Rusty’s Cooking Club buzzes over to Prior Lake
Rusty’s Cooking Club offers healthy activities for preschool-aged children and their parents, grandparents, child care staff and others who spend time with them. Rusty, based on the Minnesota state bee (the rusty patched bumble bee), gets children’s attention via a short video, and their caregivers receive a monthly recipe packet to create special memories in the kitchen.
Each monthly packet includes a menu and snack idea, picture shopping list, a “look and cook” recipe, fun activities and conversation topics.
In 2025, Rusty’s Cooking Club visited Prior Lake, home to many Vietnamese American families. Rusty shared a video on how to make veggie-filled spring rolls. Lake Regional Park in Prior Lake was the perfect place to encourage children and families to stay physically active with chances to explore the hiking trails, play on the playground and even go swimming. An added bonus is that children will be more willing to eat food that they help make.
Highlights
- Josephine B., a Belle Plaine 4-H Club member, earned Community Impact recognition at the State Fair for her essay, “Who Am I Without the Things That Used to Define Me?” After a hip surgery in 2024 ended her dancing and tennis careers, she felt lost without her identity as an athlete. Her essay describes how she discovered a new identity through leadership in 4-H, theater, speech, choir and student government.
- People don’t have to be mental health professionals to support friends, neighbors and colleagues in times of need. But they may not know how. Extension helped bridge this gap by providing in-person Changing Our Mental and Emotional Trajectory (COMET) training in New Prague.
- Extension’s agricultural business management team delivered farmland rent workshops in Jordan.
- U of M Farm Family of the Year: Malecha Family
- Extension’s on-farm food safety team offered Good Agricultural Practices and Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule grower training to protect farms and customers and improve the safety and quality of fresh produce.
- SuperShelf locations: Belle Plaine Food Shelf, CAP Agency Food Shelf, Mi Casita Pantry, Peace Center Food Shelf
- The Climate Adaptation Partnership is developing new resources on future groundwater and soil moisture conditions for Scott County based on longterm precipitation changes. This information will allow communities to weigh issues like proposed data centers and future drinking water availability using the best available science.
Scott County office
Extension has 14 regional offices supporting all 87 counties in Minnesota.
Scott County partners with Extension to deliver practical education and research you can use at home, at work and in your community. More about Extension in our county.
About the Minnesota 87 project
Spend time in any Minnesota county, and you will almost certainly encounter University of Minnesota Extension. Our faculty and staff, volunteers, participants, alumni and partners are woven into the fabric of rural, urban and suburban Minnesota life. This project showcases Extension in action through photos, stories and a sampling of the many ways Extension has touched the lives of people in every county.