“Am I actually living the right life? The answer was no"

Judith Rakers, 47, is a well-known TV face, she has reinvented herself privately: The presenter moved from Hamburg to the surrounding area, lives there with her new partner, ten chickens, cats and a horse in a house with a large garden. She herself speaks affectionately of “my little farm”. In the evening she speaks the "Tagessschau", but this afternoon about her new book "Homefarming, the recipes".

She also documents her new life away from the metropolis on Instagram. The feedback from her now more than 260,000 followers was so lively that she got into the topic in a bigger way. In 2021 her first book, “Homefarming. Self-sufficiency without a green thumb”, it became a bestseller. Now she's doing a sequel. Why is it all so successful? WORLD asks.

WORLD: Ms. Rakers, you are "Ms. Tagesschau”, Galas moderated, strolled on red carpets. Now you write about chickens and starting compost - what happened?

Judith Rakers: Life Happened! (laughs) I just evolved. In my late 30s, the desire to bring more nature into my life grew stronger. I also used to prefer to go on vacation close to nature and rode through the forest on horseback or galloped over stubble fields. But I lived urban, in the middle of concrete and house fronts, with car noise, many people, stress and hectic. But I felt happiest when I could sit around a campfire in the evening, with dirty pants and rubber boots. At some point the question was: Am I actually living the right life? And the answer was no. It just didn't feel right anymore.

WORLD: How did it go?

Rakers: I moved into a house that's far from anywhere. My neighbors and I don't even have tap water, we have our own well with a filter system. We also share the power line, which can cause problems if everyone is running their devices at the same time. It takes half an hour to get to the nearest bus stop. But I am surrounded by pastures with cows, sheep and horses. And when my horse is visiting my small farm, I just sit on it in jeans and flip-flops and just ride into the sunset. That sounds cheesy and it is - I love it!

WORLD: You have had great success with “home farming” and apparently hit a nerve. Why is this so popular?

Rakers: I think a lot comes together. More and more people feel the desire for more nature, environmental and climate protection is also important to them. There is also an increasing awareness of nutrition. Many are now standing in front of the cucumber in the supermarket and wondering: Why is it now shrink-wrapped in plastic? And last but not least, there are the digital office jobs that many people have. I think that's why there's a growing need to do more with your hands again, to touch something you've created yourself. Anyone who has dug in the bed and then harvests something feels great satisfaction. Another feedback I get from my readers – the majority of whom are women, by the way – is that they find it inspiring and courageous how consistently I have trusted my inner voice.

WORLD: To what extent?

Rakers: Many have a lifelong dream. Mine was country life, animals, going to the horse in my pajamas in the morning. And I pulled through the realization of this dream consistently and alone - although so many people around me advised me not to take this step. But after my divorce, I was at a point where I asked myself: And now, what do I still want from life? And it was clear to me: even if I'm alone now and this house is far away from the beaten track and friends in town, and even if there's a lot of work waiting there, also physical and manual - you just have to do it now, um to be happy. And I think the courage to step out of the comfort zone and actually do it has inspired others.

WORLD: Not only that, your self-sufficiency has also developed an amazing radiance. Why?

Rakers: I think I simply took away the fear of the unknown for many people because I managed it all without any prior knowledge and even though I have a job. And I shared my enthusiasm right from the start. I still remember how I almost freaked out in an Instagram post when the first seedlings actually came out of the ground. That passion and genuine joy have apparently carried over. There were more and more questions and I started an exchange with my community. This gave rise to the idea for the first book, and it obviously struck a chord because the book wasn't just about imparting knowledge, but also about recognizing happiness in the little things. About the courage to try something new, about celebrating nature.

WORLD: But not everyone lives as rural as you do?

Rakers: That's right. But that doesn't matter. For example, I see in the statistics that my Instagram account is also subscribed to by many people who live in big cities: in Berlin, Hamburg or Cologne. And the garden of the city dwellers is simply the balcony. Home farming is also possible in a small space. Even in the apartment you can grow something on the window sill, lettuce, radishes, tomatoes and of course herbs. Even potatoes are possible in a plant bag in front of the bright window.

WORLD: You also keep chickens. How many do you have?

