192: Gardening Tools For Education: Rutabaga Education

Kaitlin: 0:00

Our tools are made from end-of-life marine rope, and so they take this product, they turn it into it's called legacy plastic, and that's how what we use to make our tools.

Camille: 0:18

So you want to make an impact. You're thinking about starting a business, Sharing your voice. How do women do it that handle motherhood, family and still chase after those dreams? We'll listen each week as we dive into the stories of women who know. This is Call Me CEO. Welcome back everyone to Call Me CEO.

Camille: 0:40

This is your host, Camille Walker. We are all about helping women find balance in motherhood and business and also sharing stories of women building businesses, and today is really special because we are talking about how a wonderful someone built a business around education, gardening and also products that are produced with recycled products so that you can use them in your very own garden. And I love this so much because this is actually a gift that I gave to my kids for Easter this year, and they were so thrilled because there's something about the magic of gardening and your kids being in the dirt. That is something we miss and we need. So Caitlin Mitchell is the CEO of Rutabaga Education and she has created a teaching program as well as products to go with the gardening, and I'm so thrilled to share your story. Caitlin, Thank you so much for being on the show today.

Kaitlin: 1:36

Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

Camille: 1:39

Yeah, so tell our audience where do you live and how many kids do you have and how did you get into developing this business. Okay, so I our audience where do you live and how many kids do you have and how did you get into developing this business.

Kaitlin: 1:47

OK, so I live in San Diego I had mentioned we were chatting a little bit ahead of time so I'm not far from downtown. So we are on the peninsula of Point Loma, so we have our home and we have a home garden. It's not huge but we really make the most of the space so that we can grow food at home. I have two boys who are now 14 and 12, which is crazy because it's all going way too fast. And I'm pretty tall, my 14 year old and I he's, he's just past me, so it's all. Just it's all going so quickly. But and how I develop my business? So the majority of my professional background is in education. I was a fourth grade teacher for eight years. I taught in a small school district that's about 45 minutes away from where I currently live, and when my boys were one and three.

Kaitlin: 2:39

My husband has a chronic disease which is called Crohn's disease, and he just was in a time he wasn't, he wasn't doing great and one of the things, one of the contributors to the disease, can be stress. And our life was pretty stressful at that point with having small children, having a commute, him having, you know, being busy at work, and we made the decision for me to take a sabbatical for the year and and then we realized financially that we could make it work with his income alone, and so I stayed home with my boys. And then, when my son, charlie who was the 14 year old when he started kindergarten, I was recruited to help with the garden program. And I was recruited because we are a family who does love home gardening we love to grow fruits and vegetables at home and because of my teaching background, and my job was to help with the lesson planning. And so I was.

Kaitlin: 3:30

Actually, I really missed teaching. I loved being a school teacher. I taught fourth grade and I just it's definitely my calling, and so I really missed, and one of the things I really missed was lesson planning. I am one of those people that loves planning lessons and figuring out how can we tie in this and this and like making it cross-curricular, and so, with the garden program, I worked for five years to really fine tune the curriculum, and so it now is. It's a curriculum that goes from pre-kindergarten all the way up until fourth grade, and it's designed so that the kids had an opportunity to go out and learn in the garden every single week and that's every single classroom and the lessons are designed to build upon themselves within the season and season to season and year to year.

Kaitlin: 4:18

And one of my biggest obstacles well, I had two big obstacles. One was getting the teachers to buy in to give up that instruction time. So I worked really hard to design the curriculum so that was reinforcing things that they were learning in the classroom. So there's also math and science and social studies and language arts and art. There's even like a little bit of mindfulness and I even threw in some Spanish just to kind of keep it interesting and so getting the teachers to see the value of giving the kids the opportunity to use what they've learned in the classroom but learn it out in the garden with all of their senses and see how it has that real world application. And then also it was getting parent volunteers to help with taking the kids out of the classroom and teaching these lessons.

Kaitlin: 5:03

So I wrote the lessons based on my experience of having parent volunteers when I taught in the classroom of writing. They're almost like scripts, so they're like very easy to teach and but also very effective. So any sort of activity that involved a ton of prep or materials, it just wasn't going to work. It needed to be simple for the volunteers and I also learned that simple worked best for the kids as well. So, yeah, so over the years we've built a base at the school of over 50 parent volunteers and that allowed every single classroom to get out there on a weekly basis, and in that process the school started to get some recognition.

