A website from UGA Cooperative Extension

ANR

  • A wooden frame with a white-wash finish around an art piece of bare trees on a red and orange background

    Maybe you fondly recall growing up crafting Christmas ornaments, valentines, gift wrappings, toys and cards, from used aluminum foil, buttons, empty thread spools, newsprint, and small boxes. Maybe you remember raking up acorns and leaves for an allowance, and marveling at the abundance of earthworms produced in that rich, black compost. These fond memories can…

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  • Three green arrows folding into each other, next to each arrow is a word: Reduce Reuse Recycle

    The New Year is here along with overflowing curbside trashcans of holiday paper and ribbon, cardboard and plastic. At the very top of the Waste Reduction Triangle (WRT) is reducing and even working toward entirely preventing waste from entering our homes. This effort is the most effective action in ending ugly litter, landfill expansion, air,…

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  • wing-like variegated green leaves and bright fuschia blooms

    As the holiday season winds down, you don’t have to say goodbye to your seasonal live plants. Potted plants like poinsettias, cyclamen, and Christmas cactus can continue to bring enjoyment for years. Your first act in prolonging the life of holiday plants is to remove their festive foil wrapping. None of these plants like to…

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  • A large rolled hay bale in a field

    Each year, the USDA Farm Service Agency asks UGA county Extension agents to help in developing grazing and forage loss estimates for each county. As the Forsyth County Extension agent, I am asking producers who grow hay and/or forage in Forsyth County to use

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  • Three beautifully wrapped with ribbon gifts in the foreground with a Christmas tree in the background

    Did you know that Georgia agriculture and natural resources can supply just about everything you need for holiday entertaining and gifting? I’m putting out a challenge to see just how many locally produced goodies we can incorporate into holiday festivities this season.

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  • pint-sized containers for colorful red and yellow tomatoes. Fresh corn, bell peppers and eggplants--all on display at a farmers' market.

    Agriculture is Georgia’s top industry, and most Georgia farms are family run businesses. While the number of farms has decreased statewide, the number of new and beginning farmers is encouragingly high. The 2-course Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program is designed to help new farmers overcome the challenges of building a farming business from the ground up.

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  • There are many research studies that extoll the health benefits of being outdoors in nature. But other studies show that most people spend 70 percent or more of their time indoors. Fortunately, houseplants can give us mental and physical health boosts similar to what we experience from natural environments. Various research findings indicate that houseplants…

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  • A large inverted cone covered in bees

    Originally crossbred to improve honeybee health in Brazil, Africanized honeybees instead became incredibly defensive. They were accidentally released in the 1950s, and the so-called “killer bees” were spotted in the U.S. in the mid-1980s, creating panic across the southern states. There have been new sightings of the bees in the Southeast, but are they really…

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  • Plant bulbs now for spring

    A lilac crocus bud coming from a fallen leaf covered ground

    Sometimes, I walk through a store and just shake my head. In July, Halloween merchandise filled the center aisles of local shops. Before Labor Day, Christmas items took over entire store sections. Do we really need to prepare for the next season months in advance? When it comes to spring-flowering bulbs, we really do need…

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  • A cut-away drawing of the ground under grass showing root growth as well as the growth of the shoots of grass at different times of the year.

    School is back in session and autumn is only a few weeks away. If you have a warm-season lawn, now is the time to get it ready for winter. Proper care in late summer and early fall helps bermudagrass, centipedegrass, and zoysiagrass lawns enter dormancy at the appropriate time, protects against cold injury, prevents winter…

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