Grown Here at Home: Charlie Herbert’s mission to grow the Giles Community Garden

PEARISBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - Nestled in downtown Pearisburg is a garden that is Charlie Herbert’s mission field.

“Fourteen years ago, I was sitting, listening to a sermon, and in that sermon from John was the phrase, ‘Feed My sheep.’ And I thought, ‘Okay, Lord, how do I do that?’ I’m here in the middle of downtown Pearisburg, but I have this big, open yard, and so I thought, okay, I’m a lifelong gardener, I can plant it, and they will come and eat it,” Charlie explained.

What started as a seed of an idea has grown into the Giles Community Garden. It’s all part of Charlie’s life-calling to build things.

“It’s what I did for work. I built process corporately for work around the country. Building a non-profit, a small garden into something that’s locally known, as well as, regionally known, is just part of the process,” Charlie said.

It’s a process that takes many volunteers and support from businesses to make happen.

“It’s a sense of pride getting other people involved, getting more people turned on to being able to eat good, healthy food, to be able to harvest the vegetables and the herbs to be able to cook it all together.

Since Charlie has no plans of stopping anytime soon, he has more projects in store.

“The next thing is a learning center that we’re going to build back here on the edge of the garden,” he said.

So, the garden will continue to grow and only time will tell when Charlie can finally say mission accomplished.

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