Rachael Durrant working on story mapping workshop ideas with artist Ottilie Hainsworth

It’s only four weeks until I’ll be heading to the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC), and I couldn’t be more excited to see the programme. The event, which runs from the 9th to the 10th of January 2025, is a highlight of my working year. And this time I’ll have the honour of leading a session for the first time.

My workshop – ‘Graphic Journaling and Map Making to Explore Your Farming Journey’ – will be taking place on Friday 10th from 2.00-3.30pm in the Link Room at the Story Museum. It’s the penultimate session of the conference.

After what promises to be two very intensive days, I’m not sure whether to expect a roomful of people who are zinging with inspiration, or a bedraggled few who are ready to drop. Either way, I can’t wait to see what happens when they let their creative, feeling-brain take over for a bit. For some, it could be the perfect chance to process some of their experiences.

The focus of the ORFC session will be making ‘graphic story maps’. This is a process that I co-designed with artist Ottilie Hainsworth, which draws heavily on her work as a graphic novelist leading courses and workshops on visual storytelling. 

A graphic story map made by Rachael at a workshop run by artist Ottilie Hainsworth in 2022.

Last week, Ottilie and I spent an inspiring half-day at her studio in Brighton thrashing out ideas and troubleshooting my plans for the workshop.

I have personally used graphic journaling and map-making in this project in different ways – from getting out the sketchpad to unlock my right brain, to using digital design tools to create more appealing, sharable outputs. But I’m fascinated to see what will happen when farmers and growers turn their stories into images at the ORFC. 

In fact, this is exactly what happened on Tuesday 3^rd December at Laines Organic Farm, where I went to do a pilot of the workshop with a group of six farmers and growers. All agreed that it was an unusual way to reflect on the growing season – relaxing, feel-good, and fun. The group verdict: ‘we should do this every year!’

Six story maps made by workshop participants, farmers and growers reflecting on their journey's into landwork

Watch this space to see more story maps from the workshop in Oxford.