There was an Abundance of volunteers this Wednesday lunchtime to harvest apples with Friends of Whirlowbrook Park, and thank goodness, because what a crop!

We met Nicola and other "friends of" at the entrance to the park and were led to the recently unearthed orchard, where there were 5 or so apple trees that had been hidden and not harvested for an estimated 30 years, plus lots of newly planted baby fruit trees.

Celine kicked things off with a wassail, blessing the trees with a verse, some apple cider vinegar and toast(!)

We then set to the usual work of clearing windfalls, getting in with telescopic pickers and then the fun of shaking the trees and catching fruit with a big tarpaulin. Yoseph was our intrepid tree-climber today, taking on the branch shaking from the top.

The bumper crop was quality control sorted into firsts, seconds and thirds. Most of the thirds were left for nature and, after we took as many as we wanted, the firsts and seconds will be distributed to good causes.

On a quiet and dry evening a team of goodgymmers ran up the hill - up and up all the way to the very top, but the views are as breathtaking as the climb up.

Garden angel Angela welcomed us to the school garden and laid out the tasks in store for us fir this autumn themed session:

• Sawing down dead conifers at the bottom of the garden
• bringing up the trunks and branches to the top
• hammering down stakes between which a dead hedge would be built at a later stage as a cosy home for wildlife

In no time, we had split into 2 teams, sawing away, wheeling offcuts and branches, hammering and bashing away all under a bright half moon.

Shout out to our hardworking crew tonight:

Lumberjack Rachel, scourge of the dead trees, joined by parent volunteer Rachel - yes 2 Rachels! Dead conifers beware! Wheelie good wheelbarrow driver Cat; Stake rhythm bashers Celine & Yvette; Masters of the hammers James and Yoseph; and recording the action and encouraging the team Annie still recovering from hip and elbow injuries - top marks for making it out tonight!

In under half an hour, we had cleared the dead trees and staked in the soon to be hedge.

We concluded all this sawing, wheeling and hammering actions with a gorgeous green tomato cake baked by Angela! Delishious!!!!

We then said our goodbyes to Angela and Rachel, promised to come back soon and rolled down the hill, a lot quicker than on the way up. Until next time for a winter inspired session!

This was the 3rd or 4th time I've been to Mr D over the years and he's so cheery, it was lovely to see him again. He remembered me and spent 15 minutes giving me his life updates before I had to remind him to put me to work!

I started by clearing grass and weeds from the pathway to his front door, then cleared some leaves and cut back a bush that was growing onto his neighbour's entryway. He kept bringing out more and more tools in case they might be needed - I guess it's useful to have options!

I finished off by bringing the green waste through to the back where it will line his planters and he proudly showed me his chillies, tomatoes, herbs and flowers.

Rachel, Annie and I joined 11 members of the Abundance project to help harvest 4 apple trees from a public orchard near the Millennium gallery so that they can be distributed to good causes and saved from waste.

We picked apples and separated the best (“first”) which are given to local community group from the virtually good (“second”) which are virtually perfect and third which are not donated but saved by some volunteers for cooking. Volunteers also get to take seconds home!

It was a superb turnout of volunteers on a gorgeous day. Many hands make light work and together we picked 151kg of first, 43kg of seconds and 13kg of 3rd - over 200kg in under 2 hours is an incredible harvest!