A GoodGym Bath Double Whammy this weekend. TWO MISSIONS, both well attended with half a dozen members each.

Cosmo, Aaron, Tanya, Bennath, Meyrick and newcomer Marzia were in attendance and on sand duty at Sydney Gardens on what was that kind of dreary morning that makes you yearn for the sunshine, and dream of this place as it will become in spring and summer.

A task we've done many times before and I'm sure we will again is topping up the play area with sand. Such a great play area for the kids but the sand does not stay on it very long. There is a slight limitation on how much we can do, as the sand is about five minutes from where it needs to be deposited, so there are only so many runs we can do with the hour we have.

The key thing is to nab as many wheelbarrows as we can so that all of us can barrow at the same time to maximise our potential. We were able to get hold of four, but we were six, so a couple of us raked and cleared at the sandpit, whilst the other four barrowed.

Back in two weeks as usual, see you then!!!

It's been a while! I can't tell you for certain but I think it's been about a year and a half since we've been to Bath City Farm, so it was great to be back.

Slowly we've been able to add the regular missions, that we had prior to the organisational changes, back into the Bath calendar and this one was one of the last. Reaching out was the start but our offer to return was met jubilantly by the City Farm; our regular contact (Helen) still being there to enthusiastically welcome is back.

I always used to joke that Missions at Bath City Farm mainly involved manure, but this was an exception (I have a feeling though that some were actually hoping for manure).

A lot has changed since we were last here, many more outbuildings have popped up including a Yurt (a circular tent of felt or skins on a collapsible framework, used by nomads in Mongolia, Siberia, and Turkey). Our job was to wheelbarrow soil down from the top of the farm to the edges around the yurt, where they plan to plant a bed of strawberries.

Bit of a trek between the soil pick up and the soil deposit, but it was the right way round. Full wheelbarrows on the downhill and empty ones back up the hill.

We achieved our goal though, and still had time to lay some woodchip down along the path we'd been using.

Keep an eye out, I will be posting more missions throughout the year, Bath City Farm is BACK on the calendar :)

Another Sunday, another Sydney Gardens. After a night a heavy rain, the skies cleared and the weather became dry, just in time for our visit this morning at 10am. GoodGymmers Cosmo, Aaron, Nev and Meyrick were on hand to help with whatever the Friends of Sydney Gardens decided was the task for this week.

Turned out it was grass, hence the awful pun above. Over in the awesome children's play area there is a lot of it, and loads of different types. The larger ones, which to me looked like pampas grass (and immediately took be back to the 80s), there is a natural shedding that occurs. So any dead grass can easily be extracted from the main body of the plant and removed, to tidy the flower beds up and provide more substance to the compost heaps dotted around the park.

Seemed like a quick one today, the hour sped by, but we were successful in our task and can't wait to be back in two weeks.

We were back at the Bath Organic Community Garden today, where we now have a monthly slot. It was a beautiful crisp morning: snowdrops and crocus’ were looking vibrant, which was very welcome after all the rain. Everyone was in good spirits and after a debrief on the tasks for the morning we got stuck in. Emily and Cos took on the task of cleaning the poly tunnels, using an organic liquid that smelt of vinegar. Fish and chips anyone? They smashed through this and managed to scrub the solution over two sizeable tunnels in the two hours we were there. Once applied, this will kill all the algae and prevent the build up of grime which means the sun can get through to the plants inside! When we get any sun…

The rest of the group, Ruth, Meyrick and Kate, went to the apple orchard to do some pruning. We were given some good instructions (and some scary tools) on the bits of the tree that needed to be removed, but we were all a little bit tentative when left to our own devices, worried we’d remove the wrong bits of the tree! But we did our best which is all we can ask and managed to trim some bits off.

The morning was a success, and we were rewarded with the little tea break half way through; tea and homemade cakes in abundance. Even a cheeky Robin popped in to steal crumbs from our table.

Another great morning, everyone!