Clemson Extension Upstate District

Plant Identification and Use Class in Full Force

Dr. Bob Polomski, Horticulture Professor, and Extension Consumer Horticulture Specialist, and Paul Thompson, York County Urban Horticulture Agent teamed up to create an asynchronous online training highlighting the identification and use of over 100 trees shrubs vines, and groundcovers. The Course was launched in early June this year and has already had 219 participants enrolled […]

SC New and Beginning Farmer Program Returns to In-Person Programming

  After two years online through zoom 43 new and aspiring farmers were accepted into the South Carolina New and Beginning Farmer Program Class of 2022 cohort.  York County is well represented, with three new farmers as members of this year’s core program. The program, in its 12th year, is a Clemson Extension agribusiness public […]

Growing Our Future

The Growing Our Future Annual Forestry Meeting took place on June 1, 2022.  There were nearly 200 in attendance including landowners, resource management professionals, vendors, and speakers.  Participants learned how to manage their forested lands to better meet their objectives, as well as, obtaining higher returns on their investments.   Speakers included Dr. Tom Dobbins […]

Join the Fun

As the 4-H agent for Fairfield County, I’m looking forward to a busy fall of school engagement! I will help coordinate two elementary school gardens as well as facilitating environmental education lessons for classrooms at the Midlands STEM Institute and the Fairfield Career and Technical Center. This work utilizes my educational background in natural resources […]

Food Systems and Safety Report

Based on county health rankings discovered by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Fairfield County is ranked 36th out of 46 counties in South Carolina for poor health outcomes such as cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.  Such issues may be due to the diet and lifestyle of its residents and the lack of resources for […]

Forged In 4-H in Union County

Forged In 4-H Mark Cathcart Being a 4-H agent is the most rewarding, frustrating, difficult, and easiest job I have ever had.  4-H agents do everything at once while everyone thinks you are doing nothing or just playing with kids.  On top of that, we must figure out how to pay for it all. It […]

A Recipe for Success

Current statistics on the health problems that adults and their families face indicate the need to improve nutrition knowledge, to encourage hands-on experience with food, and practice healthful, practical cooking with fresh and affordable foods. The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) is a federally funded program delivered through the Cooperative Extension Service that […]

Area Forestry and Natural Resources Report

Area Forestry and Natural Resources Report Jeff Fellers Summer is nearing an end and now is the time to get ready to make our way into the fall and winter.  We have had a busy summer in Extension as operations have returned to normal after the Covid outbreak.  This summer I have hosted two forestry […]

Upcoming Events in Union SC

UPCOMING PROGRAMS & EVENTS In Union County SC September 9-10, 2022: Carolina Smoke-N-Grass Festival(SCBA) Union County Fairgrounds, Union SC September 17, 2022: 20th Annual Union County Farm Show Union County Fairgrounds, Union SC 9:00am to 3:30pm  **Free Admission** September 16-18, 2022: Uniquely Union Festival Downtown Union SC Starts 4:00pm on the 16th Sept. 29-Oct.1, 2022: […]

Annual Tree Farm Field Tour

The South Carolina Tree Farm Committee’s Annual Field Tour & Awards Ceremony will be held at Bill McCrary’s Fairfield Co. Tree Farm in Winnsboro, SC on Sept. 15, 2022. McCrary is 2021 SC Tree Farmer of the Year. Early in his career, as a forester working for Georgia-Pacific Corp., he received the Outstanding Young Forester […]