It never rains but it pours...

In the starkest contrast ever, having considered cancelling our session at St Nicholas's Primary school a fortnight ago due to heat, yesterday we were worrying about whether to go ahead in driving wind and rain. We're made of tough stuff, us GoodGymers, and surely Brits can't cancel due to rain? - We'd never get anything done!

This was our third and final (for now) session taming the school vegetable plot ready for the gardening club to start. This time we'd earmarked the bramble and burdock between the outside beds and the polytunnel to clear, and some extra weeding and tidying inside the polytunnel. 7 of our All Star team weeded out bramble an bind weed and dug over the polytunnel beds, while 2 of the madder GoodGymers braved the rain to tackle the head-height burdock and tangle of bramble outside.

An hour's work had the polytunnel looking spic and span, and the spikey corner outside cleared.

Soggy all through our layers and squelching shoes, we nonetheless enjoyed a run back through Marston post-task. Let's call it character building and a bonding experience?

5 Goodgymers gathered for a sunny morning at Oxford City Farm. We were tasked with the job of clearing many weeds, including an abundance of thistles, and harvesting shallots. Working with other volunteers at the farm, we managed to get the area clear - ready for cardboard and compost to prepare for what's next!

During our break we enjoyed checking in with the resident goats, and we even got to take home some hand-picked veggies too! Thanks to Oxford City Farm for a lovely morning!

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.