New Website Launched to Help Coastal Property Owners and Beach Associations

GROTON, CT—Connecticut Sea Grant announces a new website intended to assist coastal Connecticut beach property owners and beach associations with hazards such as impacts from storms and associated erosion and flooding.  The new site helps users evaluate threats and prepare to protect property from further damage.   A variety of actions, depending on the scale of […]

Internship Program Provides Credentials for Job Search

By Kim Colavito Markesich Originally published by Naturally@UConn on July 26, 2016 According to a 2012 survey of employers conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education and American Public Media’s Marketplace, an internship is the single most important credential for recent college graduates in their job search. The UConn Extension/4-H Internship Program was created to […]

Biosecurity Workshop Provides Healthy Discussion

How would a dairy or livestock business survive if a Foreign Animal Disease arrived in the United States? Using Foot and Mouth Disease as an example, participants of UConn Extension’s Biosecurity Workshop heard from Dr. Richard Horwitz about the New England Secure Milk Supply’s steps to maintain a permit to ship milk when the disease […]

Water Conservation Tips

We’re having a dry summer in Connecticut. There are many simple steps for you to conserve water at home, including: - Taking shorter showers - Running dishwashers and laundry machines with full loads - Shutting off water while washing dishes, shaving, brushing teeth, and lathering up to wash hands, rather than running the water continuously […]

An Opportunity to Explore Outside the Box with UConn Extension

By Tom Martella UConn Extension Summer Intern   Often times students at my age find themselves concerned that the subject matter they have been studying for the past two, three, or even four years is not what they see themselves doing for the rest of their lives. Numerous questions begin to arise: Is it too […]

Bug Week Offers Programs For Whole Family

UConn Extension’s Bug Week is right around the corner, and we have programs for the whole family. Bugs are the unsung heroes of our ecosystem, providing services such as pollination and natural pest control. However, bugs don’t stop at environmental benefits. They have also impacted our culture through the manufacturing of silk, sources of dyes, wax […]

Citizen Science & the CT Woodland Owner

Written by Nancy Marek Scott Matties was checking his mailbox one late winter afternoon when he saw three shadowy figures cut across Ridge Road heading for his property. The shadows did not move like dogs. Domestic cats are not that big, he thought. He dashed to the back of his house and froze: three young […]

UConn Climate Corps

UConn Extension’s Chet Arnold, Juliana Barrett and Bruce Hyde are part of a team that received funding from the University as part of the Academic Plan Proposal Awards. Other team members include: Mark Boyer (Geography), Maria Chrysochoou (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Sylvain DeGuise (Pathobiology), and John Volin (Natural Resources and the Environment). This project will […]

Wild and Wonderful Insects of New England

Written by Pamm Cooper Toward the end of spring and the beginning of summer, I find that the most interesting insects are to be found. While spring offers some really good forester caterpillars and their attractive moths, among other things, nature seems to me to save the best for last, it seems to me. From […]

Emergency Preparedness for Families in Coastal Communities in Southeastern Connecticut

UConn Extension has received a two-year grant from USDA-NIFA to work with residents in four Southeastern Connecticut coastal communities promoting storm (coastal or heavy precipitation event) preparedness. The coastal communities of Connecticut and Rhode Island are impacted by flooding, storm surge, and wind causing property damage during major storm events such as nor’easters and hurricanes. […]

Telling Stories with Maps

Emily Wilson wrote a blog post for Map@Syst on the story maps being created by UConn Extension: CLEAR’s Extension faculty have long used maps to educate land use decision makers and the public about Connecticut’s landscape and natural resources.  The Connecticut’s Changing Landscape (CCL) research project has been the foundation of the education.  CCL is […]

Soil Testing for Lawns and Gardens

By Dawn Pettinelli for UConn Extension Soil testing is an inexpensive, yet valuable, tool for assessing the fertility of lawn and garden areas. Test results indicate the soil’s pH level, the amounts of available plant nutrients, and the existence of nutrient imbalances, excesses or deficiencies. WHY SHOULD I HAVE MY SOIL TESTED? Soil testing eliminates […]

Mix Some Whole Grains with Local Fruits and Veggies

By Diane Wright Hirsch, MPH Senior Extension Educator, UConn Extension Lest this article appears to be written by the food police, I confess I am a real fan of a plate of regular, white flour pasta, ciabatta bread, and, once and a while a fried bologna sandwich on good (well, maybe not so good) old […]

UConn Extension Tractor Course Has Lasting Impact

For the past two years, UConn Extension has offered a Tractor Operation, Safety, and Basic Maintenance Course for beginning farmers at the UConn Plant Science Research Farm in Storrs. This two-day class is designed to educate and empower current or future users of agricultural tractors and farm equipment. During the class, they demystified tractors to improve their understanding of […]

Survival Training for Commercial Fishermen

                              Nancy Balcom, Associate Director and Program Leader, Connecticut Sea Grant, and Senior Extension Educator, UConn Extension, organized and facilitated safety and survival training for 49 commercial fishermen. The training was sponsored by Connecticut Sea Grant, US Coast Guard, University of […]

Looking for Volunteer Gardens in Connecticut

Lily Leaf Beetle Biological Control 2016 – Looking for Volunteer Gardens in Connecticut  Researchers at UConn are conducting a lily leaf beetle biological control project during the summer of 2016. If you grow lilies in Connecticut, have a minimum of 12 plants in the lily family (e.g., Oriental lilies, Asiatic lilies, Turk’s Cap lilies, or […]

Paper Envelopes in your Mother’s Day Hanging Basket?

What are those paper envelopes in my Mother’s Day hanging baskets? By Leanne Pundt, UConn Extension Educator These small paper “envelopes” are slow release “sachets” that contain beneficial predatory mites that attack young thrips larvae.  (Thrips are very small insects (1-2 mm.  long) with narrow bodies and fringed wings. As they feed they can deform flowers, […]

Obscure Mealybug Confirmed in CT Nursery

By: Joan Allen UConn Plant Diagnostic Lab   The obscure mealybug (Pseudococcus viburni) has been confirmed for the first time in Connecticut.  High populations were present on numerous host plants in a Connecticut nursery in the fall of 2015.  Samples were submitted to the UConn Plant Diagnostic Lab for identification by Donna Ellis, UConn Nursery […]

Be a Smart Consumer: Buying Local Eggs

Buying Eggs From Your Local Farmer or Backyard Producer By: Diane Wright Hirsch, Senior Extension Educator, UConn Extension   Having back yard chickens has become quite the trend. In Connecticut, many towns have instituted ordinances where none existed or where backyard farm animals were not previously allowed. In Hamden, for example, an ordinance was passed […]

Connecticut Dairy Leads New England

By Bernard Dzielinski President, Fairfield County Extension Council   Hoard’s Dairyman recently provided a comprehensive review of total milk production in the United States. The data is summarized in the report by region. Milk production in 2015 was a new record of 208.6 billion pounds, a modest gain of 1.3 percent. The story of the […]