From the time the kids were tiny taters running around the farm, this mama felt overwhelmed with the thought of outreach. For a time, we hosted a Bible study at home for moms with little ones. I can’t even remember what happened but eventually, it fizzled out, probably because of my schedule. But the need to share the love of Jesus with people I met never went away. The problem was, I was homeschooling little ones with babies crawling all over the place and even a trip to the grocery store seemed out of reach so how in the world could I do ministry elsewhere than home?

Big Faith and Tiny Toddlers

To get out of the house and breathe fresh air, but without the hassle of loading up the little ones in six car seats, our outings became trips around the farm. It felt much easier to load the kids in heavy-duty jogging strollers or wagons and stroll the farm. It never failed – each time, we would stop at this specific corner of the farm, kneel down at the edge of the field, and with tiny voices raised high, those sweet babies prayed with me that the Lord would bring people TO US at the farm. My husband thought it sounded crazy. His family preferred to teach agriculture in outlets like 4-H and other ways rather than farm visits (although they did occasionally!) due to safety and liability issues. So how on earth could the Lord answer this prayer?

I didn’t know. We just kept praying day after day, year after year.

It mattered to us. See, we have always liked to read missionary stories of people God uses to do His kingdom work. And we’d read a story of kids who saved all this money to buy Bibles for kids in other countries who’d never read one before. Our kids decided they wanted to do something, be sort of like missionaries whether it was actually sharing with people or sharing funds with missionaries. So we kept praying. Lord, use us.

One day, some changes happened to the family farm and I ended up working in the corn office with my husband. The twins were tiny then, a couple of years old, and used to nap on blankets and pillows under my desk at my feet. Years passed, and then Covid happened.

Our Future Took a Drastic Change

The world shut down. For us, we kept farming but with everything else closed, our world suddenly grew smaller. I blame our homeschool co-op (in a great way!) for what happened next. 😉 Our first experience with science fair projects led to our daughters taking an unused corner of the farm to trial seed population with radishes and soil amendments. But we have four boys and they were highly jealous. They too wanted to experiment with something on the farm. I offered to trial a few rows of pumpkins to see if they grew here in Florida. Farmer daddy stepped in a planted a few acres of pumpkins. Suddenly it was fall and we successfully had pumpkins growing all over the place! We opened for u-pick and our community went wild. They harvested everything from our family garden to whatever pumpkins they could find in the field.

Were we onto something?

God Surprised Us with a Big Dream

That was the fall of 2020. This spring, we currently have 30 acres of u-pick planted, everything from veggies to fruits to flowers. We also offer workshops, summer camp, weekly u-pick, festivals, on-site glamping and much more at Wesley Wells Farm.

It appeared the Lord certainly answered our heart’s cries to bring people to the farm for us to minister to and share the Good News with.

It didn’t come easy. Countless nights, I cried, especially after we would host a new event and there would always be some backlash and angry comments from someone who didn’t live nearby or didn’t know us or didn’t consider us to be actual humans. It hurt. I wondered if we were chasing an unattainable dream. Should we give up? Stick with solely growing a conventional, commercial row crop? Forget the people and opening the farm to them?

No, the Lord said. Keep trusting me. Keep following me.

From the Farm to the Table

We kept following Him wherever He led. Not gonna lie. At times it felt completely overwhelming, far greater than those years before when a trip to Publix stressed me out. But this? This felt too big for me. For our family.

But the Lord equips those He calls to do His will. (Hebrews 13:20-21)

God has given us the best support system on the planet. We hosted the best night ever hosting our first farm to table dinner last night. It was in honor of the best people on the planet – the ones who’ve listened to our crazy ideas and jumped on board, catching the vision, and supporting us in many different ways.

Whether it was sweat equity, or manning the gate during massive event turnouts, or spending the day emptying trash cans and refilling bathrooms with toilet paper, they were there for it. From sitting down for a brainstorming session trying to sort out my ideas and turn them into a working plan through all the logistics, they were there. If it was sweating through a Santa suit or teaching workshops or sending their kids to every camp we offer or faithfully attending every event and regular u-pick, they were there.

It didn’t matter whether the job was totally crappy or completely incredible, they did it.

If we doubted this was God’s will and should we keep blindly following, they encouraged. They believed in us and prayed with us. They showed up to do the hard work and told THEIR friends about us.

Support Your Local Farmers

That’s what farmers need.

You can talk about needing to support local growers but when you actually show up and do it, that’s when it makes a difference.

And that’s why our u-pick field has grown. Because friends, family, farm visitors, and total strangers have supported us in so many ways and shown up.

Faith In the Future

God is so faithful. Time and again, He has proven Himself and shown his love and grace. Through every struggle and heartache, floods and uncertain futures, God carried us through it. How could I not share the hope I have in him with others?

With every time we open the farm gates, whether its for a regular u-pick day or special event, our prayer is that we aren’t just planting seeds in the field but in the hearts of every human who shows up. That when they leave our farm, they have a bit of encouragement and hope for the future. That no matter what is going on in their lives, Jesus is the answer.

God has given us some pretty big dreams for the future, bigger dreams I think than we are capable of dreaming ourselves, so we confidently feel they are from Him. So now we continue praying, spending time with Him, and following where He leads. It is a humbling yet rewarding experience to see Him use this little scrap of land that sat unused for so long to grow His Kingdom and we are so grateful to be a part of that.

Support Your Local Farmers

If you want to be a part of that, please continue supporting us. Word of mouth is our biggest advertisement. Prayer is our biggest encouragement. We gratefully accept whatever form of support you can take part in.

If you are struggling, please know you aren’t alone. God knows your heart and He is waiting for you to ask Him in, to take those burdens he never meant you to carry. If you need prayer, please reach out to your local Bible-believing church or simply send me a message. I would be honored to pray for you.

Thank you for reading!

‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’ Numbers 6:24-26