alaskaphoto & design

Arctic Circle

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 05:49:59 +0000

Storm clouds blow over the Fort Yukon airport near the summer solstice.

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.

Alaska on 10,000 calories a day

admin — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 20:00:33 +0000

Chief Iditarod veterinarian Stuart Nelson describes the dogs’ incredible performance in human terms in this audio slideshow I produced for Alaska Dispatch after returning from the 2010 race.

71 teams, 1136 dogs and a polar bear

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:16:37 +0000

Photo by Stephen Nowers/AlaskaDispatch.com

A polar bear walks on the sea ice near the Island of Little Diomede.

In March I spent 10 days following the 2010 Iditarod as a photographer for Alaska Dispatch. Incredible weather — if a little cold — and a 4th championship for Lance Mackey.

The day after Mackey crossed the finish line we hopped in our Cessna 206 for a day trip to King Island and Little Diomede. We saw this guy wandering across the ice when we were on final approach to the ice strip in front of Little Diomede. Couldn’t ask for any more.

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.

Strawberries in Alaska

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:27:26 +0000

Arthur Keyes is experimenting a pair of California strawberry varieties on his Palmer, Alaska farm. As strange as this California-in-Alaska story seems, Keyes sees a huge upside to growing the berries in Alaska. The fruit can ripen on the plant, increasing sweetness, and Alaska’s harsh winters and isolation mean that there are very few crop-threatening pests.

He says the strawberries have been very popular with his customers at the South Anchorage Farmers Market.

[Still photo gallery from A&M Farms]

A long view of recycling

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 05:47:44 +0000

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]