Round two of our support for the apple orchard volunteers at St Joseph's in Mill Hill was epic! 4 Goodgymmers helped Tim, John and a host of locals scour the trees for fresh fruits and windfalls, gathering almost as much as last time. We found spartans and bramleys applenty, plus some of the smaller sweet varieties.

Some of the rows are full of fruit but they won't come off the trees easily due to the drought, including the many golden delicious, which are tiny. They're hoping might swell up a bit with the recent rains and be ready soon.

We closed the session with a fantastic weight training round: lugging the sacks to the fence, then up the hill to where the van would arrive to collect them. Some of the apples went to the NW7 Hub, North Finchley Community Grocery, Cottage Home Residents and to the horses in the fields near the orchard.

There are still a few tons left to pick, so the next big session will be this Saturday - sign up here.

Today I worked alongside Ms D to unpack and organise some boxes. As we went through the items, some brought back fond memories for her of the good old days, which gave us a lovely opportunity to chat and reminisce together.

We also sorted through some pharmacy products and safely identified those that had expired. It was a productive session, and we enjoyed a good conversation while getting the work done.

Barnet Community Harvesters gathered a crack team of pickers for a run on the Gordon Road Allotments in Finchley, and Goodgym was there to cheer them on. Cherian, Paul and I rocked up in the weirdest flash rainstorm, with a rainbow glowing overhead and a wild mix of sun and rain still spitting down. But Daniella was there with fruit pickers, harvesting sacks and crates, along with 5 other volunteers, rearing to go.

We started on the two big community apple trees near the top of the allotment. The ground around them was already littered with windfalls, but there were plenty more nestling in the branches. We gathered nearly three full crates, one of a perfumed pink apple a bit like a Discovery, and another two of an unknown green cooker. Then, mid-way through climbing into one tree, the allotmenteers confirmed permission to pick a plum tree deeper into the grounds.

In all, we gathered over 40kg of apples, and around another 5-10kg of plums. We also gathered some of the windfall and stuff we knocked while wielding the fruit pickers, and left it on the allotment sharing table for others to enjoy.

It was my second visit to Mrs S’s house, and this time I had the pleasure of working in her backyard. What a wonderfully fruitful little garden it is! It has an amazing variety of fruit trees and bushes, including pears, blackberries, gooseberries and cherries. I cleared the garden path and did some weeding, helping to make the space a little tidier and easier to enjoy. It was satisfying to see the difference after a bit of hard work. As always, the visit ended with a lovely little chat with Mrs S. Another rewarding GoodGym session, combining a bit of exercise, gardening and good company!