A North Texas residential development will feature a community farm that will donate fresh food to a food bank.
Harvest is a 1,150-acre master-planned community near Argyle that, in its first phase, will have about 323 state-of-the-art homes that focus on sustainability.
A portion of the food grown at the Hillwood Communities development will be donated to the North Texas Food Bank, creating about 10,500 fresh meals, said Hillwood Communities founder Ross Perot Jr.
"It's a huge gift. One dollar feeds three people in our community," said Katherine Perot-Reeves, his sister and a North Texas Food Bank board member.
Perot-Reeves said her family has a long history of feeding North Texas. Her grandmother fed the hungry and homeless during the Great Depression. Some 35 years ago, Bette Perot, sister of former presidential candidate Ross Perot Sr., donated space in her warehouse and helped create the North Texas Food Bank.
Community developer Tom Woliver said the homes at Harvest will feature the latest innovations, such as full automation that homeowners can access remotely, but the development's main focus will be healthy living.
"It will kind of be a first-of-its-kind in the country, really bringing agriculture and food production back into the community," he said.
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Harvest will have a professional farmer on site to help residents grow their own foods and create a sustainable lifestyle like Denton County residents did a century ago.
A restored 1882 farmhouse that was donated by the Faught family sits at the center of the development.
County Commissioner Andy Eads said the county is looking forward to the unique development.
"The western part of the county has deep rural roots," he said.
Ross Perot Sr. helped break ground on Harvest a year ago and now homes are starting to go up on the site. Developers said they hope to get residents into the homes soon and hope to start farming the land in a matter of months.
