Not only is it pumpkin flavor season….it’s real pumpkin season By: Diane Wright Hirsch, MPH, RD Senior Extension Educator/Food Pumpkin flavored lattes, candy, breads, donuts…just about everything seems to be available in the pumpkin variety at this time of year. But what if you are craving the real thing? Yes, the flavor […]
Agriculture & Food
Ensuring a vibrant and sustainable agricultural industry and food supply
Is Home Vacuum Packaging a Safe Way to Preserve Food?
By: Diane Wright Hirsch, Extension Educator/Food Safety Whether you are someone who wants to store away a cache of food in case of an emergency or weather disaster or if you simply want to preserve some green beans from your garden or freeze some chicken from the farmers’ market, you may have considered purchasing […]
Riverbank Farm
UConn Extension’s Scaling Up Program created a video series on farmers in Connecticut. This film features David Blyn and Laura McKinney of Riverbank Farm in Roxbury.
Stuart Family Farm
UConn Extension’s Scaling Up Program created a video series on farmers in Connecticut. This film features Bill Stuart Jr. of Stuart Family Farm in Bridgewater.
Sweet Acre Farm
UConn Extension’s Scaling Up Program created a video series on farmers in Connecticut. This film features Charlotte Ross and Jonathan Janeway of Sweet Acre Farm in Lebanon.
Stone Gardens Farm
The next video in our Scaling Up Program’s series on How to Grow a Farm is Stone Gardens Farm. Meet Fred and Stacia Monahan of Shelton and learn about their vegetable farm.
Squash Problems Gone Wild
Squash Problems Gone Wild, Or yes, Scouting in the Garden Matters By Joan Allen This week’s blog photo is from my vegetable garden. I give lectures on the fundamentals of integrated pest management (IPM) and one of the first practices on the list is to scout or monitor your garden or field frequently to catch problems […]
New Greenhouse Teaches Science of Gardening
New Greenhouse helps 4-H Center at Auerfarm Teach Youth the Science of Gardening By Sarah Bailey, Master Gardener Coordinator, Hartford County Extension Center Winter may have been unusually cold and long this year, but there was a sunny and green oasis at the 4-H Center at Auerfarm. Spinach and herbs grew throughout the winter, […]
Lynn & Marjorie Brown: Promoting & Supporting 4-H for a Lifetime
Lynn & Marjorie Brown: Promoting and Supporting 4-H for a Lifetime By Nancy Wilhelm, Program Coordinator, 4-H Youth Development Marjorie and Lynn Brown have spent a lifetime promoting and supporting UConn Extension and the 4-H Program. Both grew up on farms in Iowa where they were 4-H members – Marjorie participated in home economics […]
International Experience at Auerfarm
UConn Students from UConn’s Study of the U.S. Institute for Student Leaders on Social Entrepreneurship and participants from either North or Sub-Saharan Africa came out to 4-H Education Center at Auerfarm camp in July. After a morning in the garden, everyone ended up in the shade sharing information about themselves and showing the campers where they came […]
CT Sea Grant Awarded Grant to Grow Aquaculture and Shellfisheries
Tessa Getchis, Connecticut Sea Grant/UConn Extension aquaculture educator at the University of Connecticut, has been awarded a grant totaling $315,240 to enhance the growth of Connecticut aquaculture and shellfisheries. The project, titled “Listening, Learning and Leading to Support Shellfish Aquaculture Growth in Connecticut and the Nation” is funded by the NOAA National Sea Grant College Program’s […]
Post-Harvest Handling Workshop
In June, UConn Extension hosted a Small-Scale, Low-Cost Facility Design for Post-Harvest Handling, with Robert Hadad, Cornell Cooperative Extension Vegetable Specialist. Connecticut and Rhode Island farmers from smaller fruit and vegetable operations learned low-cost ways to address food safety of fresh produce through cooling, washing, use of sanitizers and packing area sanitation. Robert is shown with his […]
9/11 National Day of Service
9/11 National Day of Service – members of FoodCorps CT and the CT Food Justice VISTA Project, helping a local farmer get her fields ready at Cloverleigh Farm in Mansfield. Both projects are coordinated by UConn Extension and proud partners with AmeriCorps.
