If you have never eaten a pawpaw, try this tasty, fall fruit. While the pawpaw, Asimina triloba, is the largest tree fruit native to the United States. It is...

I have been composting yard and organic material for a while now. However, when I have just a few food scraps, sometimes it can be inconvenient either to carry them outside to the compost pile, or to save to do later. Deciding to add options to my repertoire, I thought I'd give worm composting,...

As you travel along Illinois highways this time of the year, you may have seen a tall, dried, spiny plant with huge showy seed heads. You might have even considered taking some seed or seed heads home to plant and...

Fall is here and with it comes apples. October is National Apple Month. Did you know that the average American eats about 17.5 pounds of fresh apples each year, and an additional 30 pounds of apples in other products such as juice; canned and frozen products; and dried.In 2016, Illinois had over...

One-pot meals have been my favorite cooking method lately. Put it all in – protein, whole grains or starchy veggies, and non-starchy veggies – and dinner is served! I try to make one-pot recipes that are full meals in themselves. Occasionally, I decide to make one-pot dishes and add some crackers...

For us here in Central Illinois, it appears as though a hard frost will finally reach us this week, which means it's time for gardeners to bring any plants worth saving indoors. Whether that means the houseplants we put on the patio for the summer, or the geraniums we want to try and overwinter for...

Coming this week, our Buckets, Bales, and Bushels blog will become Know How, Know More. Don't fret, the new Know How, Know More will have the same great content, just with some additional avenues of learning...

Have you noticed more hands-on food programming in UI Extension? I have been working to developing programs that involve participants in their learning in a new way. While several hands-on programs have been active, the freezer meal class was a new one. Thanks to our participants who made a freezer...

What do you do when you want to grow veggies at an office surrounded by gravel with no available growing space? You create containers! This was the dilemma this spring at our Clinton Extension Office. The summer Junior Master Gardener program was starting and we needed a way to grow vegetables...

A fun thing about being a dietitian is learning about new foods. Pawpaws are certainly not a fruit I was familiar with, so a big thank you to Local Foods Small Farms Educator Doug Gucker for bringing in a pawpaw for me to sample and photograph. From what I experienced eating a pawpaw, I thought...

Hydroponics continues to be a popular topic in the horticulture industry, but usually it's on a very large, greenhouse scale. But did you know, you can try it easily at home?! If you're not familiar with the term hydroponics, it's a method of growing plants in a nutrient rich water solution...

Soil health is getting a lot of attention and it well deserved. Do you know why? First, the most well-known and essential benefit of healthy soil is food production. Healthy soil is full of organisms that turn dead matter and minerals into vital plant nutrients. President Franklin D. Roosevelt...

If you have never eaten a pawpaw, try this tasty, fall fruit. While the pawpaw, Asimina triloba, is the largest

  Many people long for summer during the winter months, but then…the heat waves hit and it's hard not to feel withered. To help you and your living landscape, I've comprised a few tips to help combat the heat and summer blues that hot dry conditions can inflict on your lawn. First, try not...

Are pests and diseases reeking havoc on your plants indoors or outside? It's bound to happen every once in awhile, but before you start to treat the problem, it's important to figure out what the exact problem is. The definition of a pest is an annoying or troublesome person,...

In looking towards our next hands-on food program in May, enjoy a preview of the No Cook Meals class. If you want to join the in-person class, register at 217.877.6042 or online at http://web.extension.illi

When fall rolls around, it is easy to just be done with gardening for the season. You've worked all season long to water, weed, and keep things looking great and the idea of more gardening may not sound so enticing anymore. Don't give up yet though, there really are numerous fall gardening...

Don't we all wish we could capture the beauty of summer, with its lush growth of greens, yellows, purples and pinks? Recently, University of Illinois Piatt County Master Gardner Kristi Pyatt shared a different way to preserve those colors and shapes of growing plants; Eco-Dying! A small group of...

Happy New Year! In the spirit of the new year and the winter season, look to try one of these winter food activities this January. 1. Food Pantry Experience. There are so many volunteer opportunities related to food insecurity in your communities: volunteer at a local soup kitchen...

Our grass clippings are too valuable to waste! When left on the lawn, properly mowed grass clippings filter down to the soil and decompose rapidly,usually within a few weeks. During the breakdown process, the clippings feed soil organisms, recycle plant nutrients, and contribute organic matter to...