Vegetable Farmers Switch to Reduced Tillage/Deep Zone Tillage By Jude Boucher, UConn Extension Educator In 2006, after several 4 to 6-inch rainstorms, and having to contend with 4-foot deep erosion gullies in his sweet corn fields, Nelson Cecarelli of Cecarelli Farm decided he needed a better way to farm the rolling hills of Northford […]
Climate-Smart Resources
Advancing Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate
Make Your Landscape Sustainable
By Joan Allen – Assistant Extension Educator – UConn Home & Garden Center A sustainable landscape incorporates a holistic approach of functionality, environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic sensibility. These principles are tied together in the design and maintenance of a landscape in order to maintain and preserve natural ecological habitats. Your Landscape Impacts The […]
UConn Extension Centennial Video
UConn Extension Ties Research to Real Life for citizens of Connecticut every day. Join us as we take a tour of some of our UConn Extension programs.
What Every CT Resident Needs to Understand About UConn Extension
I wish UConn Extension was not the best-kept secret in the state. It’s time everybody knew what a tremendous resource Extension is. Congress established the Cooperative Extension System as a national network in 1914 to tie university research to real life. UConn Extension programs have evolved over time, and as our state has changed, so […]
Using Water Wisely
By Faye Griffiths-Smith – Extension Educator Family Economics and Resource Management Did you know that the average person in the U.S. uses 100 gallons of water every day? Drinking, taking a shower, brushing your teeth, cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry, gardening and lawn care — with its many uses, water is essential to our lives […]
The Basics of Composting
By Dawn Pettinelli – Extension Instructor Plant Science & Landscape Architecture Did you know that almost 25 percent of a typical household’s waste can be recycled right in the backyard? Recycling reduces the amount of solid waste being trucked and dumped into landfills, and the end product of this process, compost, is beneficial to the […]
New Guide to Help Fish, Shellfish and Seaweed Growers Manage Risks
New Guide to Help Fish, Shellfish and Seaweed Growers Manage Risks GROTON CT—A new 285-page illustrated manual, the Northeastern U.S. Aquaculture Management Guide, has just been published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Center. Edited by Tessa L. Getchis, Connecticut Sea Grant and UConn Extension aquaculture specialist, the manual is a […]
CLEAR Keeping Track of Stormwater on UConn Campus
Although UConn is in the midst of a pastoral setting in the quiet corner of northeast Connecticut, we sometimes have problems like a big city. This is because the buildings, roads, parking lots and sidewalks that make up the core of campus do not allow water to pass through into the ground. Instead, rainfall is […]
Water Conservation Tips
Source: UConn Photo: Illinois Extension As we experience seasonally dry conditions, conserving water is important to maintain an environmentally sustainable water supply. You can help by conserving water voluntarily at home. Please consider the following: Taking shorter showers; Running dishwashers and clothes washing machines with full loads; Shutting off water while washing dishes, shaving, brushing […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Soil Testing
By Dawn Pettinelli – Extension Instructor Plant Science & Landscape Architecture A soil test is an inexpensive and valuable tool to help determine what will grow best in your soil, and what it might need to boost its fertility. It’s a smart decision to test the soil every three to five years and it’s particularly […]
Rain Forests, Intelligent Consumption
By Thomas Worthley, Assistant Extension Professor, Forestry Stewardship Recently an article on the environmental information website Environmental News Network caught my attention because it advocated the slowing of tropical deforestation as a key action to “significantly cut the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere.” As a professional forester, I am always […]
Monitoring the Weather – For More than 125 Years
By Sheila Foran for UConn Today Every day at 8 a.m. for the last 45,625 days (give or take a day or two), weather information at UConn’s Plant Research and Education Facility on Agronomy Road has been recorded and sent to the National Weather Service. That’s every day for 125 years. It’s a long time […]
Is It Time for a Rain Garden?
