Event Speaker 9/26
Meet Roger Mason
Roger Louis Mason was inspired by his granddaughter, Rachel, to found a mountain history museum group in 2015. Roger is a fourth generation Santa Cruz Mountain resident whose family settled in the Skyland community in the 1870’s. Great grandparents on both sides of the family lived and farmed on Stetson Road. Roger grew up and worked on the family fruit farm, and he also worked in construction with his father. Roger graduated from San Jose State University with an Industrial Engineering degree and a Business minor.
Event Speaker 9/26
Meet Melany Moore
Melany Moore grew up in Monte Sereno and, as a child, she was fortunate to have loving parents who nurtured her love of all animals, including horses. Her entire life has been devoted to saving animals of every type, to her children and to her business Shanel's Flowers in Campbell, which she created in 1986 and worked at until 2022. As a mother, Melany is proud to have raised her two daughters in the Loma Prieta School district, for which she was a volunteer for 11 years. Her children are proud graduates of Loma Prieta, C.T. English & Los Gatos High School.
Meet Martin Rizzo
Martin Rizzo-Martinez is a historian and Assistant Professor in the Film & Digital Media Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Martin is the author of a study of Indigenous peoples of the Santa Cruz area, We are not Animals: Indigenous Politics of Survival, Rebellion, and Reconstitution in Nineteenth-Century California, and co-producer, along with educator Daniel Stonebloom, of the podcast entitled Challenging Colonialism.
Murder and the Missions
By Debra Staab
Early Law and Order In the Santa Cruz Mountains, law and order has changed significantly over time. For 10,000 years, dozens of Native Americans in our area kept order through local norms and shared values. They resolved infractions through mediation and restitution rather than punishment. Restoring peace to the community was their goal. In contrast, under Spanish rule, from 1769 to 1821, law enforcement was handled by the military. The Santa Cruz Mountains were under the patrol of the cavalry, known as leather-jacket soldiers. Most were from the Monterey and San Francisco Presidios. They protected the Missions, chased down Native American runaways, and helped resolve local conflicts.
Bringing Fruit to Market
By Lou Rapp
Preparing for next year's crop of fruit begins in September and over the next twelve months, here’s what it took for the Rapp Ranch to make a crop of fruit ready for market. Adolphus Rapp first started farming in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1904. CHAPTER ONE - WINTER WORK In September a cover crop of Vetch seed was spread throughout the orchard. Vetch fixes large amounts of nitrogen (N) into the soil that helps the pear crop. The grass protects soil from erosion and helps improve soil and provides weed control during its vigorous growth in the spring. Also at this time a single disc blade plow was used to make drainage ditches across certain parts of the orchard diagonally, diverting water out of the orchard. This prevented the rain water from eroding the soil by gouging out gullies in the orchard. During these rain storms Adolphus went out with his hip boots on to make sure the water was draining properly in the orchard and that the reservoir was not overflowing.
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