Most modern farm 1905:

Rich Farm Garden: more than seeds

By CYNTHIA AUKERMAN

News-Gazette reporter

Rich Farm Garden Supply has thousands of seeds and heirloom plants, mostly sold in the most modern fashion - through Internet catalogues. But the property that houses the business was once named the most modern farm in the entire state of Indiana - in 1905.

Charles Rich would like to know more about about the source of that "most modern farm" award, which was once posted on a sign posted on the property for many years. Some "oldtimers" have told him they remember the sign being on the property in the 1940s.

According to Rich's research, the house and barn were built in 1904 when the property was owned by Cathern Monks. The property sold three times in the 1920s: Raymond Lasley, 1924; Edward Curry, 1925; Delilah Cropper, 1929. Then in 1946, the owner was Tincel Fowler, followed closely by Ollie Borror, who owned the place from 1947 to 1970.

Sometimes Rich gives visitors a tour of the "most modern" barn. Some visitors have said they have seen some of the barn's features before, but not all of them together in one place.

One of the barn's beams is 50 feet long. There is a built-in, gas-powered windlass for bringing hay into the top of the barn. The windlass system has a built-in release. The water trough extends from the interior to the exterior of the barn, allowing the heat of the gathered cattle to keep the water from freezing in winter.

There's a rail system throughout the barn, including in the milking parlor where buckets could be attached for automated removal to another site. The rail system was hand-cranked, a two-sided lift kept the buckets level.

Part of the barn's modernity no doubt had to do with the silo, which is made out of tile. Borror's stepson told Rich he used to have to open the bottom of the silo, and an owl always flew out, scaring him to death.

The Riches are planning to organize the barn to develop it a tourist attraction. They hope to be part of Randolph County's plans to use its agricultural heritage as part of a growing tourism business.

Charles and his wife, Teresa, moved to the property at the edge of Winchester in 2000. They had spent 25 years in Texas, with Charles working in retail and computer programming.

Even in Texas, Teresa was a serious gardener. While they were out hoeing in the hot sun, Charles would remind Teresa that Safeway sold green beans in a can for a dime or two. Teresa's answer always was that those green beans didn't taste like hers, and nobody could know how they had been handled.

Teresa was from Ohio originally, and Charles says he knew all along that they would be moving back to "this latitude." Winchester is a good, central location for shipping, the Riches' main way of getting their products out to the world. Yet it is far away from a big city.

Most importantly, at least to Teresa, is that the Winchester area has good dirt and good rain. Her gardener's heart is happy here.

In the summer, the Rich business carries fresh produce grown by local people, produce grown organically, some of it from seeds and plants provided by Rich Farm and Garden Supply.

So the business serves as a source of encouragement for those seeking to follow a more "back to Nature" path. The Riches have even convinced some gardeners to grow peanuts, a product normally associated with more southerly climates.

The Riches are proud of their property's past designation as "most modern farm 1905" and consider it a heritage as they develop a pioneering business for this century.

Alex Rich, 20, grew up with the family business and agrees that he absorbed a lot of botanical information by the process of "osmosis."

"It gets crazy around this time of year," Alex says. "But it's worth working on."