Mike and Marjorie Lane are this year’s recipients of Heritage B.C.’s Distinguished Service Award!
“Heritage BC award nominees and winners alike illustrate the talents, commitment and diversity of heritage work in our Province”, says Kirstin Clausen, Executive Director of Heritage B.C., “Our recognition serves as a positive driver to continue preserving and saving our important cultural places and intangible heritage resources.”
Nathalie Lim Picard, the Heritage Program Coordinator had this to say of Mike and Marjorie’s contribution in service to the farming community, “Their work has done so much for Salt Spring Island’s farming community and keeping the heritage farm a reality. In celebrating the many contributions of Mike and Majorie, it is clear that it takes a special kind of commitment beyond the obligation to a contract with a fixed term. Mike and Marjorie are examples of how heritage can shape the values of who you are, your roles in a community and give you a place where you are wanted and want to stay.
Below is the nomination written by Abey Scaglione of Ruckle Farm that was submitted to win the award:
Mike Lane moved to Ruckle Park in 1990 and worked as the Park Facility Operator for ten years. Mike saw the elderly Ruckle family members struggling to keep the farm running and stepped in voluntarily to help them. After three years they asked him to take over farming the land which he accepted and has been doing ever since.
Marjorie joined Mike on the farm in 1999 and they have now been farming the land together for over twenty years. It is due to their tireless efforts that the heritage farm has been restored to it’s admirable state.
Helen Ruckle was the last surviving member of the family and with her passing in 2018, the farm then was under B.C. Parks authority. Mike and Marjorie were granted a twenty year contract (RFP for Ruckle Heritage Farm Management commencing January 2021) to continue their work on the farm, as well as take charge of maintaining the heritage homes, one of which has been turned into a seasonal accommodation. Marjorie outfitted it in antiques and a tour through this heritage house is like stepping back in time.
Mike and Marjorie are also responsible for maintaining heritage barns and structures all around the original farm and the continuous upkeep of the split-rail fencing, every foot of which was originally installed by Mike to replace the wire fencing and give the farm its picturesque heritage quality.
The farm has a large herd of sheep, Highland Cattle, goats, chickens and heritage breed turkeys. Recently, the farm has added a Jersey Cow and Mike and Marjorie have brought milking by hand back to the farm.
Animals on the farm enjoy the best life possible. Mike and Marjorie care deeply about their animals, routinely bringing bottle-fed lambs in to live in their house until healthy enough to rejoin the flock. They also have had countless International farm-stay workers who leave having learned so much about heritage farming.
Marjorie is in charge of meat sales and running the thriving farm stand, thus offering the community truly local food grown and raised the right way. Mike and Marjorie are passionate about regenerative agriculture: rotating crops and growing vegetables pesticide-free and choosing instead to use the farm’s ample manure supply to grow prize winning vegetables. They keep the farm working synergistically (e.g. the turkeys provide a natural pest control) and nothing on the farm goes to waste (e.g. chickens eat the food scraps).
Prior to Covid restrictions, Marjorie was instrumental in planning and running Farm Day and they participated in the Apple Festival, both fun community events teaching people about heritage farming practices. They showcase Ruckle Heritage Farm at the annual Salt Spring Island Fall Fair with their working dogs, prizewinning livestock & produce.
Mike has joked that farming requires you to be part veterinarian and he has even saved a lamb by delivering it via cesarian birth.
Mike is a board member of the Salt Spring Abattoir and was instrumental in its development. He is also on the board of the Farmers’ Institute and the Agriculture Alliance.
Mike and Marjorie have a wealth of information on Ruckle family history, farming, and plants (both wild and cultivated). With a prior logging background, Mike has the knowledge of what trees need to come down for safety and after cutting the trees down himself, uses this wood for firewood and building material.
Mike and Marjorie Lane have done so much for the farming community on Salt Spring Island and their passion for the animals and the land have kept the Ruckle family’s wishes that the heritage farm remain a reality.
As Britney Dack, Chair of Heritage BC said, “Ruckle Farm is a well known heritage asset on Salt Spring Island. The success of the farm is certainly in large measure because of the exceptional dedication and contributions of Mike and Marjorie Lane. Regenerative agriculture, family history, and historic livestock practices, are only a few of the achievements resulting from their special kind of commitment that never seems to be limited by their contract scope”. Congratulations Mike and Marjorie Lane!
