Old or New?

 These are some more drive-by shots from Palmer in the Matanuska Valley.  There's the beautiful mountains in the background and a bright red barn in the foreground.

There's a square silo, not one you see everyday.

And then when we get past the trees you can see the barn more clearly, and the mountains too!  A lot of barns have old equipment sitting around, but the snow machine on the roof is probably more of an Alaskan thing.  It would be a lot more useful in the winter than a tractor!

The very earliest barns in the Valley would have been built in the late 30s, so none are as old as you'll find in other parts of the country.  I can't decide if the barn has been there for a while and just has some new red paint, or if it's a new barn, maybe replacing an older barn.  The silo certainly looks like it could have been built many years ago.  What do you think?

In 1935, under President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration established the Matanuska Colony.  From the drought-starved Midwest, 203 families traveled by train and ship to reach the colony and lived in a tent city that first summer.  Each family drew lots for individual 40-acre tracts and from there the fertile valley became rich farming country, famous for its giant vegetables grown under Alaska's long hours of summer daylight.

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Lots more barns to see at Tricia's Barn Charm!

Another Barn in the Matanuska Valley

Today's barn is another drive-by from Palmer in the Matanuska Valley that I took last month.  Of course there are the gorgeous mountains in the background to make for a lovely setting.

Right up close to the barn is a snug looking farmhouse.

Again, faced with several photos that were not quite in focus, I did a little editing.

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 Hop over to Tricia's Barn Charm for lots more old barns!

Far North Cattle Farm

Another barn we saw near Palmer was painted bright red.  I took several drive-by shots.

The farmhouse is painted red too.

There was a nice old wagon sitting out front.

What really gets your attention at this farm though is the reindeer that live here.  Reindeer are sometimes referred to as the "Cattle of the North" and this particular herd was started in 1987 with reindeer imported from Canada.

The farm used to be a dairy farm, but now it is home to about 150 reindeer, 35 elk, 13 horses, 1 bull moose, and 1 bison.  In the summer they do guided tours and you get to go in the pen and pet and feed the reindeer. 

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Check out more old barns at Tricia's Barn Charm

Winter Roadtrip

We drove to Anchorage Monday as Marty had a doctor's appointment for outpatient surgery to remove a cancerous growth on his ear.  The procedure went well and all of the malignant cells were removed.  The posts of the mountains earlier this week were taken on our trip down and a side trip we took on the Seward Highway.  I'll post more photos of those later.  We went to a couple of museums and I'll post those later too.  Thursday morning we left Anchorage with light snow falling and the surrounding mountains shrouded in clouds.

We took a small detour into Palmer on the Old Glenn Highway which runs along the Knik River.  We got some better mountain views, although the skies were still overcast.

Marty used to live along this road many years ago.  We passed his old driveway--the house was up the hill a little ways.  During the Good Friday Earthquake in March of 1964 the house slid down the hill.  The 9.2 magnitude earthquake was the most powerful earthquake recorded in U.S. history.  Yes, everyone was okay, and after that he rebuilt on a different piece of ground.  

Palmer is surrounded by mountains.  It's in the Matanuska Valley which contains some of the best farmland in Alaska.

The Knik River is at the base of the mountains, and you can see it in the foreground in these two photos.

More to come.....