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Notes from the Ranch
By Kathryn Fletcher
September/October 2023
 Arts and crafts, food, and Critter Encounters rounded out the Resource Center’s 25th anniversary celebration on a 103-degree summer day in Warner Springs.
 After Fall 2022 repairs and a dozen storms later, we can see the adobe in the appearance of what a 19th-century adobe often looked like. All photos by Kathryn Fletcher |
The weather is brutal year-round in Warner Springs, with constant wind and dust, summer heat and thunderstorms, and winter rains and snow. The Warner-Carrillo Ranch House has a metal roof and mostly 18-inch-thick adobe walls with others built of wood. Last winter, 52 inches of rain and snow damaged the house’s plaster that had been applied in May 2022. Plans have been approved and call for a lime plaster as is shown in the historic photos. This technique should ensure that repairs last longer, but still be historically correct. The original restoration budget did not allow for this, which has caused us annual repairs.
The thick adobe walls are legendary for helping people stay cool during nearly 170 hot summers if doors and windows were open at night to let the cooler air in, and closed during the day to keep the heat out. But if night time temperatures do not cool down, like this summer, the house becomes uncomfortably warm.
In the midst of the July heat wave, we helped celebrate Warner Springs Community Resource Center’s 25 years of service to the backcountry at the center’s open house. The center operates a monthly food distribution program, a community garden, classes, and more. It’s also an important stop for Pacific Crest Trail hikers.
We presented displays about the ranch house and our sister site the Marston House Museum & Gardens. Visitors enjoyed arts and crafts creations, food vendors, musicians, Native dancers, Critter Encounters, and free vaccinations and health and human services outreach from San Diego County staff. Despite the 103-degree heat, we had a good turnout.
This fall, when the weather cools, we will be asking volunteers to help us clean and reorganize the 1858 hand-hewn Warner-Carrillo barn. Once done, we will move the mud wagon, with its recently restored wheels and hubs, into the barn, along with the two-seater buggy. Contact Head Docent Kathryn Fletcher if you would be willing to help. Thank you!
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