It’s that time of year again already!! We started Rose Road getting ready for their Christmas fair and were very busy elves packing gift bags from Santa. We got them packed very quickly and then had to do some rearranging to make sure there were the right mix of goodies in the final bags. We then had enough time to sort through the Christmas decorations and remove any broken ones and untangle the Christmas lights! And finally we sorted through items to be sold at Winchester Christmas markets by the fundraising team. As always we had lots of fun and are excited for the festivities next month when we will be back to support at the Christmas fair.

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!