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Annie

Blog six: Work, Plays, labour and ambiance

I am sitting in my office looking at a reproduced paining by John Constable painted around 1770-1837. It is called Cornfield and depicts a pre-industrial revolution scene of rural life in England.  There is a man scything a field late autumn, a dog rounding up sheep, a couple of donkeys and rustic/failed attempts to fence and tame the land. This painting reminds me of New Zealand where man has attempted and so far failed to conquer the land.

I have ancestral links to Europe, and have had several trips back to where my folks lived prior to immigrating to New Zealand.  We as a family have always identified strongly with agrarian pursuits, which continue to be passed down the generations. The picture above I realise has little resemblance to modern day England but records the more natural environment prior to the work past generations have put in.  New Zealand is a land with a younger history, a less intensified human habitation and more temperate climate that result in an unwieldy growth rate and more natural environment.

I feel my activity of clearing the gorse falls under the heading of work, as there is a linear idea of time with a definite beginning middle and end, where there is an element of destroying in order to conquer and prettify the land. As Hannah Arendt states in her work the human condition “work provides an “artificial world of things, distinctly different from all natural surroundings” (Arendt, 1958, p. 7) so change in nature is evident but also she adds latter there is an element of futility that despite the work leaving nothing behind (no food or produce resulting) this effort ”is born of great urgency and motivated by a more powerful drive than anything else because life itself depends upon it (Arendt, 1958, p. 87)’. This describes what I am trying to do well.

The gorse has been confronting me over the time we have built the house and lived here.  We have an evening courtyard where we barbeque during the summer months, and the gorse keeps encroaching over the fence line. Unfortunately we found that we own this gorse during the building process. We do not hope to utilise the cleared land but need the gorse to recede for aesthetic reasons. I know my aesthetic sense is dictated by taste (which leads back to ergonomics) but is still dominated by my European heritage thus there is an element of making the familiar in my pursuit if clearing the gorse.

I have naturally glided into plays with my making familiar and conquering the land. This denotes the more superficial type of activity, one that is done for more pleasurable reasons, where one inserts one’s self into the task. Class is a factor I have identified within what I am doing, as clearing gorse has elements of improvement of real estate or elevating ones status  in a social class. The fact that the gorse is in close proximity to the barbeque (socialising implement) is a big factor here.

Labour is about survival or making a living which is not related to my task as I don’t intend to use the freed up land at the end of my task. However I feel the need to do this task because of meditative forces that I need in life.  I have a need to see improvement over time, and while on field work the lack of this was a major frustration. Sometimes I just need to be challenged in a physical way and gardening is a great counterbalance to study. There is no challenges apparent within any relationships in the garden, thus real freedoms from life pressures.

Dave has also pointed out that the gorse is a great nitrogen fixer in the soil, thus another usable factor to be considered under labour.

With regard to aesthetics I have briefly mentioned the encroachment I felt and will attempt to  describe this as a tight and uncomfortable feeling for me. In one’s life I have learned that aesthetics is an innate personal visual representation or sense of what feels right. Thus what I see as aesthetically pleasing may be very different to you, or another. It is about a matter of taste, and my taste states that I don’t want gorse a s a close neighbour.

Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Blog Five: Ergonomic Analysis

I will start with a definition of ergonomics.

Ergonomics is about “examining and optimising the interaction between the human worker and the non human work environment”(Jacobs & Jacobs, 2009, p. 86).

You can evaluate ergonomics by considering the POE. The Person, Occupation and Environment framework.

Person – I adore gardening and find it restful although physically challenging. I am a middle aged woman, who is not afraid of big challenges, hard work or taking on traditional male roles. I also have a long history of back pain.

Occupation – Removal of well established gorse by cutting down with chainsaw and poisoning the stump.

Environment – The activity is performed on gently sloping boundary line of our land. The gorse is over fifty years old and one and a half times my height. This gorse has substantial trunks and requires a chainsaw rather than a handsaw. Gorse is prickly to handle, and the environment is covered with debris making the work difficult. The work space is restricted and cramped. My activity demands working uncomfortably at times.

Thus with ergonomics you would consider all three elements together and conclude several points;

These include my having to  work in sustained positions where I hold the chainsaw (weight + vibration), at any height from 0-2 metres in height. My working posture involves sustained high reaches and also bending, twisted positions as I work toward the stumps.

I have to know how the weight of the foliage that will press on the bar of the chainsaw and compensate with multiple cuts or wedges. Every action needs to be analysed carefully.

There is minimal optimisation of the non human environment, as the gorse is fixed, however I do analyse the execution of the activity to the environment I work in. This includes being aware of where a branch will fall making sure I’m not positioned there. Although they are not heavy enough to crush me they could cause an injury with the chainsaw.

