Following her successful recovery from 17 years of debilitating, suicidal depression, Julie then spent her forties and the better part of ten years serving and learning at local therapy farm Peace Ranch. Volunteering at the ranch offered further personal healing and growth and helped her develop a therapeutic mindset as well as a skill set of working with horses, working on the land, and serving and leading others. There she experienced for herself the profound healing impact a natural farm environment of working with animals and working the land in the context of safe community offers the hurting and broken. She had the opportunity to participate in the growth of the nonprofit therapy farm and was its first college intern. About the same time, she served for five years on the board of a local nonprofit ministry serving single moms and worked as a life coach for a year and a half there as well.

After a season pursuing an education, during a day of prayer she received an unusual and powerful vision. That vision would become reality with the establishment of Freedom Farm Ministries Grand Traverse in 2016. A friend purchased a 2 ½ acre property outside the village of Kingsley, Michigan, and invited Julie and her husband Dave to come live there and launch Freedom Farm. After 4 1/2 years at that site, we were offered the incredible opportunity to move operations to Maple Ridge Place, a beautiful 14-acre property centrally located between the communities of Traverse City, Kingsley, Grawn and Interlochen, owned by dear friends and ministry partners Susan and Dick Hoekstra. This new home base allows Freedom Farm to combine the HeartSkills Coaching, garden, and equine-assisted therapeutic programs in one place, and also shares space with Ms. Hoekstra’s Affirm Ministries.