Clawing our way into summer 2023….

Okay so the title is a bit dramatic, but to be honest it does feel like every step we take to rebuild Gardens in the Arctic is slow and cumbersome. But I think the reason that it feels like that is because the first time I built the high tunnel and set it up I had no idea what I was doing , and this time around I have some idea of what it COULD be and that image sits in the back of my mind. So I tell myself to be patient and let it all just fall into place.

To bring everyone up to speed… We had to take the high tunnel down off the lot we were borrowing and then find a place to put it. We lucked out that some land was going up for bid, and we lucked out even more that the lot we won was directly behind the house. Fast forward to spring and we were itching to get the hightunnel steel poles into the ground, and then covid made it’s way through our family and laid us out for more than a month. We missed the planting window, and a ton of our seedlings died due to neglect. So I reluctantly shrugged off last summer. But we at least scraped the lot clean of willows and built up the steel poles and sunk them in, adding a gravel pad in the fall. Then early this spring I slipped getting off my honda and broke my wrist so bad it needed surgery and I ended up with a plate and some screws and even though I got the cast removed I still have what I call my ‘T-rex’ arm as it will be a while till it’s up to par. I have recruite my younger brother though to do all of the heavy lifting and whatnot and he has been such a big help!

This year we also had some awesome visitors from University of Alaka Pairbanks and they brought some really neat stuff like cherry’s, haskaps and currants, along with installing some monitoring equipment so that temperatures and conditioners will be recorded all year long. So this is the year that GITA has made it into the 21st century!

I apologize again for not really updating this blog, but please find our Gardens in the Arctic accounts on Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook (it’s a group called Anaktuvuk Pass Gardens in the Arctic.) Sometimes it’s easier to post a few pics here and there rather than write up a whole post!

Take care out there!