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I am a longtime tree hugger; lover of Walt Whitman, Thoreau, and Robert Frost; and ardent organic fruit and vegetable gardener. My father’s father came from Czechoslovakia with the dream of owning a farm. After years of working two jobs and living in the center of Newark New Jersey, he attained his dream. John Wydareny deceased at 86, feet stained with red grape juice and dog at his side. Dirt courses the veins of may father, mother, and brother as well. Given enough growth, I hope that they will one day join the Eden’s Envy team, and as well as my three young sons eventually. During my adolescence, my family traveled to the farm in Jersey three times a year. My appreciation of nature started there, watching my grandfather toil in his huge garden, bringing in baskets of vegetables for my grandmother to prepare. I still recall reading The Grapes of Wrath as a high school teen: it ignited something in me of which I was unaware. I rented a rototiller that spring, and amended & expanded the vegetable garden in our North Hills suburban home. My dad was bowled over with pride. During my college and bachelor period, I had a garden at every apartment I occupied. Years later after settling in Latrobe, I planted a fruit patch in addition to the vegetable garden at my wife’s & my first home. Perennials followed me home, then I planted a shade garden, an English garden, bulbs along the fences, and trees & shrubs throughout. Neighbors asked me to design & install their gardens. When my wife was pregnant with our first son, Jacob, I went through Penn State’s Master Gardener Certification program and discovered that my insatiable hunger for knowledge and books had already provided me with most of what the program offered. I’ve since gained numerous certifications, have become very impassioned about the current “green” movement sweeping the country, and am currently working toward a certificate from Phipps Conservatory in Sustainable Horticulture & Landscape Design. I hope to enroll in Chatham’s Masters in Landscape Architecture program as soon as I can grow Eden’s Envy enough to surrender my day job of being a High School English teacher. Jennifer, my designer, studied Landscape Contracting at Penn State’s main campus. She has a keen eye for design, knows horticulture thoroughly, and always has ideas on how to grow our offerings. My equipment operators Vince and Ed are farmers, which I consider to be old school environmentalists that learned from nature, rather than professors. All of our laborers are former students of mine or my wife’s, or they are children, cousins, and friends of other crew members. Absolutely my best asset, I have never had to search for employees because they have always found me. I pay them all quite well, treat them with respect and dignity, and try to foster a sense of pride & ownership in all that they do. I have let only one go over the years, and never had an injury. I refuse to exploit people for profit and cheat Americans of opportunities and income – I never have, or will, employ an illegal immigrant.
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