Patrons of Husbandry – a website dedicated to the Granges located in Maine
A fellow Granger is never a stranger. There is an immediate bond between Grangers. We are part of a long and honorable tradition. Through Grange Programs, I can serve my community in ways I cannot do alone.
Janice, Valley Grange #144
By Walter Boomsma,
MSG Communications Director
207 343-1842
Communication Shorts are brief (short) but important items posted for your information and use. Send us your ideas and thoughts!
The December Bulletin is finished and ready for downloading and printing! Remember, you can always find recent issues of the Bulletin on the Program Books and Information Page.
In an ongoing effort to make our online directory of Granges accurate, a printed copy of the current directory is being mailed with the December Bulletin. Please check it or the online Grange Directory and ensure the contact person and information listed is correct. Email any changes!
We continue to work on the site… while current postings and columns are a priority, we’re also bringing the Program Books and Information Page up to date and in compliance. If you need something and can’t find it, let us know! This has truly been a huge project, but, as the saying goes, “We’re gaining!”
We do list Pomona Meetings on the website calendar–please send the dates and times of your Pomona Meetings!
The world wants to hear about it! Fill out the simple I Love the Grange Form… it only takes a couple of minutes! Thanks to all who have shared so far!
Could you adopt a theme or slogan for the new year?
What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year.
Vern McClellan
“FOMO” is, of course, a Fear Of Missing Out. One strongly recommended treatment is to subscribe to the Maine State Grange Website. We’ll send you a daily summary whenever news and columns are posted, and we won’t share your email address with anyone!
Note that when you subscribe to the Maine State Grange Website, we do not share your email address with others and only use it to send you–at the most–one email per day when new information is posted.
By Walter Boomsma
207 343-1842
Communications Director
When teaching adult students, I remind them they are taking THEIR course, not MY course. Of course, that doesn’t prevent me from offering an occasional nudge or nag (they get to decide which it is) when they aren’t doing their part.
There’s a parallel with the MSG website. It’s YOUR site, not MINE. That means we have a shared responsibility for it. And it also means I get to offer an occasional nudge or nag. (You can decide which it is.) There might be two this month.
First, an ongoing challenge continues to exist with the online directory of Granges. I continue to receive far too many emails and phone calls from people who have tried using it, and it hasn’t worked–disconnected phone numbers, no replies from the email address listed, etc. For those unfamiliar with it, this directory lists active Granges, the address of the Grange Hall, and a contact person with a name, phone number, and–ideally–email address. This contact person does not need to be the master or secretary. It does need to be someone who is dependable and responsible.
The online directory is consistently the most visited page on the website. (The second most visited is the Program Books and Information Page.) For various reasons, people want to contact local Granges. We need to work together to make sure that can happen. Keeping the online directory accurate should be a priority for all of us. Please make sure the information listed is accurate. Send any corrections to the webmaster!
There are too many sad (and sometimes funny) stories I could share. I was recently contacted by someone who desperately wanted to participate in a Grange event in their area but couldn’t figure out who to contact for more information. Another example was from a group that had used the Grange Hall. They found a note requesting the group supply their contact information to the local Grange, but it didn’t say who to send it to!
We can do better.
This same nudge or nag applies to almost ALL information about your Grange! Please send information and news about your Grange and your events! I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible. You can use the “submitting information” tab on the site or send the information in an email. If you are sending information to your local newspapers, add webmaster@mainestategrange.org to the distribution list.
By the way, once your information is posted to the website, it’s easy-peasy to share it on Facebook. It doesn’t work the other way around!
We can do better.
Lastly, I’ve been nudging and nagging myself to continue the effort to repair and reconstruct the site. One problem with providing so much information is that it becomes a real challenge when much of it disappears! If you visit the Program Books and Information Page, any link with a smiley ☺ face after it should work. If you need something specific and can’t find it on the page, let me know, and I’ll try to find it for you.
Your patience and participation are appreciated!
► FACT: Your MSG website was viewed nearly 1900 times during November 2022–and 10% of those visits were to the online directory of Granges.
“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”
W.T. Purkiser
The following article was originally part of a handout from Walter Boomsma’s presentation at the Northeast Leaders’ Conference in 2013.
If you don’t help with the milking, you’ll forget the cows’ names.
Amish Proverb
Your members are an untapped market! We tend to think of “markets” as customers. Those in business are aware of the tremendous strides made in understanding what motivates customers. Businesses spend a great time of time, energy, and money marketing products and services to their customers. But we tend to deal with people differently when we think of them as “members.”
