When you think of Alaska, what is the first image that comes to mind? Sweeping mountain vistas, covered in snow? Wildlife trudging through forests and bogs? If so, you are not alone. When people learn I am from Alaska, the first questions I get are about the amount of snow or daylight we get, or exclamations about how I must love the cold. I respond by telling them that while that is a part of Alaskan life, we also have glorious summers! I launch into diatribes about how Alaskan summers are rarely too hot and the sun doesn't set for weeks on end. It is my favorite time of year. Summer means I get to grow a garden at rapid speed. In the same time it takes a normal gardner to grow a decent cabbage, mine will grow 3 times larger thanks to the unlimited light. Have a problem with plants drying out, bolting, or being destroyed by pests? Not in Alaska!
I have always been a naturalist. When I was a kid, I looked forward to going to the nurseries to pick out the flowers that would dot the landscape of our house. I would venture into the woods and the mountains to hike and lose myself in nature. Summer camp was the highlight of my year. Being surrounded by flora and fauna has always been a happy place for me.
When I turned 18, I left Alaska. Like many who are born here, I felt isolated and wanted to see more of the world. I went to the east coast, to a big city of concrete and manicured bowling greens. It wasn’t bad, but it was different. I was away for about 8 years, and in that time I changed. I still believed in conservation and protecting the earth, but I wasn’t connected to nature the way I had been.
In 2014, I moved back to Alaska. My return was bitter sweet. I was burnt out by the big city and the people living there. Returning home felt like I failed living in the concrete jungle that I thought I wanted. However, I also immediately began to feel an ease back in the last frontier. The slower pace and the constant natural beauty had a healing effect. I was confused. I spent the first summer I was home outside, enjoying our limited months in the sun. Seeing the wildlife, endless oceans, and towering peaks with glaciers was soothing. Maybe I was wrong about what I wanted? I still wasn’t convinced I had made the right choice, but I was starting to feel more at ease with my choices.
A few years later I decided to buy a home of my own. I wasn’t sure I would be staying in Alaska permanently, but I needed to make a place for myself for the time being. While house hunting, I knew I wanted a place to grow flowers and a large yard for my dog to run free. Little did I know that I would eventually convert that home into a whole new way of life. Luckily, and unknowingly, I purchased a home that sat on 8500 square feet of southern facing yard in a valley that had its own microclimate. Before I even closed on the sale, there was one thing for sure I knew I wanted to do with my property. I wanted to raise honeybees. I had always thought it would be cool to have them, and now that I had my own place, why not get them! Problem was, I knew nothing about bees.
My lack of knowledge led me to the internet, where information on bees is confusing at best. Everyone had a different opinion on how to keep them and where they could live. I got freaked out reading about how my bees would die in our climate and that I would need to replace them every year. I was also led to believe that I needed to create a permaculture for them to thrive. I psyched myself out. The bees would have to wait while I worked on the perfect place for them to live.
I began small; pots filled with local nursery flowers. Then, I was given 6 peonies from my mom's house. She had always wanted to grow them but they were not doing well at her property. I planted them in my front yard, up against my house. They thrived.
Peonies against my home
My garden made of pots
A modest, beginner's harvest
From that point on, I was hooked. Every year I delved deeper into gardening. I still wanted bees, but I had convinced myself that I needed to build them a field of dreams, or, at the least, flowers. Then 2020 came, and the world fell apart. As it was getting difficult to go to the grocery stores, I saw my garden as an opportunity to feed my family. Growing produce in pots can be challenging, and after trying it for a few years, I decided to expand.
In May of 2022, my partner and I built 4 beds in the backyard. They were 4ft x 4ft and made from douglas fir. They were perfect. Having such a large space to garden was exhilarating and daunting. Up to this point I had never started my own seeds, always buying starts from the stores and nurseries. However, to buy all the plants to fill my beds would cost me a small fortune. "How hard can it be to grow plants from seed?", I thought. Hindsight has taught me what a loaded question that is. Starting seeds is both simple and difficult. I took on the challenge and my first year with the beds saw me growing so many amazing and delicious things. I was fully down the rabbit hole now.
My beautiful beds
A more robust harvest
Golden hour in a busy garden
Learning about overcrowding a bed
The next year, we built two more beds, this time 3ft x 10 ft. I was fully operational now. By 2024, I had begun to start all my plants from seeds, and had a reputation of having good starts. So I began to sell them, and Polar Petals & Pollen was born. The garden was now becoming second nature, and nurseries were a place for inspiration rather than purchases. I took pride in starting everything myself and learning all the nuisances that go with each and every genus of plant.
Then, as if the world was telling me it was time, my neighbor came knocking.
He came over to let us know that he had found a free beehive box and was able to order a package of bees to fill it. He wanted to make sure we would not have a problem with him putting a hive near the fence we shared. I was through the roof!
During the summer of 2024 I watched him through the fence as he learned to be a beekeeper. He asked if I wanted to maybe get my own bees, to which I resoundingly told him "Yes!". We decided to split a large purchase of used bee equipment, and in April of 2025 I got my first two hives. Finally, 9 years later, I had achieved the goal I had been working toward. Not only was I now a beekeeper, but I had learned and honed a skill that I never knew I would be interested in. I could grow and provide for me, my family, my friends, and my bees.
So, welcome to the journey. From here, I will be posting information, tips and tricks for beekeeping and gardening in the arctic climate that is the last frontier. In Alaska, rules that apply to everywhere else, rarely apply up here. We have a limited summer that will never reach the normal temperatures of the rest of North America. So we have to learn to garden and beekeep in a cool arctic summer. For beekeeping, we have an even harder task. We have to keep our bees alive overwinter. Something that is rather hard to do when dealing with a tropical insect.
I hope this site will act as a digital record of what I do to fail and succeed at my goals. I hope it provides insight into the life we live up here. Maybe, I will even help some people get started on their own journey.
Enjoy, I know I do!