“I’d like to have a row of fruit trees over here,” Jayanne Czerniakowski said.
“And over there we’ll plant some berry bushes,” she continued.
“And we’ll have flowers growing along the fence.”
As she spoke on a recent Saturday, the Kingston woman was surrounded by an empty lot and two large piles of wood chips. But she has big dreams.
Czerniakowski recently founded a non-profit called Green Neighbors Network and has taken the first steps toward turning her dream of a community garden into reality. A few months ago, she and her husband, Mark Hoffman, paid $30,000 of their own money for an empty lot at 288 Frederick St. in their Kingston neighborhood.
“Our goal is to create a space where the community can come together to grow food, connect and learn,” Czerniakowski explained, adding she especially wants to give kids “hands-on experience with gardening, sustainability and wellness.”
Noting that she has lived in her neighborhood for 18 years but doesn’t know some of her neighbors beyond their names, Czerniakowski envisions people planting and harvesting side by side in the garden, learning from visiting master gardeners and other experts, and forging friendships in the process.
An environmental advocate for as long as she can remember, Czerniakowski organized a litter cleanup at nearby Korn Street Park last year with her granddaughter, Ayonna, then 5, and other children and their families joined her.
For more information about upcoming events or ways to pitch in and help with the garden, you are welcome to check out the Green Neighbors Network page on Facebook.
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