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posted: August 31st, 2024 |
This page begins with August 4th and a trip up to Grapefruit Rocks, where there was a wildfire this year. Next are several photos of our garden, and our Silvery Fir Tomato Plants. There are some photos of this summer's firewood work and then a few more garden photos, and after that a trip up to US Creek Road in search of blueberries. After that are a couple photos of our canopy at the Tanana Valley Farmers Market, and those are followed by some photos taken at the Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge Sandhill Crane Festival. The final photos show me and my birthday cake on my birthday. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin August 4th - August 13th |
On August 4th we took a trip up to Grapefruit Rocks on the Elliott Highway. This is the place where we go in the early spring to find the very first Pasque Flowers, and a bit later in the season for the Spotted Lady Slipper Orchid, plus many other species. Wonder what effect the fire will have on these species? So sad, so heartbreaking.The first two photos were taken a ways before Grapefruit Rocks. The big clearing on the mountain is a gravel pit. In the third photo you can easily find one of the trails. |
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The first photo is again taken from farther away from the fire. The second photo shows how greenery is already coming back after the fire. The third photo just shows sadness.
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Here are three more photos of the Grapefruit Complex Wildfire. Notice that this was a HOT fire as it passed through this area. This area is known as Upper Grapefruit Rocks.
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This fire consumed 90,699 acres in total. The second photo in this row shows that a portion of the fire burned right up to the Trans-Alaskan Oil Pipeline. The third photo show that it mostly wiped out Lower Grapefruit Rocks too.
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Here is Kazuya walking through the fire scar. The second shot was taken from farther away.
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Here is the final wildfire photo and also the official map of the area. The total acreage burned was determined to be 90,699 acres. The green line in this image is the Elliott Highway and the numbers are mileposts. The entrance to the Upper Grapefruit area is at milepost 39.
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Now we have some photos that were taken in our garden. The first and third photos show some of our amazing lilies that survived the winter and graced us with the most amazing blossoms again this year. The center shot shows our Silvery Fir Tomato plant as the first tomatoes begin to turn red.
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Here are an additional two photos of our amazing lilies and a shot of our tomato plant, just two days after the one just above.
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Hmmm, did I overdo it with the lily photos? The center shot shows some tree rounds that came from some cleanup on the power line downhill from our house. When hauling it up the hill to the splitting area, I staged it, three stages to the splitting area.
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In this row is one shot of lilies, a shot of something that I don't recall, and then a weird fungus of some kind.
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Here is another shot of the Silvery Fir Tomatoes - just about ready for harvest. The center shot shows some sunflowers that Kazuya bought at Farmers Market. The third shot shows a Cosmos flower in our garden.
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Here are two shots of wheelbarrowing all of the rounds of wood shown in Row 9, uphill to the splitting area. Note the size of this round.
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These two shots show all of the wood rescued from the power line cleanup, I estimate it to be two cords. Unfortunately much of it is aspen, which is not a great firewood, but it's free and we did not have to haul it for 10 miles, so we'll use it.
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Can you believe that we were actually able to grow an eggplant? We only got one fruit, but it was super delicious. The center shot shows the Silvery Fir Tomato again. The third shot is a beauty!
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| End August 4th - 13th, Begin August 15th - 28th |
On August 15th we took a trip up the Steese Highway in search of blueberries. To get there, we had to pass the Osprey Nesting Platform at 33 mile, and Kazuya captured one adult and two young ones in the nest. At one of the places we picked blueberries Kazuya captured this great photo of Club Moss and Canadian Dogwood.
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Here are three photos of Blueberry (Vaccinium alaskaense). There are so many names that can be found for the Alaska Blueberry that I'm not so very sure that anybody really knows what it is or might be. I suspect that there are actually several species, sub-species, or varieties. That would explain why some bushes are three feet in height and other bushes are only five inches in height.
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Here is a shot of Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) and of Daniel harvesting blueberries.
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WOW! Here is an amazing photo of Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) - too bad it's not delicious. The second shot shows Bearberry (Arctostaphylos alpina).
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Here are two shots of Daniel in our Farmers Market Canopy. It was already chilly at 8:00 AM on August 24th. Notice how Kazuya decorated our table with flowers from the garden.
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We went to Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge during the Annual Sandhill Crane Festival - when Fairbanks says goodbye to all of the Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis). Bye-bye, see you next spring.
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Here are three additional shots of Sandhill Cranes.
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These three photos show Daniel and his 77th Birthday Cake on August 28th.
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| End August 28th, End August 2024's Photos, Begin Our Publications Links |
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| End Our Publications Links, End Page 1 of 1, August 2024 |
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