In Spring 2026 I was approached to see if I wanted to join a collaboration between Becky Moorcroft of FODCAP, Katie Clubb from Forest of Dean District Council and Natasha Nelson of Forest Food Hub. They were planning a local screening of the excellent ‘Six Inches of Soil’ film in Redbrook and wanted a creative community wraparound activity to deepen engagement and create a piece of legacy. After some initial discussion of creating mini-films it was instead decided to produce a co-created zine by members of the local LGBTQIA+ community, building on the Community Climate Action Plan consultation the council supported in 2025.
The brief for the zine was very flexible, simply to be inspired by the themes of soil health and local food security that are central to the film. The zine was completely concepted, written, designed and proofed collaboratively at a series of sessions hosted by the wonderful Field Notes Queering The Wye youth groups, as well as remote online input via padlet for those that couldn’t attend in person. It was decided that we would focus on achievable actions – highlighting simple ideas people could be inspired by as well as the incredible wealth of local producers and community projects that already do brilliant work locally. The design was also inspired by these themes – utilising reclaimed and recycled materials and earth-based natural pigments.
The zine was created in under 1 month before being launched at the packed film screening in Redbrook in May. Following its launch, the zine was also central to the ‘From The Ground Up Zone’ at Forest Food Showcase, supported by FODDC, FODCAP, the Forest Food Network and a number of local growing projects. It was a great way to continue sharing the zine with a wider audience and chat with the public about the creation process and meaningful content!
The finished zine can be downloaded as a PDF from FODCAP’s Resource Library, or picked up as a hard copy across the district from libraries, local growers, council offices and more.
For more information about the project check out the FODDC Climate team May newsletter which covers the screening, zine and Showcase stall, or the FODCAP blog post about the screening.
