But it comes with the territory when you’re a “geo-geek.” Sure, Anderson’s getting technical and “esoteric” on us. In 2002 Poppy Jasper was named Morgan Hill’s official rock, making the city one of a few in the country with its own rock, or, mineral. “It’s sort of funny, because City Council of Morgan Hill decided to adopt Poppy Jasper as our official ‘city rock’…even though it is just a mineral,” he chuckled. Morgan Hill’s official “city rock,” in fact, isn’t actually a rock, according to Engineering Geologist Peter Anderson with Morgan Hill Pacific Geotechnical Engineering. They think it’s a film festival…but it’s not. The funny part, says Parker, is “there’s many people in Morgan Hill that don’t even know what it is. A popular film festival running nine years and counting takes its name from the mineral, even embedding a piece of Poppy Jasper into each of the award plaques so filmmakers and attendees can “walk away with a piece of Morgan Hill.” The City of Morgan Hill – the website template for which subtly reflects the kaleidoscopic red and yellow spheres found in the microcrystalline variety of quartz unique to Morgan Hill – has a “Poppy Jasper” ceramics room. A row of homes line Poppy Jasper Lane near the intersection of Cochrane and Monterey roads. Patrons of the El Toro Brewing Company can relax at a custom-designed, 40-foot long wraparound bar inlaid with the rare orbicular jasper while sipping the award-winning Poppy Jasper Amber Ale. Like the polished stones arranged in a spinning display case inside Parker’s busy A-1 Saw & Lawn Mower shop behind Rocca’s Market in San Martin, Poppy Jasper is to the Morgan Hill area as garlic is to Gilroy: A ubiquitous component of the community’s identity and character.Ī meteor-like hunk of the stuff sits on display inside a special case inside the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center. “He has the whole garage to himself, so it’s like his little man cave…but with rocks.” My mom would be so mad,” says his daughter Amy Bou, a 27-year-old Gavilan College nursing student. Water tinted pink with traces of the iron-rich jasper sprays everywhere during the process, Parker explains. Parker’s handheld polisher/grinder dispenses a steady flow of water through a special valve, keeping the semi-precious mineral cool and lubricated. The 60-year-old “rock hound” dons a rain jacket while tinkering away on his front lawn, using a special tool called a “wet stone grinder” to craft a bowl made of solid Poppy Jasper. Jeff Parker jokes that his neighbors must “think I’m a weirdo.”
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