HOWARD, Wis. (InvestigateTV) — A couple outside Green Bay, Wisconsin has spent nearly six years transforming an unused quarry into a walking trail and garden for their community.
Ken and Judy Sikora have planted, decorated and replanted the area along Lakeview Drive in Howard, turning what was once barbed wire and unusable land into what they call a quarry garden.
“There wasn’t any sidewalk here, there weren’t any rocks here, it was nothing except barbed wire and a lot of unusable things,” Ken Sikora said.
The couple changes decorations on the fences and adds features for children to discover.
“We have the decor on the fences that changes, but the kids are out here, and we want them to stop and look at the big footprints and look at the flowers,” Judy Sikora said.
Garden aims to support pollinators
The project serves a purpose beyond recreation.
“If people would consider what nature needs, we’re losing pollinators, we’re losing insects. We need people to consider doing something in their backyard,” Ken Sikora said.
The couple purchased a separate piece of desolate land more than 50 years ago and turned it into a natural community sanctuary. They received permission from the Department of Natural Resources to dig ponds in the marsh and used the soil to raise the area so people can walk in and access the marsh.
“People can walk in and go down to the marsh and enjoy nature, connect to nature, that’s kind of what our thought is here too, people need to connect to nature,” Ken Sikora said.
Garden club to assist with maintenance
Work at the quarry continues year-round.
“I’m sure we can’t go into our 90s and still be doing this, so we need help,” Ken Sikora said.
The Gardener’s Club of Green Bay selected the quarry garden as the club’s civic project for a few years.
Robert Geurts is helping lead the effort. The self-taught gardener said he hopes to spread Ken and Judy’s passion for the project with others.
“That’s what keeps me going, is to see people their age still gardening and working as hard as they do. I’ve been gardening now for 17-18 years with my wife and to see people in their 80s still going, it keeps my passion alive,” Geurts said.
The Sikoras said they do not golf, fish or travel, but instead focus on nature.
“We just love nature and work towards it,” Ken Sikora said.
“We just keep going and trying to improve it each year,” Judy Sikora said.
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