The Jill Stone Garden at Temple Emanu-El was founded in 2012 as a place for members to grow fresh, organic vegetables for donation to their neighbors through the Vickery Meadow Food Pantry. Three members of the original team were Dallas County Master Gardeners, but the Garden was not an official Master Gardener Project until 2014.

The Garden is in the northernmost stretch of land on the Temple Emanu-El Campus at 8500 Hillcrest Rd. in Dallas. After adding more than 9,000 square feet in 2019, along with a greenhouse and two storage sheds, the garden space currently encompasses 13,500 square feet. The Temple team currently manages 41 raised beds, many with attached trellises, and five farmer’s rows.

The Garden is completely organic and all produce grown is donated. Vickery Meadow is a densely populated, ethnically diverse, low-income neighborhood that has limited access to affordable produce. Over time, as the clientele of the Vickery Meadow Food Pantry changes, Garden volunteers modify the crops grown to meet their preferences. Two of the regular volunteers also volunteer at the Food Pantry which is open three mornings each week and serves up to 60 families each day. That is double the 30 families the Pantry served each day before the pandemic struck.

The Garden now partners with the North Texas Food Bank. It also partners with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) by donating garden space its families can use, along with any supplies they need.

In addition to vegetables, the Garden grows many plants to attract pollinators and is a Certified Monarch Waystation. It is also a PlantTAGG-enabled garden, which means you can use your phone to scan a QR code on one of the signs in the Garden and get information about the garden, its plants, and their care requirements.

As the size and production of the Garden has grown over the years, so has the support from the Temple community. Each year the congregation cheers as the number of pounds of donated vegetables are added up and published in the newsletter. In 2020, the Garden contributed just over 2.5 tons of produce. That much has already been contributed through September of 2021 and the team hopes to donate 3 tons by year’s end.

Although the Garden started with volunteers from the Temple Emanu-El member population and three Dallas County Master Gardeners, more volunteers have offered their energy since that time. Many are neighbors of the Temple. Garden volunteers have been part of each years’ new crop of Dallas County Master Gardeners for several years and the regular volunteers now include 15 Master Gardeners and several Master Gardeners-in-training (Interns). Three of the Master Gardeners trained to be Vegetable Specialists and 5 trained to be Greenhouse Specialists.

One of the Master Gardeners teaches a farm-to-table program at the Temple preschool, using a garden at the school as well as the community garden. The children learn about all aspects of the Garden from propagation to planting and harvesting, and to pollinators and butterflies! What a rich learning environment this has created.