Last week got off to a slow start but ended with a bang. On Monday I decided to recontact those people I was hesitating to last week. I felt that if I didn’t become my own best spokes-person for collecting data, I wasn’t going to be getting any data this summer. I regretted the decision a little because some people (who had previously said yes in the spring to participate in the study but to recontact them later in the summer) declined to participate. I know its common to have people turn you down for surveys and interviews, but I guess I thought I was doing well with my flexible schedule and recontacting them when they said it was best.
Our earlier efforts (my field assistant and I) however to get meetings with larger farms on the island paned out. We were able to do three new surveys, complete two others from farms form which we needed additional data, and get contact information for two more. Although my field assistant had been out to a few farms, it was my first time on a larger-scale farm last Tuesday. Commuting took-up a good part of the two days I met those producers but it was so refreshing to visit a different landscape. I could hardly believe I was on the island of Montreal.
Some of my other contact and recontact efforts also paid off closer to the city-center. I did a survey on a lovely roof-top garden, received two emailed surveys from organizations I was waiting on, and finished two private garden surveys. Over the weekend, my other assistant and I finished surveys in two community gardens and got two unexpected private gardens done. I also have at least 3 other surveys now scheduled for this week.
Although two weeks ago felt a little gloomy, I feel like greener pastures are here. And to top things off, my lab went strawberry picking on Ile-Perrot (which although not technically the island of Montreal is part of larger Montreal and could really even be included in my study area if one wanted).
Sustainable Resource Management Lab 