Kaitlin: 5:44

We did receive grant money. We won a $5,000 grant from the Classroom of the Future Foundation and people were like well, where are these lessons? So I made the decision to self-publish them and I wrote them in a way that would work for the school, which is called Silvergate, which is here in Point Loma, but what could also be used really in anywhere. Doesn't matter really what part of the country you're in or what part of the world you can teach these lessons. And the reason it works that way is because if you're in a place where you can grow in the fall, then you're growing in your cool season. But if you're somewhere where it actually goes into a cold or freezing in the winter, that's when the lessons kind of gear towards the nutrition and the nature and then you're kind of focusing on that and then you're starting up again in the spring when most people can start to think about their warm season planning. So that was the curriculum. It's called rutabaga Education and those are the books. There's nine books total and it's broken up into the three seasons for different age levels.

Kaitlin: 6:52

And then, also in that process, when one of my jobs not only was I in charge of the lesson planning but I also did the supplies for the gardens made sure we had everything ready for the lessons and for just the growing of the gardens. And we had two at our school, actually one for the TK, kindergarten, the transitional kindergarten and kindergarten, and then one for the older kids. And I was always so frustrated whenever I would have to replenish garden tools because stainless steel would always rust, even if we try to do our best to like put them away and keep them in a safe space. Cast aluminum has lead in it, so I never felt good about that being in our soil or even the kids touching it. And then I just couldn't find something that would fit the child's hand, that wouldn't be too heavy or cumbersome. And so over the years I worked with a friend of mine who has a 3D printer and we spent about four years developing the perfect handle that felt comfortable in a child's hand and also in an adult's hand, and we're working on the patent for that right now.

Kaitlin: 7:56

And then I thought, ok, let's now design the four different attachments, so the trowel, the hand rake, a weed remover, and then, like I call those our super scoop. And I was like, okay, so how do I make it? Like you know, we have these designs on the 3d printer, and that was a whole different learning process and I made the decision that I wanted to use plastic for the durability aspect, for the lightness aspect, but I wanted to do it with a conscience and I was really lucky that I found a manufacturer that's based out of Washington who got me in touch with the Ocean Legacy Foundation, and they are a nonprofit that does ocean cleanups all along the Pacific Northwest and up into Canada, and so they have a product where they take end of life marine gear, and so our tools are are made from end of life marine rope, and so they they take this product, they turn it into it's called legacy plastic and that's how what we use to make our tools, so it's all recycled plastic, and then our handle is just coated with a bioplastic. It's made from starch to have that rubberized, comfortable feel, but it's not. It's not new plastic Like it's, it's something that eventually will degrade. And then we're taking this, this material that otherwise and this is what the Ocean Legacy is all about is they're trying to divert this material that they recovered from the oceans, divert it from landfills and actually repurpose it into other products, and that's where we came into place. So it's a really cool organization. I feel really fortunate to be partnering with them and we're even members of the 1% for the planet, so 1% of our sales actually goes back to the Ocean Legacy Foundation. So there's a lot of oh, that's cool going on there.

Kaitlin: 9:46

So, yeah, it's, without being too corny, like the development of the company has been very organic.

Kaitlin: 9:51

It has been based on where I saw a need and wanted to fill that need, and even with the books, with the curriculum there were.

Kaitlin: 10:01

So there were so many schools in our area that had gardens that maybe a few years back, either a Boy Scout troop had built it or there had been some really ambitious parents or and not even schools like a YMCA's that, and then nobody really knew how to best utilize the garden.

Kaitlin: 10:17

You know, if you're just if your whole intention is just to is to go out there and plant seeds and and then you kind of wait for the seeds to sprout, you're not really taking advantage of the learning time that you could take advantage of being out there. So developing the curriculum gave people a way to feel like they could go out in the garden, they could learn with all their senses, but they were really making use of that time for everybody. Yeah, so I saw that need and then the tools was almost like a selfish need. I could never find even children's tools and I don't want to throw a company under the bus, but like Melissa and Doug tools, they just wouldn't last and we'd just have to replenish them a few months into the school year and I just always felt frustrated.

