On April 7 I was invited to speak at the Minnesota Agricultural Women’s Leadership Conference near Minneapolis, MN. It was quite interesting to hear about the agricultural scene there and I was very impressed about how well they market their local state products.

Sunday April 11 found us at Food4 Thought, an Earth Week celebration sponsored by REAP where our honey was used by Malcolm Saunders of  The Light Cellar in his organic raw chocolates. Yummm – keep an eye on the store as we hope to start caring these healthy chocolates in the near future. This event also had a playing of ‘Food Fight’; a very positive documentary follow up to the popular ‘Food Inc.’ and well recommended.

Monday Apr 12 – another trip into Calgary to speak briefly at ‘Finding our Roots’ – a workshop organized by the Calgary Office of Sustainability and  was a brainstorming session to explore how Calgary's local food system could be improved with increased urban farming, community gardens,etc. and what challenges would be involved. The discussions will be used to formulate the "Food Policy for the City of Calgary" notice of motion report being presented to council June 2, 2010. The fact that local producers were invited to give input was appreciated and bodes well for a more complete report.food system could be improved with increased urban farming, community gardens,etc. and what challenges would be involved. The discussions will be used to formulate the "Food Policy for the City of Calgary" notice of motion report being presented to council June 2, 2010. The fact that local producers were invited to give input was appreciated and bodes well local food system could be improved with increased urban farming, community gardens, etc. It was encouraging that a number of local producers were invited to participate.

Wednesday Apr 14 and we were heading into Calgary once again for AGC Cooks. This Art Gallery of Calgary fundraiser aids the gallery’s education program. Chinook Arch Meadery meads and Chinook Honey comb honey were selected by Calgary food critic John Gilchrist as the ‘secret ingredients’ meant to challenge the participating 6 chefs from Sky 360, Bonterra Trattoria, Raw Bar, Char Cut, BR& (Brand) and Saint Germain. The chef’s did an amazing job of using our products in each of the four courses – they were all artists in their own right.