all goes according to plan, tomorrow we are going to look at a Chumash Indian site out where our horses are.
I found the map of the Environmental study on the property and it shows exactly where we need to go. Doug and I are going , Kole too. It is an uphill hike of about 2 miles. This is in addition to the old home site. So a lot of history to think about and research.

Me, husband Doug, and Mike from the Moorpark Historical Society went out on a walk today to look at the site of the old

 

 building. Mike was very interested and will research what it could have been. He has an old photo of the area and wants to look at it to see if he can spot the two palm trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adobe clay

Doug and the palm trees

the site and a very old Eucalyptus also a tank of some kind

Several things have come about that I did not think would.  My queries with the two local historical societies resulted in a response from one, and a man wants to come out to where the horses are to have a look at what seems to be an old home site. I got a reply from the Appaloosa Horse Society about an old horse we have out boarding next to ours. I wanted to know how old he was and what his pedigree was ( I make and research horse pedigrees (www.picturepedigree.com) It turns out he is 26. Then a photographer who had some really good photos on line of race horse Game on Dude got back with me and said yes  I could use his photos. Also a great blog that I had been following about my home area in England was not dead as I had thought just changed their address online. Plus husband Doug got a spare electrical part for our truck on ebay and repaired it, saving us several hundred dollars. We went out for a ride on the horses earlier today and Coco got to walk in mud and a bit of water, a first for her. My sister in England who has Welsh Cobs can not believe that a horse has not experienced mud etc. I say let her horses come over here and go out when it is over a hundred degrees F in the summer time. We are hoping for more rain soon to end our drought.


The two palm trees are where an old foundation of something is .

The remains of the foundation close up.

Lots of rain and cold temperatures. I was so glad to be able to keep two of the horses warm and dry with blankets. Coco is not mine and Doug asked his daughter to get a blanket for her. I do not know if she will or when it will be. Today we have sun and warmth., But snow on the Topa topa mountains. We were out at the horses and Kole started barking at something over towards the Arroyo. I looked expecting to see a coyote, and it was two women who were dressed in exercise clothes. I said hi and they stopped and seemed uncertain. Then I heard Dave coming down on the atv. He called them over and asked them where they had come from. Medera road they said and he told the to go back there because this was private property. They had quite a distance to go to return the way they had come, I do not know where they thought they were going.

Snowy mountains in the distance and the dirt road out to the horses.

We had rain alright. It poured and I persuaded Doug to go out earlier to the horses He was not too keen saying it is just a little bit of rain. But I know better and if horses are not warm and dry they will not drink as much and then we have an impaction colic. I lost one of my horses to just such a colic in October. He also did not want me to put blankets on the horses saying they did not need it when I know they do.  This is an on gong theme, this is what happens when two strong willed people get togther with Leo dominant in there astrological charts LOL. The truck engine light was on the whole way there and back and the dirt road in was slippery but not impassable. We do not know how it will be tomorrow with continuing rain. Both our "waterproof " jackets leaked and we got cold and wet. I dried mine and sprayed it with water repellant and Doug is getting out his Helly Hansens. We put our free wood in the fireplace when we got home and got a fire going.

Our horses

Kole in the back of our horse trailer he got wet.

Rain is forecast, but how much ? I see online that there is supposed to be rain for three days !! Where we keep the horses are dirt roads, so we do not know if we will be able to get in to them easily. We may have to put chains on our truck or even walk in. We got some free wood out there today. there is a huge pile of wood cut from the live oaks that were in the wild fire that came through a few years ago.   When it gets rainy we plan to have a fire in the living room in the fireplace.
I was thinking I would like to go back to the old home/stage stop site with a big magnet after it has rained. I looked for hours on line to see if there was any information on it. I finally emailed the Moorpark Historical Society to see what they say no reply yet.

An amazing New Years Day hike with Doug and Kole. We went out on the property where we board our horses, to places too steep to ride comfortably.