Wood Ridge Farm

Barry Wood moved to his family’s property in Nelson County in 1999 after running a produce and nursery stand in Centreville, VA for many years. Aside from his home, Barry has built all of the structures on the property, including a lakeside cabin, barns and run-in sheds, and a heated greenhouse for plant starts and other wintertime projects.

Cultivation for Local Food Hub and other markets happens at two elevations: His loamy bottomland field was carved out by the Hardware River during Hurricane Camille in 1969, and offers the perfect spot for melons and sweet corn, while his mountaintop field measures three to four degrees warmer and yields early summertime crops like tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and sweet peppers. While Barry is able to irrigate the bottom field using on-site springs, gravity, and ingenuity, the top field has been at the mercy of the elements (and the deer!) until this year. “I’ve got plenty of water on the property – just not right at the top,” he explains. Early in 2011 he purchased a used firetruck for irrigation purposes. A firetruck? Has that been done before? “If it might work, I just might try it,” he says with a grin.

Other projects at Wood Ridge Farm include leasing land for pastured meat and mixed poultry production, 30 acres of experimental barley for beer, and breeding trout and catfish to keep the ponds stocked and the smoker full.