This evening we headed back to a cooler Aldermoor Farm for a mammoth weeding session amongst the leeks, carrots and pathways.

The hour flew by as we worked our way through what felt like an endless supply of unwanted greenery. We were a keen team and so we stayed on for a bit of overtime, determined to make as much of a dent in the task as possible. As Philip very wisely pointed out, "With weeding, you can spend five minutes or you can spend five hours!" Tonight definitely felt closer to the latter.

We welcomed Matthew to his first GoodGym task. Between pulling weeds, he shared his thoughts on healthier pastry-making for pies, proving that GoodGym tasks are great for baking advice as well as getting jobs done.

We also unearthed two rogue self-seeded spring onions and three radishes, which went home with Sarah, though i think after the uphill cycle home she may wish we had unearthed a pie.

By the end of the evening we'd shifted a huge amount of weeds and left the growing beds and paths looking much tidier. There was still plenty left for another day, but eventually we had to admit defeat and call it a night. Some tasks are just bigger than a single session!

A successful morning of running and lion spotting , made all the better with good company, a unicorn and the Mystery Machine. 🦁🦄

We put the world to rights, met lots of other people who were lion hunting and soaked up plenty of vitamin D. 😎

Thanks team, that was fun!!

After meeting at FCC and the introduction of the Litter Pick Bingo cards, we split into two teams to head to Kingston Rec. Sammy, Jim and mini-GGer Betsy made up our running group, whilst the rest of the squad walked a slightly sneaky back route.

Just as we were starting our picking challenge, seven-year old Harry and his dad came over and were very excited to join in. Along with their two dogs, they came in a very commendable joint second place with Sammy. Jim found an impressive stash of onions for everyone to secure their "vegetable" - it would have been disappointing to do a pick at Kingston Rec and not find one. After a miraculous find of a chilli pepper in a bush, Betsy and Wilson were the first to call BINGO! The competition was fierce throughout, and there was much debate as to whether something counted as a "suspicious liquid", or if something was large enough to reach "Big Ticket Item" status. Honourable mentions to everyone who took part, as even the lowest score was an impressive 6/8.

A new task at Aldermoor - the GoodGym crew set about reclaiming the paths around Polytunnel 3 from the weeds that had taken over. Bindweed, thistles, stinging nettles and long grass were all cleared away, getting the paths back and making the area much easier to get around. We also gave the potato patch a tidy-up and spent some time inside the polytunnel weeding around the cucumbers.

It was great to welcome Amy to her first Southampton GoodGym task. Its lovely to have you on board and look forward to seeing you at another task soon.

A big well done to Beth for successfully making it to the right farm this week 🤣 And hats off to Laura for climbing onto the compost heap to stomp it down a bit..... brave considering the stinky stuff we had uncovered (though not sure she had seen that bit).

Awesome job team!