Oxford City Farm had welcomed Goodgym to their site a few times in 2019 so it was a delight to be back there this evening.

It was fantastic to see so many new faces at this session: Welcome to Elena, Lucy, Milly, and Sian.

After temperature checks on arrival, hand sanitizing and an introduction from Sally and Phil the team got to work. Our tasks were wide ranging today - trench digging, ramp dismantling, a thorough tidy of the outside shelter area, weeding and mulching the previously planted fruit trees and watering the contents of the poly-tunnels.

As usual the team were wonderful, getting stuck in with enthusiasm and an exciting array of tools - Aoife in particular has found a new vocation.

The transformation at the end was fantastic to see. Personally I love a task where the supervisors are sheep, chickens and a very beautiful cat. We hope to have many more tasks at this marvellous City Farm.

Could it be that the GoodGym x Children's Allotment is destined to forever be a rainy evening?! It seems likely, but it doesn't dampen our enthusiasm for this amazing community cooperative project.

Since the Allotment is a bit tucked away we met in Florence Park; gathering up a few lost souls, chatting about ideas for autumn/winter tasks, and giving our latest Black Tshirt club member a cheer before setting off to the Children's Allotment - well done on 50 GoodGym Good Deeds Sarah!

Alice was ready and waiting for us at the Children's Allotment, and extremely well-prepared for our bumper crop of GoodGymers, with several tasks planned, and tools ready and waiting. This week we had hedge maintenance, woodchip spreading (cue an enthusiastic dash to the wheelbarrows!), tomato picking, and bramble/weed clearing for a new fruit and veg bed.

Tasks assigned, tools and gloves sorted, and everyone got stuck in straight away. The most popular task was definitely barrowing loads of woodchip over to spread out in what will one day be a play area, with much whooping and shouts of encouragement in that area! The teams untangling bind weed from the hedge, clearing the area for new planting, and harvesting tomatoes might have been quieter, but they were no less effective and chatty as they worked away.

As ever, it's impressive how much can be achieved in little more than an hour when 20 or so people get to work, and this task was no exception. The whole wood chip pile was redistributed over the play area, almost the whole hedge was cleared of it's choking bind weed, and the vast majority of the brambles and weeds were lopped and dug out from the new planting area.

We have been well fed on our Community Missions lately, and this week's bounty was eating and cooking apples, plus some delicious plum tomatoes. Yummy!

Welcome to our hat-trick of new volunteers; Natalie, Venetia, and Anna, as well as Nicki who joined us all the way from Cardiff. Great to meet you!