The sun rises over the Chugach range on the 2011 winter solstice. Pioneer Peak is on the left.

The Mat-Su Master Gardeners float drives along S. Alaska Street in Palmer during the 2011 Colony Christmas parade on Saturday, December 10.

A cow moose browses in a Palmer, Alaska backyard.

Frozen gazania in a Palmer garden.

A flock of swans feed in a pond alongside the Glenn Highway near Palmer on Sunday, September 25.

Snow from a recent storm caps Pioneer Peak on Wednesday, September 21, 2011.

High bush cranberries

Fall colors on Canoe Lake.

Riding the ferris wheel at the 2011 Alaska State Fair.

The cabbage fairies were on hand for the 16th annual giant cabbage weigh-off at the Alaska State Fair on Friday, September 2. Grower Steve Hubacek captured first place with a 126.4-pound entry, just shy of his 127 pound world record.

Wild blueberries in Hatcher Pass, Alaska.

A romanesco cauliflower head at the Glacier Valley Farm Barn Market in Palmer on Saturday, August 6.

A foal nurses as its mother looks on in a pasture off Farm Loop Road in Palmer.

Signs at the Trunk Road roundabout in the Valley.

A swallowtail butterfly alights on a lilac bush near Palmer on June 17, 2011.

Ben Vanderweele plants potatoes in a field off Outer Spring Loop on May 27, 2011.

Vangie Alexander milks a cow at Tranquility Heights Farm near Palmer.

Migrating birds, including sandhill cranes, canada geese and snow geese, gather in a hay field near the Palmer airport on Thursday, April 28.

A composite image of the December 2010 lunar eclipse

A horse-drawn sleigh travels down E. Dahlia Avenue in Palmer during the Colony Christmas celebration

Ice covers a crabapple in a yard near Palmer

October leaves

Morning fog and a pair of Colony barns at the foot of the Chugach Mountains near Palmer.