We volunteered at the Surrey Docks Farm Harvest Festival, helping set up tables, chairs, and animal enclosures to get the space ready for the day's celebrations. Together, we worked alongside farm staff to create a welcoming environment for visitors, and also took part in feeding the animals, which was a fun and hands-on experience. At the end of the day, we were rewarded with a quiet moment to admire the new born piglets, making the whole experience even more special and memorable.

Our latest session at Surrey Docks Farm had a fantastic mix of tasks.

We began with nettle cutting, tackling overgrown areas to keep pathways clear and safe for visitors and staff.

We then helped Pat by moving tables and chairs to set up a children’s party, ensuring everything was under shelter so the little ones could stay dry and enjoy their celebration despite the rain.

One of the highlights of the session was heading over to the orchard to pick fallen apples, which we then fed to the very grateful pigs—an enjoyable and enriching task for both volunteers and animals alike!

We kicked off by moving a variety of tomatoes to clear valuable space for new raised beds. This not only helped tidy up the growing area but also prepared the garden for more ambitious planting.

Over in the glass house, Asad and Kat tackled some essential groundwork — quite literally! They expertly levelled the ground, getting it ready for cucumber pots which we prepared as a group.

After all that heavy lifting (and soil shifting), the team cooled down with a rather unusual activity: snail picking. Not ones to let nature’s snacks go to waste, they fed the collected snails to the ducks, who were absolutely delighted with the surprise treat.

To wrap up the day, the team enjoyed apple picking. The gathered fruit didn’t just go into bags — they also became delicious snacks for the piglets, who gobbled them up with glee.

Today was a busy hot one at the Farm! We started by filling up the flower beds and moving dirt from the glasshouse all the way to the back of the estate near the ducks—plenty of shoveling and wheelbarrow action.

With the heat kicking in, we ended up swapping teams to keep things flowing smoothly. Thankfully, Pat came through with a surprise “rain shower” by turning on the water sprinklers in the glasshouse—instant refresh!

To wrap things up, we fed the piglets and the rest of the gang, including Rollo and his pregnant partner. Safe to say, everyone (two-legged and four-legged) had a solid day!

For this session we needed to move some tomato plants before clearing a bed in the greenhouse (shifting the contents into ton bags). While half the group did this, the other half mixed up some compost. We finished up with feeding the cows and goats.

6 Good Gymmers arrived at the farm and were soon put to work by task owner, Kate, sifting and refining some recently produced charcoal for further use on the farm. This required a three phase production line. 1) Sieving the charcoal; 2) crushing it in a scritcher and 3) pummelling it by hand. All in all, it was a very effective workout. We organized ourselves efficiently and completed the task to time. After that, we were rewarded with a tour where we met the new pony, Joey, and the one-month old piglets and kids.

On a personal note, this was my last session at the farm for the time being as I’ll be traveling for work. I’ll be handing over Taskforce leadership to Olive and Andrada. Thanks to everyone at the farm for always being so welcoming and supportive of Good Gym!