Oxford County Winter School

Winter School for Farmers, Homesteaders, and Gardeners

Join the University of Maine Cooperative Extension for Oxford County Winter School for Farmers, Homesteaders, and Gardeners, a seasonal learning series designed to support small farms, homesteads, and home gardeners across Oxford County and beyond.

Each 2-hour session features an engaging presentation followed by Q&A and discussion. The series includes both Zoom and in-person sessions to provide flexible participation options.

2026 Session Schedule:

Tuesday, February 24 (Zoom) – Planning for Success for Your Small Farm or Garden
Tuesday, March 10 (Zoom) – Keeping Ornamental and Fruit Trees Healthy
Tuesday, March 24 (In-Person) – Encouraging Pollinators on the Farm and in Gardens
Tuesday, April 7 (In-Person) – Identifying and Managing Invasive Plants

Pesticide recertification credits have been requested for two sessions. See registration details for more information

Can’t attend live? Register anyway to receive access to the recording and a list of related resources (applicable to Zoom sessions only).

Planning for Success for your Small Farm or Garden

Tuesday, February 24 2026
9 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Zoom

Take some time this winter to plan ways to improve your success with your small farm or garden. Let’s talk about improving soil quality, managing water, avoiding drought stress, planning for pests, how a small greenhouse can help you. Once you register, you can send us questions in advance!

Keeping Ornamental and Fruit Trees Healthy

Tuesday, March 10 2026
5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Zoom

We’ll review ways to help you succeed with ornamental and fruit trees at the small farm and home garden scale. We’ll talk about basic site considerations, caterpillar pests, beneficial insects, and more!

2 pesticide recertification credits applied for.

Encouraging Pollinators on the Farm and in Gardens

Tuesday, March 24 2026
9 a.m. – 11 a.m.
In-person
Oxford County Extension Office
9 Olson Road, South Paris, ME

We know pollinators are essential to good production of most of our vegetable and fruit crops. Join us to learn what plants, habitats, and resources you can add to encourage various bees and other pollinators. This program will cover home-scale and farm-scale techniques.

Identifying and Managing Invasive Plants

Tuesday, April 7 2026
5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
In-person
Oxford County Extension Office
9 Olson Road, South Paris, ME

Terrestrial Invasive Plant ID, Ecology & Spread; the Importance of Early Detection & Rapid Response; and iMapInvasives will introduce people to the common invasive plants in Oxford County; how to identify them and how to remove them. We will raise awareness on invasive plant ecology, how they spread on the landscape, and the impacts they have on the landscape to ecosystem services, native plants, and food web dynamics.

We will also highlight the importance of early detection/rapid response (EDRR), the EDRR species invading forests in Maine, and do a brief introduction on iMap invasives – a citizen science mapping tool and a central repository for invasive plant data in Maine. I will also introduce people to the work that the Maine Natural Areas Program (MNAP) does to combat terrestrial invasive plants.

2 pesticide recertification credits applied for.

For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation, contact extension.oxford@maine.edu

In complying with the letter and spirit of applicable laws and pursuing its own goals of diversity, the University of Maine System does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, gender, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship status, familial status, ancestry, age, disability physical or mental, genetic information, or veterans or military status in employment, education, and all other programs and activities. The University provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX Services, 5713 Chadbourne Hall, Room 412, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5713, 207.581.1226, TTY 711 (Maine Relay System).