Registration is due no later than Saturday for 4-H Environmental Science Day on August 20th at Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum. The event flyer and registration are on the 4-H website, send yours in today.
People Empowering People
UConn Extension People Empowering People (PEP) is offered in Correctional Institutions as well. Our volunteers now offer programs in York, MacDougal, Cheshire, Enfield, Radgowski and Garner Correctional Institutions in partnership with the Department of Corrections. The Program Coordinator is Peter Sage and he devotes an enormous amount of time to recruiting volunteers and visiting programs. […]
Great Gull Island Boat Trip
Photos and article by Juliana Barrett for UConn Extension Great Gull Island (GGI) is a 17-acre island between Block Island and Long Island Sounds. As one of the most important nesting habitats for roseate terns and common terns in the western hemisphere, it is critical to maintain and improve the nesting habitats on GGI. Currently, […]
Women Honored for the Work in Agriculture and Conservation
Tolland, CT –The spotlight was on 12 remarkable women Thursday, June 19th at the State Capitol as Connecticut’s Conservation Partnership recognized them for their work in agriculture and natural resources conservation. This year’s theme was Celebrating Women of Character, Courage, and Commitment: Stories of the Extraordinary Determination of Women, and honored the exceptional and often […]
UConn Wins!
Who won the Big Scoop Award at the American Society of Animal Science’s Joint Annual Meeting? Contenders were Kansas State University, South Dakota State University, UConn, University of Missouri, and Washington State University. UConn wins!!! Congrats to Mike O’Neill in #UConnExtension for proposing Centennial Caramel Crunch to celebrate Extension’s 100 years of growing Connecticut […]
Squash Will Come…
Photo and Article By Carol Quish for UConn Extension Where are all my summer squash? Why do my plants have many blossoms and not squash? These are a few of the questions I hear about yellow and zucchini squashes when the squashes look like they should be setting fruit. Be patient, gardeners, squash will come. […]
East Hartford PEP Graduation
UConn Extension PEP in East Hartford celebrated the graduation of 8 Spanish and 12 English speaking UConn Extension PEP graduates in June. Congratulations everyone!
Bringing Some Green to Our Big Cities
By Michael Dietz, UConn Extension When people think of Hartford and New Haven, “green” may not be the first thing that jumps to mind. However, recent efforts of the UConn Extension Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) program are helping to make these cities a little bit greener, both figuratively and literally. This past June, NEMO […]
Eat Seasonally: Enjoy Nature’s “Fast Food”
Originally Posted by Danbury News Times Heather Peracchio of UConn Extension is a registered dietitian who lives in Brookfield. But she’s happy to travel if there’s a chance to spread the word about healthy eating. This past Monday she gave two nutrition/cooking lessons, one in Bridgeport and one in Norwalk. Among her messages — the importance of eating seasonally. […]
10 Tips for the July Gardener
Inspect garden plants regularly for insect and disease problems. Sanitation practices, insecticidal soaps, and insect traps are alternatives to pesticides. Properly placed shade trees will reduce air conditioning costs. Try shade tolerant ground covers in areas where lack of sunlight limits grass growth. Excess nitrogen fertilizer stimulates succulent new turf growth, which is more susceptible […]
House Sparrows
By Carol Quish for UConn Extension Photo: Illinois Extension Recently we’ve received quite a few questions about house sparrows nesting in inappropriate places, such as under awnings or in the rafters of a porch. Our experts at the UConn Home and Garden Education Center offer the following advice. House sparrows are non-native birds to the U.S. […]
Where’s Your Garden’s Water From?
