• Support
  • Advertise
  • Locations
  • Contact Us
Friday, September 29, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTERS
The Capistrano Dispatch
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye On SJC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit A Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SJC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • Dana Point Times
    • San Clemente Times
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SJC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit A Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Submit an Obituary
    • Announcements
    • Submit An Announcement
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Guide
    • Go See Do
    • Good Eats
    • Graduation Special
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide 2023
    • Inside/Outside Home
    • San Juan Football Preview
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • WSL Rip Curl Guide 2023
  • SJC Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye On SJC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit A Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SJC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • Dana Point Times
    • San Clemente Times
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SJC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit A Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Submit an Obituary
    • Announcements
    • Submit An Announcement
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Guide
    • Go See Do
    • Good Eats
    • Graduation Special
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide 2023
    • Inside/Outside Home
    • San Juan Football Preview
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • WSL Rip Curl Guide 2023
  • SJC Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
No Result
View All Result
The Capistrano Dispatch
No Result
View All Result

Moments in Time: Planting and Farming in Orange County

by Capo Dispatch
March 13, 2022 3:24AM
in LIVING, SJC Living
Jan Siegel

Moments in Time by Jan Siegel

0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Jan Siegel Guest opinion by Jan Siegel

Almost all of the plants and flowers that we associate with Southern California were brought in by the missionaries. As the missionaries traveled from Europe, Africa, South America, Latin America, Mexico and into California, they brought with them plants and flowers that they liked from different parts of the world. When they came into the Capistrano Valley, the native plants included mainly cacti, scrub oak, wild berries, and wild herbs. The native population had an abundance of wild animals, large and small, and fish, but their diet did lack fruits and vegetables associated with the Western culture. 

Pepper trees were once seen all over town, but recently we have lost a lot of them to disease. The missionaries found these trees in Peru, and they really liked the little red peppers. They planted them on their trek northward. In some places, they grew, and in some they did not. They flourished in San Juan Capistrano.

Roses that are such a popular flower in Southern California were also brought by the missionaries. They were originally found in Turkey. The missionaries brought the olive tree to San Juan Capistrano, because they needed the oil for cooking and for the Sacraments.

In a book about California gardens from 1800-1850, it states that at the time that the Forster family was living in the Mission, “only a few old fruit trees, such as pears, peaches, figs and olives, remained. Records tell about frost damage to some of the pepper tree branches in 1830.  Grapevines were still there but without leaves or shoots, having surrendered to the vine disease.” Remember, it was Saint Serra who brought grapevines to the Mission and started the wine industry in California at the San Juan Capistrano Mission. Serra is also responsible for bringing chocolate into California. He enjoyed chocolate as a young man in Spain. 

While Abraham Lincoln is known for returning Mission land to the Catholic Church in California, he should also be remembered for encouraging farmers to come to our state. The Morrill Land Grant Act, which “granted federal lands to each state to establish colleges for the teaching of agriculture and allied arts,” passed in 1862. The MLGA was the creation of the U. S. Department of Agriculture Homestead Act, which “granted western land to those who would farm” and the Pacific Railway Act, “which cleared the way for the transcontinental railway.” All were all signed by Lincoln.

Following the Civil War, Pam Gibson wrote in her book Two Hundred Years in San Juan Capistrano that Richard Egan settled down for farming barley and Joel Congdon planted English walnuts, thus starting the walnut industry in Orange County. The Daneris, Rosenbaums, and Lacouagues planted oranges. By 1914, oranges had become the major crop for the valley.  

Just as the Mission land led to the Rancheros and the Rancheros led to sheep herders, walnut and citrus farmers, the cost of maintaining the orange groves led to the planting of strawberries. Following WWII, Japanese-American farmers found that they could grow strawberries in small areas and make a good profit to offset some of the costs of raising other crops. They were also a good rotation crop. The year 1968 was the biggest year for growing strawberries in Orange County.

The same Charles Francis Saunders, who wrote Capistrano Nights with Father O’Sullivan, wrote many books about the flora and fauna of the West on behalf of the railroads to entice people to visit or move westward.  Writing in 1927, Sauners wrote about what had happened to our many wild and cultivated plants:

“Plowing them up, grazing them up, burning them up, burying them under concrete and asphalt, tearing them out of the roots to gratify a passing whim and cast aside until, like her Indians, her wild flora has been desolated and largely driven away from the homes of the people to find refuge, too often only in deserts and mountains”. 

As we enter into spring, spend a Moment in Time and think about planting a little bit of history in your yard and think back on all the beauty this land has to offer.

Jan Siegel was a 33-year resident of San Juan Capistrano and now resides in the neighboring town of Rancho Mission Viejo. She served on the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission for 13 years, has been a volunteer guide for the San Juan Capistrano Friends of the Library’s architectural walking tour for 26 years and is currently the museum curator for the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society. She was named Woman of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce in 2005, Volunteer of the Year in 2011 and was inducted into the city’s Wall of Recognition in 2007.

Share this:

  • Share
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
Tags: agricultureCaliforniafarmingJan SiegelMoments in TimenatureOrange CountyoutdoorsplantingPlantsSan Juan CapistranoSouth Orange County
ShareTweetPin

Capo Dispatch

Related Posts

Nomination Period Opens for Veterans of the Year Awards

Nomination Period Opens for Veterans of the Year Awards

September 29, 2023
On Life and Love After 50: The Man in Black at The Coach House

On Life and Love After 50: The Man in Black at The Coach House

September 29, 2023
On Life and Love After 50: The Man in Black at The Coach House

Adoptable Pet of the Week: Mina

September 29, 2023
At the Movies: ‘A Haunting in Venice’

At the Movies: ‘A Haunting in Venice’

September 29, 2023
Next Post
At the Movies: ‘The Worst Person in the World’ Gets It Right

At the Movies: 'The Worst Person in the World' Gets It Right

Discussion about this post

No Result
View All Result

The Dispatch Daily
Get important news and updates delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here.

Subscriptions
Don’t get The Dispatch delivered to your home? Subscribe today.

Advertising
Get new customers and drive traffic to your business. Advertise with us.

Support Local Journalism
For less than the cost of a couple of cups of coffee a month, become an “Insider” member and continue to get “Local News You Can Use” from the only independently owned, dedicated local news organization in South Orange County.

Contribute today.

Picket Fence Media is a proud member of the SoCal Media Network.

  • Current Issue
  • Contact Us
  • San Clemente Times
  • Dana Point Times
  • About Us

© 2023 Picket Fence Media

No Result
View All Result
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye On SJC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit A Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SJC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • Dana Point Times
    • San Clemente Times
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SJC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit A Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Submit an Obituary
    • Announcements
    • Submit An Announcement
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Guide
    • Go See Do
    • Good Eats
    • Graduation Special
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide 2023
    • Inside/Outside Home
    • San Juan Football Preview
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • WSL Rip Curl Guide 2023
  • SJC Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who

© 2023 Picket Fence Media