oCUBE 2013

I believe the last blog I wrote was after 8 days of field work. The field season is now at the start of Week 4 and things have improved greatly since the last blog. Having 3 assistants to help me out has made the process more efficient and also less taxing on the body. We now have 100/100 cylinders in at Wire Fence field, and about 70/100 cylinders in at Bracken. It should take us about 2 more days and we can say so-long to the shovels. It will me an occasion to celebrate that's for sure.

Last week, I spent 3 days up in Muskoka at the oCUBE annual unconference. It was a really great experience and I am glad I went. oCUBE, the Ontario Consortium of Undergraduate Biology Educators, a group that aims to advance the quality of undergraduate education in Biology. It was an unconference, which meant that the schedule was not set in advance, and that all of the topics were suggested and then decided on based on voting with iclickers. The sessions were interesting and included: designing a research study about why students don't attend class, the bigger game, first year content, writing courses, science education, etc. It was really interesting and I learned a lot. We didn't actually do much outside of the conference proceedings, as the weather was very crappy. We did however go for a boat ride the first night we were there and that was a lot of fun. It was a great learning experience and networking opportunity. I look forward to seeing everyone again at WCSE (Western conference on science education) in July.

Field work begins

I have been in the field for 8 days now. I wasn't super optimistic about getting those cylinders into the ground... and I had a reason to be. They are so time consuming. Luckily, I got to have 2 extra field assistants for two weeks, which has been super helpful.

We have, give or take ~80 out of 200 cylinders in the ground now. About 60 of them are in at Bracken (my site in Westport) and 15 or so in Chaffey's Locks at Wire Fence field where I have done the majority of my previous field work. It is time consuming. At first we thought we would be able to just trench the circle with a spade, and slide the cylinders in... that wasn't happening. Instead, we have to trench a ring for the cylinder and then trench a bigger ring about 2 inches further out, and literally dig an 8 inch deep ring, to slide the cylinder into and then fill the remainder with the dirt we dug out.

Trenching plots with the spade

Digging the trench out

One cylinder in!

I am exhausted and looking forward to 2 days in Port Carling next week. I am a bit nervous because I know no one that's going. I am the only person from Queen's even going, but that's ok, I think it will be fun. Not having to wake up at 6AM might also be kinda nice.

Here are a few other photos from the field so far:

My field at Bracken all set up

Marsh marigolds

Wiser

The 'shit pond' looking lovely

Wild strawberry

Forget fork... eat salad with a shovel

This summer has really taken a toll on the hands

Baby robins (at Burt's)

Keeping the hostas warm

Field crew hard at work

Giant mushroom

Kim and Adam trenching plots

Spring beauty

Trillium

Red Trillium

A 'real' blog post

It's late, and I need to be up early, so here is a link to my guest post submission in a real life blog, to be a permanent real blogger with Gradifying, the blog for the School of Graduate Studies at Queen's.

http://www.queensu.ca/connect/grad/

Cabin fever & Natural History Blog (Blurb) #2

I think I have a limit as to how long I can spend indoors. I don't know if I could ever have a job, that didn't involve being outside for part of the year. After a long field season, it's nice to get inside and not have to sit out in the blazing sun all day but after awhile it gets old. I think that's what I am suffering through right now. I can't seem to focus this week. My days are unproductive and I am literally just itching to be outside. We have had beautiful weather here as of recently (~18 degrees out during the day) and I want to be out there and enjoying it. I guess one could say I am suffering from a little bit of cabin fever.

This week I have been interviewing for the field assistant position in our lab, I have fully cleaned my office/desk space up and really done a good job cleaning my apartment.

First time I could see my desk in 8 months

That being said, I can't just sit here and read papers for one second longer. It is painful to even get through one and I am at the point where I can't even remember what I read 30 seconds ago. So what that boils down to is: Natural History Blog #2, which will feature one of my favourite wild plants, Fragaria Virginiana or the wild strawberry. I'd probably call this a blurb, because to be honest, I don't have THAT much to say about them, and I also don't have any pictures of my own, but no doubt I soon will!

When I first started field work, way back in summer of 2009, I remember sitting in the field mid-May to early June picking at the tiny strawberry plants that crept along the ground under the tall-growing grasses. Nothing beats a wild strawberry. Wild strawberries are not anything like the strawberries you see in the grocery store. They rarely will be any bigger than a blueberry in size and are so sweet to taste. The plants spread freely by runners so many plants are often attached by the mostly above ground runners. They have trifoliate leaves and tiny, white flowers which are one of the first to flower in the old-fields.

A goal of mine would be to collect enough wild strawberries to make jam with. Last year, my Dad and I went strawberry picking at Fruiton Berry Farm. It was awesome! But just due to the size of wild berries, I'd have to collect at least ten times the amount to get even a decent amount of jam! Oh well, here's to hoping!

Photo from markgelbart.wordpress.com