Deep in Walpole Park lies a mulch mountain underneath a thick blanket of fallen leaves. Our job? To dig deep and mine for gold! Or - rather - to dig deep and mine for dark brown mulch, otherwise know as ‘the good stuff’! This nutrient heavy mulch was then to be taken to the kitchen garden to be used as food for the plants there.

First, in the dark and the rain, we climbed the mountain and with spades tossed the leaves aside; Sevan and Kash were first to the top! We hacked at the leaves causing wet (yet also incredibly dusty) avalanches - but we persevered and soon we reached the darkest and tastiest mulch. We filled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow and Steph took charge of taking the mulch to the kitchen garden.

If you didn’t know, mulch mountains contain all sorts of unexpected obstacles- rocks, weird fumes and logs bigger than you or I - no problem for Kash who dug the logs out and launched them aside.

Finding the ‘good mulch’ was quite a challenge as there were so many layers of wet heavy leaves and half cooked mulch and so, when we did - Amy declared it her favourite task ever.

Surprisingly none of us sunk in the pile and needed to be rescued but also - none of us came away with dry shoes!

November's Three Pigeons signature task tonight with a jog, a workout and lots of GoodGym energy going into the riverside plots we take care of for Richmond Council.

This evening we were joined by Hannah, celebrating a milestone 10th GoodGym task with a visit to Richmond 🥳 Meeting at the Tap, five of us set about a very necessary warm-up as November stretched its cooler arms out to pull us into the night! JP and Monika then set off on a brisk walk along the high street while Hannah, Kash and Liz set off across Richmond Green, discussing the benefits of 'jeffing'. A planned mix of running and fast walking, it can help ease joint impact, enable runners to cover longer distances and has the added benefit of getting to take in the lovely riverside views more too!

At Buccleuch Arcade things were looking good after Saturday's task there, perfect surroundings for a 10 minute bodyweight workout on the lawn. Those who didn't want to join headed straight to the Three Pigeons plot with tools to start some robust weeding, litter-picking and cutting back. When the whole group joined together it was, as always, amazing what eight sets of energetic hands can get done in 45 minutes as a huge Hop plant was removed, a bag of rubbish was plucked from the plants, the border was freed from weeds and a general sweep-up left the plot looking cared for.

Just time for a group photo with the floodlights on before we all scattered back into the night for hot dinners!

We visit our sponsored plot on the first Saturday and second Monday of every month, we would love you to join us!