I love it when the task description is as simple as this: see sticks, make sticks smaller, move small sticks to compost heap.

Under the supervision of stick expert Feargal Sharkey dog we set to the piles of old pruning/cut back with secateurs and buckets, quickly ditching the secateurs in favour of snapping the extremely satisfying dry twigs by hand.

A 2% stick sample was requested by Mr Sharkey for quality control purposes, with Amy carefully enticing him away from the brambly spiky ones.

The buckets were emptied into a large stick graveyard in the corner of the gardens, with Amy taking at least 3 attempts before she remembered how to empty a bucket. Max took a good run up and achieved an excellent stick-spread.

Studiously ignoring the pile covered by large amounts of bird poo, we quickly finished the task and were rewarded by delicious homemade carrot cake buns (Max had two, obvs).

A lovely sunny, very warm, evening to return to com-missioning, and a delightful run back.