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Wide Sky Turf Farm was established in 1960 when Joshua Sharpless Richie (better known as Sharp) sold his Burlington County fruit farm to developers and relocated in South Jersey. Once settled on the farm, Sharp's wife, Eleanor, chose to name Wide Sky Farm after its vast openness compared to the growing development that surrounded their previous farm. Sharp and his teenage son Larry began with five acres of sod as they ventured into this rare type of farming in addition to raising Shetland ponies. With one flatbed truck and a hand operated harvester they slowly increased their production for the next fourteen years.

Larry purchased the farm from his father in 1974 with thirty acres in sod production. The addition of the first automated Princeton Harvester caused Sharp to grow fearful that his son's zest for expansion would surely bankrupt him in the near future. However, the 1980's proved to be a time of growth in many areas. As the Wide Sky acreage increased with improved varieties of Bluegrass and Fescue sod, so did the Richie family tree of 3rd generation sod farmers and 5th generation farmers.

Larry and his wife, Jean, raised their children amidst the beauty of the crop and the struggle of the economy as their sons experienced farming to be a way of life.

Today, Mark and Josh, the grandsons of Sharp Richie continue to service the Tri-State area with quality sod and service instilled in the heritage that settled at Wide Sky years ago.