We were on the road from Sept. 17-23. I really think you should plan for at least 10 days. I say this because we found a jewel of an area: Chena Hot Springs Road. We are all for returning and taking advantage of its many wonderful campgrounds and hiking trails. We think we could spend a month just along this one road.

O, the greenhouses! There were so many of them. Every shape and size, covered in any and every form of plastic that has ever been shipped to the Far North! Of those that I could see from the road, few were commercially produced, and none looked to be following any guidelines set down by the Cooperative Extension office. Most were tiny and stuffed with tomatoes. A little ingenuity can go a long way.

Last year we approached the Arctic Circle via the Dempster Highway, which wends its way through Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories, Canada. This, to me, is the preferred route. The scenery is visually engaging whereas the Dalton's raison d'etre is to follow the TransAlaska Pipeline. The presence of the pipeline detracts from the wilderness that you are most definitely surrounded by. It makes for an odd contrast. Plus the taiga forest has a way of going on forever. Nor did we ever, not once, see any game. None whatsoever.

But it was gorgeous and brings home the fact that we are a very huge state. The Arctic Circle, once achieved, seems almost tangible. It is surprising just how many of us have never been there.

Fall seems to be the best time for us to get away, the garden is slowing down, and John and I are unabashed leaf peepers. The hiking trails were dry and the blueberry bushes had turned bright red. It really is spectacular.

Once home I was very grateful for the raised beds in the vegetable plot that John built last fall. It was a major project but one that has paid off. The watering and weeding has been minimized. The amount of food that has been produced has been maximized. And I am one happy woman.

We installed four-inch copper flashing, with copper nails, on two of the beds. The flashing costs almost $2 a foot so we wanted to see if this was really worth the investment and I have decided that it most certainly is. Coupled with judicious use of Sluggo, the garden had very little slug damage. I used Sluggo (the active ingredient is iron phosphate and is organic, supposedly) in the paths as well as inside the beds. The hope is that I will eliminate any slugs in the beds with the Sluggo and keep them out with the copper flashing.

The greenhouse is over. I don't keep track of just how many pounds of anything that it produces. I suppose that I should, it would make this column seem more specifically informative, and I could justify the greenhouse's existence. But I don't want to keep records. I want to garden and to eat wonderful tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupe, basil and sweet red peppers all of which were produced by the SunGlo in quantity. Certainly more than we could use. This year I reduced the number of tomato plants to four. And that was two too many. The Cherokee Purple was a disappointment. We still favor Brandywine. The flavor is magnificent and really is what a tomato is all about. I don't want to miss anything so I will continue to try one new kind each year. But we do look forward to our Brandywines. One plant to each three foot square by eight inch deep container that is filled with the compost that I make all summer long. The plants certainly do respond.

Yes, I know that my SunGlo is a pricey piece and that not everyone can go that route, but, after seeing what folks have been doing outside of Fairbanks, I think that you can come up with something that is workable. Get going on this now so you will be ready to plant in the spring. If you wait for spring there will be too much of everything else happening and you won't get to it so get going now.

I've brought in the pumpkins. I like to wipe them off with a weak Clorox solution, it inhibits mold. If your pumpkins are not completely orange, have no fear, they will color up once they come inside.

The garden is still producing artichokes, chard, asparagus, Brussels sprouts and very pretty pink gooseberries that are a nuisance to harvest. The thorns on those shrubs are lethal and the berry itself has two ends that you need to deal with. I didn't realize all of this when I planted them. But they are a gorgeous plant. And the berries make a beautiful pie and wonderful jam. So there I am. But if I had it to do over, I wouldn't plant them, too much hassle.

Keep weeding, that is, if you everstarted....