Kaitlin: 11:02

I'm like there's got to be something better something that's going to be more durable, something that's going to feel good in the child's hand, something that's like made with a conscience, and so I spent quite a few years figuring out how to do that. And then we launched the tools November 1st and I'm just going to throw out there because I'm, like, so proud of it, but we did get an award from HGTV Just this last month. We made their green list for it so that was really exciting that is so cool.

Kaitlin: 11:31

And that was kind of a process. There were a lot of questions going back and forth just to make sure that there wasn't greenwashing involved, but that it was a legitimate product that was made with these recycled materials and how it's made, and so, yeah, super proud of that.

Camille: 11:46

That's very cool.

Kaitlin: 11:47

Yeah, Because sometimes you think you're like gosh, you know you, you love what you do, you love your products, and you're like it's everybody, Am I communicating it? Yeah, you do a way that people can understand, or like you know where, where am I? And um, yeah, so I don't know if that was really cool.

Camille: 12:03

Well, let's. I mean, that's a lot to unpack.

Kaitlin: 12:06

Let's back up a little bit.

Camille: 12:07

Wow, I mean the best inventions. I've had quite a few here on the show who have shared things that they've developed especially for children, and when there's a hole in the market and you can find a way to fill it, I mean that's where the magic is. Is your product available in store or is it only online? Right now, it's only online right now. So that's the next step, that's the next step?

Kaitlin: 12:31

Yes, like everything, every step has been a learning process. So the next step is now learning about wholesale and retail and and my hope is to be I mean, I have, I have goals is to be in local stores, local nurseries, um, by summer. So, but right now it's just. Rutabagagardeningcom is where we sell the books and we sell the garden tools.

Camille: 12:53

Very cool. Well, let's talk about how, for people who are listening, I know a big part of your business as you were putting it together. I loved the statement you said about people say to fake it till you make it, but I think it's better to be humble and to ask all the questions and I think that that's that's the real and that's the authentic of there are so many people who want to help and to help you succeed, especially when it's something that I mean gosh. This is such a wholesome business. Where it's, if there's something that's been lost and I feel like it's trying to make a resurgence, it is gardening and it is homesteading and it is kind of creating, especially with the cost of food and the nutrients that are being washed out from our crops.

Camille: 13:38

And I actually I was telling you this just before, but I got together with one of my best girlfriends over the weekend. She just bought a property with 20 acres and she is like the master homesteader. She was showing me how she was putting gardening pots and seedlings together by wrapping newspaper pages and creating little pots within, just like a big tote, and I was like, oh my gosh, how do you do this? And then she had milk jugs that she was using for some other gardening, and it was so raw and basic, it was products that anyone could get to at very low cost, and I feel like there's so much power and strength in that, and so I love that.

Camille: 14:22

Your program is to helping not only to instill the ideals of math and social studies and all those other things kids are doing, but to get out in the dirt and to know where food comes from, that it isn't just automatically magically appearing in supermarkets, but it can be grown from a seed, and I think that that's something that kids, a lot of kids, don't know, especially that live, maybe, in cities that don't see farmland ever. You know, like that's a real, that's a real deal.

Kaitlin: 14:53

It and it also. It just we were talking about putting your hands in the dirt and, and I feel like it's definitely. I really can't think of an activity Like I'm just trying to think of, like the classroom right now and the kids being out there. I can't think of something that is more like community building or bonding for kids to be out there and doing that together. It's kind of like an equalizer sort of thing. It doesn't matter how well you read in the classroom, it doesn't matter how well you, how far you can hit a baseball, like everybody out there doing it together.

Kaitlin: 15:24

It is a very bonding, connecting experience.

Kaitlin: 15:27

Oh, I like experience, and then also just with the knowledge of knowing where your food comes from. It's also just, I feel like mentally, it's so mentally healthy for kids, and I mean just myself. I have two children that are so incredibly different and I know that that's the case for a lot of people but completely different types of learners, completely different. You know how one is super social, one really is a little bit more introverted. But even my one child who academically, books, does really well in school, and then I've got one who just learns different ways, he's way more hands on. And so I thought, gosh, this program for my son, that's way more hands on ways, he's way more hands-on. And so I thought, gosh, this program for my, my son, that's way more hands-on. This is, this was actually. He was only three and I'm like gosh, I really want a garden program to be here for him when he starts at the school.

