ERGONONOMICS

OK here we go again I will start with a definition of ergonomics.
Ergonomics aims to design appliances technical systemsand tasks to improve human safety,health comfort and performance Dul , J & Weerdmeester (2008) p.1

I will try and break up gardening into three areas .  PERSON    ACTIVITY     ENVIRONMENT
First      Person thinking of my garden with myself

• I guess I am the Stereotypical age for a Gardener,at the life stage where  the husband runs out in to the garden for solace , peace and quiet.
• I know it is an activity that i am fairly skilled in although this skill is used for quick easy gardening i.e you will always gat bigger veggies if you use comfrey and sea weed and horse manure.
• This knowledge is underused as I'm not doing large scale gardening in the past.It is an activity that I find harder and harder to fit in my life with study and work .I also realise I am less motivated to garden as  I earn money doing other peoples, to be clever the theory is to teach the children the skills .I remember being excited when my daughter could pick a good salad from the garden using nasturtium mescalin chive parsley rocket etc.

The Activity of gardening erm this is hard .well the occupation always changes usually because of environmental factors .But the occupation always involve our favourite word labour.

 Arendt points out that "Labour is the activity which corresponds to the biological process of the

human body, whose spontaneous growth, metabolism, and eventual decayare bound to the vital necessities produced and fed into the life process bylabour.  The human condition of labour is life itself." ( 1958) p.7

At the moment my gardening involves pruning apple trees, weeding, soil preparing and I really need to plant some herb plants marjoram chives in an awaiting new herb spot ,garden.
The activity is one that is beautiful and sometimes exhausting(i.e weeding ,digging) for its different components.

Because i have knowledge i try and limit the work process in garden one buy using perennial /self seeders such as rocket .the other i mulch heavily and usually make my own soil in raised beds to lessen the weeding and digging aspects.Permaculture sees this as a system where if you work with the environment you lessen the need for labour.
Mollison has described permaculture as "a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single project system."
Environment how can you write about gardening without involving the environment .

I do loosely in a pick and mix way follow  bio dynamic gardening this uses the force of the universe the main way i follow this is ido follow moon calendars for planting and pruning .for an itersting link pease check out www.koanga.org.nz/moon-calendar

Ive got to admit i look at the calender which is on the toilet wall and if it ssuits i.e next Tues Ti's a good root veg day i will follow if i cant then oh well
OK the next thing with environment and occupation is that i do try and scape the activity of gardening in a ergonomic way
firstly my garden beds are raised and sized that i can reach every where and dont need to stand on them
i also follow again roughly the permaculture principle of zoning.b

Zones are a way of organizing design elements in a human environment on the basis of the frequency of human use and plant needs. Frequently manipulated or harvested elements of the design are located close to the house in zones one and two. Less frequently used or manipulated elements, and elements that benefit from isolation (such as wild species) are farther away. Zones is about positioning things appropriately. Zones are numbered from 0 to 5.

image retrieved from permaculturetokyo.blogspot.com Basically i have or will have herb garden outside my kitchen window zone 1 my main garden very close ZONE 2 and then a rougher area where The compost is and which is a work in progress although i do bigger crops here runner beans and spuds.ZONE 3

so Basically in my own way i try and follow ergonomic principles in my garden
References
Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition. Chicago: Chicago University Press.


 Dul , J & Weerdmeester (2008) Ergonomics for beginners a quick reference guide 3rd edition,Boca Raton: USA.:Crc press.


Mollison, B. (1991). Introduction to permaculture.Tyalgum,N.S.W, Austrailia: Tagari publishing.






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