Nature's Playground – Explore, Play, Unwind
If “We Are What We Eat”, then check this out: I went out hiking on the northern boundary of Sacred Rocks Reserve last Sunday. I took pictures of a bush with big red berries.
red berry bush
Then along further in my hike, I notice evidence that something had eaten some of these berries. It is said that coyotes eat these berries, but I don’t know for sure. Do you know?
coyote droppings
Plant/Tree Husbandry
When we came here 6 years ago, we had been city folks but with a background in living in small towns, Dimitri from Djibouti, East Africa and Sharon from Valle Vista, a community 5 miles east of Hemet, California. We really did not know much about the plants of the area of Boulevard. Every year we learn more.
The trees. The ancient and venerable oak trees One of the draws of Sacred Rocks Reserve is the huge trees that provide shade during the warm days of summer. The outside temperature can be 95 but 10 degrees cooler in the shade, lounging in a hammock or chaise lounge. The sound of the wind passing gently through the leaves of the trees, whispers
relax, let go, take a nap
A tree dies. A beautiful 300-400 year old majestic oak tree just dies. For whatever reason; age, infestation, drought, it is gone. What do we do? We get the tree company to fell it, then the workers all drag it to the wood pile. From that point it is aged [green wood does not burn well] the big logs are cut with a chain saw, then put through the wood-splitter. All winter long we cut and pile, getting wood ready for our guests. We have heard comments such as,
‘the reason you disallow wood is so you can sell your own firewood’
We laugh because we end up selling the wood at about cost. Cost, you say? Yes, cost. The tree cutting people are expensive to hire. The workers who cut and split the wood must be paid. The stacking and wood chipping the small branches is a job for hired hands. The delivery of wood to campers is a job for our Workampers.
Ah, the campfire. Sitting around chatting with your family and friends, it is easy to forget all the work in the getting of the wood. For centuries, people have taken wood from forests to burn for campfires. It has been a healthy and environmentally conscious act, that we have purposefully carried on.
Old Outdoor World 1972-2003
Imagine a one ton pickup truck AND a 4 cubic yard, and one determined owner along with a myriad of worker-bees, hauling load after load of trash. It was 2003, the RV Park just purchased. Sharon and Dimitri had a dream. The dream was to take care of the land, and to pass it to future generations. There have been challenges and a big one was, TRASH.
From Boulevard to the Miramar Landfill and back there are 140 miles. For years, people around had been using the RV Park 163 acres as a dump site. For whatever reason, they thought it was normal to dump their trash on other people’s land. The new owners put a stop to that. Then the clean-up began.
Each load of TRASH took 1-3 days to load. Behind nearly every group of beautiful trees and big rocks, the trash of years was cleared out. Day after day of sweating, lifting, hauling, loading, and driving and unloading and returning home. More than 80 TONS OF TRASH were hauled off Sacred Rocks Reserve [formerly Outdoor World RV Park]. Appliances, beds, garbage, cans and bottles, old cars, old parts of machines, more garbage, over 500 tires to the recycling company, over 2 tons of steel and aluminum to the recycling plants in National City. Thousands of miles driven.
So when we go out on to the Reserve to check things out, we take a plastic bag with us, to pick up what has blown or been dropped by careless campers. And we encourage everyone to do the same.
Shall we leave this world a better place? I would like to know of other experiences in cleaning up a business, or a home, or land.
There is a special wonder about being outdoors in all weather. It is REAL! We thought about how to encourage our guests to visit during the winter. And we thought about the urban problem of RV storage. Many people cannot park in their own front yard because of city ordinances. So here is an idea you might want to consider.
RV Storage on Your Site
Store your RV on a full hook up site for $65 per month. When you want to come up and spend a day or weekend, then you pay only $20 per night. You can leave your rig hooked up or not, your electricity will be metered. Enjoy every season’s weather – and snuggle up at night!
Limited sites are available for this program, and, the dates are November 1, 2008 to April 1, 2009. The month of April normal rates will apply. April is our spring cleaning month when we ready the sites for summer guests. We re-level, trim trees, rake leaves, and clean & paint tables and this is why we need storage RVs to vacate the site.
Many people, especially from desert areas, bring their rigs up from May through October. We do have a special program for these six months. If you choose to do this, we urge you to book your reservation early because you have the best choices of sites. Of course, in this nature Reserve, every campsite is beautiful.
Or, you could store your rig on a site just like this one for $65 a night and pull it into a site when you want to spend a weekend.
Regular RV Site
