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Sally’s husband, Ian Murray,
and his daughter, Leah, stand at
the store counter working with
an iPad, the new way of tracking
inventory and taking payment
from customers. Leah recently
joined the family trade and helped
move the retail aspect online.
The 500-acre property with
a maple woodlot and beach
and pastures lies at the remote
western tip of Amherst Island.
Topsy Farms may be hard to
get to out in Lake Ontario, but
those hundreds of sheep draw
hundreds of visitors across the
ferry, which is how this family
business intends to stay alive.
Amherst Island (population
450) seems a world apart
from the busy city of Kingston
(population 120,000), visible
from the other end of the island.
It’s an ancient, windswept land
with unpaved roads, old barns
and stone fences dating back to
its Loyalist and Irish settlement
of the 18th and 19th centuries.
The island’s summer and autumn
appeal now is for bicycle tourists,
artists and birdwatchers.