Putting Down Roots

It was the summer of 2001 when I was first introduced to Lindsey Lake by a mutual friend. At the time, I was 18 years old and had just suffered the greatest loss in my life: the loss of my 15-year-old brother, Scotty. He passed away in a dirt bike accident in Johnson City, Tennessee. Although I came from a large family, being one of eight children and having two loving and committed parents, I was in desperate need of a friend who understood where I was in this challenging season of my life. As it turned out, that friend would be Lindsey Lake.

We met on a beautiful day in Little Mountain, riding four-wheelers and dirt bikes on a friend’s farm. That day was filled with fun and laughter. It was a great escape from the sorrow and anguish I was battling daily. As our relationship as friends grew, I was able to share with Lindsey what I was going through, and she was able to share with me that at the age of 9 years old, she lost her dad to multiple myeloma. We were two young kids dealing with tremendous adversity in our lives, and for the next year, we leaned heavily on each other.

Lindsey was originally from Newberry, where she had the quintessential childhood, much like I did growing up in Chapin. My father, Glen Miller, served the citizens of Chapin for many years as a paramedic, which was not that dissimilar to Lindsey’s father, Steffen Lake, operating his wood treatment company, Lakewood Treating Inc., and volunteering his time to the Little Mountain Rescue Squad. Our mothers, Debbie Miller and Lynn Lake, both supported our fathers and cared greatly for their children. Our parents taught us the importance of community, hard work, and the value of having a solid handshake.

As most young relationships do, Lindsey and I fell apart over time, and she ultimately moved to Charleston. Lindsey went on to develop a passion for becoming a nurse. She graduated from Trident Technical College and began working in medical-surgical and postpartum nursing. I would go on to become a mechanic who never seemed to be satisfied with what I was doing. Although I enjoyed restoring broken machines to working order, I felt called to become a paramedic. I postponed pursuing a career as a paramedic for many years due to my apprehension about regularly encountering challenging situations. I wasn’t sure if I could handle the stress and daily uncertainties, as I still carried the deep wound of the loss of my brother. It was in my mid-20s when I decided it was time to put fear aside and do something I felt was important. Before long, I was working several paramedic jobs simultaneously, serving the citizens of multiple South Carolina counties, including those of Chapin, just as my father did.

Approximately ten years later, as Lindsey was ascending in her career to becoming a nurse practitioner, my career as a paramedic was coming to an end. Lindsey thrived as a nurse and earned her master’s degree from Frontier Nursing University. After nearly ten years as a paramedic and serving as a crew chief, field training officer, and member of the Lake Murray Marine Patrol, I made the transition into an educator role for a local hospital system. It was around this time that Lindsey returned to Chapin, and after so many years without seeing each other, we reunited. Having worked in such an unstable environment for so many years and understanding the best partnership in prehospital care is between a paramedic and a nurse where each compensates for the other's weaknesses it made sense to me that Lindsey and I would embark on the greatest partnership of all and get married.

Lindsey and I wasted no time and immediately got to work. We now have two daughters, Reagan (5) and Madison (2). We bought an old two-bedroom, one-bath farmhouse on eight acres off Sid Bickley Road, less than 2 miles from where I grew up. Having spent her childhood in the country, Lindsey had a desire to return to her roots and asked if we could start a farm. She wanted to grow Christmas trees, so at the time, I suggested we buy 15 trees and give it a try. One month later, with no farming experience or training, we planted 300 more, and Lakewood Tree Farm was born. We named our farm after Lindsey’s father’s former business in hopes that it would provide a personal connection for Reagan and Madison to their grandfather, Steffen. I would go on to leave my role as an educator and take on the responsibility of a stay-at-home dad. As I develop the farm and care for Reagan and Madison, Lindsey continues her career serving as a family nurse practitioner in the Chapin area, an aesthetics nurse practitioner providing in-home skin care and an adjunct clinical educator. 

We have been blessed with great relationships over the last four years as we have developed our farm. Multiple neighbors have been incredibly supportive, providing their assistance in any way they could. In our first year, we didn’t know how we were going to install our irrigation system when a neighbor, who barely knew who we were, kindly handed over his excavator to use. The following year, we needed to relocate a barn, and once again, our neighbors pulled together and made it happen. Another time, a large tree had to be removed, and two different neighbors showed up with a backhoe and an excavator and dug it up. The tree was so large they could not get the stump out of the hole and finally gave up. A few weeks later, Lindsey and I were standing in the yard looking at the stump, not knowing how to handle it, when our new neighbor who recently bought the land across from us pulled into the yard in his John Deere skid steer to say hello. Minutes later, and completely shocked, Lindsey and I were watching him remove the massive stump from the hole, which then made it possible for us to install our greenhouse. Over the years, we have assisted them in many of their projects and helped them achieve their goals.

In many ways, they have become less like neighbors and more like family.
As we transition this year from an idea to a reality, by opening for our first Christmas season, we hope that the sense of community that has been created on Sid Bickley Road will spread throughout the Chapin area. It is our mission to enrich the Chapin community by providing an environment where families can come together and create long-lasting memories, whether it is searching for the perfect Christmas tree or gathering in front of the old barn for a family photo. As our new business grows, so will our young children. It is our prayer and desire to use our farm as a vehicle to mold our children into strong adults. To provide them with the understanding that sometimes work begins at sunrise and ends at sunset. To understand that sometimes, no matter how hard they try in life, they are not ultimately in control. There will be times when rain is needed, but it does not come. And most importantly, they understand, as said in Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our
God endures forever”.