What a difference a year makes: storytelling and zine-making creativity

It's been a while, but ... we're back! Bringing food-growing joy and creativity with and for Reading's growers 🥕🌱

As before, we'll be bringing stories of INCREDIBLE growing activities from Reading (and beyond), including insights from gardens around the town, and the people who dedicate time, energy, and green fingers and thumbs to get us all growing our own food. If you're just getting started with your own growing, check out our resources via the button below and head over to the Reading Food Growing Network for more tips and hints on what to grow and when.

Find food-growing resources here

Along with the regular celebration of food growing this year we're going to be focusing on growing in community and what it takes to sustain food-growing initiatives from one year to the next. Thanks in part to generous funding from Reading Borough Council, we will be working on an exciting creative project to help build greater connection to and coordination of climate-friendly food growing in Reading: Grow Where You Are!

Ignite Your Creativity: Bring Storytelling and Zine-Making skills to Grow Where You Are! 🌱

Over the course of the growing season in 2026 we'll be working together to gather, sort, create and publish stories in a short zine format to coincide with the year's harvest celebrations. We're looking for around 10 participants to help us craft a community-led publication in the form of a print and digital zine.

You don't have to have any zine-making experience to join in, just a willingness to share your food-growing stories to inspire others to grow where they are!

We anticipate the time commitment to be 2-4 hours over the next 6 months and we can offer a small fee to those who contribute their time and creativity. Let us know if you're interested and we'll get creative together!

If you fancy dodging April's rainshowers, join us all at this year's Beanpole Day (18 April 2026, Caversham Court Gardens) and you may just pick up a special starter kit for 2026! 🥕🥕🥕🥕

Stay tuned for more as we dive into the exciting journey of storytelling and zine-making with Reading's INCREDIBLE food-growing community. We appreciate you being with us!