The hat that I wear (to keep my hair clean) often restricts my view if I look up suddenly. Today I have trailed using a shower cap instead of the hat in the photo, and found that it was better, so I will continue to use that for the time being.

Even moving from one branch to another can be dangerous. The ground is often wet and slippery.  Debris on the ground can obscure solid ground. Today I placed my foot close to a branch prior to making a cut and my foot sunk 400mm below what I expected.  I am in the habit of having the chain break on, when I move within the worksite, as a safety precaution with the chainsaw.

The duration of the chainsaw activity is restricted to 45 minutes due to the vibration and load exausting me. I will spend another hour clearing using the prunning saw and secatores, and painting the stumps. The remainder of my two hours is taken up sharpening and maintaining the chainsaw.

30 sept 2011:Today I came home from politech where I study OT full time and in the remaining time before the kids come home from school, I find myself writing about gorse rather than cutting it because it is too windy today. If I was to work today I know that the gorse is liable to be pushed in the wind and that it would be dangerous to use the chainsaw in these conditions. I have been cutting the gorse every Friday for weeks and know that next time I work on it people will see a dramatic difference, as I near the stage where I can freely work, and clear the space. This will make me feel great as previously I felt quite depressed looking out over a sea of yellow flowering prickly scrub. The gorse seemed to be oppressive growing closer and closer to the house. I am left with the knowledge that I can single handedly impact upon the most overgrown unkempt patch of land and enable regeneration of the native flora and fauna Thus it provides me with a sense of occupational competence. Others might look at this land in years to come and see the beauty of the land. I can already see that the bird life appreciate the work I’ve done as they can now fly tree to tree, where before the scrub was too dense for them to move within.

Jacobs, K., & Jacobs, L. (2009). Quick refrence journal for Occupational Therapy. Thorofare NJ: Slack Incorporated.

Blog Four: Affordances

Here I will look at my activity- cutting gorse and assess how the environment impacts upon and changes my interaction with it. Christiansen & Baum (1997) break affordence down to the following concepts:

·         Anything the environment offers which will either challenge or facilitate the persons role within.

·         Aspects of the environment as perceived by the person including notions of “effectancies” toward competency.

Thus connection of the human (me) to the work (cutting gorse) with the environment represents affordance Past experience guides me on what tools are necessary, techniques/ next moves that I should do. Let me explain:

·         I have two whole in the gorse work-sites which create limitations for the next move. I am having difficulty in disposing of the trimmings. The only way I can manage the tight environment is to create piles for wood and the broken down follage branches.

·         The resources (wood harvested ) are saved as it is a hot burning fuel for winter warmth.

·         The fire risk that gorse possesses needs also be mentioned and my occupation allows another affordance of a fire wall to my property.

The work environment at the moment is rather inhospitable to all bar our cats who have set tracks through the brambles to their secret haunts. When I’m in there the chainsaw will scare all wildlife off with its noise. I protect my hearing by using ear muffs, so minimal communication affordances exist.

I have noticed an increase of bird activity within the area, as they can now fly from tree-to-tree and feed, which suggests that there are elements of sharing the activity and gifting a more hospitable environment to the natural fauna, wildlife, humans, and our friends.

The moral affordence has been discussed at length under ethics. Further to this my occupation and protecting role are represented by the interdependence of me the person and the environment. Thus to understand affordance is to recognise that ones behaviour can only be understood on terms of the environment.

Christiansen, C., & Baum, C. (Eds.). (1997). Occupational therapy: Enabling function and well being (2nd ed.). New Jersey, USA: Slack Incorporated.

Blog Three; Landscaping –Ethics

As an OT student I know that ethical standards are concerned with regulating professional behaviour and the societal and personal values that guide individual practice (Barnitt, 1993).
McKechnie defines ethics within Cook and Hussy introduction as “the study of standards of conduct and moral judgement ... and the system or code of morals of a particular... profession” (1995, p. 35)
 
I am trying to eliminate the gorse and broom in a way that nobody notices. I have a small tunnel to a “growing whole in the gorse” at present.  This is creating problems for me as I cannot easily remove the gorse from my work area. Given that I recognise the need to live and work within the bounds of occupational ethics, I see a moral, ethical dilemma, as I’m unwilling to jump over the fence and tell my neighbour that I’m clearing the gorse on the boundary.

