By Gavin Boyle
Jenny Marrs shared why her and her husband Dave’s blueberry farm means so much to their family and how it helps them pass down a legacy of hard work to their kids.
“Pulling weeds, pruning and picking berries has been the framework for our kiddo’s summers for the past ten years. They jump in and work right alongside us. It’s a beautiful privilege to be able to work as a family to create delicious food and to cultivate a space for our community to gather and experience a slice of farm life,” the HGTV star shared on Instagram.
“This farm is one of the legacy’s Dave and I want to pass down to our children,” she added later in the post. “We want them to value hard work and nature and, most of all, generosity. We want them to understand that it’s never ‘us’ and ‘them.’ It’s not ‘here’ and ‘there.’ We have shared meals with our Zimbabwean leaders at their table and at ours. We have become dear friends who do life together as best we can across a sea. We hold them close in prayer and we have hopefully shown our kiddos that even though we live in different countries, with different cultures and foods and languages and looks, we are united in our humanity and our desire to run the race set before us well.”
The Marrs’ have also made this worldwide focus a reality in their family through the adoption of their daughter Sylvie from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The process of adopting her, however, was not easy, as a six month process turned into a three year ordeal after a government shut down the process.
“Her adoption had been finalized. She had her U.S. passport. And then the country shut down adopted kids leaving, so she couldn’t get her exit permit,” Marrs explained. “We were contacting anyone we thought could help us. We had people writing letters. We met with every one or our congressmen and senators.”
Related: Dave and Jenny Marrs Discuss Journey to Adopt Their Daughter Sylvie
“It was heart-wrenching,” Dave added. “There was nothing we could do.”
Sylvie joined their growing family which has since grown to five children total. The family now lives in a farmhouse built in 1903 that has allowed them many unique opportunities — such as running a blueberry farm.
“The life we have built here can be messy and is certainly a lot of work, but, gracious; it’s full of joy,” Marrs wrote in her book House + Love = Home. “Our memories have seeped into the walls, and these floors echo with the thrill of first steps and kitchen dance parties. Just as the biting cold of winter will eventually give way to the gentle warmth of spring and the sticky heat of summer, our home will continue to grow and change and evolve with the seasons of life.”
It is inspiring to see how the Marrs family has used their unique opportunities to raise up their children with strong values and help them learn important life lessons from a very young age.
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
- Content: +3Share:
- Content: +2