Home Grown Fun

About

Home Grown Fun™ began in 2010 in Southern California with a goal to inspire families to enjoy nature. We love rock hounding, fossil hunting, learning, gardening, and exploring our part of the world, and noticed that many children at school were unaware of the beauty around them. 

When I pitched a composting fair to the Principal and he gladly approved, it was the start of many volunteer efforts at schools across the country. 

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At the first event, I constructed a replica of a landfill, and set up our compost tumbler, compost piles, red wiggler bins, and a massive demonstration showing all the things we can compost. Students rotated through stations and took part in activities. It was a huge hit! You can see our early video on YouTube. It was the only time I asked for press releases for the kids so I could post the video online. 

Brown Composting Materials

At the largest farmers market in Southern California, I caused an uproar with the other farmers when I set up a booth to sell Garden Gifts and Kits. I excitingly demonstrated homemade gourmet potato growing kits using burlap coffee sacks. My husband thought I was crazy when the truck dropped off a full pallet of sacks on the driveway. Back then, coffee sacks were relatively cheap. The sack craze had not caught on yet. Every bag sold along with three types of gourmet potatoes. People returned to show me how well everything grew!

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I also made homemade seed papers (before they were in garden catalogs) and seed collections packaged in tubes, cute tins, and eye catching totes. One seed paper kit came in a barn-shaped box and all you had to do was lay it out flat for veggies and herbs in a 4′ x 4′ garden

It’s clear now I was ahead of my time.

The farmers soon realized I wasn’t hurting their business and we clicked, sharing stories and tips. I traded burlap for honey so the vendor could smoke the jute fabric and calm his “killer bees”.

Over the years we would go on to build awe-inspiring gardens at two other elementary schools in Camarillo, California, and Weatherford, Texas. I say “we” because the students did most of it, inspired to learn while creating! I was so focused on the kids that I did not want to spend time taking and posting their pictures. It was important to me not to give the impression I wanted to promote myself. Wow, have things changed! 

No one knew I had a website! I spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars at the schools with most of my own funds and some donations outside of school.

I have many stories about changing people’s lives. For example, I once provided two sullen brothers a worm bin after they demonstrated a rare interest in taking care of them. They were being raised by GREAT grandparents (parents and grandparents unfit). The pride on their faces as they wheeled the bin up the hill was priceless. I got a call from the great grandma and she said “those worms saved me from getting a dog!”. That was huge to her. More than the concept of worms being pets. 

There are many children stressed out about life, and many times what’s going on at home. No one really notices. A zen garden and a beautiful nook to relax can make all the difference. Experimenting with hypertufa (lightweight cement), I sculpted a giant snail for one of our gardens and found used benches online to create an escape. Soon, the principal would take students there to talk. 

HOW TO MAKE CEMENT SCULPTURES HOW TO GROW Amaranth

Years after creating the large school garden in Camarillo, I got an email from a city worker who was a Dad of one of the students. Back then, he supplied me with an aerial shot of a landfill for one of our projects. He told me I was missed. I made an impact! Funny thing is, I inspired the students to run the show! We had a garden club, garden games, worm composting demonstrations with my worm model, and countless other events and activities that promoted relaxation and a connection with nature, while learning – and the kids added the energy and completed the projects.

I was adamant that teachers would not have to lift a finger or pay for anything, and I stuck to my word. I gave up the corporate life to give back and there are no regrets.

Coconut coir for seed starting Teaching kids about landfills

Imagine a “coffee shop” in the garden with a blackboard of cool drinks made from herbs and students dawning aprons and gloves, grinding lemon balm in a mortar and adding it to crushed ice in a fun paper slushy cup. We did that! Or a monstrous solar oven cooking kale chips. We did that too. 

All of this is not for views, profit or to be famous. Sometimes I take Google Ads off my site completely because I can’t stand how they interrupt a good read. 

Now in 2024, I manage contracts part-time, and in my spare time turn to more creative pursuits. I harvest my elderberries, garlic and herbs and transform them it into truly unique gifts and kits inspired by nature, and even some local landmarks, such as the Great Dismal Swamp. What a name! 

My background is involves a combination of design, military service, corporate accomplishments, and wild creativity! I’m a graduate of Pratt Institute, U.S. Army Officer Candidate School, and the “University of Hands on Learning”.  I hold a Master of Science degree and always love learning something new. 

We continue to explore and experiment, and inspire others to see bugs, gardens, outdoor adventures, crafts, beauty products and food in a different light.

The Internet is now saturated with homesteaders, gardening experts and personalities. Home Grown Fun keeps going strong – our definition of strong.  

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See you around, 

Cindy

Founder Home Grown Fun Cindy Rajhel