By Karen Filchak – Extension Educator – Residential Environmental & Water Quality Water for farms and gardens can come from several possible sources, including wells, municipal sources, ponds and rain barrels. Some water sources are more likely than others to be harboring harmful pathogens that might contaminate your garden goodies with salmonella and E. Coli […]
Inventing New Family Rituals
By Cheryl Czuba – Retired Extension Educator Community Development, Families This article was originally written around winter holidays, but we feel a lot of the ideas can be applied to any season. The holidays will soon be here and are full of special traditions. At this time of year we think about our own special […]
Plant Diseases & Sustainably Healthy Plants
By Joan Allen – Assistant Extension Educator – UConn Home & Garden Center Plant diseases can have a devastating effect on your garden or landscape, and on your wallet! You may have invested in new cultivars of a favorite plant, only to watch them wilt away. A large tree can add thousands of dollars in […]
Jam 101
By Diane Wright Hirsch, UConn Extension Educator, Food Safety Photo: Clemson Extension One of the best things about June in Connecticut is strawberry season. And we have been waiting a long time for strawberry season this year in Connecticut! Most farmers will tell you that the cold spring and delayed picking as much as 2-3 […]
Tick Testing at UConn
By Heather Haycock for UConn Extension Summer in Connecticut is the perfect time to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. There are beautiful trails to hike, parks to visit with your children or dogs, and there is the simple joy of lying in the lush, green grass. Of course, the warm weather also comes with the […]
Sustainable Summer Fun
Sustainable Summer Fun By Marc Cournoyer – 4-H Youth and Development Program Coordinator Summer is here and with that comes time outdoors, a few months out of school, and family vacations. As you plan your summer activities, think about how you can have fun and still practice sustainable living. How can you have memorable family […]
4-H Mentor Memos
Fairfield and New Haven County 4-H Mentor Memos – A newsletter of helpful information for adults who mentor children 40 Developmental Assets researched by the Search Institute. Developmental Assetsare positive factors within young people, families, communities, schools, and other settings that research has found to be important in promoting the healthy development of young people. […]
Gardening Questions?
Have a question about your garden or landscape? Want to know which insect is chewing your shrubs, or what the spots on your tomatoes are? Interested in native plantings or attracting wildlife? Or do you want to start a garden, but don’t know where to start? Your local UConn Extension Master Gardener volunteers are available to help. […]
A CLEAR Approach to Land Use
In this revealing article in the magazine International Innovation, UConn Extension’s Chet Arnold reviews the importance of instilling knowledge in land use decision makers and outlines the contributions that the Center for Land Use Education and Research is making in this area.
Decisions, Decisions
By Faye Griffiths Smith – Extension Educator Family Economics and Resource Management Making decisions about how we live our lives can be challenging. With so many products and options to choose from making the best choices for our families is often a complex task. With the internet, there is often so much information available at […]
Time to Pick the Strawberries (Finally!)
By Diane Wright Hirsch, UConn Extension Educator, Food Safety Photo: North Carolina Extension One of the best things about June in Connecticut is strawberry season. And we have been waiting a long time for strawberry season this year in Connecticut! Most farmers will tell you that the cold spring has delayed picking as much as […]
Controlling Ticks
By Carol Quish for UConn Extension The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends creating a tick-safe zone. Ticks feed on blood of animals including humans. Tactics to reduce the attractiveness of animals traveling into your yard will keep the number of ticks dropping off of them reduced. Do not feed the birds […]
The Importance of Healthy Friendships
By Cheryl Czuba – Retired Extension Educator Community Development, Families Why are friendships important and how does this fit into sustainable living? Throughout life we have opportunities to develop friendships. In a healthy friendship each person works to meet the other’s needs and supports one another’s growth and development as unique individuals. We also need […]
GMOs a Hot Topic for UConn Extension Master Gardeners
By Leslie Alexander Certified UConn Extension Master Gardeners and Advanced Master Gardeners are encouraged to maintain active certification. In addition to completing required office and community outreach hours Master Gardeners in Connecticut are required to attend one Hot Topics class each year. These classes are designed to provide Master Gardeners with updated and new horticultural […]
Seeds Sprouting Inside a Tomato
By Carol Quish for UConn Extension Have you ever cut into a tomato and found white squiggly looking things inside? These are not worms or aliens that made their way to the center, but rather seeds of the fruit that have begun germinating. It is called Vivipary, Latin for Live Birth. It is the […]
Sustainable Landscapes
Dr. Carl Salsedo, UConn Extension Educator for Sustainable and Environmental Horticulture has been encouraging Connecticut residents to practice sustainable landscapes for years. Salsedo encourages everyone to practice sustainable landscaping as Connecticut residents look towards spring and warmer weather. “I’ve been gardening sustainably at home in Burlington since before it was trendy,” Salsedo notes. “I use native […]
Stormwise
=Two major storms that struck Connecticut and much of the northeastern U.S. in 2011 resulted in extended power outages and billions of dollars in property, and interior forest damage. As Connecticut seeks to lower future damage risk while sustaining the trees and forests that are so essential to our daily lives, management of infrastructure-adjacent forests […]
Lily Leaf Beetles – Help with our Research!