I’m being sneaky because the land is believed to be the property of my neighbour. The fence-line would indicate this, and my neighbour certainly believes this, however land information, surveyors and we the owners see it differently.
To build we went through a lengthy notified resource consent (http://www.qualityplanning.org.nz/consents/limited-notified-con-app.php) process, and this neighbour was confrontational, oppositional and was successful in putting in the caveat that the dwelling had to be 5 metres from the boundary. In situating the house we were shocked to find the fence was 10 metres over our boundary at times
How or when this happened I don’t know, and I don’t care to speculate. The fence line is over 500 metres long and we haven’t approached the neighbour about this issue as we don’t really have time to use the land at present, and they are now retired and it would be expensive to change the fence.
Ethical dilemmas are never easy. Honesty, beneficence, autonomy, veracity and procedural justice are all issues here. While I do not want to deny the neighbour information I also don’t want to confront him with the issue as I feel a subtle approach will do the greatest good.
“Another way of understanding ethics is that it is about practicing in a way that is legal and /or where case law has established what is proper behaviour, that is ethical behaviour in a particular set of circumstances” (Barnitt, 1993, p. 208). Given that the surveyors have placed the boundary pegs, the land is mine to use in a socially acceptable way- to clear the land of gorse. I think I am behaving in a legal and beneficent way.
References

Barnitt, R. (1993). What gives you sleepless nights? Ethical practice in occupational therapy. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 56(6), 207-212.

Cook, A. M., & Hussey, S. M. (1995). Assistive technologies, principles and practice. USA: Mosby Year Book Inc.

Blog Two; Landscaping Practical Considerations 12.9. 2011.

Today I have decided exactly where I am going to landscape over the next seven weeks. I own three properties that all require lots of work, but the property where we live full time is the greatest challenge.  We built the house over two years ago on a lifestyle block of regenerated native bush and old man gorse, broom blackberry and muehlenbeckia vine(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muehlenbeckia)

I will clear the gorse and broom from a strip of contentious land on our boundary (more about this latter). Techniques for clearing these weeds have now been honed to techniques that make the greatest impact over the shortest amount of time. This always involves bringing to the job the correct tools that are well maintained.

The practice considerations have been pre-considered and the appropriate tools for the job have been assembled.  Gorse is horrible to work with. I consider that a hat and hooded Jacket to be essential for my comfort, as old man gorse gets in your hair, eyes, clothes and footwear.  Gloves are a necessity as the splinters become septic and problematic for weeks. I take my chainsaw (bought over 15 years ago and suited to my strength and stature), my pruning saw (needed for smaller work and for releasing the chainsaw when it gets stuck, as happened today) and the secateurs for smaller work and cutting muehlenbeckia vine. Finally I have a small drop bottle full of an appropriate stump killer.

I am trialling a new product at the moment as per photo, but usually I would use Tordon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tordon) for gorse and broom.

Forgetting any one item can slow or stop the occupation. Had I forgotten the pruning saw today I wouldn’t have been able to release the chainsaw. Without the secateurs I would be in a complete tangle as I wouldn’t be able to clear the prunings from the worksite, or easily move around as I frequently get stuck without room to manoeuvre.

Over the course of the next blogs I will go into greater detail about the activity in terms of exploring the ethics; ambiance; affordances and the ergonomics of this activity.

Activity analysis Blog

Landscaping as a creative exercise.  My history of landscaping started as a child as I would build a garden on an island in the middle of a river close to where I lived. As the river would flood on an annual basis this would start with the importation of the soil. Here I learned about the different qualities of river silt, clay, and humus. I learned how to plant and tend plants and seeds, and how to shape the landscape, With my island garden I would create smaller streams often unsuccessfully with the view of watering the plants, which eventually eroded the soil around the root mass and eventually killed the plant. This illustrates A lifetime obsession with plants-manship and changing  the landscape to suit my needs.

Why this occupation holds meaning for me lays squarely on my upbringing. I remember going to a family owned nursery as a kid that was in the centre of town, close to my bus stop. I would regularly buy primroses that had edged petals and plant them in my island garden. My paternal grandparents were nurserymen who specialised in primroses and polyanthus back in England prior to immigration to New Zealand, and once here worked as gardeners in some of the stately homes in the region where they settled.

The habits and routines held by my family, reinforced how individual members within it spend there time.  John Bargh notion of "automaticity" within Christiansen & Townsend's introductory paragraph suggest that behaviour and choices are triggered by subconscious mechanisms reacting to features in the environment (2010). For me this activity holds a strong familial tradition, and is something I innately want to do.

I have experimented with all aspects of landscaping and gardening for over forty years, and come to this activity with a fair degree of expertise.

Christiansen, C., & Townsend. E., An introduction to occupation, in Christiansen, C., & Townsend, E. (Eds.). (2010). Introduction to occupation: The art and science of living (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.