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 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.