On The Farm

While Richie Tipton has always felt at home standing on stage underneath the lights, performing his songs for the crowd, his true spiritual home is Verde Farm.

In 2008, Richie and his wife Amy bought a small farm in Lesage, West Virginia. They stocked it with chickens, miniature donkeys, rabbits, and more. It wasn’t long before they needed more room to provide an adequate home for their feathered and furry friends. They moved Verde Farm to a new location at Glenwood, West Virginia, in 2013 making more room to open their hearts to even more new additions.

The farm is recognized as an official breeder of Kunekune pigs, a breed of small pig native to New Zealand that just shed its endangered status in 2010.

“Being a farmer was the furthest thing from my dreams,” Tipton said.

Despite it being a world far removed from the nomadic lifestyle common to those bitten by the music bug, it has proven to be an inspiration to his creative efforts.

“The feelings I get around the animals is special. They make me laugh and smile all the time,” he said. “They are comparable to the feelings I get when I play music. It just pleases the soul.”

Beyond the spiritual contentment he has found on the farm, he has found a physical balance as well. Surrounding the Glenwood farm are numerous trails winding through the wooded property creating a jogging path to nature for Tipton. His daily trail runs have proven to be a spark for his creative fire.

Winding along side the trails is a small stream that has been the inspiration for his latest material to be released as The Stream Engine.

The roar of the crowd has always been exciting to TIpton, but it has been the power of nature that has moved him to plow new ground as a writer and performer.

Farmer Richie’s stream of consciousness is now truly organic.