What an amazing month we've had in September! 🤩

We did 142 Good Deeds in Oxford, which is 41 more than our previous biggest monthly attendance. We’ve helped at the Children’s Allotment, Oxford City Farm, Warneford Hospital, Makespace, Oxgrow Community Garden, and Oxford Farmhouse. We’ve delivered prescriptions, picked apples, cleared litter, harvested fruit and veg, spread wood chip, got muddy, learnt to use apple picking poles, angle grinders, and how to make apple juice. We’ve made new friends (human and animal), set the world to rights, shared recipes, and supported each other. We’ve got stuck in come rain or shine, lending muscle and spreading a whole lot of positivity.

Our final Good Deed of September was a great one to close out the month and wave goodbye to light evenings. We were back at one of our favourites - The Children's Allotment. We've been helping at this project whenever we can since not long after it started, and the transformation on the site has been amazing since we first got involved back in May 2018. This time we had harvesting, clearing and wheelbarrowing jobs to tackle, and with an eye on the glowering sky and impending darkness we got straight to work.

The dilapidated building on the allotment has been removed since our last visit, making the area seem much more open and spacious, and giving us a clear run for the wheelbarrows from woodchip pile to the play area where it needed spreading. Gamely battling wobbley wheels (better or worse than an unruly supermarket trolley?) the woodchip team made excellent progress on the area.

The rest of our gang grabbed forks and spades and divided themselves between two tasks; digging over some new beds along the perimeter fence and preparing a large patch for reseeding with grass. Both jobs were muddy, so we definitely envied the foresight of the GoodGymers who had come in their wellies or walking boots.

Not sure I'll ever get the mud off my trainers!

With darkness falling early we had to work swiftly, but still got through a lot in the hour we had. A last minute change of task for some meant that we had freshly harvested apples and cherry tomatoes to take home - the last task where we'll get plied with fruit and veg for 2020?!

As discussed, learning how to make an apple crumble is an essential life skill. Try out this recipe and let us know how you get on!