Back to our friends at Southampton city farm tonight where they had an inside task for us. We were tasked with filling bags of hay to feed the goats ready for their open day this weekend and folding and stapling leaflets. We got to welcome Hannah back on a Monday night after her maternity leave, great to have you back!

Everyone dug into filling bags with hay and Chris and Helen were on crate cleaning duty to store the bags. We soon worked out that hay gets quite dusty and Wilson won the crown for most sneezes of the evening. Special mention to Ellie for most sneezes in a row. Some of us then moved onto leaflets while the rest continued with hay bagging.

After an hour of hay bagging, leaflet folding and stapling and crate cleaning and packing we were all grateful for a break for some maths where Hannah worked out we had packed 240 bags! A massive accomplishment.

On a mild evening we gathered for our first after-dark task session on the farm. We tackled a laurel of jobs—moving logs, cutting back dense laurel growth, clearing a goose enclosure by rolling up the electric fence and raking up the straw. We tore cardboard for compost and trimmed the hedge! It was a productive and satisfying evening, made even more special by welcoming a new member, Suzanne, to the team. We’re delighted she joined us and hope she had a great time getting stuck in with the GG team!

Ten brilliant volunteers turned up at Aldermoor this evening ready to tackle nature head-on—and tackle they did! Finn, Laura, and Derek gave the entrance hedge a sharp new look, while Sarah, Amanda, Beck, and Ronna took on the wild willow by the pond, cutting it back and hauling the branches to the chipper like absolute pros. Meanwhile, Ellie and Anna (with a cameo from Wilson) took on the compost bay transfer— never did we think the whole bay could be done, but Ellie and co were determined and they powered through until the task was complete! Laura and Amanda also got stuck into tearing cardboard for future composting. It was fantastic to see Anna, Beck, and Ronna back for round two, and even better to wrap up with a sliver of daylight—possibly our last light-filled task of the season! Great job everyone!

A very exciting evening field trip for history lessons and working out. Tonight we joined the New Forest History and Archeology group to backfill “New Copse” Roman excavation site that they have been digging at annually since 2017. In this time they have discovered an early Roman round-house, an oven, and objects such as bracelets. They have uncovered half a tonne of Roman tiles also! The site is thought to have been a farmstead or agricultural settlement. We were wowed with lots of historical knowledge from the group. We were told the trees in this location were planted for timber for ship building, but by the time they had matured the type of timber was no longer being used! There was plenty of fun as we filled and compacted the trench in by putting layers of soil back in wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow and then covering with leaf litter. By the end with our leaf spreading shimmy technique we think it definitely looked like no one had been there! We hope next year we might even get involved in some of the excavating. Welcome to Anna who joined us for her first task. It was great to meet you and you win the award for most wheelbarrows filled! We hope you had fun and will join us again soon.