Each spring, thousands of migrating waterfowl stop in Fairbanks on their way to their northern breeding grounds.  These birds have flown many miles from their southern wintering grounds, often arriving in the Golden Heart City before the snow melts, usually in early April.  Numerous species arrive every year, including swans, ducks, geese, and sandhill cranes.  The Refuge also provides the jumping off point for birds after the breeding season, and before they once again take to the air for the southern wintering grounds.      The Refuge is owned by the State of Alaska, and managed by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADFG), which covers over 2,000 acres of forest, wetlands and fields, and is home to resident birds including raptors, ravens, grouse, chickadees and redpolls, plus numerous mammals, both small and large.  Wood frogs can also be found, an amphibian that can survive the brutally cold winters thanks to an internal “glycol system” that allows their bodies to freeze solid and return to …

The Fairbanks Garden Club has been working on gardening projects in Fairbanks since 1953.  Last year Friends of Creamer’s Field approached the garden club for some help in restoring and maintaing Anna Creamer’s historic vegetable garden, located  in front of the Farmhouse Visitor Center.    Susie Crevensten and Liz Masi took on the challenge of restoring and planting the garden in 2019.   At the end of the Garden season of 2019, a “Plant America” grant from the National Garden Club came to our attention and Doug and Susie Crevensten applied for it.  The “Plant America” grant was focused on improving gardens in the community and the Anna Creamer’s Historic Garden certainly fit that description. The grant also supplied a composter which will always be available for soil enrichment. In 2020, gardeners from the Fairbanks Garden Club became interested in making the Historical Garden a real success.  Liz Masi, Carol Slator, Althea St. Martin, Beverly Wright, Marlene Wright, Janet Brower, Susie and Doug Crevensten, Lucy Smyth and …

The first time I was saw a barn quilt was several years ago at  “Grandma’s Garage Sale” deep in the peat bogs of the Goldstream Valley. I didn’t know what barn quilts were then, but was intrigued by a small painted quilt block of a simple red and white Ohio Star design, and I purchased the piece for 25 cents and brought it home. I didn’t know then that this bold geometric painting would alter the course of my professional painting practice and lead me on the endeavor of initiating Alaska’s first barn quilt trail: the Far North Quilt Trail Project (FNQTP).  A brief explanation of this relatively new folk art movement: barn quilts originated in Ohio in 2001, and have grown exponentially in popularity. These large, bold, geometric paintings placed on the sides of barns, businesses and other buildings are now found nationwide. Many barn quilts linked together in one area is known as a quilt trail. These self-guided touring …