Kaitlin: 16:15

But actually it's my older son who needs it just as much, the one that like sometimes might be more prone to want to be on a screen or, you know, kind of indoors, and I feel like they both gain so much from being outside and experiencing and just like the so many mini lessons that come from gardening, having to do with patience, because you do plant a seed and even if the packet says it's only going to take 45 days, it might take 90.

Kaitlin: 16:44

And you really have to develop some patience and then also some problem solving of maybe why is it taking so long? And that resilience because it's not going to work out, even though you followed all the directions. Maybe it worked out the year before, but for some reason your corn just doesn't grow. I mean, the first year we grew corn, we like threw the kernels on the ground this is like 15 years ago and had this glorious, this glorious like corn little field in our backyard and we've never been able to duplicate it since and I'm not even exactly sure why. So, but there's just, you know, some. There's some being humble and understanding that nature isn't always predictable and you got to be go with the flow and it just I don't know I might be going off on a tangent, but there are a gazillion different mini lessons that come from being outdoors and learning with all of your senses, in addition to knowing where your food comes from.

Camille: 17:38

Yeah, and as a side note with that too, I actually was watching a YouTube channel with my son the other day, who's almost 16. And we were both fascinated by watching those videos of watching a seed grow and seeing what the timeline was, because for most, the seed would sprout above the dirt at about a week, and I knew that, but my son we were guessing how long it would take and he's like, how did you know that? And I have very limited experience. But then there were other things that would go in and it wouldn't even get a good STEM going for 90, 120 days. I'm like, wow, that would take a lot of patience.

Camille: 18:17

So I think what's really cool about this is that you're creating something that can be used in home, in the classroom, by homeschoolers, anyone that is wanting to get into the dirt and create the magic of what can happen in a garden, which is really, really cool. So we will, for sure, put those links below so that you can access them. The tools are amazing. My son is already ready to dig. We're just we're in Utah, so we're just getting past the point of like frozen ground. So I'm excited to see what we can do with that as the spring rolls around here, but I wanted to switch gears a little bit and talk about developing curriculum that is accessible for people to use in a classroom, in a traditional classroom, and maybe if someone was listening and wanting to do something like that in their own school or to create something like that, what kind of hoops did you have to jump through to make it so that it was classroom viable but also that you could sell independently?

Kaitlin: 19:17

And that's where it is kind of a situation where you make it your own and you figure out how it works for you, because it really does. In a school setting it could be there is a particular garden program with a group of volunteers or there's someone hired to be a garden educator and they have an opportunity at a certain time where they take the kids out from different classrooms. But it could also be I teachers that I used to work with, I have a friend who was a second grade teacher and she just worked it into her week. It wasn't something that the entire school was doing but something that she was doing with her individual classroom and she got just a couple of those big pots like they're almost like the half whiskey barrels and she put them outside her classroom and they did. They were able to do the whole program with that and they just did kind of the smaller crops. So they did in the fall, they did their radishes and their carrots and they put some lettuce in there and they did. So that's kind of how they developed it. So it could be that it could be a teacher who just does it with their own individual classroom. It could be a specific group of people that they are kind of the garden and they pull the kids from the classroom. It can be a parent who wants to take on that role with a classroom, with an individual classroom, or if it's at home. If you are a homeschooling family, it's really easy to fit into your week and the way it's designed.

Kaitlin: 20:38

The lessons are about 25, 30 minutes, not counting for time that you would be going out and checking on things that you planted and watering and that sort of thing, but the lessons themselves. You just need to devote 25, 30 minutes. And even if you have lessons so the teacher in me I did put for each section, like the introduction, for the warmup, for the actual lesson and then the garden component, I put the amount of time next to it like an estimated amount of time. So if you are a teacher and let's say you only have 15 minutes but that you want to work into your, then maybe you take out. I always included a picture book at the end. I just thought that's kind of a nice way to bring back the group or kind of slow down the energy and revisit what you've learned. And I have to tell you I've read thousands of garden related picture books and I really tried to pick the best ones to go along with each lesson. But if you don't have the time for that, then you don't include that in your lesson. I also try to include some sort of something that you're tasting or trying into each lesson, but that's kind of an optional component as well, so you can really make it work for the amount of time that you've allotted for this type of instruction.

