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!

It's always a bit worrying when the first instruction of your afternoon canoeing session is 'head to the danger bridge', but as it turns out Danger Bridge is not so dangerous if you're low on the water in a canoe. It actually leads to one of the quietest spots along this stretch of the river - perfect to learn maneouvering skills before heading out along the main river. Turns, stopping, and switching direction mastered(ish) we were let loose on the main river, paddling upstream to Folly Bridge, then a mini adventure through the tunnel under the Abingdon Road, and back down river to the canoe club.

Lots of fun and splashing, only one crash into brambles, no collisions with rowers or expensive-looking boats, no capsised canoes. A successful afternoon out on the river!