Note that they did not have 200 farmers; they had 61 soldiers and 11 friars scattered along the coast lands (not all of which are as fertile as the central valley–and much of which was dry).
I’m sure they planted gardens, but they did not originally set out to put in acres of crops to sustain themselves, expecting provisions to be sent until actual colonists did arrive or the local inhabitants could be encouraged/coerced to become farmers (for which *they would need to be trained, since they were nearly all hunter-gatherers).
He seems to want Spanish military help to expand his control and expand and strengthen his base. I’m sure he saw it as for the indians spiritual good. Nonetheless, where he chaffed with the Spanish Secular Government it was over who was boss in California : he or the Military , Not over Indian rights issues. Further recall that his Francisicans came to power in CA when the Jesuits were kicked out, it would be odd for him to turn on that power.
BTW in the OP you wrote that
Father Junipero Sera, to George Washington, congradulating him (Washington) upon his election to the presidency of the US.
At the age of 70, and after traveling 24,000 miles, Father Junípero Serra died at Mission San Carlos Borromeo and is buried there under the sanctuary floor in 1784.
I saw two othercites on that 1784 death date. George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his first oath of office as President of the United States April 30, 1789.
Washington had a globe in his library at Mt. Vernon. California appears to be indicated thereon. Also, Brooke’s Gazetteer was in common print and distribution in those days. I have a 1799 copy. California is mentioned therein.
AFAIK, while CA may have been claimed by Spain, the part now belonging to the US wasn’t settled by missionaries or anyone else (not counting the natives) until the late 18th century. Mission Dolores (now in San Francisco) was established in 1776.
However, the English adventurer Sir Francis Drake landed somewhere in the SF Bay Area in the later 1500’s and stayed to repair his ships. He would have been the first European seen by the locals in those parts, and likely the last one for many generations. But the point is that English geographers conspicously recorded “Drake’s Bay” on the coast of N CA and readers of later 18th century English geographies would have been well aware of the English landing on the CA coast .
So it is quite likely to conclude that GW knew CA was there. What he knew of it is another matter, and what he cared to know of it is still another.