Latest News

Welcome Rachel Fricke as the Newest FoodWIse Educator

Rachel brings a deep passion for animal welfare, sustainable agriculture, and food systems. She holds a B.S. in Animal Sciences from UW-Madison and an MSc in Global Food Security & Nutrition from the University of Edinburgh. Her academic journey culminated in research focused on the impact of overconsumption of animal-sourced foods on farm animal welfare, […]

Tomato Late Blight

Tomato late blight was confirmed this week on foliar and fruit tissues from a plant sample submitted from the western edge of Dane County. This is the first confirmation of late blight on tomato or potato in Wisconsin for 2024.  Originally the late blight was thought to be a possible sunscald as the symptoms on tomato […]

Elevando, Wisconsin: Reaching new audiences to develop community leaders

Jorge Islas-Martinez immigrated to the United States more than 25 years ago. Today, he is well-known in the Whitewater community where he works as a bilingual liaison for the school district and volunteers with several organizations. One of his most recognized contributions, he started teaching English as a second language and is still running that […]

UW-Extension Hosts Summer Academy to help youth plan their futures

In June, 13 Dane County youth, along with youth from across Wisconsin, gathered at the UW-Madison campus for the annual Summer Academy event, hosted by UW-Madison Extension’s Positive Youth Development Institute and 4-H. At Summer Academy, youth had the opportunity to build and learn skills to reach goals and plan for the future. Through interactive […]

Canning Season in Dane County

Autumn is just around the corner, which means for many residents of Dane County, it’s the season to start thinking about preserving those fruits and veggies! That makes now a good time to remind everyone about the resources we can provide about Food Safety and Preservation. The Dane County UW Extension also provides pressure canner […]

Natives and Nativars

‘Native’ is a bit of a slippery term, though you hear it used on a regular basis in reference to plants. But the question is, “Native in reference to where?”. When talking about ‘native’ plants, someone might be referring to a U.S. native or East coast native, but not necessarily a Midwest native or Wisconsin […]

It’s June in the Teaching Garden

This year, unlike last year, we have certainly not had to worry about watering! Everything is huge and luxuriant (unfortunately, this includes mosquitoes in the evening). So many things are flowering that I had trouble choosing what to cover. I decided that I would focus on ‘daisies’ since we have several cultivars (this word is […]

Responding to Scary Events

Violence, war, and loss have become common in our communities. Parents and other caring adults can positively support children as they hear about scary news or experience traumatic events that happen in school settings or in the community. For children of all ages, a safe and trusted adult is the most important protection. Caring adults […]

It’s Spring in the Teaching Garden!

It’s a great time of year. Bulbs, native spring wildflowers and various trees and shrubs are all blooming! Here are some of the highlights over the past three to four weeks. Bulbs: We have a couple of late-season daffodils still blooming. ‘Palmares’ is a member of Division 11 of the Narcissus genus. That division has […]

Return to Winter (Briefly)

If you are feeling a bit of weather whiplash, you are not alone. Some plants have leafed out or are blooming a few weeks earlier than usual due to the record-breaking warm weather in February and early March. Now, Mother Nature as she often does, is doing a bit of a course correction and we […]

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