North San Antonio development plants seeds of connectedness with new community gardens

The Crossvine, a residential development located just outside of San Antonio in Schertz, has unveiled a series of Community Gardens scattered throughout the property to promote connectedness and healthy living.

The community gardens will allow residents to plant their own fruits and vegetables in an open, shared space, promoting ideals such as the cycle of sharing, paying it forward and giving back.

“It was important for us to create an active community, where everyone could get outside and create community activities together,” Bradley Bechtol, a member of the Crossvine development team, told the Current. “We were all free-range children, so we wanted to create a place that planned for and welcomed that kind of connection.”

Bechtol, who has been working on the development project for nearly ten years, has teamed up with a resident who has a background in horticulture, ensuring that the two dozen 5×8′ raised garden beds are in optimal shape for families to begin planting this fall.

“As a child, my mom was a member of a co-op, and she would pick up a box of produce weekly, and that connection, being one-step from from the land, just stuck with me,” Bechtol said. “A community garden is zero steps from the land … it teaches kids where their food comes from, and creates connectivity — which we think everyone is craving, especially now.”

Future plans for the development’s community gardens include a farmer’s market and cooking classes, as well as more planters, if the program is popular enough.

The Crossvine is located at 9001 Hollering Vine, in Schertz, about a half hour Northeast of Downtown San Antonio.

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This article appears in Oct 7-20, 2020.