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Arctic Arrow Solstice Gathering
Bernie Willis and his wife own Arctic Arrow Farm, which is located in Wasilla, Alaska. Each year they host a solstice gathering, the following is my December 20, 2008 account.
Yesterday Pete and I ventured out to Bernie and Jeanette Willis’s Arctic Arrow Farm, which is now on the outskirts of Wasilla. (For many years it was in Anchorage.) Bernie, Jeanette, and their daughter Janet were hosting their second annual winter solstice get together.
Bernie and Jeanette live on a lake, in an area that’s heavily wooded. They’re homesteaders of sorts. They’ve built or refurbished all the property dwellings, put in a well and septic system, and built a greenhouse which is attached to a huge self-built airport hanger. They’ve grow most of their own produce, including the largest heads of broccoli I have ever seen. Dogs and sheep are very much a part of the woodsy landscape. Most of the dogs are in houses, many are Iditarod champs.
The Willis’s own 11 (count ‘em, 11) Icelandic horses, five of which recently arrived here from Iceland. Bernie and Jeanette drove to the east coast, picked them up, and drove back home. Princessa, who was then pregnant, gave birth this past year, to a foal named Prince.
I have a hard time dealing with the holidays because it seems to me to be mostly about money, shopping, and crowds. However, this event seemed to me to be what the holidays should be about – getting together with those you know, and enjoying their company. And as well, getting together with those you don’t know, and enjoying their company.
Pete dropped me off at the intersection of the Parks Highway and Pittman Road, and I ran to the Willis’s. There were 25-or-so people milling about, and as I was running around the lake, 25 or so more showed up. There were kids everywhere, and they and their parents were treated to sleigh rides, dog sled rides, and a bonfire. The bonfire was started and supervised by Ruth Hersinger and Michael Hoffmeyer, who had also set up a propane stove. Party goers were then encouraged to help themselves to hot apple cider and glow wine. (The glow wine is a European tradition – it got its name, not because of how it makes you feel on the inside, but because of the fact that it glows if you spill it one snow.) There were holiday lights on the trees. And there was food, lots of food. All removed the winter chill—it was well below zero out.
I drifted in the direction of those conversations which centered around Icelandic horses. have a cover and this is that I’m the census taker for the Alaska Icelandic Horse Association. I like my job because it both lends legitimacy to my obsession and gives me license to be horse-nosey. I was relieved to find that there was plenty of horse-talk to be had. The first person I talked to was the one I’d most recently been thinking about, Joyce Barnett. Joyce and her family sold me Tinni, and since, I have felt a kinship with them that extends beyond the mere acquisition of this horse. She was cross-country skiing, which is one of her favorite past-times, but was polite enough to stop and listen to me. Before she could even speak, I began talking excitedly about Tinni, and that morning’s ride. By the time I’d finished talking, Joyce was beaming. We then chatted about her mom, who recently passed away, and Joyce’s daughter Katelyn, who is now going to school and living in Seattle. If, I thought, Katelyn were here, we’d talk about her horse Thokki, and how his training was coming along.
I finished my run, and then stood by the fire and talked with Ruth about our friend Brandi’s Icelandic, Hunar. Ruth was considering taking on the silver dapple for the winter, so we talked about what for us both is always a constant concern, time management. Like me, Ruth has many animals, and finding time to train, feed, and clean up after them all is one of life’s greatest challenges. Unlike me, Ruth has many other interests – she knits, makes soap, snowmobiles, and dances.
I went back down the bonfire area, and then talked with Steve Wilder, who mentioned that he has three Icelandics for sale, an older mare, a ten-year-old gelding, and a five-year-old stallion. Steve, a construction worker, added that he doesn’t have the time to work with them. I later passed this information on the Lois, who’d come to the party with her family. Lois is currently looking for another horse, so that she can ride with her teen-age daughter.
I warmed my hands and talked with Mariann and Dick Stoffel about their horse, Carmen. The news was that the pinto had been bred to one of Bernie’s two stallions, and, according to Dick, it looked like she was in foal.
It was getting dark and I was getting hungry, so I walked back up to the house. Janet Willis was standing by the counter. I had a question that I presumed that she’d be able to answer since she’s been giving lessons for many years, and has her judging certification. I told her that Raudi, who is five-and-a-half, no has a well balanced, sustained trot, and asked her how I might go about getting her to tolt. I added that she offers a few steps now and then, between walk and trot. Janet a forthright person, always tells me what I need to know in a very succinct fashion, and then quietly waits for the next dumb question. What Janet said to me (once again) made absolute sense – if Raudi is tolting, stop her before she trots, so that she learns this is what I want her to do.
The general conversation veered off, in the direction of sled dog racing, so I wandered around, looking for someone else to Icelandic horses with. I sat next to Bernie, because I knew that I could depend on him to feed my desire for more (Icelandic horse) related information. I admired his handiwork, some molding that he’d put on some doors, and then we got down to business, a discussion about something I had not considered, breed standards versus breed stereotypes, that is, what people think the Icelandic horse is in terms of breeding and temperament, versus what it actually is. This lead to our looking at photos of his horses, which lead to a discussion (with Pete) about the Alaska Icelandic Horse Association website.
It was time to go home, which was just as well, I was just about sated. Just about. Had I seen any other Icelandic horse people, I probably would have struck up a conversation with them, too.
As Pete and I drove off, I realized that there was
a rime in which I would have gone to a gathering like this and left early
because I would have been at a loss for something to talk about. I have
always been an introvert, a person who pretty much keeps to herself and
shuns crowds.) The horses, they are good because they have given me a
reason for conversing with people. Now, if say, I went to a gathering
of non-horse people, I’d feel just slightly instead of totally uncomfortable.
There you have it, an up side to this rather odd obsession.
Arctic Arrow Solstice Gathering