Harrowsmith Fall 2019 | 237it’s not being taken care of by its
mother. We receive letters from
visitors saying they are going
through a divorce or illness,
whatever, and holding the lamb
made such a difference. Now,
that’s a life I can hang my hat on.”
At the start of last year, they
had to reduce their flock from
1,100 to 650 because Christopher,
their full-time shepherd of
48 years, as well as two other
partners, retired. That left the
Murrays with the financial
struggles of paying off three
shareholders of the business. It
meant making new deals with the
bank and finding new ways
of generating farming pay.
Family members and friends
stepped up and became the
new farm staff. Leah is the new
farm manager. Topsy Farms’
close friend Will handles the
machinery. Jake does marketing,
event hosting and tends to the
flock with Kyle, his younger
brother. Kyle is now the farm’s
head shepherd, with guard dogs
as his full-time helpers, along
with his friend Kayleigh, who,
Sally says, “came to visit the
lambs, then adopted a lamb, then
adopted us.”
Topsy has often served as a
place of refuge and healing. They
have always generously given
room and board to young people
who need it. The working-family
relationships have to be good
because the entire home business
is at stake. Jake says they have
truly bet the farm.
“Yep, we’re a bit of an eclectic
mix of skills, enthusiasms, crises
and, somehow so far, all seem
to pull together pretty well,”
a ffi r m s S a l ly.
Ian comes from a lifelong
farming background and doesn’t
wear the worries on his face.
He was born in Prince Edward
Island, but his folks left there
and came to Ontario for better