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With more time at home, summertime is a great time to teach kids new recipes to help them step up their cooking game. Take advantage of this summer season and have some fun in the kitchen with your kids.

A girl and boy stand in a kitchen and hold up the popsicles they are eating.
Have some fun in the kitchen this summer making cool, creamy, and nutritious Strawberry Popsicles with your kids.

I recently visited with my friend Doyce Deas in Tupelo and was amazed by her beautiful, shady backyard garden. Some people struggle with the challenge of growing plants in shady areas of their yard, but not Doyce. She has done a great job of selecting plants that grow well in the part-shade and shade of her yard.

Purple flowers bloom from a container at the center of a garden.
Pink flowers bloom in a shady area with green and white leaves.
Pink flowers bloom in a shady area with green leaves.
Leaves display various shades of green along with yellows and reds.

Every Mississippian is familiar with the northern mockingbird. In 1944, it became the official bird of Mississippi.

Northern mockingbird.
The northern mockingbird is the official state bird of Mississippi. (Photo from Canva)

And just like that, our mild, rainy summer has turned hot and steamy. 

Crape myrtles are in full bloom during July! (Photo by Canva)

It’s July, and that means it’s pumpkin planting time. Pumpkins are part of our American heritage. Both Native Americans and the first European settlers grew them and depended on them for food.

A large, yellow pumpkin grows on a vine.
A large, gray pumpkin is surrounded by smaller orange pumpkins.

A lot of time and energy is put into caring for your lawn: mowing, fertilizing, watering, and everything in between.

Grass with brown spots.
Large (brown) patch is a common tufrgrass disease. (Photo by MSU Extension)

In the landscape, begonias are often thought of as annual plants you grow in shade areas, but most of today’s varieties grow well in full sun. This makes them very versatile.
A benefit of begonias grown in the sun is that they tend to develop more flowers than those in the shade. All begonias tend to bloom continuously throughout the summer and early fall.

Plants with purple leaves and red flowers are in a wooden tray.
A plant with red flowers grows in a container on a porch.

While scientists know bats eat mosquitoes, the insect makes up only part of their diet. So the question is: Do bats significantly lower mosquito numbers?

Bats fly against the sky as the sun sets.
Pest consumption is one of the many ecosystem services bats perform. Most insect-eating bats can consume up to 50 percent of their weight in insects each night. A pregnant or nursing bat can eat up to 100 percent of her body weight each night.

The smells coming from the classroom at one Mississippi State University summer camp will make a person hungry, which makes sense as the camp teaches kitchen skills and introduces new foods. Culinary Arts Kids Camp is offered each year, with one week for older elementary age kids and another for junior high and high school students. The events focus on local foods, kitchen basics and easy recipes. Young people in grades 4-6 and 7-12 are introduced to food science, culinary arts and food preparation techniques.

Three girls work with dough sheets at a table.
A boy standing at a stove drizzles chocolate over a dessert.
Two boys work together adding meat to a baking pan.

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