On Tuesday night a group of GoodGym runners went along to Bath Organic Group for some apple picking. We have been several times over the past month and have focussed on different types of apple. Tonight was the first time that some of the trees in the middle of the orchard were ripe for picking!

Because the varieties of apples we were picking were so different, we made sure to keep varieties from the same tree in the same crate instead of mixing them all up. This was easier said then done, as I found out when I realised that two trees had intertwined their branches as they had grown!

We managed to fill 7 large crates before it got too dark. The varieties we picked included complemdu plait, pipmaston pineapple and spartan.

At the end of the session we were offered some freshly squeezed apple juice from this seasons harvest which was just the sugar boost we needed. It was dark by the time we finished and had our juice and we were very fortunate that we brought some lights with us!

Welcome

A big GoodGym welcome to first-timer Flo. You picked (pun intended) a great intro mission at one our favourite locations, and we hope you enjoyed it.

Today's mission

Despite the very late listing for this mission, no less than 9 runners signed up to go apple picking at Bath Organic Group.

This was actually a number of sub-tasks involving rounding up various varieties of apple for both cider pressing and eating. We had to sort our harvest into three different groups:

• Ripe apples in prime condition, for sale as "eaters"
• Any apples which were not quite in their prime, but at least 50% edible, were good for cider
• Anything less good than that (ranging from insect-chewed, through somewhat rotten, all the way down to grossing you out just by touching them with gloved hands) were going to the compost heap!

The site has dozens of fruit trees in its orchard (I know I worked on a tree labelled #40 today) and this time we worked on a half-dozen or so whose apples had reached their maturity.

In true GoodGym fashion we started from the ground up - sifting any fallers into the 3 categories. In this case more often than not, these fell into the "gross out" quality band, but we're hardy types and soldiered on regardless!

From there we moved on to the easily pickable apples, which were naturally of a much better quality.

We picked as high as we could go, with some of us taller types doing a sterling job reaching as high as we could, before Sam once again demonstrated his leadership potential by sourcing a step ladder.

With this we made a really good job of stripping the particular tall red apples tree we'd already made good inroads into, before our host Tim played his trump card...

We had another cider apple tree which needed shaking! This is just the most fun job, and one we'd started (on this very tree!) a month or so earlier.

Again, we got a group of runners to hold out a big sheet, while one of us shook a branch as hard as we could.

Then Sam went that little bit further for GoodGym (as he usually does) and climbed up to a higher branch to shake out loads more apples.

I've really been missing my indoor climbing since lockdown, and once Sam had tired I climbed up even higher for one last shakedown!

Coming up

As nights get shorter, we'll probably struggle to get many more midweek missions in at the Organic Group, but there may be the opportunity for work there of a Saturday morning. Watch this website for updates