Monday 8/19/2013 The day has finally arrived; I was able to visit the San Jorge community. San Jorge is a community composed of displaced families. The community is comprised of 400 peoples, 125 being youth of diverse ages. Ginna has been working with this community to empower the women and children economically. There are three lines to […]
Agriculture & Food
Ensuring a vibrant and sustainable agricultural industry and food supply
Rineicha Otero in Colombia – Day 2
Sunday 8/18/2013 I wake to find another gorgeous day in Cali. The clear skies and fresh air made it for a great day to have a walking tour. Ginna and I walk over to a near by lake known as Humedal El Cisne La Babilla Tomasa, where you can sit and feed the ducks or […]
Rineicha Otero – UConn Extension Fellow in Colombia
Saturday 8/17/2013 I finally arrived in beautiful Colombia! After much-anticipation, the visit has come and the expectation of reconnecting to the different cultures around the world has increased even more. As soon as the airplane touched the ground in Bogota the crowed cheered with excitement to be back in their homeland. I remembered the times […]
UConn Visits Grower Direct
UConn Extension visited Grower Direct Farms, a wholesale commercial greenhouse in Somers with UConn Vice Provost Mun Choi and Dean Weidemann of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Lend A Hand App
Lend A Hand App tells a story about farming shared interactively through a song originally written by Willie Nelson and Marty Dread. It provides hope for communities and a nation of hard working family farmers by building an awareness for children that supporting local farms can be healthy and fun. If you’d like to learn […]
Gardening Quick Tip: Japanese Beetles
Mary Concklin, UConn Extension Educator for Fruit Production and IPM offers this quick tip on dealing with Japanese Beetles: Using the Japanese beetle traps will actually attract the beetles to your planting. Instead, if you have the traps, place them at least 100 feet from the planting to try to draw them away from the […]
Liming Soils
by Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center An incredible number of chemical, biochemical and biological reactions occur in our soils. Through these reactions, nutrients, whether already present in the soil or added by fertilizers, are changed into forms that can be taken up by plant roots. The pH of the soil affects all […]
Be on the Lookout for Giant Hogweed, an Invasive Plant in Connecticut
UConn and the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group (CIPWG) are asking state residents to be on the lookout for Giant Hogweed, which typically blooms during July. Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) is an invasive, non-native plant from Eurasia that was first identified in Connecticut in 2001. This Federal Noxious weed has now been confirmed in 25 towns in […]
Latin American Development
By Joe Bonelli, Associate Extension Educator In-Residence UConn Extension hosted Ginna Rodriguez, a visiting Fellow from Columbia at the request of UConn Global Training and Development Institute (GTDI). Ginna is from the Universidad Javeriana and Universidad ICESI in Columbia and was at UConn participating in the Economic Empowerment Program at the GTDI. UConn Extension was […]
Soil Testing at UConn
The University of Connecticut Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory (SNAL) has been serving the farmers, greenhouse growers and residents of Connecticut for over 50 years. Currently, it is directed by Dr. Thomas Morris and managed by Dawn Pettinelli; Deborah Tyser is our full-time laboratory technician. Our Goals The Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory has three […]
Effects of Fungicide Timing and Tillage on Resistant Pumpkins
By Jude Boucher, UConn Extension Educator, Commercial Vegetable Crops Introduction (Current Fungicide Program) Before I can talk about this experiment, I need to remind you of how and why we use specific fungicides on pumpkins. I’ve talked about fungicide sprays on pumpkins before and mentioned how there are four annual diseases that we can protect […]
Are You Ready For Late Blight?
