GoodGym @MOP 19/3/25 🏃‍♂️

GoodGym back for their sixth volunteering activity at MOP

We received an email the other week from GoodGym. A request from group coordinator Euclides for GoodGym to do a volunteering session at Meadow Orchard. Clearly the memory of spiced cider and ambient mince pies from their last session must have had an impact but to be fair we were summoning up the courage to ask them to lend us a hand with a suitable ~~strenuous~~ enjoyable task.

One of the GoodGym-ers arrived early and enjoyed a brief garden and polytunnel tour which was cut short by the sight of head torches bobbing along the garden path as ever punctual volunteers arrived on the dot of 7pm. Tour over, to let work commence!

Harvesting wild clay

Task in hand this session was to harvest wild clay for a planned sustainable building session making clay straw and also clay that will be processed as pottery clay. Harvesting wild clay sounds much more engaging than asking the volunteers to dig a big hole.

The group soon discovered the unique ground conditions at mop, previously tennis courts. Shovels ringing out as they hit the hard drainage pan of clinker a couple of inches below the surface.

What passes for topsoil and clinker was mounded to one side to reuse later. This made it possible to extract big spits, shovel loads of clean clay (free from agregate and surface organic matter). The sticky London clay was scraped from the shovels and bagged up in reused malt sacks for later use in April for our eco building project in the Roundhouse.

What to do with the resulting hole?

The resulting excavation or hollow could potentially provide a run off for surface water, collection from our rainwater storage, perhaps a seasonal pond? Situated in slight hollow, in what was an area of poorly draining ground it would lend itself to a lined wildlife pond. Common rushes nearby indicate how boggy the ground is here so ideally suited to a pond with boggy wildlife habitat and shade tolerant planting. Frog habitat would also benefit our Kitchen Garden with some natural slug control.

Highlights from the session

Hearing how much GoodGym Harringey enjoy the Meadow Orchard Site and looking forward to welcoming them back soon!
Working with a great group of good humoured and inspiring volunteers.
Being able to achieve quite impressive feats of volunteering in the hour long sessions, thanks to the great community network.
Realising our modified upcycled low voltage work-lights are really helping with GoodGyms fascination for night-time garden sessions.
Slight concern after unearthing a black rubble sack, only to realise it was a bag of soil we’d used to fill in the hole we’d started previously for the pottery test firings.
The resulting mirth as the bag of soil was pulled from the excavation with an assortment, with an array of accompanying crude noises.
The expected Shaw Shank Redemption jokes as we dug out the wet clay (from below the water table).
Of particular note goes to Euclides for the job of taking photos of the GoodGymers on task. Euclides happily giving up his shovel to enable the others surprisingly quickly to carry out this taxing and unenviable task.

How we’ll be using the clay

Sustainable-Building @MOP

Wood Firing: The Firing Process Part I

About GoodGym Haringey

If you are not familiar with the concept of GoodGym, GoodGym are a group of volunteers who meet on Wednesdays to help out with community activities and errands.

The good gym-ers often meetup at bluehouse yard and run to the activity. This is optional abd if you’re not quite up to that volunteers can also meet onsite too.

Tasks can be helping community groups with gardening activities or something as small as helping an elderly neighbour with some shopping. It’s a really friendly group, a great mix of volunteers a really a lovely community.

Click the link below if you’d like to find out more about the organisation.

More about GoodGym