Kaitlin: 21:51

And it's not to replace any other subject, it's not to replace your science, it's enrichment, so it's to. It is there's the next generation science standards and is very heavy next generation science standards, but it really is just to compliment the other things that you're learning. But it is giving that real world relevance as you're learning, which is just so much more impactful. And even for my own child, that's just how he learns. He is super hands-on and loves to build things and that's been incredible too, just to see where kids blossom in areas that you never would even know had they not been introduced to it. Like he's really good at irrigation, like he set up. I mean, he's an engineer and I don't understand it. I'm like daddy, can you go? I don't even know if something's wrong over there.

Camille: 22:46

And he fixes it.

Kaitlin: 22:47

So things that like he just, and then he can identify the plants you know. So it's just, it is very cool, you kind of. It creates an opportunity for kids to find something that they just naturally are interested in or they have a natural like want to learn more. And I know for me personally, I didn't have a garden program when I was in my classroom.

Camille: 23:13

We do not have them here, that I know of which, but you know what? There's a space in the at our local elementary school that has like a space in the middle of the school that could be used for garden, but nothing's there. So as you're listening to this, for people who are listening, maybe that you have a space that you could introduce it to someone, or if you're a teacher there, I think that's really cool to think about.

Camille: 23:35

And I'm curious for your with building this business and creating the product. What was one of the biggest landmarks or something that if you could go back and tell yourself to change, or a lesson you learned? What would you go back and tell yourself as you were starting?

Kaitlin: 23:54

That's a hard one, cause I am such a believer in, like, everything happens for a reason and even when things haven't gone as planned, I've learned so much from it.

Kaitlin: 24:04

I mean, and it is, having a small business or any type of business is such a roller coaster of emotions and you have your highs and then you hit a roadblock or um, I, I mean this I wish I had hired a bookkeeper earlier on, because numbers is not my natural inkling. I now am much better at it and I have an amazing person now, but just to really understand what I was spending on what and what kind of return return was you know? So that, so that would be a big one If that is not your strength to get someone on board in the beginning. Other things, big learning, I mean, as we had mentioned, I really tried to go into everything is I? I'm not going to fake it till I make it. I'm going to, I'm going to be green where I'm green and ask a lot of questions, and because there's so much like you don't know what you don't know.

Camille: 25:04

Right.

Kaitlin: 25:04

And so if you kind of act like you understand it all, you know what you're doing, even with, like I'm working with attorneys and you know cause I, I have like the books, I, I, I, I did copywriting for the books and so they're copywritten, and then even trademarks and all of that, like, just go to the professional, ask a lot of questions and then try and just learn as much as you can, cause I don't know, I don't know. Did I answer your question?

Camille: 25:32

Yeah, no, absolutely Go to the professionals and take it a step at a time. I think that is absolutely good advice. I would love to hear what you are reading, watching or listening to.

Kaitlin: 25:45

Okay, so what I am reading, I have tried to. I've read over the years so many different business books then, and um, and I read before I go to bed and I find that I just fall asleep really quickly.

Camille: 25:56

And.

Kaitlin: 25:57

I really don't enjoy anything. So I've kind of switched to kind of starting the new year just reading more for fun I did. I've been reading Kate Morton is the author, and I just started a new one, which I can't even think of the name, but it's just definitely like there's usually multiple generations and there's some sort of mystery involved and there is. She does do a lot of writing that is centered around like gardens and outdoor in nature.

Kaitlin: 26:24

So I think that's why I'm kind of drawn to that. Yes, so so that's what I'm reading, listening. I do listen to business podcasts because those are just, I do a lot of driving and so those are always good to listen to. I love there's a podcast by Sarah Jansel called I Created that. That's a good one the Product Boss, because sometimes listening to podcasts that are products specific for businesses are super helpful to me. And then I do listen to SmartList also, which I don't know it's with, like Jason Bateman and they just have stars and I love it. I think they're hilarious. So that's kind of what I'm listening to these days.

