This is the first in a series of several books about the "First Farmers of the Oxnard Plain." In the winter of 1867 four German immigrants planted and harvested the first crop, barley, on the virgin soil that thirty years later earned the name of the Oxnard Plain. Christian Borchard, his son John Edward Borchard, Christian's nephew Caspar Borchard and former countryman from Germany, Gottfried Maulhardt, traveled to the south side of the Santa Clara River and lived in one of the few adobe structures on the former land grant Santa Clara o la Colonia. Originally granted to eight Mexican soldiers after the secularization of the former mission lands, only the Gonzalez family tried to make a living on the 44,000 acres. Cattle was the major source of income in California in the during the mid 1800's, but a series of droughts cost many of the cattle raisers to sell their land. By the time the Borchards and Maulhardts arrived in 1867, the cattle and the Gonzalez family were all but gone.  

After a chapter on these farmer's German roots and a short chapter on California history, the book presents a history of the first farmers of the Oxnard plain. Eleven biographical histories are featured with references to many other early Ventura County families. 

The book came out in June 1999.  A few short weeks later, 500 copies were sold. I was able to acquire an additional 134 copies from the Printer.  A second printing of 750 copies were printed and currently the book is out of print.  

The book features 264 pages, 300 pictures, 20 pages color pictures, and over 250 footnotes.