Bricolage Gardening

If one was to describe the faculties of homo sapiens that make us deeply ‘human’, it would be reasonable to point out our dexterous hands, colossal brainpower and effective cooperation. For this reason, a cogent strategy for orchestrating a life of contentment would be to indulge each of these  attributes as best as possible within a physically active lifestyle. This piece of  advice (of which it’s origin have long since disappeared into a dark corner of my grey-matter) has stuck with me since hearing it several years ago and has been a useful checklist when hypothesising potential career paths. 

Looking back at some of the many occupations that I have dabbled with since doing my first paid work at fourteen, there does seem to be an element of truth to this rule of thumb. At the unfulfilled end of this spectrum, is my role as a help-desk telephone operator for an investment company. After a few weeks of intellectual exercise getting comfortable with the handful of tasks the role required, it soon became a day of muscle-memory conversations which could be executed with little requirement for concentration. Brain – not satisfied. In regards to cooperation, despite the close proximity to others, the role was largely lacking in necessity for team work. It is strange to think of an office with near one thousand individuals having such a void of meaningful interaction. Cooperation – not satisfied. Unsurprisingly, there was very little exercise involved in this job, unless one took to prancing around the in-vogue standing desks that were installed during my time there. If I were too lazy to partake in a pre or post-work gym session, the atmosphere of which was not dissimilar to the sweaty chaos of a WWE royal rumble, I would often reach the end of the day feeling restless and malaise.  Body – not satisfied. Consequently, this job held a royal flush in meeting my requirements to being a dissatisfied human being and certainly contributed to my meagre zest for life during this period! It must be said that I met some fantastic people during my time in this role, with the great tragedy being that these wonderful humans were devoting so much of their time and energy towards a cause that they did not care about and one which does not contribute to creating a healthier and happier planet. This is by no means a unique quality of this particular company – the majority of people I speak to feel a disconnect to their occupation and tend to view a day of work with much dread, often counting down the hours till Friday night. I am by no means suggesting that one should not look forward to the weekend, as often they allow time for adventure, seeing friends and enjoying hobbies, however, a society whereby four and a half days of the week are languished, is certainly not a blueprint for a happy life. 

Returning attention to my previous occupations, the two summer’s I spent as a marquee erector stand out as jobs which gave me tremendous satisfaction. With early starts, long days and heavy lifting, this work certainly fitted the bill in regards to achieving an active lifestyle, and a number of tasks throughout the day would entail a level of concentrated handy work which celebrated the awesomeness of dexterity. Needless to say, sleep was never an issue and most days finished with a level of satisfaction for what had been accomplished. Body – content. The cooperation and communication in this job was perhaps its best aspect. Helped by the fact that the majority of the team were made up of old school friends, the hours of work contained a great deal of laughter and it sometimes felt like an unfair deal to be getting paid to have conversations with my mates all day. Marquees are not exactly the Mount Everest of logistical challenges, however, their assembly does require a decent level of problem-solving and thus creates a good landscape for team work. Cooperation – satisfied. During a day of tournament chess, a grandmasters brain will burn several thousand calories, and although it seems unlikely that a days marqueeing would reach such heights, the brain is by no means put to sleep. In addition to the problem-solving tasks, the plenteous time for conversation would often harbour some level of intellectual stimulation. Although a game of “would you rather?” may on the surface appear empty-headed, it does, if taken seriously,  require a judicious enquiry and would often invoke heated debates. “would you rather have a chicken follow you for the remainder of your life or only be able to open two doors a day?” this rather meta question brings up a number of hypothetical conundrums. On the one hand public transport and courtship might be rather challenging with an ever-present feathered biped, but on the other, only two doors a day sounds extremely inconvenient (I’ve already opened a door over ten times this morning!). Brain – satisfied.  

One thing that wasn’t mentioned within the advice of the primatologist (at least I think that’s who the wisdom came from) was the necessity for each of these deeply-human faculties to be incorporated into a lifestyle that contains purpose. For me, although being a marquee erector ticked most of my boxes, it did not have much alignment with my core-values.  Last summer my mother was studying IKIGAI  – A Japanese term which describe ones “reason for being”. The intention of the handbook she had purchased was to help the reader discover their sense of purpose through a number of self-enquiring exercises. One of the activities within it, which I would highly recommend, was to ‘scan your shelves’, looking for common themes in your favourite titles and identifying any subjects that you never seem to get bored of learning more about. Some of the books I had recently enjoyed included Wilding by Isabella Tree, Sidartha by Herman Hesse, Feral by George Monbiot and  the Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf. The topics within these books painted a clear picture of my curiosity of Nature and helped to direct my career planning towards a job that would involve working amongst the natural world. In conjunction with my desire to have an outdoor job, working with my hands and other people, this first lead me searching for jobs in sustainable agriculture and eventually to my apprenticeship at Grace Gardens. 

