Meet the Maker: Charlie O’Dell

In our “Meet the Maker” series, we’ll introduce you to local personalities from each of the towns where Nest offices are located. In our technology driven world, it’s nice to meet people who are still physically making tactile things by hand. These makers enrich our communities and color the landscape of our towns. For this installment, we get to know a charming horticulturist from Blacksburg, VA.

+ CHARLIE O’DELL, Horticulturist

You can hear Charlie O’Dell before you see him. His three-wheeled motorcycle comes rumbling down the dirt road and into Windrush Farm. Dust swirls around him as he slowly steps from the bike, removing his helmet to reveal a warm smile and a twinkle in his eye. O’Dell has spent countless days here at the Windrush Farm, where he has been a mentor and dear friend to our very own Steve Bodtke, an Associate Broker at Nest Realty New River Valley. The U-pick berry farm belongs to Bodtke, but wouldn’t have been possible without the guidance and direction from O’Dell.

Berries have been a lifelong love story for O’Dell that began in the summer after first grade. Spending long days working in the berry fields at his grandmother’s farm in Pittsburg County, VA, he became entranced by the raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. This passion for working with the earth, hands rooted in soil, has stayed with him his entire life. Now at 81 years of age, I ask him which is his favorite berry? “The one that’s in season,” he chuckles.

O’Dell attended undergraduate school at Berea College in Kentucky, 30 miles south of Lexington. “As part of the tuition, students like myself from underprivileged families had to work to subsidize their tuition. I worked in the horticulture farm that grew berries and veggies to serve in the dining room,” says O’Dell. It was here that he met his wife Wilma, who was from his same small hometown in West Virginia, called Hurricane. “That’s why I’m so windy,” jokes O’Dell, with that laugh that comes so easily.

They traveled to the University of Maryland, where O’Dell earned his Master’s Degree in olericulture, the study of vegetable and berry production. As the couple was expecting their first child, O’Dell accepted a Professor position at Virginia Tech in the Department of Horticulture. He has published papers for the Virginia Cooperative Extension, and is still a regular contributor for the website, GrowingProduce.com.

After raising two daughters and retiring from Virginia Tech, he and his wife ran their own farm, the 3 Birds Berry Farm. At the age of 76 he sold the farm, and aside from his time spent with Bodtke at Windrush, he is now fully retired. “I still keep up a bit. I keep up friendships. I baby my plants—transplanting them, growing them.”

He leads us through rows upon rows of luscious berries. His full, round laugh fills the spaces between the bushes. He proudly shows us the work that he has helped Bodtke to accomplish. He explains in detail the different varieties and his favored berries for their vigorousness. Hearing him speak so passionately and eloquently about something so seemingly simple causes me to pause. His zeal for horticulture and his eagerness to share this wisdom are inspiring.

We shared this story with you in our Spring/Summer 2017 Issue of NEST Magazine. To view the full issue, click here.