4-26-11

Today was a full field day, but I got to spend some time with Angie. Since she is new and is still technically not full time, Rich has not been giving her too much to do, but I was finally beginning to see some delegation of work. Because she is still learning her job and I am always learning, it is fun to work through it together. We had receieved a call from someone the day before asking for help with determining an HEL which confused me since we normally only perform HELs when someone is applying for a Farm Bill Program. However, after getting us slightly lost, we arrived at the farm to determine their slope. It turned out to be a farm name I had heard around down at the farmer's market so it was interesting to see where their products came from. Basically in determining an HEL, it is a matter of the soil type and the slope. So in this case, Angie used a slope determining tool, found what angle she was pointing to have it match with me across the field, and did a rise/run by determing what her stride equaled in feet. Because there was a flatter portion of the field and then a steeper portion, we considered these two different fields and determined the HEL for both. I also got to see Angie do a basic soil test to check whether the soil was loam or sand or clay. Apparently, in her undergrad at Cal Poly SLO, they would have competitions with other schools to compete on who could best determine the soil type. It was interesting to hear how different her version of environmental studies was compared to the program I am in at UCSC.

After struggling to drive on the unpaved land, we finally made it to our next appointment. This was a follow up meeting with one of the larger land owners for a strawberry field. They had previously met and created a mock up of the conservation plan, including sediment ponds and crop rotation. One of the problems they were facing was the fact that they rented the field out every other year to allow for different crops and were unsure of whether the other farmer would be ok with these practices. To be honest, there was a lot of repetition and this was mostly a meeting between Rich, the land owner, and Jim, the engineer and felt little to contribute. I have found that the initial meeting when we survey the property to find the problems are the ones that are most enjoyable to me because I have an opportunity to ask questions and develop my problem solving skills myself. It is extremely difficult to stay involved and interested when you are only watching a conversation and not contributing.