Jen McGuinness who blogs at Frau Zinnie wrote an excellent blog post about the rain garden presentation Dr. Mike Dietz of UConn Extension presented at the Master Gardener Symposium in March. In Jen’s words: MANCHESTER, Conn. – With April showers imminent, you’ll soon be reminded of how much stormwater leaves your property. Water rushing through […]
A Climate Adaptation Academy for Connecticut
Modeled after CLEAR’s highly successful Land Use Academy, we are embarking on a new forum for land use officials and other interested professionals, a Climate Adaptation Academy (CAA). The CAA, sponsored by Connecticut Sea Grant and CLEAR, will serve as an outreach arm of the recently announced Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation. We […]
Pest Forecasts Come to Connecticut
It hurts when codling moths riddle your apples, powdery mildew blasts your grapes, or anthracnose takes over your turf. But it’s really nettlesome when growers or groundskeepers mere miles away get off without a snag. Blame it on the weather: on a multitude of variables that we barely notice. Sophisticated weather stations can pick up […]
Connecting Sustainable Woodland Management and High School Technical Arts Programs: An Initiative Creating Educational Opportunities for Local Wood Utilization
-Article by Tom Worthley, Extension Forestry- During a conversation in 2010 between myself and a teacher from the industrial arts department at Haddam-Killingworth High School, the suggestion was made that the School District could continually grow, harvest and process a portion of the annual lumber needs for the shop class from part of of 150 […]
Snow Removal Tips
Photo and Article: West Virginia Extension Stay safe from slips and strains by following these recommendations for safe and effective snow removal. Shovel all sidewalks adjacent to your property to the bare pavement. This includes any sidewalks outside your fence lines and to the sides/rear of your property. Clear a path at least 36 inches […]
Road Salt Use in Connecticut: Balancing Safety & Water Quality
This conference is being organized by the NEMO Program, an outreach program of the UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research. Additional support provided by the Connecticut Institute for Water Resources Friday March 28, 2014 8:30 am – 3:00 pm UConn Student Union REGISTER Chloride use in winter deicing has been steadily increasing. […]
NOAA and Sea Grant Announce Projects for $1.4M Coastal Storm Awareness Program
SILVER SPRING, MD, JANUARY 16, 2014 – Connecticut Sea Grant, New Jersey Sea Grant, and New York Sea Grant have awarded funds totaling $1.4 million to support ten social science research projects to improve community understanding and response to coastal storm hazard information as part of NOAA Sea Grant’s Coastal Storm Awareness Program. Despite the […]
10 Water Conservation Tips
Even with yesterday’s rain, it will take a while for water levels to catch up. There are many small steps we can all take to conserve water in our homes. UConn Extension has these ten tips for your lawn and garden. Take shorter showers Run dishwashers and washing machines with full loads Use water only […]
Will Halloween Be Ruined Again?
“Dad, is Halloween going to be cancelled again this year because of the weather?” It’s not a pleasant thought for kids dreaming of bags full of candy. Well, we are approaching the end of October, and for those of us who have been in Connecticut for the past few years, it seems appropriate to discuss […]
Smartphones and GPS
by David Dickson Smartphones are the swiss army knife of the digital world. They have replaced countless single-function gadgets from calculators to cameras to pagers to, um, phones! But for mapping geeks, one of the gadgets they have not quite been able to shake is the handheld GPS unit—at least until now. The Geospatial Training Program […]
Learning Sustainability with Extension Forestry Program
Tom Worthley of UConn Extension’s Forestry Program spent Tuesday, October 1st at Crescent Lake in Southington teaching agricultural education students from Southington High School about forestry management. Crescent Lake has experienced problems with the invasive insect emerald ash borer. Worthley felled a damaged ash tree on Tuesday and used a portable sawmill to make lumber. […]
Mulch Molds – What is Growing on my Mulch?
What is growing on my mulch? This is a common question UConn Extension is asked at the UConn Home and Garden Education Center and in our county Master Gardener offices. People are perplexed when they find a yellow foamy mass that looks like the neighbor’s dog vomited in their flower garden. Or when their nice […]
Survival 101: The Science of Survival
On June 1st, The Middlesex county 4-H Advisory Committee presented Survival 101 – The Science of Survival. This high energy and action packed workshop day included 10 different survival workshops focusing on the science and technology behind survival skills. The workshops included: Shelter Engineering, Fire Building, Survival Communication, Wild Game and Fishing, Wilderness and Survival […]
Using GPS for Monitoring and Mapping Land Trust Holdings
By Cary Chadwick (updated 9/2025) On May 3, CLEAR’s Geospatial Training Program (GTP) and the Connecticut Land Conservation Council held its second session of a training course called “Using GPS for Monitoring and Mapping Land Trust Holdings.” The one-day course is designed to teach participants how to use a handheld GPS receiver to map property […]
A Watershed Moment
By Michael Dietz (updated 9/2025) Many of us have heard about watershed protection efforts. Perhaps you live in a drinking water supply watershed. Poor Willy Wonka was wrongly accused of poisoning the watershed of his brown river (it turned out to be chocolate). But what is a watershed, really? In physical terms, a watershed is […]
State Sees High Level of Beach Erosion After Powerful Storms
Channel 3 Eyewitness News interviewing local residents and UConn’s Joel Stocker (updated 9/2025) The Connecticut shoreline is eroding at rates not seen in our lifetime, and the devastation was sped up by powerful storms like Irene and Sandy. In some spots, five years of erosion was accomplished in just three months, and for the first […]
When It Comes To Climate Change – Money Talks
By Bruce Hyde (updated 9/2025) It is generally accepted by climate scientists that New England will experience a trend of increasing intensity and frequency of storms resulting in an increase in flooding and coastal erosion. Recent storms have raised our collective awareness of the damage, both fiscal and physical, that these storms can cause. Consider […]