Not until now, slouched on the bench of the barge trying to keep my eyes open and fingers typing, did I fully appreciate the work that goes into getting good data. The brief account in paper’s methods sections don’t do it justice. This is my first attempt at developing my own scientific experiment –taking an ambiguous idea, asking a specific question, forming a realistic project plan, collecting data, and finally (with 7 days to go) enacting the experiment. I am feeling great relief, muddled with a bit of anxiety, as I wait for the next couple days as my bottle-babies incubate to see if my hypothesis comes true. I have taken a series of sediments from different sites and depths and am running bottle experiments to assess their bioavailability and dependence on limiting nutrients. I also am working as part of the stream team to evaluate the nutrient processing in small arctic streams. We like to brag that we have the most ‘ex-stream’ job here- field days are filled with the constant high pitched drone of mosquitoes that swarm to any exposed area of skin, mud that soaks through multiple layers of pants, and gnarly bushwacking through the dense underbrush. We have fun, and on the tough days Erin and I do our best to enforce cheeriness in the group (Travis) by instigating the ‘happy memory game’ and singing every Disney song we know. We still have more streams to sample and I am crossing my fingers that my experiment pans out the way I planned, but for now I am content after a walk in the woods, a swim in the river, a sit in the sauna, and moose & potatoes in my belly.