The Truth about Elderberries

Workamper Floyd came into the store on Friday with a huge handful of these offering tasting all around. “This is the Mexican Blue Elderberry Tree and the berries are edible.” So we have been eating them all weekend long, offering them to guests. They are like tiny grapes with a sweet/sour flavor, definitely good. I have been seeing this tree for 5 years, not knowing what it is.

So a couple of the ladies decided to make elderberry jelly and I just looked it up on the internet. After the ingredients and the cooking instructions, there was a single sentence that said, ‘elderberries are toxic if eaten raw’!!!! That sent me into panic thinking that I had inadvertently poisoned myself, and my family, and our guests!

More research on the internet. Evidently, the stems and leaves should not be eaten but you can make jelly from the berries. Perhaps in large quantities one might get a stomach ache, but large quantities of grapes will give you one too. What do you know about elderberries?

Vegetarian Coyote?

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

How to Make your Business Eco-Friendly Step 2

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.

Start with a tree and then it dies….

tree sections

stacks of firewood

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.

Typical Summer Weather- you need a swimsuit AND umbrella AND a quilt!

Thunderheads approaching

Have you ever visited a place that required a swimsuit for the heat AND rain umbrella AND a quilt at night?

Sacred Rocks Reserve is located at 3800 feet in altitude, inland from the ocean about 70 miles, and about 50 miles from the Imperial County desert floor.

Over the weekend the temperature reached about 90 degrees at Sacred Rocks Reserve. 5 degrees cooler than El Cajon, CA. 15-20 degrees cooler than El Centro, CA. Because it is very dry at Sacred Rocks Reserve guests lounged comfortably in hammocks and chaise lounges in the shade, and did not suffer the heat. Over the weekend, the night time weather fell to 52 degrees! Most of us sleeping with the windows open had to pull up a blanket.

This is the time of year to catch the beautiful thunderheads as they bring rain to the mountains. Today, there is an ALERT for severe thundershowers for Boulevard, Ca, home of Sacred Rocks Reserve and Sacred Rocks RV Park.

So the word of the day is, swimsuits and umbrellas!

Our Real Address

The oddest stories keep coming to us about guests using map services and GPS equipment and finding us by traveling off the freeway onto Old Hwy 80, then across the dirt cutoff from Live Oak Springs then onto Hwy 94 and eventually to us.

So I finally checked it out and, lo and behold, 37133 Hwy 94 is an address used for our property since the early 1900s, but does NOT exist! It has been wrong for 100 years! I pinned down the right info at the San Diego County Planning & Land Use Department and we REALLY are located at 1331 Shasta Way.

Verrrrry unusual things happen in the high country! So with the new name we also have a new address, but we are still in the same place.

Please note: Sacred Rocks Reserve, 1331 Shasta Way, Boulevard, CA 91905.

Heartsick…..

A camper visited the weekend of the Fourth of July. Not knowing, or not caring. Spent a huge amount of time and effort cutting deeply into two of the majestic oak trees, their initials and a heart. How could they?

How could they? Did they not understand that each cut through the bark of the tree opens a door for infestation and thus, death for the tree. The result is that two beautiful trees, at least 200-300 years old are at risk. We will try to heal and cover the wound to the tree but it is not always successful.

Now, in this time of drought, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, AVOID cutting into the bark, or putting nail holes, or screws. Tell your children, tell your guests and report immediately to the office if you notice anyone doing this.

What are Emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, and Sirex woodwasp?

oak tree killed by non-native insects

These are 3 wood-infesting species that can be transported long distances in firewood and can become established and kill local trees. The USDA Forest Service states that we must STOP THE SPREAD and protect our forest and trees. Please help spread the word about this serious problem.

What can we do?

1. Leave firewood at home
2. Use firewood from local sources

Over the last two years we have lost at least 10 oak trees due to infestation. Did you know that most of our oak trees are more than 300 years old? It took 2 weeks, yes, 2 weeks to kill the beautiful and ancient trees.

Do we seem harsh about the rule of NO OUTSIDE FIREWOOD? You bet! Neither we, nor our children, nor our children’s children will be here for the replacement tree to be as beautiful as they are right now. Perhaps it will take 4 generations to replace what is lost due to infestation.

We heard a few comments about the Park just wanting to make a buck selling our own firewood. Actually, when you add the cost of felling the dead tree, to the cost of the workers cutting and stacking, and the cost of the Workampers delivering the wood to a site, there is not a penny of profit!

So if we ignored this problem, thinking to please everyone regardless of the cost, our trees could be all dead in a few years. Imagine that! Would you want to come to a place with a dead forest overhead?

Please do your part to keep this a beautiful nature reserve, Sacred Rocks Reserve.

Moved from Blogspot to WordPress

Outdoor World RV Park’s blog on Blogspot is now officially moved to Sacred Rocks on WordPress!

Change your bookmarks:

(old) http://outdoorworldrvpark.blogspot.com/

(NEW!) http://sacredrocks.wordpress.com/

Old name, old logo (Outdoor World RV Park) –> NEW NAME, NEW LOGO = Sacred Rocks Reserve

Tarantula Secrets for Living!

Last Sunday I was giving our guest, Tori, a brief hiking tour after we spent time in the labyrinth. She saw something moving, and we both stopped to see a four inch tarantula make it’s way across our road. While I don’t like the thought of a huge spider crawling ON ME, it was very interesting to watch. [and me without my camera!] It was very dark brown. The vibrations of our steps did not seem to bother it. We hovered a bit close, interupting light from the sun, and it kept on traveling. It seemed to look neither right nor left, never deviating from the path it had planned. Every other leg moved exactly at the same time to propel it forward. The legs that weren’t moving it forward were stablizing balance. What an economy of motion. In less than a minute it traveled about 12 feet from one side of the road to another. Goal accomplished!

Made me think of life in general. And what could happen if all of our parts focused on one specific objective? What could be possible if our mind, body, spirit, emotions, finances, and career all aimed at one goal? ANYTHING!

July 3-6 Events 2008

Things you could do this weekend at the RV Park

Thursday

• 8:30-9:30 PM Lightstick Parade — Meet at front deck, bring lightsticks [or available at store] Parents please accompany children under 10, all welcome

Friday

• 7:00-8:30 AM Hiking Group – moderate, all ages. Meet at front deck, we will hike the back trails of the Reserve
• 10:00-12:00 Nature Scavenger Hunt — Meet at front deck for instructions, prizes for completion
• 7:00-8:00 Labyrinth Walk pray for freedom in the world – meet at Labyrinth
• 8:30-10:00 FIREWORKS at casino

Saturday

• 7:00-8:00 am Hike a Mile – gentle, all ages. Meet at front deck
• 10:00-12:00 Obstacle Challenge: Bike, Run/walk, Swim
• 6:00-8:00 Movie Night at the Clubhouse
• 8:30-10:00 Drum Circle behind Big Rocks