Patrons of Husbandry – a website dedicated to the Granges located in Maine
Agricultural Committee and information
Annual Reports and Program Books are posted to the Program Books and Information Page as received. We’ve recently added the following annual reports.
Where’s your report? Have you told us why you love the Grange? It only takes a minute…
By Heather Retberg, Quills End Farm
It has not been many weeks since I wrote about making lemonade out of the drought and how the lack of pasture would be a chance to add fertility to places in need. I planned to roll out round bales of hay concentrating animal pressure (and their leave-behinds) where they would be the most useful–an expensive planting for the future, but lemonade nonetheless.
Since then, I hauled a load of round bales and quite cleverly placed them in the field at just the right intervals, and facing just the right way, so that rolling them out would be efficient and easy.
In the meantime, we received two plus inches of rain.
I know intellectually what happens in a dry spell in plants. The grasses and legumes triage. Energy gets stored in the roots for better times, the growth stops, and they brown above ground. And that did happen. What I had not experienced before was the release of that energy in real time. On a rainy Tuesday in August, when we received well over an inch of rain, Benjamin and I witnessed nearly four inches of new growth from morning to evening. Two days later…orchard grass with 6 to 8 inches of new growth.
It may stand to reason, with the pastures gaining, that one would not need to put a whole load of round bales, staged ever so conveniently, in the field. But that plan was in motion and stayed in motion.
Three days after I put 9 round bales, ever so cleverly, into the path of the oncoming bovines, they refused to eat hay. They much prefer green grass. I found myself moving the bales that, mind you, were ever so cleverly placed, out of their way. Then I set to picking up what they did not eat (not so efficient or easy) and putting it back in their way.
After all, how was the resiliency of nature going to get in the way of my clever plans? It is amazing what a cool drink of water can do to revive, well, anything.
Editor’s note: Phil continues to write “View from the Farm” while Heather recovers from her surgery. Send her a card/note at Quill’s End Farm, 192 Front Ridge Road, North Penobscot ME 04476
Heather and Phil Retberg together with their three children run Quill’s End Farm, a 105-acre property in Penobscot that they bought in 2004. They use rotational grazing on their fifteen open acres and are renovating thirty more acres from woods to pasture to increase grazing for their pigs, grass-fed cattle, lambs, laying hens, and goats. Heather is Vice President of Halcyon Grange #345 and writes a newsletter for their farm’s buying club of farmers in her area and has generously given us permission to share some of her columns with Grangers. Visit the Quill’s End Farm Facebook Page for more information.
Use the icons below to share this Grange Heirloom on social media and help others understand what the Grange stands for! If this heirloom has a particular meaning for you, click the responses link at the top right and share your comment with us!
Grange Heirlooms are snippets from the lessons of the Grange as taught in the Rituals and Declaration of Purposes.
For additional information and resources regarding the Heirloom Program, visit the Heirloom Resource Page on the Maine State Grange Website.
Are you a farmer or farm worker in Maine? The Maine Farmer Wellness Fund is now accepting applications until September 30th. Distributed in amounts of $100, $250, or $500, these funds can be used to support Maine farmers in their mental health and wellness needs (broadly defined). Farm workers and farmers of color will be prioritized. For more information and to apply, see the Maine Farmer Wellness Fund application form
Augusta, MAINE – The Obsolete Pesticide Collection Program protects Maine’s natural resources and prevents agriculture pollution by promoting the safe and proper disposal of outdated, unused, or unwanted pesticides. The program is made possible by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry’s Board of Pesticides Control (BPC) and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The program is open to homeowners and family-owned farms who are encouraged to bring unwanted pesticides— including herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, and similar products used in agricultural production or around the home to collection sites in Presque Isle, Bangor, Augusta, and Portland.
Details including registering and supplying the obsolete pesticides inventory form, a list of banned and unusable products, storage and transportation guidelines, other disposal options are found on the BPC website www.thinkfirstspraylast.org.
Folks attending the Piscataquis Valley Fair found two Grange Booths to admire and study. The Valley Grange Booth demonstrated what it takes to get wool from “sheep to shawl” and how members use those skills to benefit their communities. The Piscataquis Pomona Display focused on general Grange information such as who we are and what we are about. It included some of our Grange Heirlooms!
By Heather Retberg, Quills End Farm
There are times, months, years when there is loss. Most of Maine is in a state of drought. For farmers, this means all kinds of different things, but none of them are easy, or pleasant, and certainly not welcome.
Every adversity, it seems, teaches; but in the moment, sometimes just sucks. The best we can do….proverbial lemonade.
