At this point in my project I have incorporated my supervisors notes into the first draft of the survey, asked questions regarding his changes, and begun to survey clients. Many of the changes he made were for the purposes of brevity and clarity. He removed the questions I had in place regarding favorite foods and whether the interviewee was the primary shopper, as well as an experimental question about community meals. He also managed to consolidate the multiple questions I had regarding food insecurity that were separated whether they interrogated price, unavailability or distance. I questioned these changes as I was concerned about the knowledge gap between shopper and interviewee that one report mentioned and elucidating rich responses to all aspects of food security. However, I ultimately incorporated each of his changes.
At this time I have called 80 numbers intending to administer the survey with only 10 respondents. Their answers are so far similar in nature and offer good guidance, although I hope that the percentage will begin to improve as I move down the contact sheet (511 numbers!) As I survey, I have decided to record the reason that clients could not or did not respond to the survey, as well as numbers that may no longer be valid. I hope that this will both allow the IRC to survey more efficiently in the future and update important contact information.
Today I visited the farm and was given an in-depth tour with Tom Stein. He talked to me about how the IRC attained the land, as well as the system of clients’ personal plots and plans for the space. The land is rented from the state park system as it is under their ownership. At one time it was going to become a condo development, but plans were halted following the mortgage crisis of 2008. The IRC now uses the West Sacramento plot. Each client who has the time and knowledge to garden uses a 50x50 foot plot. They have the option to sell their goods, most frequently at specialty foods stores, or bring their harvest home. The IRC encourages and supports clients of all levels of interest, as long as they maintain their plot well. As summer ends and fall begins many clients are transitioning to winter crops, so some typically robust plots were empty. Tom talked to me about the many specialty crops that are hard to find in the U.S., but common and well-loved in the client home countries. These can include amaranth leaves, pumpkin greens, black eyed beans, many varieties of chili peppers, bitter melon, okra, mustard greens and different varieties of stinging nettles. Tom also mentioned how difficult it can be to attain seeds of the particular variety of vegetable, spice or fruit that the client wants. It is difficult on one hand because of a language barrier around non scientific plant names and the translation and on the other because of the scarcity of that particular plant in the U.S. Another nuanced challenge is the client desire to use a part of the plant that is not often consumed in the U.S. For example, pumpkins in the U.S. are common, but many clients enjoy the pumpkin greens, cut when they are small and young.
Amaranth plant
At this time I have called 80 numbers intending to administer the survey with only 10 respondents. Their answers are so far similar in nature and offer good guidance, although I hope that the percentage will begin to improve as I move down the contact sheet (511 numbers!) As I survey, I have decided to record the reason that clients could not or did not respond to the survey, as well as numbers that may no longer be valid. I hope that this will both allow the IRC to survey more efficiently in the future and update important contact information.
Today I visited the farm and was given an in-depth tour with Tom Stein. He talked to me about how the IRC attained the land, as well as the system of clients’ personal plots and plans for the space. The land is rented from the state park system as it is under their ownership. At one time it was going to become a condo development, but plans were halted following the mortgage crisis of 2008. The IRC now uses the West Sacramento plot. Each client who has the time and knowledge to garden uses a 50x50 foot plot. They have the option to sell their goods, most frequently at specialty foods stores, or bring their harvest home. The IRC encourages and supports clients of all levels of interest, as long as they maintain their plot well. As summer ends and fall begins many clients are transitioning to winter crops, so some typically robust plots were empty. Tom talked to me about the many specialty crops that are hard to find in the U.S., but common and well-loved in the client home countries. These can include amaranth leaves, pumpkin greens, black eyed beans, many varieties of chili peppers, bitter melon, okra, mustard greens and different varieties of stinging nettles. Tom also mentioned how difficult it can be to attain seeds of the particular variety of vegetable, spice or fruit that the client wants. It is difficult on one hand because of a language barrier around non scientific plant names and the translation and on the other because of the scarcity of that particular plant in the U.S. Another nuanced challenge is the client desire to use a part of the plant that is not often consumed in the U.S. For example, pumpkins in the U.S. are common, but many clients enjoy the pumpkin greens, cut when they are small and young.
Amaranth plant
Sunflowers wilting as Fall begins
West Sacramento IRC Farm
Sources: Questions, formatting and changes for the future from previous IRC projects were completed by: Sara Riegler, Julia Jordan, Ai-Lin Chen, Bilkis Bharucha and Natasha Pavlovich
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