Ritchie putting Inglewood Farm on display again

By SEAN CLOUGHERTY
Managing Editor

Bealeton, Va. — At the peak of last month’s brutal heat wave, activity is bustling at Inglewood Farm.
Hay is down and raked, ready to be baled. Equipment needs work. And there’s the Virginia Ag Expo to get ready for, too.
“I’ve always liked doing stuff like that,” Bill Ritchie said of hosting this year’s expo on Aug. 4.
He added the farm has hosted the event in the past and it’s a good way to stay connected to growers in other parts of the state and get a first-hand look at new crop technology.
“It’s always a good reason to get the farm cleaned up, too,” he said with a chuckle.
Like most farms, Inglewood has gone through its share of changes over the years.
Inglewood Farm was established in 1917 with 280 acres when Wilbur Ritchie Sr., and his brother Homer moved from Stanton, Va. to Bealeton in a spring wagon.
Wilbur and his wife Ethel had eight children, with Calvin “Boots” Ritchie, aptly named for always having work boots on his feet, being the youngest.
In addition to owning the farm, Wilbur Sr., started a building and building supply business in nearby Remington, Va.
“My grandfather was a builder. He built farm buildings and other things there (in Stanton) and did the same thing when they moved here,” Bill Ritchie said.
Wilbur, Sr’s two oldest sons took over the building and supply business and Ritchie said the business is still family-owned.
Boots stayed and worked the farm and later purchased the neighboring Deerfield Farm.
In 1963, Ethel died, leaving the farm to her son, Boots and in 1972, he opened a grain business on the corner of Deerfield Farm.
In 1978, Boots bought out his partner and expanded the business with a hardware store and began selling fertilizer.
“They ground feed and bought and sold grain and lots of other things,” Ritchie added. “It was a complete farm service business.”
In the meantime, Ritchie said he and his brother Glen worked the farm.
A 44-acre lake was built from a creek bottom on the farm in 1979.
“Originally it was put in for irrigation,” Ritchie said. “Now it’s used for entertainment.”
In 1985, a pavilion was built on the lake’s shore and expanded over the years to a popular and successful venue for weddings and other special events.
“Right now it’s rented out for every weekend in the summer,” Ritchie said.
Boots died in 2006, after a 15-year battle with throat cancer.
Shortly before his death Boots sold the grain business.
Tragedy struck the family again in 2007 when Glen Ritchie died from a brain aneurysm.
Bill continues to manage the farm, raising 250 acres of barley, 120 acres of wheat, 725 acres of corn, 400 acres of early soybeans, 400 acres of late soybeans and 200 acres of hay this year.
This year he said he’s been pleased with his barley crop that he contracted to Perdue Agribusiness for the Osage BioEnergy ethanol plant.
Though the plant’s future is uncertain since it has been put up for sale, Ritchie said he may still grow barley next year.
“If the price is still good I’ll still raise it,” he said. “It was good having some income at that time of year. I think the last time we raised some it was 90 cents a bushel.”
Along with the corn and soybean variety plots there will be comparison trials of soybeans planted after barley versus after wheat, trials looking at slugs and nematode control, trials looking at weed control in corn and soybeans and equipment demonstrations on cutting and baling hay.
About a month before the expo, Ritchie planted a plot of teff, a warm-season annual grass, for use in the cutting demonstration.
Teff has been eyed as a tool in parts of Virginia to fill production gaps left by cool-season grasses in the summer.
A few weeks after planting, Ritchie said he was impressed with how far the hay had come in the hot dry weather.
“I just can’t believe how fast it’s grown. It amazes me. I looks like it’s going to make real pretty hay,” he said.
The expo is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m., with the crop tours beginning at 8 a.m.
Local civic organizations and food vendors will be on hand to sell lunch and more than 140 exhibitors and sponsors will have display set up.