Here at Quill’s End, we purchase all of our “off-season forage” from a couple of retired dairy farmers whom we count as friends. They make sure we have top-quality hay and baleage, and we make sure they stay nice and busy during the growing season. This affords an opportunity during drought to add fertility to land that needs it.
We practice what is called holistic or ultra-high density grazing. We try to mimic what large ruminants would naturally do by moving our cows twice a day to fresh grass. Leaving behind the trampled and manured paddocks for a long rest encourages microbial, plant, and insect activity above and below ground. This leads to the creation of more organic matter, better fertility, and more desirable grazing plants. When we are experiencing a drought, the microbial and plant activities slow down but stand ready to resume their work at full speed once they get a drink or two.
Therefore, when a drought hands you a grass shortage, we get to prime the least fertile places we graze by feeding hay in much the same way we graze. The drawbacks are: Hot and on stored feed, cows give less milk. Stored feed must be purchased, trucked, and fed, requiring more money, muscle, and time. Investments, if you will, in topsoil, fertility, and the future. Investments that will allow this farm to feed the community. Investments that we believe (and farmers live by faith) will make a stronger, more resilient community… above and below ground.
Editor’s note: Phil continues to write “View from the Farm” while Heather recovers from her recent surgery. Send her a card/note at Quill’s End Farm, 192 Front Ridge Road, North Penobscot ME 04476
Heather and Phil Retberg together with their three children run Quill’s End Farm, a 105-acre property in Penobscot that they bought in 2004. They use rotational grazing on their fifteen open acres and are renovating thirty more acres from woods to pasture to increase grazing for their pigs, grass-fed cattle, lambs, laying hens, and goats. Heather is Vice President of Halcyon Grange #345 and writes a newsletter for their farm’s buying club of farmers in her area and has generously given us permission to share some of her columns with Grangers. Visit the Quill’s End Farm Facebook Page for more information.
More than a hundred farmers’ markets across the state offer fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats directly from Maine farms to residents and tourists alike. The Maine Federation of Farmers’ Markets (MFFM), the statewide organization that helps sustain Maine farms, is reminding Maine residents that Maine Farmers’ Market Week will be celebrated Aug. 7-13 this year in conjunction with National Farmers’ Market Week.
The week will be marked by special events, live music, tastings, children’s activities, gifts for market shoppers, and a statewide photo contest. The contest is a chance for shoppers to post photos of their favorite foods and farmers. Prizes include market gift certificates and tickets to the Common Ground Country Fair in September.
Some of the markets also accept SNAP and WIC benefits. To see the complete list of farmers’ markets across the state as well as those that accept SNAP and WIC, visit the Federation’s website.
Use the icons below to share this Grange Heirloom on social media and help others understand what the Grange stands for! If this heirloom has a particular meaning for you, click the responses link at the top right and share your comment with us!
Grange Heirlooms are snippets from the lessons of the Grange as taught in the Rituals and Declaration of Purposes.
For additional information and resources regarding the Heirloom Program, visit the Heirloom Resource Page on the Maine State Grange Website.
By Heather Retberg, Quills End Farm
I fell in love all over today.
Yes, another green grass day with my bride by my side and my children out in front of me. However, it was really a 65-year-old Indian man who made it all clear.
There are communications and COMMUNICATIONS. This man, and his perspective, fall into the latter. It reminded me of the first time I had a peach custard pie.
We Quill’s Endians, at the arrival of such a comestible, had taken our respective seats to enjoy our unearned bounty. This was an unearthly pie, the kind whose recipe should be held in secret, lest we all fall into sloth. All my dearest began to speak its praises unceasingly.
I asked, ever so politely, for silence.
That pie demanded silence.
The simplest things aren’t often described in the simplest manner: pie, love, peace, the structure, and composition of soil. This lovely man, this Sadhguru, comes close to at least one…enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akrtCsRkV60.
Save soil.
yours,
Phil, for all the Quill’s Endians
(And, shhh. I’m thinking about that peach pie.)
Editor’s note: Phil continues to write “View from the Farm” while Heather recovers from her recent surgery. Send her a card/note at Quill’s End Farm, 192 Front Ridge Road, North Penobscot ME 04476
Heather and Phil Retberg together with their three children run Quill’s End Farm, a 105-acre property in Penobscot that they bought in 2004. They use rotational grazing on their fifteen open acres and are renovating thirty more acres from woods to pasture to increase grazing for their pigs, grass-fed cattle, lambs, laying hens, and goats. Heather is Vice President of Halcyon Grange #345 and writes a newsletter for their farm’s buying club of farmers in her area and has generously given us permission to share some of her columns with Grangers. Visit the Quill’s End Farm Facebook Page for more information.