springtime in Alaska – Stephanie Richey Art

Have you ever noticed that when you come home from a vacation you have to do all the work from when you were gone, so you’re playing catchup for a couple days, or a week, depending on how long you’ve been gone. That’s how I have felt this past weekend and beginning of this week. Everything I had scheduled seemed to catch me off guard with it’s timing because of everything else I was trying to get caught up on. Consequently, this past 5 days has been lively to say the least!

I do however, love to get back into my routine. I enjoy the break from it on vacation, but when I get back, I am ready to jump back in and start getting my time organized again. Weirdly enough, I was excited to jump back in to waking up at 5:15 to teach early morning seminary. I do really enjoy the youth I get to work with and my team teacher, so it makes it fun, even if it is earlier than I usually care to wake up. I also enjoy getting my house totally clean. My husband and my boys did a great job picking up after themselves and cleaning up after meals and things, the dishes always got done, and big messes got cleaned up. But a lot of the deeper cleaning needed to be done when I got home. I am grateful for their thoughtful care of our home though, it made it nice to walk in to our home after a long day of flying, and not be met with a huge mess.

One of the really exciting things that was supposed to happen while I was gone, but really, I’m glad I was here to watch, was posts for my new greenhouse were put in. We are building our greenhouse out on the edge of our swamp so it gets a lot of the sun, especially in the spring and fall. Because it’s in a swamp however, we had to have 15 foot long metal pipes called pilings driven into the ground rather than putting in a traditional foundation. So the pile driver came yesterday and got that all done! On to building, but I don’t know when that will start, there’s a lot of other people on my husbands list as well. My husband and boys took great care of my little plant starts while I was gone, making sure the light got plugged in every day, and keeping them water. When I got home they were growing and happy. All of this makes me super excited about summer!

While I was on vacation I was able to paint almost every day. At home it seems like I go days without ever creating anything, whether it’s painting or drawing or sewing. I enjoyed the ability to paint so much while I was there, and know that it’s just about putting my mind to it every day at home. I decided when I got home I needed to work on something creative everyday, or as many days as possible every week. So, even through the lively week we have had I also was able to paint a lupine flower. It was a nice mental break each day that I sat down to paint, and I love the opportunity to do so. We’ll see how my desire to do it every day works out, but for me, it doesn’t need to be painting per say, it can be anything creative. I have also noticed that as the daylight increases, so does my energy levels and my drive to do more with my time each day. I feel like I have it all year long, but at least this year, I have noticed an increase this spring. I am grateful for the renewed energy that visiting my family gave me. I am grateful to be home and spring to be fast approaching here in Alaska, and I look forward to the many lively adventures that the next few days and weeks hold!

Springtime in Alaska is one of my favorite times of the year. March is still considered winter in Alaska, and the amount of snow we still have on the ground would verify that this is still true. But it is a beautiful month. With more sun and more warmth, the snow really starts melting in March and it feels more like spring. April however is when spring really hits. But spring in Alaska is not the same as it is elsewhere.

Alaska’s spring consists of melting snow, more melting snow, a lot more water and melting snow, lots of water and mud, and then summer. Well, there is that one short week where the buds on the trees are huge and then open to reveal a beautiful spring green leaf, the mud has mostly dried up, and a lot of snow is gone, but that’s about as long as it lasts. This year, I am super excited for spring. This winter we have had a lot of snow. My husband, who has lived in Alaska his whole life, reminds me that this year wasn’t the most Willow could have gotten, and has gotten in years past, but he does agree that we have had more this year than we have had in the last several years anyway. For me it is probably one of the biggest snowfall years that I can remember. But I have only been here for about 25 years. The biggest difference this year was the moisture level in the snowfalls. Usually, it is very dry and fluffy. This year, especially during the month of February, the snow had a lot more moisture to it, and it was heavy. This means that it didn’t stack up as high as it could have, but it caused a lot more problems for buildings.

Daylight hours are increasing as well. I grew up in Southern Utah, and I never remember noticing the differences in daylight hours. I’m sure it is mostly because I was a kid, but the swings in daylight hours there aren’t huge either. In Alaska however, it’s impossible not to notice the shifting of daylight. Here in Willow, we have a little over 5 hours of daylight in the middle of winter, with somewhere around 19 hours of daylight in the summer. During the winter it can be difficult for some people to function on that little bit of daylight. I don’t seem to have a problem, but I have found that keeping busy regardless of the daylight hours can be helpful, at least for me. But I really start to notice the extra daylight in the spring. I have noticed that this gives me a boost of energy, especially in the morning, and I start to get excited about all sorts of things like hiking and my garden.

Because my mind shifts to summer things this time of year, I decided it was time to start a few plants that need a little bit of extra growth time before summer gets here. The extra daylight hours mean that I don’t absolutely need grow lights to get them going. So, my kids and I planted some seeds. We planted Broccoli, Cabbage, Onions, Tomatoes, and Peppers. I do not have a green thumb, and consequently, only about half the time does my own starts work for me. But I love having these plants growing in my windows until it’s warm enough to take them outside.

I might be a little bit late for some of these plants, like tomatoes. But in the fall, I end up bringing them inside to finish off the year. I am also getting excited for hiking, looking forward to getting out in nature and enjoying the beauty of the Alaskan summer. Hopefully this summer I will remember to share some of my favorite hikes with you, here on my blog as well as in video form! Today I hope you are enjoying your spring, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere anyway, and that you are looking forward to summer and the fun activities that summer brings!