Mischief Makers Workshop

19/08/2026

SORRY GUYS — MISCHIEF FRIDAY IS BEING PUSHED BACK TO 4TH SEPTEMBER! 💛

We were so hoping to kick off this Friday, but our giant-table-removal mission has turned out to be even bigger than we expected. 😅

We’ve worked incredibly hard over the last few days trying to get it finished, but realistically we need another week and a bit to get everything cleared, stacked safely and finished off.

At the moment we still have loads of sharp metal around while the tables are being dismantled, along with piles very high of enormous refrigeration panels waiting to be moved. That means the site just isn’t safe enough yet for the kind of free-range, run-everywhere Mischief Friday nights we want the kids to have.

The VERY good news is that once it’s done, we’ll have almost another quarter of an acre opened up for Nerf battles, laser tag, games and whatever other ridiculous things everyone decides to get up to! 😂

We’ve also had the opportunity to get 3-phase power into our warm and cosy room, which means we can now get the split system installed as part of this final push too — so it’ll be beautifully warm in winter and cool when summer arrives. 🙌. It will also allow us to have power in all the tunnels now too. So we might be able to do some large movie nights for the kids.

So we’re giving ourselves another week and a bit to get all of that installed, cleared and properly finished off, and then we can finally kick things off on Friday 4th September.

I am so sorry. I know everyone has been incredibly patient while we transform this crazy old nursery, but we just want to make sure that when we finally say GO, the space is safe, ready and properly Mischief-worthy. 💛

Thank you for sticking with us — we really can’t wait to have you all here! We are running a few of our usual workshops with the teens still but the rest just has to kick off in 1.5 weeks.

18/08/2026

Check out what we got for our cooking sessions at some point. It was great timing as Jasper had come down with a cold. Shame.... Miles and I just had to whip up some honey and elderberry lollipops for him. Hee hee. They turned out great.

14/08/2026

This week’s cook was Japanese flooooofy pancakes! 🥞😂

They were definitely a bit of work, but looked pretty impressive and tasted pretty good too! We expected them to be super light and fluffy, but they were actually much denser than a normal pancake. Very different and interesting!

We were also super lucky to have an electrician helping us out at HQ for the day, and the kids made sure he was VERY well fed — hash browns first, followed by pancakes. 😂

And apparently it wasn’t just the humans having a good day… Winnie scored herself a play date with his beautiful dog too! 🐾💛

A pretty good Wednesday all round at Mischief Makers HQ.

13/08/2026

While they waited for things to cook on Wednesday, the teens headed out for a quick game of badminton… unfortunately for Tanika and Melike, the doggos had other plans, and they were very quickly kicked off the court.

11/08/2026

30/07/2026

One of my favourite things is seeing how much this crew has grown. After cooking together for quite a while now, they are beginning to suggest recipe adaptations on their own.

Yesterday, before I had even finished reading the recipe, the teens announced:

“HALVE THE SUGAR!”

Since when do teenagers voluntarily ask for less sugar in a chocolate cake?! 😂

They have learned that many recipes contain far more processed sugar than they actually need -and that quite often, you can halve it, and the result is still as good as gold. They have seen firsthand over the last few years the difference it makes to their bodies and on the emotional level.

Such a fun afternoon, but also such incredibly important learning.

Confident cooks, thoughtful choices, inclusive food and chocolate cake for a very special mumma! That is a very big win in my book! 🎉

Happy Birthday Katy!!!! (mmm.... Now the true Mischief Makers HQ question for you, Katy.... Did we do something to your birthday cake or not?????? Hee hee). We will see how you are tomorrow!

28/07/2026

Today we finally got to pot up quite a few of the seedlings Miles has been carefully nurturing!

We planted more than 60 snow peas, around 30 nasturtiums, a handful of broad beans, plus some rosemary, garlic and a few other odds and sods.

Snow peas are one of Gran’s absolute favourite things to eat, so Miles and I decided that payment for today’s hard work will be all the snow peas she can eat! 😂

It was such a magical afternoon for all of us - hanging out together, planting in the sunshine and watching Miles’s little seedlings find their new homes.

Miss Winnie, of course, appointed herself Head of Quality Control. Every plant was sniffed, every pot was inspected and every scoop of soil was closely supervised. She then moved on to checking that the blower was behaving itself and that Gran actually knew how to use it.

Poor Mum trying to clean up at the end became quite the circus! 🐶🍃. Now to get ready for tomorrows cooking session with the homeschool crew. Yeah

28/07/2026

Well, this feels rather perfectly timed…

Today is World Nature Conservation Day AND, according to the quirky celebration calendars, National Milk Chocolate Day. 🌱🍫

So after two full days of rescuing our back fence from blackberries, shifting around 30 enormous steel tables and creating a brand-new growing tunnel, we shall be celebrating our contribution to nature conservation—with chocolate.

Miles might need to whip up some of his epic slightly healthier chocolates before today’s planting, methinks…

Because surely if they’re healthier, we can eat more of them? 😂

27/07/2026

A huge thank you to Jasper, Miles and Mum for an absolutely epic couple of days! 💪🌱

Not everyone realises how much work goes into getting things done at Mischief Makers HQ. Because it is a commercial nursery site, everything is bigger, heavier and a little more complicated than it first appears!

Over the past two days, we have been clearing the back fence, where around 30 enormous steel nursery tables had been sitting for years. Some were three metres long, others way way longer, and many took three or four of us to lift, manoeuvre and restack.

They were also completely tangled through with years of blackberry growth, so it was not simply a matter of picking them up and moving them. There was cutting, pulling, lifting, dragging, balancing, wiring and plenty of stopping to work out how on earth we were going to move the next one!

The fence still needs a lot of repairs and work out some privacy screening, but the tables are finally stacked and accessible - a massive achievement.

Even better, we have created an exciting new growing tunnel! The large tables now run around the outside edges, and the plan is to turn the whole space into a beautiful climbing greenhouse filled with broad beans, snow peas, snapdragons and lots of other wonderful plants. Miles has loads of seedlings bursting at their seams ready to be planted and take off - so cannot wait for it all to come to life! I can just see the video that was done yesterday being redone in say a month and hopefully it will be full of greenery!!!!

We have a few people coming today to help pot everything up and start bringing the new space to life.

Two full days, plenty of scratches, aching muscles and one enormous job nearly completed!

Thank you, Jasper, Miles and Mum. I could not have done it without you. 💚