Home farming with Judith Rakers

By Sibylle Dorndorf

Trends have long been showcased at the Spielwarenmesse. However, the trade show’s annual signalling of new trends is now also hotly anticipated within and beyond the toy industry. One such focal area for 2025 is Healthy Heroes: little legends with a big mission. Healthy Heroes is one of the Spielwarenmesse ToyTrends for 2025. Helping children to learn about healthy living through play is very popular right now. From active games and relaxation exercises through to inspiration for healthy meals – the message is about boosting well-being, cultivating a mindful lifestyle and having fun. A lovingly curated selection of products that bring this idea to life through playful activities will be showcased in a special area in Entrance Mitte at the next Spielwarenmesse. 

Healthy Heroes ToyTrend: check out some products 

Exemplary engagement

With her best-selling children’s book Judith’s Little Farm, her Homefarming board game and her My First Farm experiment kit, television presenter, author and entrepreneur Judith Rakers knows all about getting young gardeners excited about nature and healthy eating. These projects brought to life by Rakers with publisher Kosmos have already received nominations and awards, including the German Toy Award 2024. Who, then, could more vividly convey the idea behind the Healthy Heroes ToyTrend than the author herself?

Happy home farming

“It’s not just vegetables that grow in the planting beds, but also happiness!” So says Judith Rakers, powerfully expressing what her home farming world means to her at a very personal level. Judith has achieved a lifetime dream with her self-sufficiency garden on land that is also home to cats, chickens and horses – even though she definitely didn’t have green fingers to start with. She began by posting on social media about her early attempts at growing vegetables and keeping chickens, before going on to write a guidebook advising others how they could become more self-sufficient through home farming, even without any natural gift for gardening. Entitled “Homefarming. Selbstversorgung ohne grünen Daumen”, her book reached number one on the Spiegel best-seller list in 2021 and sold exceptionally well over that year, marking the start of her successful journey. She then followed this up with her podcast “Homefarming. Mach‘s dir lecker zu Hause” on the same topic and founded online magazine homefarming.de, which received a Golden Blogger award in 2024.

Interview

Since the pandemic and with the related changes to our living habits and lifestyles, there’s been renewed interest in returning to living off the land. What motivated you personally to focus on healthy, mindful living and home farming? 

Judith Rakers: I spent my childhood in a very natural environment and I found myself missing that more and more in my city life as the years went by. I also found myself longing for things that many of us can associate with in our digital world: grounding, a slower pace, a healthier and more mindful lifestyle. So I took the plunge after my divorce and moved into a home with a big garden surrounded by horse pastures and conservation areas. I began home farming there, growing vegetables and keeping happy hens. This quickly led to a sustainable circular system in my own back yard. We can have a big effect even on a small scale – particularly when it comes to sustainability. 

How long did it take you to find your feet in home farming and pick up what you needed to know? 

Judith Rakers: One season, even though I was a novice with no gardening skills. You can learn what’s needed really quickly by starting with a simple type of vegetable, which will give you the encouragement to keep going, before moving on to the more difficult high-maintenance crops. That’s why I categorise vegetables by degree of difficulty in my book “Homefarming. Selbstversorgung ohne grünen Daumen”. This makes it really easy for people to get started and it’s also helped me. I now grow more than 70 different types of fruits and vegetables, including exotic varieties and heritage vegetables, and these keep me supplied with food all year round. 

You’ve also found helpful ways to inspire children, especially with your children’s book “Judiths kleine Farm”. You came up with the “Meine erste Farm” experiment kit together with the publisher Kosmos and have received the German Toy Award 2024 for this in the “Delighting young hearts” category. On top of all that, a board game developed based on an idea of yours is helping to impart to families the principles of sustainable food growing in an entertaining way. Are you planning further projects around this theme? 

Judith Rakers: Absolutely. I’ve still got so many ideas. First and foremost, I want to write a whole load of books. I’ve already finished the second book in the Judiths kleine Farm series and it’s being illustrated as we speak for publication in the summer. Many little fans of my cat Jack, the book’s main character, are already clamouring for it and really want to know what happens next. Well, a great deal of adventure awaits – the little farm is in grave danger in the second book. I’m already writing my third children’s book in which my foal Charlie will also have a big adventure. I’ve lots more stories inside my head that I’m eager to get down on paper.  

What fascinates you about children as a target audience?

Judith Rakers: Their enthusiasm. Their curiosity. The playful way in which they approach everything. When children visit my little farm, they always check first whether the horses have popped by and then they gallop over to the chicken coop. I can really relate to this – I’m just as fascinated by all of these things. When I find a beetroot that’s twisted like a lollipop, a pea that’s purple on the outside and bright green on the inside or a potato that looks like a clownfish, then that also makes me smile. And when I observe what the chickens are doing and voice what I think they’re saying to each other, the children are spellbound. I feel like I still see nature and animals through a child’s eyes and that creates a bond between us. 

With your blog, books and games, you’re inspiring young people to become Healthy Heroes themselves. As a journalist and television presenter, you can make your voice heard. Do you believe that politicians and we as a society are doing enough to teach all children about the environment and a sustainable lifestyle? 

Judith Rakers: I think much more could be done in this area. Including in our educational system. I really cannot understand why children should have to read biology textbooks to learn how plants look and healthy eating works. I think there should be vegetable patches in all nurseries and schools so that children can experience nature and food first-hand for themselves. I’ve been involved for some time now with Acker e.V., a social enterprise that plants vegetable patches in nurseries and schools. My “Meine erste Farm” experiment kit also introduces children to the concept of growing their own vegetables and looks at what’s involved in keeping poultry and healthy eating. When we convey all of these things through play, then children get great enjoyment out of it! 

“It’s not just vegetables that grow in the planting beds, but also happiness!” is Judith Rakers’ motto and it ends: “And the great thing about happiness is that it grows when it’s shared!”

Birgitta Barlet, Publishing Director for the Book Division at Kosmos: 

“At Kosmos, we’re committed to sustainability and a mindful approach to nature. With Judith Rakers, we’ve created a special product world around these very themes. From her children’s book and the Meine erste Farm experiment kit through to the Homefarming game – everything is designed to convey the joy of gardening and awareness of the environment through play. We’re proud to collaborate with such a dedicated author who is getting children and families excited about sustainable and healthy lifestyles.”

Visit Kosmos on Spielwarenmesse Digital

Über die Autorin

Sibylle Dorndorf has been covering the toy industry for almost 30 years. Most recently, the journalist was editor-in-chief of the TOYS family of magazines at publisher Göller Verlag in Baden-Baden, Germany. Her passion: companies that reinvent themselves, brands that credibly position themselves, people who have something to say and products with a future.