RainWise is partnering up! As of today, we have received approval from the board of Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust (a charitable organization) to work on their community food hub,The Root. The Root is currently using bulk water for all their water needs. We hope to create a rainwater harvesting system to help irrigate their community garden during the dry season. This will be a more sustainable and economical water supply. Salt Spring Island highly values local produce and it is part of their community culture, so it is important that communities have enough water to irrigate their crops to maximize yield. While we, Xavier and Remee, are both super excited about this partnership, we have slightly different outlooks on the future. Xavier feels anxious because of the potential hurdles we may come across and the relatively short time we have to work on this project. Remee feels more excited and motivated by the unknown. We have noticed that we have different reactions to stress, but we work well together because we can balance each other out.
Last week was an interesting week for RainWise. Xavier fell ill and couldn’t attend in person. This unfortunately coincided with our first site visit to the root, so Remee had to trek out to Salt Spring Island on her own. She was a little daunted because the purpose of this visit was to determine if it was feasible to work with the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust. Remee pushed through and was able to get some good insights, even though she was a little nervous. As Remee has grown within the Inspire Program, she has found it amazing how much more confident she is becoming in her engineering capabilities. While Xavier was ill last week he still managed to contribute to a lot of research and attend regular meetings over Zoom. We have noticed how much more productive teams can be when they are physically able to interact.
This week has proven to be significantly more productive. We engaged in constructive meetings with various field experts and have initiated our journey into mastering Autodesk Revit – a building information modelling tool. This software is integral to our endeavor in designing an efficient rainwater harvesting system. Our ultimate design must adhere to industry standards, and through research and discussions with industry mentors, Revit emerged as the optimal choice for achieving this objective. While Xavier has basic familiarity with Revit, Remee is starting from scratch, and this initial learning curve can be somewhat intimidating.
However, we find ourselves facing certain challenges due to the realization that our involvement may conclude prior to the project’s actual construction. Consequently, it is imperative that our plans are not only comprehensive but also easy to understand. To bolster our proficiency with Revit, we are enrolled in an introductory course aimed at providing us with more insight into the most effective practices associated with Revit.
We eagerly anticipate the forthcoming two weeks, during which we have planned a return visit to The Root. Our objective is to foster an enhanced level of collaboration with their team. Additionally, we aspire to embark on the design phase and gain a comprehensive understanding of The Root’s distinct requirements and specifications.