COURTNEY HAYDEN/Sun-Gazette The Jersey Shore Elementary School, 601 Locust St., has a community garden located near its playground. The community garden was created by Josh Ely, 5th grade teacher at Jersey Shore School District, with the help of students and the community.

JERSEY SHORE — The community garden located outside of the Jersey Shore Elementary School, 601 Locust St., is fostering stewardship within the community and teaches students to be more environmentally friendly. Josh Ely, 5th grade teacher in the Jersey Shore School District and avid gardener, applied for two grants through the Jersey Shore Education Foundation to start composting and gardening, he said.

A couple years ago, the Jersey Shore Elementary School started using single-stream recycling in the cafeteria and classrooms, going through Fred Hamm Inc., said Adrienne J. Johnston, principal at Jersey Shore Elementary School. The school educates new students and kindergarteners about sorting recyclable items.

Last year, Fred Hamm Inc. visited the school and was impressed by the students’ and kindergarteners’ quality of recycling, Johnston said. The recycling materials weren’t contaminated and was able to recycle a large percentage of it. Contaminated recycling has garbage mixed in with it, and can make recycling batches unusable.

The Jersey Shore Middle and High Schools also recycle, Johnston said.

Last year, students also learned about composting, Johnston said. They haven’t started composting back up this academic year yet, but will once it settles in. Ely first applied for a grant through the Jersey Shore Education Foundation for the two composters, the second being a community garden, he added.

“It first started with the composting project. I saw all the food waste the kids threw out — all the apples and the celery left over and whatnot from school lunches — so we started composting. That was the original idea,” Ely said.

Ely trains the 5th graders how to help younger students ensure they are composting the right way. If you don’t compost the correct way, you cannot use it, he said. You cannot compost fruits or vegetables that have sauce on them like ranch. The students then take the compost outside to dump the food into the bins and rotate it.

“We’re teaching all of our children to be responsible for their waste and their contribution to the environment that they will hopefully take these habits of composting and recycling and incorporate them at home, or as they get older and develop their own habits,” Johnston said.

Ely ordered the supplies after receiving the grant for the community garden and, by January to February 2018, the materials were near the playground, he said. The community garden is fenced in and has raised beds with the composters, Johnston added.

The garden also is self-watering and is on a timer system and turns on three times daily for extra water, but is turned off when it’s raining a lot. There also are in-ground soaker hoses at the roots of the plants.

Prior to getting the garden started, he spoke to the Montoursville Sensory Garden about how they got started, Ely said. In the future, they hope to add more sensory elements.

Within the first week of summer, Ely reached out to Collin Leonard, student at Jersey Shore Middle School, Ely said. Leonard helped Ely put the garden together.

Boy Scout Troop 115 also helped fill the beds with soil, another Troop removed grass and a Girl Scout Troop assisted with the landscaping, he said. Ely also reached out to local retirement homes and elderly people help tend to the garden.

The community garden “is central to the community. We have the playground and a lot of students are within walking distance, and people can stop by,” Johnston said.

This summer, they grew zucchini and tomatoes. In spring 2019, 48 5th grade students will be planting romaine lettuce and tomatoes, Ely said. Ely also made wooden necklaces that say “CC,” to show that they are a part of the compost crew.

Ely “wants to encourage people in the community and students and families to come and take the fruit and vegetables from the garden, but then also help maintain it, too, and it’s been off to a great start,” Johnston said.

People can come and go to help tend the garden by planting, gardening, watering and bringing fruits and vegetables home, Johnston said. The garden allows the students and the community to become more self-sufficient, Ely added.

For more information about the community garden, email jely@jsasd.org.

“Take what you need but stop and pick a weed,” Ely said. “It’s meant for the community.”