Feature Story

May is Older Americans Month…

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The phrase “you are what you eat” may be a cliche, but nothing is truer nutritionally for adults who have reached their 65th birthday.

Pamela Redwine, a Mississippi State University Extension Service agent in Yalobusha County, said a good diet provides the energy seniors need to be at their most productive.

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. -- For military families, finding child care that accommodates their hectic schedules can feel impossible, which is what makes child care providers like Heather Bond so special.

For nearly six years, Bond has opened her home to military families who do not have traditional schedules, giving parents a safe and inviting alternative to conventional child care options.  

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- As children, Jessica and Rachel Wilson of Rankin County began working with animals, and now the sisters plan to devote their careers to this vocation after earning veterinary medicine degrees from Mississippi State University.

May is Older Americans Month…

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- After pharmacist Jim Murray’s legs gave out at a Mississippi State University tailgate in 2007, his doctor told him his gardening days were over.

However, Murray is gardening again, thanks to the Pine Belt Master Gardeners’ salad table project.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- More than 20 campus units and 30 faculty and staff members at Mississippi State University are teaming up with state and federal agencies and local stakeholders to restore the water quality of a creek that flows through campus and is the focal point of the Catalpa Creek watershed.

May is Older Americans Month…

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Many people view senior adulthood as a time to slow down and relax, but too much free time can lead to unhappiness.

David Buys, health specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said volunteer work and community involvement are good ways for seniors to enjoy retirement.

BILOXI, Miss. -- Floral enthusiasts and professionals can attend a variety of hands-on floral design workshops this summer in Biloxi.

Jim DelPrince, floral design specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, will offer five individual workshops from May through August.

Four workshops are aimed at floral enthusiasts.

On May 26, participants will learn to create hemisphere arrangements, the classic half-globe-shaped centerpieces used for head-of-state dinners and wedding receptions.

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The American College of Theriogenologists has presented its highest honor to a professor in the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Beef producers will hear reports of Mississippi State University’s research efforts related to a variety of livestock health and management considerations at a May 21 field day.

The free program will begin at 9 a.m. at the MSU Beef Unit, located south of the main campus in the Henry H. Leveck Animal Research Center.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Visitors to the Mississippi Horse Park will witness the most exciting minutes in sports as harness horses return to race around the renovated track in the first sanctioned events since 2006.

Bricklee Miller, manager of the Mississippi State University facility, said the races will begin around 2 p.m. on May 22. Admission is $5 per person, and concessions will be available. Bleachers will overlook the track, but she recommended lawn chairs and binoculars.

Miller said harness racing has a long history in the state.

STARKVILLE, Miss -- Sometimes seeing is believing, and a group of early care and education providers got a firsthand look at what it takes to create high quality learning environments for young children.

Quality is the goal of all early care and education providers, but it might look different depending on resources and facilities. The Early Years Network recently hosted 36 early care and education providers and members of the staff from the Allies for Quality Care project based in Jackson for a tour of three different child care facilities to see quality in action.

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- Jeramie Kelly nearly lost a leg, but he found his heart.

After a work-related accident left him unable to walk for almost three years, Kelly could not return to his job on a riverboat. Without a high school diploma, he had few other options.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Aging brings a variety of challenges to individuals, but taking steps to make sure family farms are inherited by relatives is a task that sometimes gets overlooked.

Older Americans Month in May is a good time to consider land succession, which is how land ownership often passes from one generation to the next.

Bryon Parman, Mississippi State University Extension Service agricultural economist, said the average age of Mississippi farm owners is 60. This age mirrors the national average and has risen steadily in the last few years.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine invites dog owners to enroll their pets in a new study.

In cooperation with local veterinarians, this research initiative is designed to develop practical and cost-effective methods of managing chronic diarrhea, a common condition in dogs.

Chronic diarrhea can be difficult for pet owners to manage, and community veterinarians often have to refer dogs to specialty centers, such as the MSU veterinary college, for care if commonly used treatments do not work.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Choctaw Central High School senior Jasmine Hickman has known for a while that she will be a student at Mississippi State University next fall, but she didn’t know about the range of careers she could pursue in agriculture and natural resources.

Hickman is now reviewing all these options after having her eyes opened through a new MSU mentor program that she and 20 other Choctaw teens recently participated in.

HOUSTON, Miss. -- Participants in the state’s first 4-H fishing program have not wet a line yet, but they are already getting outside more often and learning life skills in the process.

Scott Cagle, Chickasaw County coordinator for the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said 4-H membership in his county saw immediate growth after he started the program in February.

PRENTISS, Miss. -- Specialty crop farmers can learn how to build or improve their online presence and expand marketing strategies during the Alliance for Sustainable Agricultural Production field day May 20.

The on-farm field day will be at PL88 Farms, located at 5641 Highway 84 in Prentiss.

BILOXI, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service is offering a three-day food safety course for food industry personnel.

This course, developed by the Food Safety Preventative Controls Alliance (FSPCA) in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration, will be May 23-24 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 25 from 8 a.m. to noon. The Coastal Research and Extension Center will host the event at 1815 Popps Ferry Road in Biloxi.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- The Mississippi Pecan Growers Association will host a spring field day on May 3 in Raymond, Mississippi.

Registration for the field day will begin at 1 p.m., and the program will end at 4:30 p.m. The event, to be held at Pecan Hill Farms at 19470 Highway 18, is open to the public.

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Therapeutic horseback riding is about much more than physical therapy.

Cassie Brunson, coordinator of the Mississippi State University Extension Service Therapeutic Riding and Activity Center, said participants first come to the program for the exercise, but they stay for the relationships.