alaskaphoto & design » Palmer

Product of the summer

admin — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 22:16:00 +0000

June in Alaska is a tough time for the Eat Local crowd. Long, sunny days and yet we’re not going to see produce at the markets for another two or three weeks.

Root vegetables — potatoes, carrots, beets — are still available, but supplies are running low and they’re just not the same after being storage all winter. I miss fresh carrots in particular, which made it pretty tough to edit together this video of the Vanderweele Farm carrot harvest from last September.

Winter hangs around

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 07:07:00 +0000

Sign along the Glenn Highway near Palmer on Thursday, April 15.

Happy New Year

admin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:02:48 +0000

Photo by Stephen Nowers/AlaskaDispatch.com

The partially eclipsed blue moon sets behind the Talkeetna Mountains on New Year’s Eve, 2009.

According to Dr. Tony Phillips on the Science@NASA website “[t]he modern astronomical Blue Moon occurs in some month every 2.5 years, on average. A Blue Moon falling precisely on Dec. 31st, however, is much more unusual. The last time it happened was in 1990, and the next time won’t be until 2028.”

carrot harvest

admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:56:53 +0000

As the farming season winds down, local producers are racing to get the last of their crops out of the ground before winter arrives. This week Vanderweele Farms is pulling carrots for the local grocery stores, and owner Ben Vanderweele expects the first bags to arrive in Anchorage/Palmer/Wasilla stores by the end of the week.

the politics of organic

admin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:18:35 +0000

Arctic Organics co-owner Sarah Bean talks about the fed’s takeover of the term “organic.”
[Still gallery from Arctic Organics]

Bug bath

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:00:06 +0000

The mosquitoes are in full swarm in Kepler-Bradley State Park but the views are worth it.

Just don’t stop ….

Hazardous practice

admin — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 06:46:06 +0000

Central Mat-Su Fire Department firefighters and medics practice a standing take down on a ‘patient’ during a haz-mat drill on Saturday, June 6 (Stephen Nowers/alaskaphoto.net)

This morning Mat-Su Regional Hospital conducted a mass casualty incident to test their incident command readiness and the Central Mat-Su Fire Department helped get the patients to the triage area. I had some time to take pictures before I had to return to my engine (this image was taken the instant before the lead medic pointedly asked “Are you going to help?”).

Eat Local: A new farming season begins

admin — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:32:35 +0000

Eat Local NW: Lettuce Transplants from Stephen Nowers on Vimeo.

Long-time farmer Ben Vanderweele cultivates many of the picturesque farm fields near the Alaska State Fairgrounds in Palmer. This year he’s growing lettuce, cabbage, potatoes, and broccoli for sale in local grocery stores and restaurants. On Tuesday, May 26, he had employees transplanting red and green leaf lettuce in the field closest to the Palmer Golf Course.

Crew member Teresa Reel is starting her fifth season on the farm and gave a brief description of what it takes to work on the transplanting team in this video and a still picture gallery is available here.

Vanderweele said the warm spring has made for a good growing season so far and he hopes to begin harvesting by the end of June. In addition to lettuce, he is also growing potatoes, broccoli and cabbage for local grocery stores and restaurants.

Blessing of the bikes

admin — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:07:57 +0000

2009 Blessing of the Bikes from Stephen Nowers on Vimeo.

Over 200 bikes were on hand of the 10th annual blessing of the bikes in Palmer, Alaska.