Gail, Steph and Anna met on the Strand this evening to hand out hot drinks and food to those who needed it.

Due to the wet weather, and a few other charities out and about, the starting queue wasn't as long as normal. We were able to be generous with the portions of Biriyani, and Gail's coffees and hot chocolates went down a storm in the cold.

A couple of people came along with extra donations from Pret and Caffe Nero which all found an appreciative taker. After an hour, everything was gone.

There was a big group this month for the walk over Horsenden Hill to the Feeding Ealing site. It started out dry and got more wet the closer that the group got to their destination, with umbrellas popping up and waterproofs being worn. Given the threatening grey skies, everyone was happy when Joseph said that they'd be working inside, in the polytunnel. On a day like today, Joseph had no desire to get soaked and he didn't want anyone else to get wet either.

Walking through the site, Joseph pointed out the changes since GoodGym's visit last month, with the Dudhi plants being well established in the muddy holes that were dug last month. Inside the polytunnel, there was a lot of new growth too, with tomatoes, peppers and more shooting up in the raised beds and some exotic beans climbing up the walls.

It was the tomatoes that Joseph needed help with today. As they grew, they needed to each have a bamboo cane that they were tied to for support. Kash, Angela and Maxime grabbed string and scissors, cutting it into lengths for everyone to get tying. Part way through, Joseph came to the team with a with a new task and each person could choose the one they found the most fun:

1. Tying the tomato plants to stakes
2. Dismantling old garden furniture that was inefficiently filling the skip

Maxime, Angela and Delphine found their happiness in placing stakes and binding the tomato plants to them. Steph, Kash, Kaja and Sevan on the other hand went for destruction. They grabbed the wicker chairs out of the skip and got kicking, stamping, twisting, sawing and pick-axing. Anything they could to turn the bad 3D seating into good 2D seating that would neatly stack back in the skip.

With both of Joseph's jobs completed, the rain got heavier and everyone took cover in the polytunnel. While they waited out the heaviest of the rain, Joseph told everyone about last year's harvest and the plans for this year. He encouraged everyone to come back at harvest time to pick some crops and make their stomachs happy. That's the most important thing in life, according to Joseph.

The session wrapped up early and team GoodGym headed home or onto their next tasks. As they left the site, the rain stopped and the sun beamed down... for a few minutes at least, until clouds returned overhead.

A week of turbulent weather at the beginning of June left GoodGymers wondering what Saturday would bring to the Horsenden Farm session. Delightful sunshine or dreadful rain? It turned out that neither rain nor shine was winning in the morning - what awaited us was overcast and gusts of wind, but the storm held off during the volunteering session.

Among the 11 GoodGymers at the farm were two new joiners: Anal and Ana, both very enthusiastic and keen to roll their sleeves up, no matter the task - what a great attitude to have at the first session!

Before the start of the task, Elsa from Friends of Horsenden Farm gave everyone an inspiring talk about the farm's history, from its humble origins as a derelict site to a thriving community space and a nature reserve - all brought to life by a decade of persistent work by a group of dedicated volunteers.

Elsa had two jobs for us today: first, making sure the farm plots have a source of homemade compost ready to use, and second, creating a new seating area for gatherings. Anastasiia, Amy, Delphine, Iram and Kaja have moved two huge piles of compost we had constructed in May, then combined another two (also last month's creations) into a single, tall heap.

Meanwhile, Anal, Ash, Kash, Maxime, Sevan and Steph Ducat moved heavy - and I mean heavy! - logs to a secret woodland area behind the sheds. They used a range of techniques from individual and paired carrying, through rolling to wheelbarrowing, to transport the timber blocks to a clearance in the woods. Later, we all enjoyed a break on the self-made seats in that truly magical place.

"I feel like a forest fairy here!" - Iram.

Although that job was really tough, the team still had some energy and over an hour to spare before the pizza o'clock. They decided to join the composting team and, based on Elsa's instructions, built a new, massive pile of fertiliser, layering fresh manure with woodchip - the famous lasagna technique!

The visit to the farm was a great opportunity to see some of the animal residents. No cats and cows this time, but we got to meet the two goats, a family of the rare breed of red-coloured Tamworth piglets, and harvest mice babies. We had to keep quiet when viewing the latter and refrain from taking photos in the nursery.

The harvest mouse is Britain's smallest rodent and has been recently reintroduced to Horsenden Hill and adjoining areas. To enable this rewilding endeavour (which even caught the attention of Sir David Attenborough!), the mice had to be brought from far corners of the UK. That's why some of the tubs with the rodents were labelled with descriptions like 1 pregnant Scottish lady.

The other highlights of the day were the introduction of a new pizza type, the creamy Jean-Claude, and a wedding reception, which pushed all the pizza lovers outside the main yard. We decided not to crash the party with our manure-scented boots.

If you think that sounds like a fun thing to do on a Saturday morning, join us in July at Horsenden Farm!

It was a double mission for Goodgym as Alan was at Mr G for his shopping and myself for the front garden. Alan and I met at 525 pm to arrive atm Mr G for 530. I was early and waited at the corner. Mr G arrived a from his dentist and spotted me or either the red GG top, but kept looking as thought Alan looked different. When we came in, he apologized for staring which made the 3 of us laugh as Alan and myself clearly dont look alike. Earlier in the day, head office said that Mr G couldn't find his trowel and that he would give me a big spoon to dish out the weeds. My idea was brute force and pull them out. At the end none of this as Mr N purchased a new one on his way back from the dentist at the corner store. The silver trowel!!! I went to tidy the garden whilst Alan was getting his shopping list and then disappeared in the streets on Ealing. I cleared 2 bags of weed, leaves, dead plants and a bit of rubbish. Double victory for Goodgym on a Friday evening.

I arrived at Ms N for some weeding and trimming, but soon found out that the main task was cutting the grass. Went through the house to the back garden and surprisingly the mover was hidden...in on of the bins as Ms N protected the electrical mower from the rain. No rain today so all good. Cut the grass, then did the weeding and trimming. When I went to the far end to remove the weed, there was a strong smell of mint or peppermint. Seems that mint was growing in a specific spot of the garden - it was a very nice smell. Clean cut in the garden - grass was on the move and ended up in bags.

It was our regular first Friday of the month helping out at the Ealing Mile, just one of the many activities organised by We Run Ealing to help the good people of the borough get active. Steph was super punctual (he's that kinda guy) and helped with the set-up. Harvey was exactly on time (he's that kinda guy) and went round the course practicing the art of drawing arrows with chalk (needs some work!). Tom whisked in on two wheels (he's that kinda guy) ready to be the lead bike for the runners. And a warm welcome was given to the smiling Yonas (he's that kinda guy) on the occasion of his first session.

Our crew marshalled and cheered and clapped as 45 runners got stuck into the 1 mile loop of Lammas Park. One of our regulars was getting back to running so walked the course. In true Tour de France style, Steph and Harvey followed behind to sweep up! Broom broom!

See you next month milers!