Jayanne Czerniakowski has lived in Kingston for the last 16 years. The single mother of seven now turned grandmother had never been known for having a green thumb but after visiting a Wilkes Barre garden with her granddaughter, she had an idea. To start a nonprofit.
“My granddaughter loved the little garden,” explained Czerniakowski. “She’s like ‘Nonni, I want a garden.’ That’s when I bought the pools and we did one in our yard, but it didn’t work too well. So that’s kind of how it started. And then I was like, ‘you know what? I think I would like to do this.’ So that’s when I looked into, you know, getting the nonprofit and getting everything going.”
That nonprofit was Green Neighbors Network and as part of it, was the start of the Kingston community garden. Using help and knowledge from friends, neighbors, and growers in the area, Czerniakowski bought the land, grabbed a shovel, and went to work.
“I want it to be very down to earth, get back to nature, a little bit of whimsy here and there for those of us who are still kids at heart,” continued Czerniakowski. “And I just hope that it’s a place that people look forward to, you know, like they’re like, ‘oh, let’s go over to the garden today’ or ‘let’s see what’s going on at the garden.’”
The garden will have rows of berry bushes and vegetables that will be free to the Kingston community upon harvest and will include spaces to relax and enjoy being outside and in nature.
“Everyone’s always on their phone, you know, they’re isolated from the world, so this gives them a chance to come outside,” said Joanna Temarantz who lives a block away. “And also, another reason why I love this garden is because I’m not a fan of fast food. I’m not a fan of processed food, so I like the fresh garden and being able to have a chance to come and pick whatever you want and have a nice meal with that. So, I think that’s cool.”
For Czerniakowski, the space will be more than just a garden. It’ll be a space for people to coalesce and learn about nature and gardening. An avid anti-litterer, she hopes the garden will open people to being greener and to show that you can do anything you put your mind to.
“People spend so much of their life doing nothing, watching other people do things on TV,” said Czerniakowski. “Just get out and do it yourself, you know? And, when y day comes and I’m old and tattered and it’s time for me to go meet my maker, I don’t want to talk about what I should have done. You know? I want to talk about what I did do so, and everybody could do it!”
Throughout the next few weeks, the garden will be fully complete and soon, seeds will be in the ground – showing off some veggies, and a community, in full bloom.
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