Soil Health Microscopy Courses for Spring 2024
January 9, 2024
Spring microscopy course offerings are now full! Click here for information about upcoming summer and fall courses.
CT NOFA is offering microscopy training this spring! Participants will view various soils and composts, looking at the different soil structures and the microbes that thrive in healthy soil. Demonstrations include how to prepare a slide for viewing, what you might find and how to evaluate your findings. Participants will be trained to analyze the following:
- Bacteria : Fungi ratios – what they mean and why they’re important
- Aggregate structure in soil/compost
- Bacteria numbers and diversity
- Quality of fungi and what that means for your soil
- Predators – identify and quantify both aerobic and anaerobic microbes
- Compost tea and extracts – microbial populations that exist in real time
Throughout the training we will discuss ways to create healthy, living soil using regenerative agriculture techniques. At the completion of the training you will be ready to use your microscope to evaluate soil and compost, with the ability to store the information in written and visual form, to share, and compare with future samples.
Course cost is $600 and includes a microscope (yours to keep, provided at the in-person session) as well as all course materials, including:
- OMAX Digital Compound Microscope (plus slides, slip covers, pipettes, test-tubes, etc.)
- 3 Live Online Training Sessions (1.5 hours, each)
- 3 hour In-Person training (3 students per instructor)
- Virtual support up to 3 months after course, for any questions/clarifications
- Virtual tutorials (short videos available as reference material after course completion)
How it Works
Participants attend 3 virtual sessions and 1 in-person session. At registration, you will be asked to choose your preferred in-person location from our available schedule.
Virtual Live Training, 5:00pm-6:30pm via zoom – registrants attend all 3 sessions, Wednesdays in April
- April 10
- April 17
- April 24
In-Person Training, 11:00am-2:00pm – registrants choose 1 session from the list, below
Saturday, May 4th– Common Ground High School, Urban Farm and Environmental Education Center, 358 Springside Ave, New Haven, CT THIS SESSION IS FULLThursday, May 9th– MA Farm Bureau, 249 Lakeside Ave, Marlborough, MA THIS SESSION IS FULLSaturday, May 18th– Ocean Hour Farm, 152 Harrison Ave, Newport, RI THIS SESSION IS FULLSaturday, June 1st– Massaro Community Farm, 41 Ford Rd, Woodbridge, CT THIS SESSION IS FULLSaturday, June 8th– Falmouth Public Library, 300 Main St, Falmouth, MA THIS SESSION IS FULL
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. For more information about the course, visit our Soil Health program page.
REGISTRATION FOR SUMMER AND FALL TRAININGS COMING SOON. FILL OUT THE FORM, BELOW, TO GET UPDATES.
Soil Health Training Interest Form
Want to be the first to know about future CT NOFA soil health and microscopy courses? Please fill out this form to indicate your preferred areas of interest and we'll get in touch with you as new courses and trainings become available.
Recent Posts
Advocacy News: May 2026
The Good News: CT Senator Chris Murphy has introduced a bill (bipartisan and bicameral) to increase funding for Agricultural Management Assistance to $30 million and to expand the eligible uses for these funds to include “soil health improvements, composting, implementing organic farming, and food safety certification in addition to existing authorized uses such as water management structure and soil erosion control.” Let’s thank Senator Murphy for introducing this bill!
The Bad News: The Farm Bill passed the House of Representatives on April 30, despite 320 food, farm, and conservation organizations, including CT NOFA, voicing our opposition to a bill that does not fix SNAP, does not support new and beginning farmers, and does not adequately support conservation programs or organic agriculture. Now it goes to the Senate and we need to urge both of Connecticut’s Senators to reject this Farm Bill.
Our Vision for a Future of Resilient, Plentiful, Healthy and Locally-Grounded Farming and Food
In concluding its annual retreat, the Northeast Organic Farming Association Interstate Council (NOFA IC) reaffirms the values that have grounded our work for 55 years.
Our vision is that every person is able to live their life with healthy food, clean water and air, community, livelihood, dignity, and purpose within the means of our life-giving planet. We seek that vision on every level, from our households and farms to our communities, states, bioregions, nation, and world. For that vision to be fulfilled, every person, no matter their origin or circumstances, must have all their basic human needs met without degrading the air, water, soil, ecosystems, and climate which we have been given and on which we depend for our lives.