10 Tips for the September Gardener
1. Remove bagworm egg masses from evergreen shrubs to eliminate the spring hatch from over-wintered eggs. 2. If rain is lacking, continue to thoroughly water trees, shrubs, planting beds, and lawn areas. It is especially important to keep newly planted evergreens watered. 3. Plant shallots and garlic outdoors. 4. Use a mulching blade to finely […]
Wintonbury Land Trust
Wintonbury Land Trust: Supporting and Improving Land Access to Local Farmers By Rachel Murray for UConn Extension Land trusts are at the forefront of reshaping the agricultural landscape in Connecticut. They can be a leader supporting and promoting new and beginning farmers by providing access to farmland. Wintonbury Land Trust and Hawk Hill Preserve […]
Green Chile Queso Blanco Wins Award
For the second year in a row the new cheese line from the UConn Dept. of Animal Science Creamery has won a national award. The Creamery’s Green Chile Queso Blanco took third in it’s category in the 2015 American Cheese Society Judging & Competition! The cheese was recognized by the judges for excellence amongst 1,779 products from 267 entering […]
Vegetable IPM Program
Jude Boucher of our Vegetable Crops Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program has had a busy summer. He helps commercial vegetable growers find sustainable solutions to pest problems. The program emphasizes healthy soils, balanced plant nutrition, proper pest and beneficial identification, scouting and monitoring techniques, preventative management strategies, reduced-risk pesticide selection and application, and resistance management. This […]
Blossom End Rot of Tomatoes
By Carol Quish for UConn Extension August is supposed to be the month of non-stop tomatoes. Occasionally things go awry to interrupt those carefully laid spring visions of bountiful harvests, sauce making, and endless tomato sandwiches. Blossom end rot can appear to put an end to the crop production by damaging the ripening and […]
Home Canning, Food Safety, and Botulism
Home canning, food safety, and botulism—don’t freak out, but do process safely By Diane Wright Hirsch As an Extension educator, I have been teaching folks how to can for more than thirty years. And still, what worries folks the most is botulism poisoning. While it continues to be very rare, when it does occur, it […]
Using a Drone for Research
UConn Extension has a Hex Coptor that we are using in agriculture and land use research. Here is a photo from a flight in early June, looking over some agriculture fields. The Hex was flying at 100 feet, on an FAA approved flight.
10 Tips for the August Gardener
Remove non-productive plants from the vegetable garden and sow cool weather crops for fall harvesting. Renovate strawberry beds by mowing to a height of 1 ½ inches, thinning plants and side-dressing with a balanced fertilizer. Stop pruning evergreen trees and shrubs to avoid promoting new growth that will not harden off by the first frost. […]
Proven Biological Controls for Ornamentals
Photos from our Biological Controls Workshop on June 18th. We had a fabulous turnout and great speakers, thank you everyone.
Highlights of Extension
The Highlights of Extension showcase our program achievements from the past year. Learn more about our various programs and how they tie research to real life.
Late Blight Now in CT
Article and update by Joan Allen for UConn Extension. Tomato and potato growers and gardeners: Protect your crops NOW from late blight infection. The disease has been reported in Litchfield County, Connecticut on July 18, 2015. With moist weather conditions the pathogen, Phytophthora infestans, will sporulate prolifically and spread rapidly on wind currents. Fungicide products can […]
Sugaring Manure
Connecticut has more manure nutrients than we need for our crops. UConn Extension Educator Rich Meinert and two summer interns spent Friday “sugaring” manure. Just like maple growers sugar sap by boiling away the water we will be sugaring liquid dairy manure from a screw press separator to remove the water so that we […]
Windham Extension Council
The Windham County Extension Council hosted their Annual Meeting in May, and included a presentation from UConn Extension’s Joyce Meader on livestock.
