Author Archives: Alexandra Wilson

Happy New Year, Farmgirl sisters!  If you haven’t noticed, it’s been a cold January for nearly every corner of the United States at some point this month.  My family and I have been in Minnesota and North Dakota for the past two weeks and have seen temperatures as low as -30–and that was without the wind chill!  Where we live in Alaska has been surprisingly warm, with some days registering nearly eighty degrees warmer than spots in the Midwest.

Leaving balmy Alaska for the frigid lower 48. That doesn’t sound right!

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Happy New Year, Farmgirl sisters!  If you haven’t noticed, it’s been a cold January for nearly every corner of the United States at some point this month.  My family and I have been in Minnesota and North Dakota for the past two weeks and have seen temperatures as low as -30–and that was without the wind chill!  Where we live in Alaska has been surprisingly warm, with some days registering nearly eighty degrees warmer than spots in the Midwest.

Leaving balmy Alaska for the frigid lower 48. That doesn’t sound right!

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What better way to figure out how to get through writer’s block than to write about it, right?  It has to get something flowing…

Turn on weird ethereal music (Radiohead’s 2016 release)

Watch birds at feeders outside windows for a bit.

…

Make some tea.

I spend quite a bit of time mentally preparing my writings, generally just thinking about a topic and how I want to narrow it down and connect it to other happenings in life or lore.  Often, while doing something, I’ll note to myself that it would be a good topic to put into writing. I intended to write this blog post about winter birds and bird feeders (after making bird feeders with the girls), spending time close to nature, and solstice preparations (both physical and mental!).  However, now that I’m sitting down to write, I can’t find the words.  My mind is locked into holiday preparations.

Nature-inspired additions to Opal’s gingerbread house: Snails and a mushrooms (Opal assisted).

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There isn’t much I love more in the world than brand new snow.  After falling asleep in a world that is largely brown and barren it is such a treat to wake up to a glittering, sparkling snowfall–reflecting a million little sunrises back at us.  “Isn’t it beautiful?!” I gasp and ask my children.  This time of year can be a gift with the first few snowfalls often melting between each event.

The girls admiring the morning snow fall.

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Hello Farmgirl Friends,

Autumn is taking its last breaths up here in the Alaskan north.  The last three mornings have revealed frost on all surfaces–a frost that persists during the day if it never sees the sun.  Trees are bare, birds are fattening up and quarreling at the feeder; sleeping in is becoming easier and easier as the sun rises later and later, day after day.

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Hello again Farmgirl Friends!

I hope this finds you well and cozy as autumn starts to creep across the northern hemisphere.  We are well on our way to more wintery days up here in AK.  Last week the leaves turned their bright yellows and oranges, while this week they are decidedly more brown.  On a walk the other day with the girls, Ava kept exclaiming, “I don’t like these ugly plants!  Why is everything dying? Why is it brown?  I do not enjoy these ugly plants!!” She was very adamant about her distaste for the senescing leaves…Alas, the nature lover in me could not convince her that this was meant to be–that the plants and trees are getting ready to sleep for the winter.  She was stuck on the aesthetics!

From a hike a few weeks ago. She wanted to know what it fells like to be a mushroom.

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Hello Farmgirl friends!

It’s hard to believe it has already been almost a month since our wedding!  Some of you might remember when Evan and I were engaged…five years ago.  A lot has happened in the interim—two children, many new friends, a few hard losses of loved ones, new jobs, new homes and some fun vacations.  It probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise that I don’t feel that much different after getting married.  The most shocking thing I’ve had to accept is the new title of “Mrs.” which is how my step cousin addressed me as we chatted in the receiving line after the ceremony.  

Newlyweds

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Hello Farmgirl friends! I hope your summers are going well. I’m getting married this coming Sunday…it has arrived so quickly! This is a great respite from the planning, list making, and overall excited anticipation of our “Big Day.” While I’ve spent much of the last few months with contacting vendors, searching for flower girl dresses and selecting our favorite dance songs, I have also spent a good amount of time in the fields of Sun Circle Farm.

Freshly weeded onions, fennel and and head lettuce! Only took about 12 hours of woman work…Yay for organic farming!

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun...

~Robert W. Service

Happy Solstice Farmgirl friends!! You can tell it’s solstice time in Alaska (and I bet about everywhere else, too)–there is so much going on from visitors to festivals to backyard parties.  Of course, the farming season is gearing up and the fields at Sun Circle Farm are almost at maximum capacity (one of these years a fallow field will remain fallow!)  Looking through my photos over the last month, I found that there were beautiful gems everywhere…

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Hello everyone! It seems like it’s been ages since I last wrote!  Usually time seems to move so quickly, it’s kind of a nice change to feel that time was moving a little slowly.  I’m not sure how that happened, especially since it seems like my daily mental task list keeps getting longer and longer with the length of our days.

We are smack dab in the middle of moving right now! We just finished packing up our moving truck, and it is ready to be driven back to the more rural town of Palmer.  Good-bye city life!  It’s been real.

We have amassed enough stuff to fill a 20 foot U-Haul…how times have changed!

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