Along Walkable Main – Texas Hot Spot and Wallis Welding share this building.  Wallis Welding is located in the right section of the building.

The more people who have an urban garden, the better their community will be. Getting people to garden will create new businesses and will support existing ones. Thus, in addition to increasing the food security and the overall health of the residents in any community, urban gardens will also grow the local economy.

New markets can be created though the promotion of urban gardens and makerspaces on Walkable Main Street.  

Speaking of new markets, I was looking at an online advertisement from Gardener’s Supply Company. Their selections in metal yard art range in prices from $30 to $75. Now there’s a new market to bring into our community! And that inspired me to think more about the Walkable Main Street tour this afternoon. . .

Could Wallis Welding possibly have a Makerspace for Walkable Main? I think so. Wallis Welding shares space along Walkable Main Street with Texas Hot Spot. (Texas Hot Spot is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization that purchases and sells items from liquidation sales. The money from these sales goes to support mission efforts in India such as the Bethany Girls Home in India, and Fresh Water Wells in Christian Churches giving fresh water to all who ask).

Makerspaces

“Makerspaces combine manufacturing equipment, community, and education for the purposes of enabling community members to design, prototype and create manufactured works that wouldn’t be possible to create with the resources available to individuals working alone. These spaces can take the form of loosely-organized individuals sharing space and tools, for-profit companies, non-profit corporations, organizations affiliated with or hosted within schools, universities or libraries, and more. All are united in the purpose of providing access to equipment, community, and education, and all are unique in exactly how they are arranged to fit the purposes of the community they serve. . .” More Details at http://spaces.makerspace.com

Dream this: Yard Art and Garden Tools Made Possible by a Wallis Welding Makerspace

Imagine the possibilities for artistic and practical commercial applications centered on creating tools, flower boxes, garden containers, and art for the urban garden! Imagine the potential profitability. The link in the paragraph above provides details for creating a makerspace.

Plants can be used to support the businesses on Walkable Main.  

In addition to making Walkable Main more appealing to pedestrians, plants (particularly edible ones such as blackberries) can add dollar value to the area. Blackberry bushes (the thornless variety) grow extraordinarily well in Garland with very little attention. Two of the bushes in my yard since May 28 have produced almost 30 pounds of blackberries. Their current market value in the grocery stores is $3.99 for 12 ounces.

Blackberry bushes could be planted throughout the paths along Walkable Main and even in the green space in front of Roaches. Blackberries produce from the last week in May up through the second week in July in our area.  During the rest of the year their dark green leaves are pretty.

We could make June Blackberry Month in Garland and build a festival with events around this designation. The plants along Walkable Main should be more than incidental landscape architectural decorations. They should be functionally integrated with additional purposes for supporting and growing our local economy.