Keeping the family on the farm

By Manuela Garay-Giraldo

As I was greeted by two friendly dogs chasing after the car and a small girl standing on a picturesque porch and telling me her pets’ names, I immediately had a feeling that at Rawdonview Farms, working life and family life blend together and become one.

Colin Lake, the girl’s father, grew up on the neighbouring farm with his mother and father.

“My dad bought the farm next door in 1966, and I came along in ’70, that’s when I was born,” said Lake.

Colin, an energetic man in his 40s, married his wife Beth nearly two decades ago and they now have five children, Ethan, 16, Owen, 13, Samuel, 11, Beatrice, 8, and Ruthie, 6. Colin went to school for agriculture business and returned to work on his father’s farm and continue the family business.

“I bought this piece of property here in 1994,” said Lake. “Now we have a state of the art dairy barn. We have 100 cows and milk 70 daily.”

Lake’s day begins at 4:50 a.m. when he first milks his cows, and it ends whenever the work is done.

“I don’t always get a lot of sleep, with the farm and the kids… it’s a busy life,” said Lake.

The children help out in the barn with different chores, but one of their favourite activities is to make their very own maple syrup.

“We don’t have a big enough production to sell the syrup, so that’s for personal consumption,” said Lake. “You can tell I have a sweet tooth.

“The kids love it, they drink the sap by the bucket when they come along with us.”

After the sap was brought in to the sugar shack, a place with two containers where the sap is poured and the water is evaporated and it starts to become maple syrup, Lake’s son, Samuel, came in and said “did you light the fire yet?”

“No, buddy, we waited for you to start it,” replied his father.

Samuel said that growing up on a farm is the best place for a kid. He enjoys riding his bike and the four-wheeler, but admits that having many siblings can be difficult at times.

“I have two older brothers and two younger sisters,” said Samuel. “So I get punches coming down and scratches coming up.”

The Lakes are a tight knit family. The children see their grandparents on a daily basis, and Beth’s parents, who do not live near by, visit often. Lake even built his newest barn with his aging father specifically in mind.

“My dad is 67, and I wanted to build this place so that he could continue helping out if he wanted to,” said Colin.

This means the barn is very accessible to anyone wishing to enter and work. The kids ride their bicycles amidst the cows and play with all the animals.

At Rawdonview Farms, family business really does mean an integration between family life and working life, the two becoming one.