A whopping 17 goodgymers met up on our third group task since restrictions were lifted.

Today felt very much like times gone by, with an actual large group. One that had nearly doubled over night since we had checked in with the task organiser so that was a pleasant surprise for Poppy when we all arrived.

We welcomed back Abby who's last group run was just before the lockdowns set in and Lydia who we hadn't seen since October last year.

We had our usual chats as we all turned up at our newest start location, we split into two groups for the walk / joggers and the runners, and then set off. Just a mile to the task today, so it seemed only fair that we throw in a quick hiit workout on the halfway mark.

• Squats with knee lifts
• Sumo Squats
• Russian Twists
• Reverse Crunch
  

The music started (and stopped when I tried to take photos) and we began, 40 seconds on 20 seconds off, 1 minute rest between sets. The run may have been short but we more than made up for it by breaking a sweat here!

With 10 minutes to go we set off again, to join up with global gardens once more. We were welcomed by Poppy, grabbed some tools and a couple of wheelbarrows and made our way to the orchard.

What is a barrow anyhow?

The question was asked, so here is the answer......"Barrow" is a derivation of the Old English "barew" which was a device used for carrying loads. Not to be confused with barewl from Pokémon.

Whilst Poppy took the group to the Orchard, I set off to the children's play area to see the walk / joggers who had already arrived and were hard at work, pulling out the unwanted plants and tidying up the area. We had a nice chat about a new potential start location for an (hopefully) upcoming group mission, and most importantly where we could go afterwards.........

Over to the orchard, and it was brambles galore, the new young plants were sprouting all around so the task on this side was to pull them out (roots too) before they set in too much. The space was looking beautiful with a wildflower meadow in bloom and a great patch of clover helping to suppress the brambles.

Everyone got stuck in and we soon cleared quite a bit from the site, some of us even had time to have a quick go on the swing......not mentioning names - Su.

Time for our group photo, which turned into throwing fallen apples into a bucket. We at least managed one quick pose for a photo, you were a boisterous lot today. Now to head off for a nice social, and all downhill too.

See you all next week

Another evening in the global gardens, well why not?

8 goodgym volunteers made their way over to the wonderful project that's about supporting community-based sharing of food and cultures. As we had already had some rain this past week the ground was okay, so no need to get your cans out too much. However, this bit of rain had meant an explosion of growth around the site, of everything including those pesky plants bindweed and brambles.

First let us WELCOME Estelle

Thanks for joining us on your first ever goodgym mission, we hope that you enjoy it enough to come back for more.

Now the wonderful Poppy showed us the tasks to be done, split around the site from the seating circle to the newest cleared area. Mostly weeding and tidying just to keep on top of everything whilst new plants became more established, plus a bit of watering for the thirsty pumpkins. So we split into groups and got to work.......

In 40 minutes most of the first tasks were complete, but with plenty of time to spare we all moved onto the new patch to join up with the rest of the group where we attacked the brambles around the young hazel trees.

Two minute warning

A last minute frenzy of cutting as Poppy went around gathering our collective mess, tools down, tidy up and time for us to admire our work. A great end to the month for goodgym Cardiff and the Vale, with plenty more to come in July and some visits to new projects, have a look and get signed up.

Everyone was unsure about today; no weather forecast could agree, and none seemed to have got the weekend correct so far......Pinecone anyone?

Arriving at Stargarallot today were.

first place Martin - the only full runner today, second Michael with a half run half cycle (thanks nextbike station) third Nathan cycling through the gates. closely followed by Ben and then Lucy.

To be fair, the wind was not a friend to the cyclists today slowing down any hope of being on time. It is great to see people using more active travel when they are unable to run, or just not feeling it. Do Good, Get Fit.

Today's task was to clear another patch for the group to use for planting, it had been used for the old wood and paving slabs for quite some time, but over time we had used quite a lot of these to either create pathways or edge new planting areas. Now, we just had to move a few more bits to clear the space so that we could then remove the vegetation and dig through the soil.

Sounds easy right?

It may not have been the glorious sunshine that we have experienced in tasks of past, but it was still pretty warm, so the first 20 minutes of clearing still worked up a sweat as we moved slabs up to the seating area (future patio task I think), and bits to the 'rag and bone' area.

Then to work with forks and spades, something that we knew all too well by now. But wait, what is that you say Martin? You cannot get through the soil, it is like concrete........your fork, does it work? Is it blunt........?

What do they say about a person blaming their tools??????

Anyhow, a new......much sharper fork and we were full steam ahead, turning the soil, removing the unwanted and digging down to aerate the soil. Then, the hour was up, and a newly dug patch was ready for planting, soon they will be planning the winter veg.

Hold on…. what did you say about the pinecones?

Pinecones are one way to tell if dry weather is coming. Pinecones open their scales when the weather gets extremely dry. They do this to scatter their seeds. When the air is moist, they close to keep their seeds dry. Pine seeds are transported by the wind, so they must stay as dry and as light as possible to fly. Dust and sand, of course, travel in much the same way. So, if a pinecone's scales are open, be on the lookout for dry weather.

As part of the The Great Get Together 10 goodgymers met in the local park for a litter pick. 5 have just taken part in the social run so a nice walk was a lovely change of pace.

The Great Get Together is inspired by the late Jo Cox MP, who was killed on 16th June 2016. In her first speech in Parliament, Jo said: “We have more in common than that which divides us.”

Showing that we have #MoreInCommon we made our way through the park to make it a little better for everyone that uses it. We found a dolls head, tidied up the river bank, cleaned up one of the busiest parts that day.

We stopped for coffee and some snacks, and received a lot of thanks from random strangers this day. It was a great way to celebrate the message #MoreInCommon. With our final helping stranger taking our group photo and giving us the report title. By saying smile you rubbish heroes, i mean Rubbish Heroes, not rubbish......heroes.

Today we returned to the Dusty Forge to help at the gardens out back, the mission to (try) build a compost bin. With plans, wood and tools we made our way to where the old heap used to be. Firstly we measured out the positions of each metal post holder, in accordance with the plans, secondly our resident He-Man (formerly known as Ben) whacked them into the ground. Or at least we thought..........

As we weren't too sure what was under the soil (hindsight is a wonderful thing), we wouldn't have known that they would hit a rock / concrete section - Bending the post holder and then breaking the hammer.

Michael got to work digging the bugger out, whilst Ben and Karolina continued to find a way of hammering the other back posts into place.

Eventually, the posts were(kind of) in the ground, the first one in a large hole that was then fixed in place with postcrete.

We stepped back to look / admire our wonky work. It had taken much longer than anticipated but was at least a start, but now it was time to head home and get some dinners in our bellies.