Your Help is Needed For Our Research Project! Researchers at UConn are conducting a lily leaf beetle biological control project during the summer of 2014. If you grow lilies in Connecticut, have a minimum of 12 plants in the lily family (Oriental lilies, Asiatic lilies, Turk’s Cap lilies, or Fritillaria) in your garden, and have […]
CT Tree Warden’s Association
– Article by Bob Ricard for UConn Extension Approximately 85 tree wardens, deputy tree wardens, urban forestry volunteers, and others gathered in Glastonbury, March 20th, for the Tree Wardens’ Association of Connecticut, Inc., 22nd Annual Dinner Meeting. The primary purpose of the meeting was to conduct the business of the state-wide organization, founded in 1992 […]
May is for Mowing and More!
May is for Mowing, Dividing Mints & Marsh Marigolds! Photo and Aritcle: Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Extension Time to Start Up the Lawn Mower! We New Englanders have had a long, cold winter through early spring. The plentiful moisture and chilly temperatures these past few weeks have stimulated growth of our cool season turf grasses […]
UConn Extension Recognizes Award Winners
Each year the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources and the College’s Alumni Association host their annual Awards and Honors event. This event has a long history of recognizing outstanding and distinguished alumni, faculty, staff and supporters, including outstanding individuals of UConn Extension. Excellence in Outreach Award –The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program […]
Making Choices
By Diane Hirsch – Extension Educator Food Safety Local, Organic, Sustainable? How many of us really have the ability to grow all the fresh produce we need for a year? Just having a back-yard vegetable garden can be a luxury. Some of us don’t have the yard, the time or maybe even enough sunshine, to […]
10 Tips for the May Gardener
1. Thin or compacted turf will benefit from core aeration and overseeding. 2. Mow your lawn any time the grass is 1 ½ times the normal height, For example, if you mow at a 3-inch height, don’t let the grass get longer than 4 to 5-inches. 3. Remove spent blooms on tulips, daffodils and other spring flowering bulbs. […]
Danbury PEP Graduates
On Friday, April 11th, 17 Danbury parents graduated from our People Empowering People (PEP) parent leadership program. At left are the graduates and their children who performed at the graduation held at Hatter’s Park. Many of them also traveled to Hartford in March for Early Childhood Advocacy Day, where they spoke with State Representatives Bob Godfrey […]
Farming with Technology
UConn Extension has taken delivery of a new manure spreader. This spreader is not your typical manure spreader. This spreader has gone hi tech with integrated scales, computer and GPS. Unlike a typical spreader which requires the farmer to guess how much manure is being loaded, and keep handwritten records of how many loads went […]
Hartford Urban 4-H Program
The Boys and Girls Urban 4-H club of Hartford came to UConn for Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton’s visit.
Be A Scientist for a Day
UConn Extension is hosting a large-scale statewide science project on May 8th On May 8, 2014, UConn Extension is asking the public to join our faculty, staff, 4-H volunteers, and master gardeners in a vast science project across the state, in recognition of the 100th anniversary of UConn Extension. One hundred years ago on […]
Pesticides and School Athletic Fields
Jason Henderson talks to NBC news about pesticides and school athletic fields. Watch the video to understand more about the current laws and what goes into maintaining an athletic field.
Windham County Skill-A-Thon
By Marc Cournoyer, UConn Extension 4-H Program Coordinator 16 4-H members from around Windham County gathered together on Saturday, April 12th to explore STEM through a series of exciting and fun experiential activities. They participated in three workshops that were facilitated by UConn staff and students. In the first workshop, 4-H program coordinator Maryann Fusco-Rollins taught participants how to […]