10 Tips for the July Gardener
Do not prune rhododendrons and azaleas after the second week of July as they will begin setting their buds for next year’s blooms. Put netting on fruit trees and bushes a few weeks before the fruit begins to ripen to protect it from birds and squirrels. Fertilize roses for the last time in mid-July. Pinch […]
UConn Extension Interns Tie Research to Real Life
Each year, UConn students apply and compete for paid internship opportunities with UConn Extension, whose mission is to connect the power of UConn research to local issues by creating practical, science-based answers to complex problems. This summer, 13 students are tying research to real life in our UConn Extension offices across the state. Santiago Palaez […]
IPM at Bishop’s Orchards in Guilford
Through its offices located throughout Connecticut, UConn Extension connects the power of UConn research to local issues by creating practical, science-based answers to complex problems. Extension provides scientific knowledge and expertise to the public in areas such as: economic viability, business and industry, community development, agriculture and natural resources. This post, written by Mary Concklin […]
The Untimely Death of a Worm
By Catherine Hallisey Connecticut FoodCorps As I was kneeling by a raised garden bed, planting snap peas with a couple of students, I heard a third grader scream “NOOOOOO!” from the other side of the garden. An array of thoughts immediately sped through my mind in the split second it took me to get over to […]
Deformed Spinach? Could be Crown Mites
By Joan Allen for UConn Extension Some spinach cultivars are expected to have pretty bumpy, puckered leaves. If your plants are not that type, but the leaves look like that or have small holes in them when they expand, crown mites (Rhizoglyphus sp.) are a possible cause. Conditions that favor mite activity and damage are […]
Mmmm…Strawberry Season
By Diane Wright Hirsch, Extension Educator, Food Safety One of the best things about early summer in Connecticut is strawberry season. I will never understand why folks buy California berries at the supermarket in June. I recently saw a post on a local farm’s Facebook page where a customer shared a picture of two […]
Microbes Make the Cheese
Dennis D’Amico of the Department of Animal Science and his colleagues produced the booklet, Microbes Make the Cheese. It contains useful information such as the art of making cheese, history, and the use of microbes.
10 Tips for the June Gardener
Control and reduce aphid numbers on vegetables, roses, perennial flowers, shrubs and trees with a hard spray from your garden hose or two applications of insecticidal soap. Plant seeds of bush beans every three weeks for a continuous harvest. Heavy rains encourage slug problems. Check for slugs during rainy periods and hand pick the pests. […]
Biological Control Programs for Ornamentals
Proven Biological Control Programs for Indoor and Outdoor Production of Ornamentals UConn Extension and UMass Extension are sponsoring, Proven Biological Control Programs; for indoor and outdoor production of ornamentals. This one day educational program will be held on Thursday, June 18, 2015 in Room 100 of the WB Young Building, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT. The […]
Grow a Safe Salad
By: Diane Wright Hirsch, MPH, RD UConn Extension Educator – Food Safety Year round farmers markets are already selling early spring greens to those of us who have been craving the fresh, locally grown stuff during the long winter months. The use of greenhouses, cold frames and hoop houses and other season-extending contraptions make it possible for […]
Volunteers Needed for Research Project
Lily Leaf Beetles – UConn Looking for CT Volunteers to Assist with Biological Control Study Just last week, as I peered into my tiger lily bed, a splash of red caught my eye. Even though I squashed every lily leaf beetle and larvae I found last year, some had apparently been missed and they overwintered to […]
10 Tips for the May Gardener
Thin or compacted turf will benefit from core aeration and over-seeding. Keep new seed moist until germination. Remove spent blooms on tulips, daffodils and other spring flowering bulbs to focus its energy on growing new bulbs rather than producing seeds. Plant tomatoes, peppers and melons after the danger of frost is past and the soil […]
Meet Our Summer Interns
Each year UConn students apply to and compete for paid internship opportunities with the UConn Cooperative Extension Service. Through its offices located throughout Connecticut, UConn Extension connects the power of UConn research to local issues by creating practical, science-based answers to complex problems. Extension provides scientific knowledge and expertise to the public in areas such […]
On Farm Food Processing
Processing Food for Sale from Your Connecticut On-farm Residential Kitchen Are you a farmer interested in processing jams, jellies, acidified foods (pickles, relishes), or maple syrup from your on-farm residential kitchen? Connecticut regulations allow farmers, using the fruits and vegetables they grow, to manufacture these foods in their home kitchen with the intent to sell them […]