Last night was all about BOG creation on Aston's Eyot, with bonus tasks of scything and pond sculpting to keep us all happily occupied. (Make a bog, get 2 tasks free.) The Friends of Aston's Eyot are very proactive about habitat creation across the nature reserve. We've previously helped dig ponds, make boggy patches and built hibernaculums (hibernaculi?) in other areas of the Eyot. This time the pond and bog areas had already been dug by a digger - somewhat more efficient than by hand! - just leaving some finishing touches to be made by volunteers. The bog area had been lined already, just leaving the task of filling the soil back in on top. Luckily Trev and Henry had wellies on, which made wading around in swampy mud a lot easier for them, while the rest of the group shovelled and ferried soil from heap to bog. Our scythers, Axelle and Venetia cleared the nettles from the perimeter of the bog very efficiently, while the rest of us got artistic, sculpting/reprofiling the sides of the recently dug pond so that it has a shallow slope instead of a cliff edge into the water - better for frogs and other critters to get in and out.

Despite being up against the failing light we made good progress on all tasks. Great work team!

Welcome to GoodGym Kate and Jamie.

The Cherwell Collective run a food larder, Climatarian Kitchen and food growing collective (Harvest at Home). Based in Kidlington, they support people all over Cherwell District. This time of year they are deep into harvest, saving people's spare fruit and veggies and distributing them at the larder, or cooking them up into delicious meals to serve up at the Climatarian Kitchen.

Last night a couple of homeowners in Lower Heyford had promised the fruit from their apple trees to the larder, and so GoodGym took a short road trip out of Oxford to help with the gleaning.

Ladders, tarpaulins, and big sticks in hand we shook down, picked, and collected up 6 crates of apples from 2 gardens in Lower Heyford. Django the dog was semi-helpful at searching and retrieving falling apples (great at finding, not so great at giving back!), and we discovered heads for heights and tree climbing/precarious balancing skills we never knew we had.

Our harvest will get cooked up and given away, supporting people struggling with the cost of living and saving good food from going to waste.

We spent a sunny late summer evening snipping down sycamore saplings to stop them from self-seeding all over Iffley Glebe, carefully pulling ivy and other unwelcome green guests off the ancient stone wall around the meadow, and clipping large amounts of bramble, nettle and hawthorn which were encroaching on the entrance to the storage garage.

It's always a joy to be up in Iffley in the summer, with it's village vibe and feel of having stepped back in time for a little while.

Congratulations on reaching the 100 Good Deed milestone Kieran.

Happy 10th Good Deed Freya.

Welcome to GoodGym Andy!