From Resistance to Rooted: How I learned to love the farm life.
By Audrey from The Haven
I didn’t always love the farm life.
In fact, if you had told me years ago that I’d one day be raising my own meat, planting gardens, and enjoying the harvest with my grandbabies, I would’ve laughed, or cried! Because truth be told, I grew up on a farm... and I hated every minute of it.
As a child, all I could think about was leaving. I dreamed of city sidewalks and drive-through coffee shops, not dirt roads and chicken chores. So when I married and we settled into life in a neighborhood, I felt like I had made it. I was content. Happy. Comfortable.
But my husband had a different dream.
He wanted a farm.
Eventually, we found ourselves with a little piece of land to call our own, and just like that, we had animals to feed and a garden to plant. He wanted me to help with the gardening, and I did. Reluctantly. Resentfully. I’ll be honest: I hated it. The weeds. The sweat. The bugs. The never-ending work. I couldn’t find joy in it no matter how hard I tried.
So I did the only thing I knew to do—I PRAYED
I asked God to change my heart.
To help me fall in love with the very thing I had spent most of my life trying to escape.
And you know what? He answered that prayer.
But He didn’t change my heart overnight.
He changed it gently, through the eyes of my grandchildren.
When the grandbabies came along, everything looked different. They saw the world through wonder-filled eyes. A chicken wasn’t just a chicken—it was a clucking, feathered friend who laid eggs like hidden treasure. A tomato wasn’t just food—it was something they planted, picked, and proudly brought inside devouring the great tasting flavor of a fresh grown tomato. The farm became a playground of God’s beauty, and I started seeing it all through a magnifying glass—through their joy, their discovery, their awe.
And slowly, my heart softened.
Then it opened wide.
And now—I truly love this life.
I love cooking fresh produce from our garden.
I love knowing where our meat comes from and how it was raised.
I love the first signs of spring—the green shoots rising up, the songbirds returning, the baby animals being born.
I even love fall, with its golden colors and full pantry shelves. And winter, when the fields rest and we do too.
Now don’t get me wrong—I still don’t like the bugs. Or the snakes. Or the sweltering heat... or the freezing cold when we have to trudge out to do chores. Some things may never change!
But my heart has. And that’s what matters.
Farming is no longer something I endure. It’s something I cherish. Not because it's easy, but because it's rich with purpose. And because it's a life we get to share with our family—especially the little ones who see it all as miraculous.
God really did change my heart.
And in doing so, He’s given me a life I never even knew to dream of.
A life I now thank Him for—bugs, heat, and all.