I was not expecting to babble about this concept of the deeply-human checklist for quite so long, however delving into it has gotten me rather carried away! The reason I decided to start writing about this advice is because it has frequently popped up in my thoughts during my first few weeks on the school farm. On Monday morning I had the enjoyable task of clearing algae from the pond. This might sound like satirical enthusiasm, but I really did have fun doing it. First, I raked from the waters surface what I could, watching the blanket weed undergo a metamorphism from a delicate cloud like consistency to a heavy dark green mop as it crossed the bridge between the weightless water and the gravity-stricken air. Once the rake became surplus to requirement, I had to resort to my hands. The pond has a plastic grid running under the surface to mitigate its risk as a drowning-hazard, however this has the unfortunate side-effect of offering a protective cage for the algae blooms which have gratefully taken over the entire water-body. To remove it I had to delve my hand through one of the diamond gaps in the grid and once down there, swivel it around like a wooden stick collecting candy-floss. Despite trying to remove the algae from this area with several other tools, they didn’t come close to the effectiveness of my forearm and hand. Dexterity – exercised! Similarly, the time I’ve spent working in and around the fruit trees this last week has given me a good chance to deploy these pale and wrinkled tools! The deceptive colouring of the plums mean that they cannot be justified for picking based on their hue alone, instead a delicate enquiring with the fingers is required to see if they are at the right level of ripeness. Although a seemingly uncomplicated task, when I take the time to appreciate the level of mechanical and sensory skill necessary to perform it I find myself completely amazed! The diverse jobs on the farm, almost all of which are completed on two feet, from harvesting to planting, and egg handling to pond clearing, all provide an opportunity to put similarly finite skills to work. Body & hands – celebrated. 

On Wednesday two new members of staff arrived at the school from Stourbridge; Priya and Petal. Their roles will primarily involve working with the students as part of Ruskin Mill Trusts Practical Skills Therapeutic Education, with their jobs perks including daily walks, weekly pedicures, unlimited grazing and maximum chilling. The life of a goat at Grace Gardens is rather envious! In order to make sure we look after our four legged residents with the necessary care, the members of the land team (Malcom, Nathalie, Peter & I) held a goat meeting on Thursday morning. With a daily schedule that involves feeding, walking, nail clipping and bed-changing, it is important to make sure that roles are well allocated to prevent any slipping through the cracks. Such planning is much the same for other aspects of the land work, and exemplifies the daily demands for good communication and team work in order to keep things running smoothly. Cooperation – essential. Although large parts of my day can entail independent tasks, there are often instances when I am working together with other members of the land team or one of the volunteers that help out during the week. These periods fosters interesting conversations and it seems as though when spinning yarns, the day has passed before you know it.

With body, hands and cooperations all in use, what of the mind? One of the exciting prospects about starting my apprenticeship is the immense quantity of learning there is to take on. Aside from the patches of knowledge about food growing that I have picked up from my Dad and our time together at the allotment, I am quite the novice. Both daunting and inspiring, the floods of new information I am exposed to each day are keeping my neurones busy, as I straggle to keep hold of whatever wisdom I can. Sowing, planting and harvesting all come with their do’s, don’t’s, if’s and but’s, which seem to vary wildly with each species. Names seem to take amusement in going over my head or arriving in one ear and immediately leaving out the other. Fortunately for me, my deja-vu questions are answered with patience. Four weeks in and I can finally remember the name for endives and radicchio! Brain – stimulated. 

I am conscious of the likelihood that I am currently in a somewhat rose-tinted honeymoon period of work-life, of which I am sure many aspects may come to seem less wonderful in the months and years to come (Winter is coming!!), however I do like to think that some of the core foundations of this role will allow me to get a level of fulfilment from my job and fingers crossed I will not find myself counting down the days until Friday.