The gist
Bruce Mead, a McKinney Parks Foundation board member, began looking into the idea of creating a learning garden in late 2022.
The project is intended to be an effort to help address food insecurity in the McKinney area, he said. Mead took inspiration from other local community garden projects, such as Community Garden Kitchen and Shiloh Field Community Garden.
Unlike these projects, the East McKinney Learning Garden will be focused on teaching community members how to create and maintain food-producing gardens in their own backyards, he said.
“There are a million different ways that you can create a vegetable garden in your backyard,” Mead said. “Giving people the knowledge on how to do that is going to be important.”
MCDC board members approved a land lease for the new garden to be constructed on a quarter-acre property that the organization owns on the site of the new Tupps Brewery.
“When we became involved in the Tupps [Brewery] project and the work on that campus, [McKinney Community Development Corp.] retained a portion of the site ... for the purpose of potentially some sort of development in the future that would complement the Tupps [Brewery] campus,” MCDC President Cindy Schneible said.
The specifics
The learning garden will be located at the northwest corner of the Tupps Brewery site in east McKinney, taking up about 11,000 square feet, according to city documents.
The garden will feature about 30 raised garden beds in a variety of styles as well as picnic tables, potting benches and a harvest wash area. The space will also serve as an outdoor classroom with a teaching area and will feature a monarch butterfly weigh station.
The learning garden will host a variety of classes and learning opportunities, and students of the garden will range from children to seniors, according to city documents. The garden will be facilitated and maintained by volunteers, and classes will be led by local chefs, farmers, gardeners and more.
Food produced at the garden will be distributed to Community Garden Kitchen, La Tiendita, Hugs Café and East McKinney Farmers Market, according to city documents.
Local organizations the Native Plant Society of Texas, the Collin County Master Gardener Association, the Seed Project Foundation, the Texas Health Resources Foundation and more plan to partner in supporting the learning garden, Mead said.
Prior to the official fundraising period, Mead had already raised $30,000 from donors committed to funding the project along with in-kind donations from local businesses, he said.
“In building consensus in interest in this project, I spoke with over 60 people over the last eight months, including government leaders, local agency folks, business leaders in town, and without exception, the support for this project is there,” Mead said.
Looking ahead
Construction on the garden is expected to begin this month with the estimated completion by fall of this year, according to city documents.
The garden will cost just over $210,000 to start, including construction costs, and will cost almost $45,000 each year to maintain, according to a presentation at the meeting. The garden will be funded primarily by donations along with contributions from the city.
Local and master gardeners along with local business and agency leaders have committed to facilitating over 30 learning events and classes each year, according to the presentation.
One planned event includes a Grow-Your-Garden Day. The event will be held twice a year, and volunteers coordinated by the McKinney Parks Foundation will be available to transport supplies to the homes of local residents and build a raised garden bed at their homes. The event will also include instruction on how to maintain the garden bed, Mead said.
“We need a way to educate people about how to grow your own food, not just buy it out of a can at a grocery store,” Mead said.
MCDC board members approved a three-year lease for the garden along with an option to renew for an additional three years at the July 27 meeting.
“I have always wanted to learn how to garden, so I’m really excited for this,” MCDC board Chair Angela Richardson-Woods said.
To learn more about the McKinney Parks Foundation, visit www.mckinneyparksfoundation.org.