We’d like to think that members should love and promote our organization. Well, customers should buy products and services, but companies still work hard to get them to want to! As Grange Leaders, we can be equally good at getting members excited about the Grange. After all, it doesn’t “cost” much to belong to and love the Grange.
Successful marketers know their customers’ values and get the business by offering obvious satisfaction (benefits, rewards, consequences). Successful Granges and Grange Leaders get motivated members by using exactly the same approach. Grangers, like customers, are motivated by outcomes and the amount of value placed on those outcomes.[1] This is a basic premise for all marketing: the price a customer will pay for a product is equal to the amount of expected benefit.
This simple formula (effort = outcome + value) is the basis for every choice we make. Usually, it takes place on an almost unconscious level. You choose a restaurant based on what kind of service and food (outcomes) you expect. The place just down the street may be cheaper, but the service is almost non-existent. You’ll drive the extra miles if you value the service more than the few extra dollars you’ll pay and the extra effort required. But notice this is about what YOU value.
There are hundreds – perhaps thousands – of tools available to excite and motivate. But we may need to change our thinking a bit. Member relations and member-centered publicity mean that we don’t preach. It means we don’t “sell” the Grange; we excite and influence people. For example,
These programs are not as important as the thought process. Consumer marketing works when the product has real value. Member-centered publicity works when you value your members and offer them intrinsic benefits.
Customers buy products because those products do something for them. People will join the Grange if the Grange does something for them. Your current members contribute energy because they get something in return. As a leader of your Grange what are you giving those members?
By Walter Boomsma
207 343-1842
Communications Director
It seems ironic that I wrote last month on the topic of building the website, and this month I am reporting the disappearance of some parts! Technology has not been kind recently.
At the risk of causing some MEGO (my eyes are glazing over), I’ll share some background. The site has had some issues since it was hacked this summer. While the site structure is not too complex, we are burdened a bit by the sheer size. We’ve had posts on the site all the way back to 2010, when it was first created. And many of those posts included images (pictures).
For those technically inclined, we had a recent “conflict” between the site theme and the site itself. In short, nearly every image disappeared from the site as a result. By the way, images include documents such as program books.
The good news is that I have maintained a file of those images separate from the site. The bad news is the only way to solve the problem is to replace the images one at a time. With over 3,000 posts and pages, you can well imagine this is not an easy task.
I’ve made the Program Books and Information Page a priority and have focused on the most recent posts.
The more good news is that the mess has created an opportunity to prioritize and “clean up” things. It’s going to take some time, but eventually, we’ll have a streamlined site. I could bore you with how much smoother things become–for example, backups will take less time. In practical terms, we’ll lose posts and images from the distant past. (The site is over a decade old!)
This means some of the older posts will disappear. And those that remain will show broken links where images are involved. Your patience and understanding are appreciated. If you have any questions or concerns, do let me know.
The top priority will be posting new information: your events and news. Please submit!
► FACT: Your MSG website was viewed nearly 2700 times during October 2022–and over 40 posts were placed on the site.
Here’s a reminder that there are some really cool things happening in November! If your event is missing let us know!
The Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle* (Harmonia axyridis), is a common ladybug that can become a household nuisance each fall in cold climates–in New England, for example–when adults begin seeking out warm locations to spend the winter. It is inherently a beneficial insect, and one which has frequently been deliberately released in the U.S. (beginning as long ago as 1916) for the purpose of controlling harmful plant pests such as aphids, mites, scale insects, etc. They can pose a legitimate nuisance, though, when confronted with large numbers of them indoors, and their secretions can stain furniture, curtains, blankets, rugs, etc. They do not breed, lay eggs, or feed inside the home, however, and they are not structurally-damaging.
As the name suggests, the Multicolored Asian lady beetle exhibits a great many color forms. However, outside its native area of eastern Asia, one finds them primarily showing only one of three basic color types: red or orange with black spots, black with four red spots, and black with two red spots. The form with anywhere from zero to 19 spots–known as the succinea form—is the most common form that we have here in Maine. They have reddish-brown legs and are noticeably brown on the underside of the abdomen.
Two similar species are the Seven-spotted Lady Beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) whose wing covers are spotted in a 1-4-2 pattern, and the Two-spotted Lady Beetle (Adalia bipunctata), which has orange wing coverings and just one black spot on each side.