Got “outside” questions? Call us! (1-877-398-4769)

Help! I found my pot-bellied pig chomping down on some exotic-looking plant in the barnyard this morning. I hope you can help identify it. The plant seems to have sprouted up from nowhere. It looks like some sort of exotic tropical specimen, with huge, heart-shaped leaves, spiny stems, bright yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers, and fleshy, dark- green seedpods about four inches long. I’m worried they might have poisoned him!

Now that spring has finally arrived in force and folks have headed outside to take stock of the natural world, people who raise pigs or chickens or vegetables, people with lawns and lilac bushes and perennial flowerbeds, or people just curious about snakes, or bats, birds, wild turkeys, or insects, will start calling us with questions. (The pot-bellied pig question arrived early one August morning.)

Yes, adventures in the great outdoors, even adventures that take place just outside your kitchen door, can stimulate a lot of questions. But where can you turn for answers?

If you’re smart, like the caller concerned about her pet pig, you’ll call the UNH Cooperative Extension Info Line at 1-877-398-4769. Trained volunteers linked to an extraordinary network of professionals with expertise in a wide variety of subject matter areas answer the phones Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., dispensing practical, environmentally-sound, research-based information tailored for New Hampshire conditions. People who can’t call during business hours can email questions.

Some days the calls come so fast and furious our phone staff can barely catch their breath between calls:

Can humans get roundworms from dog droppings on the lawn?
Where can I get my chickens tested for bird flu?
How long will homemade pickles last on the shelf?
Can I bury my dog’s ashes under the rose bush I want to plant as his memorial?
How can I banish a family of skunks from under the front porch?
How do I get my well water tested?
Do you have plans for a bat house?
The grass on the front lawn looks yellow and sparse. What can I do?
How can I tell if the tick I just pulled off my son’s leg is the kind that transmits Lyme disease?
How can I get more potassium into my diet?

At the end of the day, an elderly gentleman wants to know why his zucchini flowers aren’t developing into zucchinis. We tell him the likely reason is that the female flowers aren’t getting pollinated during this wet spell, give him a lesson in hand-pollination, and close down our phone lines for the day.

Over the past five years, volunteers staffing the Info Line have fielded almost 50,000 questions on gardening and landscaping, lawn care, food safety, food preservation, backyard livestock, water quality, wildlife, household pests, composting, tree care and so much more.

Few of us have extended families and neighbors these days with the knowledge and experience to advise us what to do when the chickens start pecking each other, or explain the advantages of removing suckers from the tomato plants. Most of us are at least two generations removed from folks who grew their own food, kept livestock, and knew which tree species produced the longest-lasting heat.

Most questions that come to the Info Line are uncomplicated and easy to answer. Chances are, the Info Line staffer you talk to has answered similar questions already, had the experience him/herself, or knows someone who has. And when they don’t have the answer at their fingertips, our staff will do the research to get you the information you need or refer you to someone who has it.

One more thing about the Info Line volunteers: without exception they’re very curious. They sign up for the 70-plus hours of training and commit to many hours on the job because they revel in the chance to learn something new as they research answers for you.

Oh, about that “exotic tropical plant” with the heart-shaped leaves, trumpet-shaped flowers and “fleshy seedpods” the caller’s pet pig enjoyed so much?

Because the woman—a recent transplant to rural New Hampshire—had to dash off to work to deliver a presentation, we suggested she put on gloves, pull up the plant, and bring it to her veterinarian’s office after her presentation, while we continued using our botanical “keys” to track its identity.

Turns out she didn’t need further advice from us—or her vet. She called ten minutes later from work to thank us and to say that her coworkers had identified the plant immediately—as a zucchini!

By Margaret Hagen, Director, UNH Cooperative Extension Family, Home & GardenEducationCenter

More from the Family, Home & Garden Education Center

• Do you like to learn through fun, hands-on classes or workshops? Visit our calendar of events to look

• If you want information oriented towards how to grow, build, diagnose or raise almost anything, check out the more than 150 Home & Garden Information Fact Sheets.

• Take a look at some of the New Hampshire Outside columns, mostly written by Extension volunteers with a personal story to tell about life in New Hampshire’s outdoors.

• WMUR-TV (Channel 9) also features a weekly UNH Cooperative Extension spot called “Grow It Green” which airs at noon Tuesdays and during Saturday morning’s early news. The spots highlight topics of seasonal interest.