Striding across the Furze
- jonchinn
- Oct 9
- 5 min read
What makes a chair a chair? How do I select the broad concept of what is a chair in a world of variation? The organised objects look like a smile. Generalising.
“The Gorse bushes all smouldering with bloom are like clouds settling on the earth, having no solidity, but just colour warmth and pleasantness.”
Edward Thomas - The South Country (1909)
“Can you see the body of Christ crucified?”
Jon Chinn - early one morning on Craddock moor in 2023.
I’m not religious. I wasn’t brought up to be. Why make the figurative Gorse Christ crucified. Suffering ? It could be my reference. Programming. A contingency developmental thing. That is what it is called in Child development circles. I used to have it as a consideration in my former professional life working with children on the Autism spectrum. Not the religious association but the idea of contingency development.
Okay. Here we go. It’s been a while…..
“Emotional development is viewed through functionalist and dynamical systems theories, emphasizing dynamic transactions between a child and their environment”
“Emotional development is influenced by social experiences and cultural contexts, and can be understood within a bio-ecological framework”
These are an AI attempt at reducing the first paper I found on a google search (ref at bottom) to a snappy definition. Pulling information together from different sources to provide a view.
The neurology of Autism conditions makes storing and recovering experience, using it as a reference for decision making in the present, and about the future, different to neurotypicals. These automated decisions can relate to biofeedback mechanisms such as temperature regulation, hunger and sensory processing about where your body starts and finishes. Language processing. Accessing leaned experiences from developmental stages, and the contractual nature of social emotional development. The impact of adapted behavioural learning under pressure to conform. None of this means that you cannot. Its just different.
Babies smiling back when you smile at them. Recognising other things that are “smiling”. Generalising. Cultural objects. When is a chair a Chair?
The Christ thing is an example of “cultural context” for me and my emotional responses to environmental stimulus. Gosh. So even though I don’t have a personal Christian programmed background , my association to it is a cultural group affect. Hence my interpretation of the figurative imagery of Gorse bushes is that of contorted human figures in the context of reacting to the environment and time. I suppose suffering is a European thing . Medieval. The iconography of a lot of art and spiritualism. I specified the image of Jesus on the cross. In addition to that my emotional development may possibly prompt me to be controversial: To get attention as an add on.
… and the smell of coconuts? Gorse flowers smell of coconuts. What was the smell association before people knew about coconuts? How our perception changes. A paradigm shift switching back and forth until the seen cannot be unseen.
Back to Edward Thomas. Gorse is a gateway. A symbol and reminder of the return of the Sun. A spark of the Sun God Lugh. The summer kept real on earth. The shining gate to my otherworld. Protective, blessed, faith giver. The end of something.
Sheep, ponies, cows and me hiding behind it when the rain comes in at 30 degrees. In large gorse cover, I find the bodies, or bones, of ponies and sheep. Seeking shelter for the last time.
After an “extensive” AI assisted google search about Gorse folklore. Because that is a thing: Reconnecting with the rural. Edwardian stylee. Magic, Us country folk know. Civil war puritanical authoritarianism. Rich powerful minorities shafting the poor again. (I’m a country folk and I know nothing). I found ….Gorse is fodder for livestock, although it must be a last resort because I’ve never seen any livestock eating it on my daily wandering about on the moor. If you are desperate, it can be used as fuel. Roots apparently. The brush can be used to sweep chimneys. The peasants are desperate.
On Mayday Gorse wreaths are hung on doors to protect against witches. Wearing Gorse in Ireland will stop you tripping over…but Gorse is also considered unlucky for both the giver and the receiver especially if you take it in the house because they will die…..but it can be included in a wedding bouquet as a symbol of fertility, and it flowers used to dye Easter eggs yellow , and give a unique almond flavour to spirits or dye clothes.
Cultural contingencies of gorse are oppositional it seems. If you’re starving to death in Ireland, or forced off decent farming land by the enclosure act, you’ll try to find the positives and use what you can. If you’re having to resort to feeding your cows gorse, dyeing your clothes and hanging it on your door for fertility/ fending off witches there are probably a bigger issue.
I’ll stick with Lugh and Gorse as a reminder of the Sun on Earth. Oh, hang on a mo….
A member of the pea family, Fabaceae. Gorse can grow to more than ten feet tall. Young seedlings have leaves like trifoliate clover for the first 3 months before their shoots, and leaves, become spines. Low surface area, difficult to eat.
Yellow flowers are produced all year round but are focused in the Spring. Common Gorse, Ulex europaeus, gives dense cover for birds on the moor and is an early nectar source for insects. The honey produced from moorland hives has a distinctive flavour. You can buy it direct from small producers if you look.
The Seeds are in a purple- brown pod, or legume, which splits to eject the seeds in warm weather. Thermocouple. You can hear the crack when standing around near Gorse on warm days. The seeds are viable for 30 years. Gorse is a “fire climax” plant that easily catches fire and regrows from the roots. Its seeds have adapted to germinate after fire. Gorse Fit fixes nitrogen into the soil, regenerating it for potential succession from other species. Gorse could be seen as a deflected ecosystem invasive plant too. Most moor land a consequence of deforestation and grazing at lower altitudes.
Some of the locals
Gorse Shield Bug – (Piezodorus lituratus). Common and widespread throughout Britain and Ireland all year around where gorse is present.Gorse is not the only sap they slurp though.Length 10-13 mm.
Gorse weevil – (Exapion ulicis) The adult weevils emerge in spring to feed on the new growth of gorse and lay eggs in flower buds. Their larvae eat the seeds in developing pods, pupate, hatch into adults and wait for the seed pod to burst freeing them to start the cycle again. A weevil speciality (they’re weevily good at it) is thanatosis. To “feign” death when danger threatens. This will not save them, or your family, if you take gorse into your house ( though you may get pregnant) use it to fuel your bread oven/clean your chimney/ flavour your Potchin.
Gorse spider mites (Tetranychus lintearius) are a species of spider mite. They can be used as an agent of biological pest control on common gorse. The adult mite is half a millimeter long and bright red. It lives in colonies in a shelter of spun silk spanning many branch tips.The feeding of the adult and larvae stuns the growth of branches and reduces flowering. Gorse is considered an invasive species in some parts of the world.
More info /further reading
The South Country - Edward Thomas
Emotional Development in Childhood 1 1 Carolyn Saarni, PhD, 2Linda A. Camras, PhD Sonoma State University, USA, 2DePaul University, USA September 2022, Éd. rév.
First thing I found on a google search about contingency in child development.
Bodmin moor species check list
Shield bug images
Gorse weevil image
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