Rakers: Currently there are ten – but the number changes from time to time. There is brooding, hatching and sometimes, unfortunately, the hawk strikes. At the moment there are nine hens and one rooster, completely different breeds. They lay wonderfully colorful eggs for me, turquoise, chocolate brown, beige, polka dots. And since I've had chickens of my own, I've also known how funny, curious and active these animals are: they always run towards me in the morning and can tell people apart from a great distance. Compared to dogs and cats, they are not intelligent beasts - but of course they also have a wide range of feelings! And of course a name too. It's great fun to come up with the right names - depending on the chicken's personality.

WORLD: And the different races, do they get along with each other?

Rakers: Oh yes. Chickens are the living example of diversity! They understand each other, regardless of race. And they also incubate the eggs of other hens when they are in the brooding mood. The same goes for the chicks. Even if they look very different, they are fed and cared for by their "surrogate mom".

WORLD: Do you also document your setbacks?

Rakers: Yes, because they are part of it too. I really couldn't do anything at first. My basil died the moment it was in my supermarket trolley. I didn't have a green thumb, but I still wanted to be self-sufficient. Then I read a lot, tried things out and fought my way through. So I knew what questions a beginner has. When I read the first books and it said "First sow in seed trays and later in pots", all I understood was Bahnhof. That's like telling a novice cook to “blanch” the veggies. If you know it, it's clear, but otherwise? I first had to learn everything: Which vegetables grow in which soil, when do I have to sow them, in which cases is it a good idea to give preference, who gets along well with whom in the bed, what characterizes a functioning mixed culture. What is meant by crop rotation and crop rotation and why do family affiliations play such an important role when it comes to vegetables? There is a lot to learn from home farming.

WORLD: I quote: "There are vegetables with a guarantee of success, vegetables for advanced users and there are vegetables for those who are able to suffer." Please examples!

Rakers: I've tried many things and noticed that there are levels of difficulty. Unfortunately, none of the many clever books had taught me that. The tomato, for example, is a vegetable for the suffering.

WORLD: What exactly is so difficult about the tomato?

Rakers: It requires an unbelievable amount of care and many steps are necessary on the way from the seed to the ripe tomato. It has to be brought forward at exactly the right time. When the first pair of leaves has formed, they must be relocated to individual pots, i.e. "pricked out". Then, in early May, she needs to be slowly acclimated to the temperatures outside, until she can move outside completely in mid-May, where she should then grow under a weather shelter, otherwise she will be killed off by the brown rot.

WORLD: Now please a tip for a simple vegetable plant...

Rakers: A motivation booster is lettuce. Sow seeds in the ground, keep moist, harvest after four to six weeks. Complete! (laughs)

WORLD: Many hobby gardeners know it: Suddenly you have great success. How do you manage not to throw away too much?

Rakers: I gave away a lot in the first year. But at some point all colleagues will have enough vegetables and you ask yourself where to put the zucchini. Then I started stocking things up. Freezing is the easiest, for this I made jams and pickles, and started drying tomatoes and cherries for the winter. I also always freeze berries, individually pre-frozen, for decoration purposes or in portions in Tupperware, just enough for a smoothie. I'm still a pragmatist. I want little effort and a lot of income. By the way, one thing is important to me...

WELT: Me?

Rakers: ... the point that self-sufficiency and seasonal cooking have nothing to do with making sacrifices. Many think that cooking sustainably means that you can't always eat everything - for example no tomatoes in winter. I would much rather emphasize the positive aspect: if you cook with the ingredients that your garden or balcony allows you to use without the use of an artificially heated greenhouse, then the opposite of doing without the plate comes out - namely diversity. Because then the ingredients and tastes change with each month.

WORLD: And what is the next step of Judith Rakers' home farming? TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, for example, has a "Farming" series on Amazon and a restaurant.

Rakers: (laughs) Jeremy Clarkson really is the quintessential old white man to me, but this documentary is sooo fun to watch! I absolutely devoured both seasons. A few years ago I also offered the NDR a TV format on home farming because the interest on my social media pages was so incredibly high. But the broadcaster didn't want to at the time because another garden format had already been purchased. Then I started on my own. I am now writing my third book, producing a podcast on the subject and have launched an online home farming magazine. When you're approaching 50 as a TV woman, it's always good to have more pillars to support yourself. And here I can be very creative, share my knowledge and my enthusiasm. I'd rather have anything than a red carpet today.