Kaitlin: 27:01

And then what was together? And so what am I watching? Yes, watching. I don't have a ton of time to watch too much these days. We, I, my husband, I now that my boys are older too, it's harder to get them to go to bed earlier and so for. So we, that time we used to have where we would get the boys down and then we would watch something. We did make it through the Fargo's, which was so those were really good. But other than that, my husband does love watching a lot of historical documentaries. Husband does love watching a lot of historical documentaries.

Camille: 27:39

And so he'll put those on, and I will fall asleep, and so that's.

Kaitlin: 27:40

Yeah, so that's kind of what's going on. I feel like we are in the trenches with our boys getting older. You know, you think like you would be less busy, but I feel like we're busier than ever now with all their stuff. So, yeah, so that's kind of what's what's going on when my brain is not focused on the business.

Camille: 27:58

I'll have to check out the Fargo's. Where is that on? Is that?

Kaitlin: 28:02

wait, is that? Is it Hulu? I don't even know.

Camille: 28:05

I'll have to check it out.

Kaitlin: 28:06

Yeah, they're all based on true events. They're a little brutal. They're a little violent. I'm going to be honest, but it is when you're watching true events that happen and then they focus on kind of different generations or eras and time, but they kind of tie in together. You might see repeating characters like 20 years later in a different season and they're just really cool.

Camille: 28:28

Yeah, that sounds awesome.

Kaitlin: 28:33

Okay, so a motherhood moment that you would like to share A motherhood moment. You would like to share A motherhood moment? I'm trying to think so. We had spring break last week and we took our boys to Washington DC and so we did a lot it was. I mean, I forgot how exhausting sightseeing can be yes, that mall goes on forever Ever. And just but so much. And it was really fun with the boys because they're at an age where they have learned so much of the history that they're getting to see firsthand and so it's really sinking in and um a motherhood moment.

Kaitlin: 29:05

I would say so when we were kind of just like planning the trip and we were looking at all the things we were doing and um, and then my boys being like, but we have to go to the National Botanical Museum, and I was like, yes, we do. And maybe it was more for me.

Camille: 29:19

And they knew that's something that I would really enjoy.

Kaitlin: 29:22

But I want to believe that maybe they had some interest as well. So that was just. That was a good moment for me, just them, for two reasons One, them being just considerate of what is important to me and wanting to share that moment with me, and then also that they're instilling that general interest within them as well, no matter what if they grow their own gardens as adults or not, but that they understand the basics behind it and they have, you know, a little bit of an affinity towards it.

Camille: 29:51

Absolutely. Oh, that is so cool. Well, I think what you have built is absolutely amazing and I hope that more of our classrooms and even homes are incorporating gardens. I think that there are so many lessons to be learned and that you're using products that are recycled and so beautiful, like they really are. Darling little tools. My son, especially my seven-year-old when he saw them he was like are these mine? I said we're sharing, like he wanted to have them to himself. So please share with our audience where they can find you, and we mentioned it a little bit before. But maybe just one more reminder.

Kaitlin: 30:27

Yeah, so I have a website and it's just rutabaga, so it's R-u-t-a-b-a-g-a. Gardeningcom and that's where I sell the tools and I sell the books. I'm also on Instagram, just at rutabaga gardening, and that's really the two places where I'm at. I'm also on Facebook as well, but really Instagram, my website, that's where I'm hanging out and then, hopefully soon, I'll be in quite a few stores this summer.

Camille: 30:55

Yes you will, that's awesome'm hanging out and then, hopefully soon, I'll be in quite a few stores this summer. That's what I'm currently working on. Yes you will, that's awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the show today. It is so wonderful to hear your story and how you're changing little lives and big lives too. I think this is such a wonderful movement.

Kaitlin: 31:09

Oh, I appreciate it. It was so nice to be here and so nice to chat with you.

Camille: 31:15

Thank nice to be here and so nice to chat with you. Thank you, hey. Everyone. If you are interested in learning more about how you can grow your business and have a collective group of women around you supporting you, I am offering a group coaching program with my sister. It is opening in June. It is called SheEO and it's all about how to use brain performance psychology to achieve your goals. It'll also include mastermind and networking. It's two times coaching on zoom as well as in-person meetings. So if you are interested, please reach out to me at call me CEO podcast at gmailcom, or you can reach out to me on Instagram as well. Camille Walkerco, thank you so much for listening and I will see you next time.