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On our third day of snow I finally waded through 18″ of fresh powder to the frozen lake and checked out the two iron chairs that sit at the end of the dock. They look comfortably wrapped in a thick, fat white blanket. The strange mound in front on the lower right is the fake owl that serves as a buddy to ducks in the summer. My home weather station shows a sun icon, a change may be on the way, but at the moment it is 8 degrees, snowing, with very low visibility. The world is a silent white broken only by the sound of a distant plow, pushing, straining, creating mountains where none were before. Alaska. When this storm clears we will be dazzled by skies of northern lights.

Gail Niebrugge, landscape artist

Two days of snow have nearly buried the fledgling spruce trees at Niebrugge Studio and changed the landscape into an enchanted place, unless it’s your job to shovel. I love a snowy winter, there is beauty everywhere, subjects are just waiting to be painted. I wish we weren’t so busy right now, for I’d love to take off on my X-country skis and let the frosty flakes melt on my face as they land. To stand in the white mist surrounded by silence and hear only your own breathing. Magic!

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist

After a week of strong winds, gusts from 50-80mph, the temperatures dropping into the low 20 degrees fahrenheit, we assessed the yard. Tree branches, wood chips, trash and unsecured containers were strewn everywhere. Even as the wind continued to blow, Bob tackled the job of cutting down a tree that threatened to fall on the storage garage. He tied it to a rope and used the ATV to pull it in a direction away from the garage with the hope it would not fall on the building or the fence.

Viola, success! Now if only the wind will stop blowing.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist

While raking leaves and preparing the yard for winter I stumbled upon several clusters of these fleshy fungi puffballs breaking through the wood chips along the driveway. Mushrooms are common in the woods during fall and by now are nothing more than blackened mounds of dead vegetation. How odd to find these new clumps sprouting long after the others have died. Is this is the product of a balmy fall?

Gail Niebrugge, Landscape artist

I’ve been waiting for a load of wood chips and they arrived while we were doing the art show in Anchorage. I was surprised to see the size of the mountain alongside the driveway. There may not be enough time to spread them in the garden before it snows, and I’m a little worried that they may be scattered during our windy season. We might have a big blue tarp in the yard this winter.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist

As I walked through the yard checking for chores to be completed before the first snow I noticed the reflection of bare trees in a puddle surrounded by fallen leaves. Yes, winter is on the way, but this season has a beauty all its own. I’m glad I took the time to check out the yard and observe fall from the ground up.

Gail Niebrugge, landscape artist

Sunshine through the clouds warmed the wet chilled earth and prompted me to harvest potatoes and carrots this weekend. The bounty was great from our raised beds in the vegetable garden, I have more carrots than space to store over winter. Any suggestions on how to store them in our cool garage? I’ve never done this before. We have three kinds of potatoes; Robinta Reds grew the best and were stacked like cord wood inside dirt mounds some measuring more than 12″ long, then Yukon Gold and finally Gold Rush. Last year our potatoes lasted until May and we have more this year. We should be in business all winter with this generous yield. Working outdoors I became aware of an odd feeling from the air like winter is almost here, I wonder will it come early? Strange. My neighbor’s horse has a coat as thick as normal for November, is this a sign? Animals know. We shall see. I think it is best to be prepared.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska landscape artist

Termination dust coats nearby peaks the temperature dropped this morning light frost coating plants and grass and foggy steam rises from the cooling lake water. Ducks gather in the cove, hundreds stop briefly and resume flight at night gone in the morning, others follow more and more each day until suddenly none. Summer is done. Daylight growing shorter darkness stealing more light every morning and evening, winter approaches creeping like a stalking tomcat. Today is clear and sunny lighting golden leaves, melting frost creating beautiful breathtaking scenes to behold. Fall in Alaska has no equal. An artists paradise.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska painter

Since the above photo was taken in our back yard the leaves have already started to fall and fresh snow adorns the surrounding mountain peaks. Winter is on the way. Frost is predicted for tonight. I’m playing catch-up with the yard, so much to be done yet and so little time. The hoses have all been drained and stored, but the garden is still laden with zucchini and yellow squash that will perish with the first freeze. The potatoes are fine, a good frost will make them better and I plan to dig them up over the weekend. My carrots are giants, I’ve never seen any so large, they are tender and sweet. These will be stored over the winter with the potatoes and provide tasty, nutritious vegetables to use until our garden produces again next summer. I love this time of year its beauty is staggering, but the chores have an underlying urgency attached. Procrastination will find everything buried under snow and frozen, glued hard to the ground.

Gail Niebrugge, landscape painter

For some reason this Morden Fireglow rose bush thrives in my perennial flower bed. All other varieties other than the hardy Hansa Rugosa have died. Some didn’t made it through a winter and others grow for several years before dried thorny branches simply won’t yield a single green leaf. I had to part with two Purple Pavers this year, replacing them with dependable Hansa. Four years old, this gorgeous fireglow is flowering and producing new shoots daily. I won’t question why, I simply rejoice it in it’s beauty and enjoy the fact that it is still alive and happy.

