This week, I had the opportunity to learn a new lab procedure, which was taught to me by Carlos, a masters student in the Ketterings lab. The procedure was part of Carlos’ project, looking to evaluate filtered water quality by examining the amount of sediment lost during vacuum filtration. I had not practiced vacuum filtration before, and I was impressed by the setup in the lab. There was a row of Erlenmeyer flasks with a number of tubes and desiccators attached. It seemed quite elaborate at first, but it turned out to be very simple. We had a tray of vials containing water samples which we poured through the top of the desiccator and filtered into the flask using the attached vacuum tube. It was surprisingly fascinating and a little mesmerizing to watch the water get sucked through the filter while the sediment was left behind on top of the filter. The most laborious part of the whole procedure was simply washing the glassware after each run of the samples. Though it took me a minute to memorize the order of all of the steps, I eventually got the hang of running the samples through the filter and I was able to do it all by myself. I always enjoy going through new tasks like this and working towards being as efficient as possible. After completing the samples, I came to realize that this straightforward procedure could probably be applied for a lot of other tests, so I will keep it in mind as I look to do other experiments in the future.
On Friday, we had our last scheduled field work day. This was part of the Value of Manure project, which aims to better understand the impact of manure application on soil quality throughout the growing season. The work consisted of collecting soil samples at different depths at a number of points throughout a field, which we do by pushing soil tubes into the ground and storing the soil we get in bags. This soil will later undergo microbial analysis in the lab to evaluate the soil health. We were quite lucky with the weather because it was cloudy and we only had very little rain. The small amount of rain not only meant that we could stay cool as we worked, but that the soil was easier to push the soil tube into. It was also a great field work day since we finished collecting all of the soil a few hours sooner than expected. Because of this, I spent the rest of the day in the lab doing microbial analysis testing on some previously collected soil samples. I had done this test quite a few times before, but this time I was a bit more engaged since I did the scanning to record the results, a part of the test I had not done before. We hit a few speedbumps due to the sheer number of samples, but we learned to pace ourselves better and make steady progress. I am fortunate to work with a great team of problem-solvers.
