Soil Health Microscopy Courses for this Summer
April 4, 2024
CT NOFA is offering additional microscopy training this summer. 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.
Virtual Sessions
Registrants attend all three virtual sessions, held on the following evenings from 5:00pm-6:30pm via Zoom. Participants who register after these sessions have started, or for any participants who are unable to attend a session, recorded versions will be made available.
- June 5
- June 12
- June 19
In-Person Sessions
Registrants choose ONE of the following locations/dates for in-person training
- June 23: Keney Park Sustainability Project in Windsor, CT
- July 20: The Hickories farm in Ridgefield, CT
- August 10: UConn campus in Storrs, CT
For more information about the course, visit our Soil Health program page.
Recent Posts
Advocacy Action Alert: Tell Your Representatives to Vote NO on the 2026 Farm Bill
The Farm Bill will get a vote in the House of Representatives this week. It is a terrible bill, and we need to put on all the pressure we can to stop it.
Seven years into what is supposed to be a five year process, the House Farm, Food, and National Security Act favors Big Ag, and not family farms in countless ways. Of specific interest to CT NOFA are pesticide industry provisions that would strip states and cities of their power to regulate certain pesticides and would shield the manufacturers from liability.
Read More
Organic Record Keeping Checklists for Current and Prospective Growers
Thanks to support through the USDA’s Transition to Organic Partnership Program, CT NOFA has made available a number of organic record keeping checklists for specific farming sectors. These checklists are intended to provide a framework for management of records that are required when a farm operation is preparing to certify organic, or a current organic farm is preparing for recertification.
Read More