Elementary school children from the Maplewood Richmond Heights School participated in a “Recipes from Home” contest and St. Louis Dames acted as contest judges. Fifty recipes were submitted and reviewed by the Dames, with five chosen as winners. The winning recipes were prepared by the school staff, using nutritious, locally-grown ingredients, and presented to the students for tasting. Working with the Missouri Foundation for Health and their “Healthy Eating with Local Produce” initiative, St. Louis Dames were rewarded with press coverage for the project.
 

Planning is still underway, but St. Louis Dames will be involved in a chef event for the annual Farm Aid event in October.
 

Kansas City Dames were one of many sponsors of the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture’s self-guided tour of urban farms on Sunday, June 28 that included more than 30 farms and gardens from Shawnee, KS, to Independence, MO. The tour included a variety of for-profit, non-profit and a variety of urban agriculture sites. Sixteen pre-tour events took place the week before the finale tour, including gardening seminars, “eat local” restaurant dinners and a film viewing on how to raise chickens in an urban setting. The goal of the week-long series of events was to educate and inform the public about how to create “a home-grown” life. For more information, contact Dame Katherine Kelly at katherine@kccua.org.
 

Houston Dames are busy on weekends manning the Cook's Corner at the Bayou City Farmer's Market managed by Dame Jacquie Miller. Dames create recipes using local, seasonally available produce, meats, eggs and cheese and hand out samples and recipes to inspire shoppers. In addition to making and handing out delicious samples, Houston Dames sell the Mary Nell Reck cookbook Flavors of Life with the funds going to culinary scholarships.

The DC chapter held its third annual Green Kids at Market Day in July. Five FRESHFARM markets participated: H Street, Dupont Circle, Arlington, Silver Spring and Takoma Park. The weekend event was co-sponsored by the Washington chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier and FRESHFARM Markets. Coordinated by Dames Ann Yonkers and Liz Falk, activities included ice cream making, build-a-bug, chef’s toque decorating, a chef demo and a “passport” scavenger hunt. A record number of 1,100 shoppers (approximately 140 kids) participated. FRESHFARM Market manager Rachael Winch summed it up for her weekly report: “This may have been my favorite farmers market thus far!” Co-founded by Dames Ann Yonkers and Bernadine Price in 1997, FRESHFARM operates outlets throughout the Washington area; the original is Dupont Circle. Participating markets are producer-only; vendors may sell only what they grow, raise or make themselves. Farms are usually located within 150 miles of Washington.

San Francisco chapter efforts include assisting Dame Sibella Kraus's SAGE (Sustainable Agriculture Education) organization Dame Catherine Sneed, President of the Board of Directors for the National Gardening Association, continues her ongoing and highly praised Garden Project that provides structure and support to former offenders through job training in gardening, counseling, and continuing education. The Garden Project donates organic vegetables to 
poor families and seniors through a network of community partners. The chapter is exploring ways to fund specific needs of the Garden Project, provide cooking classes for members, and establish 
retail outlets for the garden's produce. Dame Renee Shepherd, founder and owner of Renee's Seeds, 
supports green garden projects around the world, including Catherine's 
Garden Project, with generous donations of her specially selected 
vegetable and flower seeds.

With many members of the Phoenix chapter working individually to help strengthen local food within their community, the chapter is working on ways to unite these efforts and find ways to work more collaboratively with local groups.

The Philadelphia chapter kicked off its Green Tables Initiative with an educational meeting. The work being done in Philadelphia for locally grown food, nutrition education and sustainable agriculture was recognized during the event. Five speakers represented the Urban Nutrition Initiative, Fair Food, Farm to City and The Food Trust, all Philadelphia organizations. With more than 25 Dames present, the speakers impressed the group with the positive work being done to increase awareness about and accessibility of local, nutritious and seasonal food. After the presentations, discussions were held on the challenges of this movement and how Dames can use their collective experience, knowledge and resources to help. Some of the challenges include: a lack of understanding about the real cost of food; the need for volunteers; getting adults involved in healthy cooking; and helping the movement grow in a way that is inclusive but also retains its main principles and integrity. A Green Tables working group was formed to tackle these issues. Potential projects include a local and sustainable food Expo; Dames volunteering with school garden projects or cooking demos; or producing a calendar with seasonal vegetables and recipes for each month as a fundraiser for one or more of the organizations.

The chapter’s fundraiser, Local Treasures, not only raises money for the Garden Corp, but also gives local organic farms and small food retailers an opportunity to showcase their products. This year the chapter partnered with the St. Paul Farmers Market.

The Dallas chapter, with three other community culinary groups, Friends of Farmer's Market, AIWF and Slow Foods, have formed a "think tank" to cross-promote events and collaborate on best use our memberships. Dames are working on chef, vendor, and farmers roundtables to exchanges thoughts and ideas. The Dallas Farmer's Market is under construction with a new Shed 2 which will be based on "green, sustainable and artisanal" styles of vendors such as the Ferry Building Market in San Francisco. All four culinary groups are in the process of planning the Summer open house for Shed 2.