The character of Biff, from Back to the Future, famously hates manure. Here at GoodGym of course, we can’t get enough of the stuff.

So much so in fact, that when Helen put out a very late call yesterday afternoon for a possible mission at the city farm, Dan and Ellie signed up straight away while they were still on holiday in Tenerife. Imagine a world where that is even possible ... we really are living in the future!

It’s the city farm - so expectations were palpably high for fun and livestock action when we arrived - and we were not to be disappointed.

First up, we returned to a familiar haunt - the manure heap. Which needed sorting, and the more matured stuff being wheelbarrowed further up the site for use during the week. The other stuff needing to be turned over onto the not-quite-so-ready pile.

After an hour or so of that, we headed for part two of today's good deed ... cleaning out the chickens.

The chickens are on flockdown due to bird flu risks, so this involved getting up close and in with all the chickens and clearing out their coop.

Dan and Jer got in there sweeping straw, scraping poo off the floor and so on, while Ellie expertly collected up and boxed today's egg deliveries.

I say expertly, I sense Ellie may not be overly used to non supermarket-fresh eggs, and handled the supply with the same care that, say, a radiation expert may collect some knock-off plutonium Doc stole off some Libyan terrorists.

The chickens were ever so inquisitive and quite entertaining but eventually we had to make like a tree and get out of there. We had a really fun time on the farm today and hopefully we shall meet up again there sometime in the future...

(You young 'uns might not be ready for all these 1980s sci-fi comedy references, but your parents are going to love them 🎸 )