Extreme heat and rising water bills are impacting a community garden in Denton

The extreme heat is causing a Denton community garden to scale back operations. The lack of rain has also contributed to an expensive water bill, which is hurting the nonprofit's bottom line.

Shiloh Field in Denton is feeling the sizzle of the hot sun as the Texas heat continues. Even the pepper plants, which like heat, are showing signs of fatigue.

"Once they get water, they’ll perk back up. Peppers love the heat so they will be fine, even though they don’t look quite so fine right now, they really will recover once watered," said Julie Wright, board chair of Friends of Shiloh Garden.

The nonprofit was created by the late Gene Gumfory in 2011 who had a vision to feed the hungry with a community garden. Wright said Gumfory spoke with his church, Denton Bible Church, which had land available and it was converted into a garden.

“We grow food and we give it to our pantries," explained Wright who said they're focusing on not only how much they can provide, but what produce is specifically needed for food banks.

The nonprofit has one staffed employee, Wright said, but the helpers are all volunteers.

She said the summer hours have been modified so that people come in just after sunrise and are finished by mid-morning to avoid the dangerous heat.

"We do keep water on hand so that we make sure everybody takes their breaks they need and get in the shade and drink plenty of water," said Wright. “Our volunteers are our life force, so we want to take care of them."

Still, the weather is taking a toll on all aspects of the community garden.

"When it's 100 degrees this many days in a row, yeah, it's hard on the plants, it's hard on the volunteers and it requires more effort, more water and more everything," described Wright.

"Our water bill has gone through the roof," said Wright.

“This last month we used more water than we've ever used before so it was a much larger than usual bill," said Wright. "It's just starting to eat up more than what we really would like it to. So yeah, we're good there. We're just keeping an eye on the bottom line and making sure that we have enough to get through the next couple of months."

She said between donations and grants they don't have as much money as they anticipated for the year. The extra cost of the water is making a big dent.

While it's natural for them to scale back this time of year and transition from summer to fall crops, this time will also be used to hammer out details with local food banks for a new model that Wright said is smarter for the non-profit and will help it thrive over the years.

"We will be selling food directly to the food bank and then they will distribute it at their regular costs to the food pantries on our behalf so we become a provider for them, the food bank," said Wright who explained that the costs would be low.

They would still give food for free to smaller pantries that don't have the funds.

Wright said they're hopeful to receive donations during North Texas Giving Day.