Gail Niebrugge, painter of flowers

My garden is host to ten Brussels Sprouts plants, each are sporting rows of miniature sprouts climbing the thick, stout stalks. This vegetable will continue to grow and mature well after the first frosts of September, and will actually become sweeter and more tender as a result of the cold weather. I will cull the sprouts from their stalks sometime during mid September, blanching, vacuum sealing and freezing them for use during winter. Time for tending my garden is growing to an end for several weeks, my Artist-in-Residence at Denali National Park is nearly here and I need to get packed and ready.

Gail Niebrugge, Landscape painter

I have about a dozen of these tough, hardy, dependable Hansa Rugosa bushes in the yard. Once they begin to bloom they provide an abundance of roses, the ground is soon carpeted with colorful petals and the plants continue to produce multitudes of buds for months. It doesn’t seem that anything can harm them, during winter some are hidden under huge piles of snow accumulated from plowing the drive, others stand as stark prickly silhouettes against wind blown snow drifts. Whatever the reason, they flourish in my garden and they are loved and cherished.

Gail Niebrugge, flower artist

My garden is yielding huge quantities of succulent tasty vegetables, more than we can use, so we share the bounty with neighbors and friends. It is going to be hard to be away for ten days the first of August doing my stint as Artist-in-Residence in Denali National Park. When I scheduled my dates last winter I didn’t take into account that the garden would be at its peak yield.

Here is part of tonight’s dinner. We’ve found that turnip is fabulous and sweet eaten raw with a dip as are the carrots, we bar-b-que beet slices coated lightly with olive oil, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Yum, delicious! Zucchini and yellow squash are waiting in the refrigerator along with snap peas and the small shoots of broccoli that grow after the big heads are harvested.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska landscape painter

The perennials along the walk to the studio front door are beginning to bloom, wow, it is going to be a riot of color this year! These are three Asiatic Lily plants, I have a total of ten in this flower bed. I’m going to miss some of the bloom while I’m serving as Artist-in-Residence in Denali for 10 days in August.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska flower painter

The second round of cauliflower are maturing in the garden.  This one will be ready to pick in a day or two.  My plants are growing by leaps and bounds this summer, I have a small White Spruce that has more than 28″ of new growth and most have over a foot!  Love the weather this year, perfect for growing.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska painter

In keeping with my plan to re-forest our acre of weeds and rocks we ordered more trees from our favorite tree farm; Baker’s Acres 674 W. Selina Lane, Wasilla, AK 99654 Tel: 907/357-4175, by appointment only.
Ed Baker carefully delivered three Lilac’s, two Caragana’s, and one superb 7′ White Spruce.  The Lilac and Caragana will be planted along the fence at the property line, and the spruce will be added to my collection of transplanted trees out by the road.  Someday, probably when I’m nearing 90, we will have a beautiful forest again replacing all the trees that were ripped out to build the house.

Bob planting a Lilac along the fence.  Ed grows a type of Lilac that the moose won’t eat.  This is important because our yard became a salad bowl for moose last winter.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaskan landscape artist

It seems like my zucchini grows an inch a day, it is nearly a foot long now and shows no sign of slowing down.  I’m kept hopping to stay up with the bounty from the vegetable garden this summer.  Everything is juicy, sweet and crisp.  Love summer and fresh veggies!

Gail Niebrugge, art of Alaska

My vegetable garden is in full bloom, yesterday I harvested broccoli, cauliflower, turnips and beets.  I thinned the carrots and have a bag full of tender babies for snacks.  Pods are forming on the pea vines, squash is 6″ long, and brussel sprouts are emerging along the tall leafy stalks.  Life is good.  Nasturtiums are flowering throughout the garden and bring bees who pollinate squash.  I pollinated with a tiny paintbrush before I began including flowers with the vegetables.  Pollinating is like painting in the garden!

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska artist

Our new patch of grass looks like a green velvet carpet thanks to plentiful summer rainfall.  We are the do-it-yourself-whenever-possible kind of gardeners and it has taken four years to complete the front yard at the studio/residence.

Last summer Bob designed a system to irrigate pumping directly from the lake, the plants have thrived from the nutrient laden warm water.  Vegetables flourish in fourteen raised beds and we’ve already harvested some lettuce and radishes.

Deep blue violet wild iris adds a dash of color to the back lawn.  This is what summer is all about, I love to garden and am eager to learn.  Tending plants between stints at the easel breaks up my time indoors, stretches stiff muscles and feeds the brain.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska landscape artist

We had the good fortune to find Nate Pokryfki, the owner of Soft Coat an asphault sealing company, to seal our driveway.  He and his employees did an outstanding job.  Now we must stay off the freshly tarred drive for 36 hours.  It has been a challenge trying to keep the fresh hydroseeding watered out by the road on the left side of the drive, lots of walking back and forth around the garages, through the garden to the back of the house.  And carrying groceries, frames and art from the road across the lawn to the studio.  I really didn’t think about how convenient the driveway is until I can’t use it.

Gail Niebrugge, Alaska landscape painter