Welcome along again, I haven’t blogged for a while and there is so much to cover since the summer I’ll only talk about a couple of things.
THE GOOD – The best news that we can report is that Allendale has thankfully remained relatively free of the lurgy. Since my last post we have continued to have our fabulous volunteers helping out following the rule of 6, staying outdoors and observing social distancing. We ‘ve managed to get loads done in the veg plot and have started working on the fruit garden which is a whole other exciting thing.
Ducklings have all been rehomed, Fletch and Hillary are enjoying a second honeymoon period and are, quite frankly, relieved to be free of the rabble.
We had a bumper season for veg and sold on average 14 boxes per week but the season is finished now. Thank you to everyone who bought stuff and we hope you enjoyed it, Sam and I are now working our way through the remaining kale forrest that is all that’s left after giving some to the Hexham Fresh Food Bank. Any recipes appreciated!
The BAD – Well this year has been a struggle for many and here we are in a second lock down again. We are now taking NHS referrals, being outdoors really helps keep your mind and body active and this is what we are all about. Talk to your GP if you think you could benefit from coming along. We are aware that we haven’t been as active in the community as we were pre-Covid. Our coffee mornings stopped as did our events and this has made me sad as I think it would have been so much appreciated by many in lock-down. After much thought though, we have decided to put things on hold now until the new year and hope to build up the momentum we had in spring.
THE AWESOME!!! – Well, we are pretty over the moon with the new shelter that local artist and carpenter Jonah Maurice built for us. The shelter was sponsored by friends of the project and it is already well used for coffee breaks and is a bit of a talking point as it’s so unusual. It has been described variously as ‘Wonderfully weird’, like a ‘Gingerbread house’, Far eastern/Russian/Indian looking, amongst other things. I think it’s a one off. Mind there’s less work is getting done as we’re always looking for an excuse to sit in it!
Well that brings me kind of up to date, there’s loads of other stuff but I’ll leave it there. Hunker down and stay safe all, see you on the other side.
Jane