By Jude Boucher, UConn Extension Educator, Commercial Vegetable Crops Recap of 2012 Outbreak in CT During the week of June 20, 2012, a Prospect, CT homeowner brought late blight (LB) infected tomato plants to the CT Ag Experiment Station diagnostic center. The homeowner had purchased the plants from a local supermarket, but when contacted, the […]
Daffodil Labyrinth
Located at the Tolland County Agricultural Center is the Daffodil Labyrinth, a spring labyrinth made from flowers. When the yellow daffodils of spring appear in late March so does the labyrinth. As the daffodils fade in April violet grape hyacinths appear to hold the pattern into May. As summer arrives the labyrinth is mowed and […]
10 Tips for the May Gardener
UConn Extension’s Home and Garden Center offers you more tips to grow on: Ten Tips for the May Gardener: 1. If you want to get a head start on the season, plant container gardens and be ready to bring them indoors on cold nights. 2. When transplanting annuals and vegetables, be gentle with the root […]
10 Tips for the April Gardener
UConn Extension’s Home and Garden Center has a lot of knowledge to grow on. Ten Tips for the April Gardener: 1. Prune back bedraggled looking ground covers and fertilize lightly after April 15. 2. Check fruit trees for tent caterpillars, they emerge around the same time leaves sprout. Blast nests with a strong spray of […]
Not Too Late To Start Tomato Seeds!
Check out this recent post from UConn’s Home and Garden Education Center: As much as I try to accomplish tasks in a timely manner, life just seems to get in the way and things occasionally get done later rather than sooner. So it is this year with starting my tomato seeds. Here it is April […]
Proper Planting of Strawberries
Good afternoon, Proper planting of strawberries should include making sure the root system is not curled or ‘J’ planted. A study conducted in California showed an 18.5% reduction in fresh fruit yield with ‘J’ planted strawberries versus those planted correctly. In the diagram (from OSU Extension), plant A is correct with the crown at the […]
Invasive Pest Month
April is Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month when USDA/APHIS highlights how invasive species affect the economy, the environment and human health. Visit Hungry Pests, available in English and Spanish, to learn more. An Emerald Ash Borer The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today proclaimed April as […]
When to Turn Under Spring Cover Crops?
I heard the peepers last night for the first time this year. There have already been a couple of sunny, almost warm, spring-like weeks in my neighborhood. Recently the overwintered rye has switched its dull reddish-green color scheme to bright green. I remember reading a couple of years ago that stands of overwintered rye, if […]
UConn Study of Food Insecurity in Connecticut is New Tool to Combat Hunger
By: Sheila Foran & David Bauman for UConn Today 4/10/13 Connecticut residents generally have dependable access to food, but the picture is not all rosy. A recent U.S. Household Food Security study showed that about one in seven households in the state reported not having enough money to buy food they needed in 2011. And […]
New School Garden
Heather Pease from UCONN Hartford County Extension Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program and Food Corps member Deanna Lampo installed concrete block raised beds in the courtyard of Vance Village Elementary School in New Britain. Deanna teaches an after school garden and nutrition education class. The garden beds were built with concrete blocks that were purchased […]
Growing Nutrient-Dense Vegetables
Published by the University of Massachusetts Center for Agriculture Research and Extension Working to Curb Malnutrition From the Ground Up Empty calories. Depleted soil. Overproduction. By now, most Americans have heard reports that even as we’re eating more, we’re taking in fewer nutrients. Today’s ubiquitous fast foods and processed meals play a large part in […]
4-H Education Center at Auerfarm
The 124-acre 4-H Education Center at Auerfarm is located in the northwest section of Bloomfield, Connecticut. Hartford entrepreneur and retailer Beatrice Auerbach deeded the farm to the CT 4-H Development Fund in 1976. Founded in the early years of the twentieth century, Auerfarm had been honored many times as a model site that included 60 […]
Sustainable Food Systems
UConn Extension has been adding new programs in Sustainable Food Systems over the past couple of years. Extension Educator Jiff Martin is helping to coordinate a team of talented individuals as they build these programs. “I am more of a generalist than a specialist, so for me teamwork is pretty essential to getting things done,” Jiff […]
CSA School: By Farmers for Farmers
UConn Extension (Jiff Martin, Jude Boucher, Joe Bonelli and Mary Concklin), the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) and CT NOFA sponsored a CSA School on November 28th, at the Middlesex County Extension Office. A total of 81 people attended the event and 49 (60%) filled out an evaluation form. Eighty percent of the participants grew […]