Farming teaches patience. There’s no way around it. You can’t rush the seasons or force a flower to bloom before it’s ready. If you’ve ever planted tulip bulbs, you know the drill—tuck them into the earth in the fall, wait through the winter, and then, just when you start wondering if anything is happening, spring delivers a vibrant reward. There’s a life lesson tucked inside every tulip, and as someone who runs a U-Pick Flower Farm here in Woodruff, SC, near Greenville, I see those lessons unfold season after season.
A tulip farm doesn’t happen by accident. You have to choose your bulbs carefully, knowing that what you plant is what you’ll get. It’s the same with life. Whether we’re raising kids, building relationships, or nurturing dreams, what we put in the soil of our days determines what grows.
Teach patience, and you’ll see resilience bloom. Show kindness, and it will spread like wildflowers. Neglect the things that matter, and well—you’ll get weeds. Bringing the little ones to a pick-your-own tulips farm is a great way to illustrate this. They get to see, firsthand, how effort and care turn into something beautiful.
Winter can feel long when you’re staring at bare fields. But underground, the tulips are preparing. They need that cold, that time of stillness, before they can push up and greet the sun. Life works the same way. Hard seasons might feel barren, but growth is still happening, even if we can’t see it yet.
This is something I remind myself of every year when the fields look empty. And then—almost like magic—spring arrives, and the rows of tulips remind me why the waiting was worth it.
There’s something special about walking through a tulip-picking farm, selecting the perfect bloom, and taking it home. It’s a reminder that life isn’t just about planting and waiting—it’s about celebrating, too.
Parents and grandparents who bring kids out for tulip picking see this lesson in action. Their little ones light up as they pick their own flowers, seeing the direct result of effort and patience. It’s a small joy, but those are often the ones that matter most.
You don’t need acres of farmland to practice what tulips teach. You can plant a small flower bed, start a garden in pots on the porch, or just take a few extra minutes to appreciate the beauty that’s already around you. And if you ever need a reminder, take a trip to a you-pick tulip farm and soak it all in.
So, next time you find yourself impatiently waiting for something—whether it’s a goal, a season of life, or just a slow day—remember the tulips. Trust that good things are growing, even if you can’t see them yet.
