Tater eclipse of the heart

A mashing time was had by all as we made our way back to the community kitchen garden at Chiswick House last night after a long time away.

Before we set off for what turned out to be a very a-peeling task, we did a warm up and took turns in guessing the highest number of parkruns completed by one individual. The answer, as of July this year, was a whopping 811. That's no small fry!

Chiswick House and garden operates as a charity, and the Walled Garden dates back to 1682. However, it was only converted into a community kitchen garden by a group of local volunteers in 2005 and is now an important community outreach resource. So with lots of jobs, and plenty of muscle required to get them done, GoodGym is the perfect mash.

The job for the evening was to empty compost pens and break down the wooden structure so that a new seating area could be built in the community garden. This means that eventually the gardeners will be able to escape the summer heat beneath the boughs of a 200 year old oak tree. It was a big job and no room for spec-taters, so everybody quickly grabbed a fork and wheelbarrow and got to work.

All of a spudden, Michelle spotted the first little potato hidden beneath the compost. We all kept our eyes peeled for more buried treasure, and before long our stash of spuds was growing by the minute.

After an hour of chipping away at the task we had flattened the bins and cleared most of the compost. It just goes to show that going out to do good and get fit is much more fun than being a couch potato.

Next week we're back at Cultivate. I'll see you tater!