On Wednesday we were asked to help the Oxford Preservation Trust with work at Iffley Glebe. We had a few tasks to take care of: * Maintaining the ancient wall by weeding all the little plants that start growing in the crevices and end up damaging the wall structure.
* Lopping back the low over hanging branches of the large sycamore tree near the entrance so the tractor can get under it to complete the meadow mow.
* Cutting back and pulling up nettles closely along the wall where the tractor can't reach.
* Clearing the area around the gate to the storage garage, which was overgrown with brambles.

Many hands make light work of such tasks, particularly hands which are enthusiastic loppers and weeders! Sadly we didn't catch sight of the fox family who are raising their cubs on the Glebe, but we did get to listen to bell-ringing practice from Iffley Church.

Welcome to GoodGym Philip!

5 of us met for the Rickety's Tuesday quiz, with no cancellations due to the football this time. In the usual Dodo Pub style, there were no straightforward question and answers. We had one round using all the letters of the alphabet, another sudoku style answer grid, a picture round, the music round etc. We learned that Mario is a plumber (news to some of the team), the most common aliens are called 'greys', and Kier Starmer is the rumoured influence for Mr Darcy in the Bridget Jones films.

We managed a very respectable 2nd place, with £10 of bar snacks as the prize. We also made a pretty solid dent in the £90 tab I was mysteriously sent when the previous quiz was cancelled.

Pizza, pints, and peanuts for all!

Foxwell Drive's Tiny Forest was planted on 28 January 2021 by local contractors (in line with Covid restrictions). It is a curved shape that follows the road and is adjacent to the A40. It's had a few years to get established now, and many of the trees are thriving. Unfortunately a lot of nettles, brambles and other plants are also thriving and choking/competing with the trees.

We were called in for a two-pronged task - to clear around the trees to give them more chance of continuing to thrive and to uncover the tags needed for monitoring. Once we'd cleared a good area we then pivoted to some of the monitoring surveys - taking measurements of the tagged trees (and each others' ears for some reason!), and then doing a grounddwellers count to finish off.

Our very own Lorenzo is a volunteer with Tiny Forests and so has a monitoring kit, so hopefully we can independently head out for some monintoring surveys another time. We only have 1 more Tiny Forest in Oxford which we haven't visited yet, so let's head to Meadow Lane soon!

Congratulations to Anna on completing her 50th Good Deed!

With Boundary Brook Nature Park Open Afternoon this coming Saturday GoodGym were called in this week to make sure all the paths were clear and wide enough for wheelchairs and buggies. We took a 'divide and conquer' approach, with teams heading to different zones of the nature park to ensure that the paths were fully accessible. The site is now ready for visitors this weekend. In two weeks time we will return to replenish the gravel along the paths to help them stay dry and usable year round.

Some days everything falls into place seamlessly and life appears frictionless...Yesterday was not one of those days.

With missing running shoes, forgotten gardening gloves, and rush hour traffic all conspiring against us (and that was just me), we were not off to the most auspicious start. However, things took a turn for the better once we actually made it to the task: We found orchard triangle had been mown since our last visit so was less of a jungle, and we could get to the plants along the railings to weed and mulch. Also less long grass = fewer bitey bugs; a definite bonus!

We weeded, chatted, spread wood chip, tried to rescue a sad-looking rhubarb plant, rehomed snails, and generally improved the growing conditions for the numerous loganberry, raspberry and blackcurrant plants. We're looking forward to tasting our first loganberries come harvest time.