John White’s 5 x 5 x 5 12/1/23 features Gwendolyn Alley

Southern California locals, please join us in Ventura for these upcoming events! Tonight Friday 12/1/23, you’re invited to a living history performance I will be doing about “the flower wizard of California” Theodosia Burr Shepherd, the woman who is responsible for creating the flower seed and bulb business in California. 

When pioneer farmers first arrived in Ventura County the men planted the crops that were familiar to them, then gradually began experimenting with lima beans, sugar beets, walnuts, apricots, and, with irrigation, citrus.  But Southern California’s flower seed and bulb industry is due to the vision and determination of a woman: Theodosia Burr Shepherd.

The Shepherd family arrived in San Buenaventura in 1873, and by 1900 Theodosia was the most famous woman in California.  The Smithsonian Institution declared that “it was she who put Ventura County on the map.” I will be sharing the life of Theodosia from the vantage point of her daughter Myrtle Shepherd Francis who grew up in what was to become the famous “Shepherd’s Gardens” between Main and Poli Streets, a block east of the county court house (now Ventura City Hall).  

Suzanne Paquette Lawrence as Josephine Pierpont in 2009

My mother  Suzanne Paquette Lawrence developed this living history performance in a Ventura College creative writing class I taught. Each semester, my mom would do a living history performance at Ventura College followed by a question and answer I would conduct where I would suss out the writing and research process as well as discuss hot button language. 

When my mom Suzanne passed away unexpectedly in 2010 at 72 years old, I donned her wigs, hats, and costumes to perform this script several times for audiences at Ventura College and at the site of Shepherd’s Gardens in downtown Ventura.

But the story goes deeper: my great grandmother Anna Paquette worked with Theodosia and Myrtle at Shepherd’s Gardens, developed her own strains of begonias and cecil bruner roses, and wrote for the LA Times about creating a coastal kitchen garden. My grandfather grew up in the gardens, catching rabbits for them to eat, and house finishes which he sold to pet stores as “Hollywood finches.” (My grandfather also always wanted to make wine! Read about his wine cellar here).

Just as Theodosia’s daughter carried on her mother’s tradition in the garden, I do my best to continue to help fulfill my family legacy in Ventura. 

So what else is going on this weekend and coming week? You can read about art activities here on Art Predator.

Tomorrow in downtown Ventura is the Ventura Farmers Market where you can taste and purchase wine from Clos des Amis, followed by the Ventura Street Fair, and concluded with the Ventura Winter Wine Walk. 

Ventura Winter Wine Walk

For those who adore bubbles, the Cave has a bubbly event Thurs. Dec. 7: The Cave in Ventura Wine Company’s Holiday Champagne Gala fortunately serves more than just Champagne at its annual holiday event, held this year on Thursday, December 7th from 4pm – 8pm. Tickets are $59.

And we will have plenty of bubbly wines from around the world to write about around here too. Next Friday is American bubbles, followed by French, Argentine, and more. 

So stay tuned! And happy holidays!