Patrons of Husbandry – a website dedicated to the Granges located in Maine
November 29, 2025
Excelsior Grange is looking for crafters and vendors for our annual Christmas Fair to be held on November 29, 2025, from 9 am to 2 pm. The Grange will serve lunch and will be selling wreaths. To reserve an eight-foot table ($20) or for more info about the fair, please contact Excelsior Grange #5 on Facebook or by calling 998-2301.
Excelsior Grange is located at 446 Harris Hill Road in Poland, Maine.
Information gleaned from the current issue of GoodDay!TM magazine.
William Benner, Willow #366
Linda Brooks-Nighman, Perry #324
Ashton C. Reardon, South Sangerville #335
Brian E. Reardon, South Sangerville #335
Douglas Drown, Bingham #237
Jams Owens, Bingham #237
Granges in Maine! Don’t forget to submit your events–especially craft fairs and holiday events.
We’ve received and posted the Community Service/FHH 2024-25 Annual Report. It has been added to the Program Books and Information Page.
Danville Junction Grange #65 and Highland Lake Grange #87 tied in the FHH Report contest and each was awarded $50.
Awards were made in the Community Service Book contest:
For more details, check out the Annual Report! The 2025-26 Community Service Program Book is also available.
Friday, October 31, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. Mill Stream Grange is located at 128 Town House Road in Vienna. FMI visit their Facebook Group.
Articles in this edition include:
Click the button below to read and/or subscribe to Grange Today!
Note that all recent issues are available on the National Grange Website. To save server space, we only post the table of contents on the MSG Website.
The Maine Department of Energy Resources (DOER), the recently formed successor agency to the Governor’s Energy Office, released its updated winter 2025-2026 Heating Guide earlier this month. The updated guide includes practical home heating and weatherization tips for Maine residents who use all types of heating systems. It also links to several online resources, including the latest energy prices and information about how to access emergency heating assistance if needed. The guide also summarizes energy efficiency and home heating programs available through MaineHousing, Efficiency Maine, Community Action Agencies and other partners.
Track heating fuel prices
DOER maintains a heating fuel prices web page to help consumers make informed energy decisions. The page features an interactive dashboard that compares the operating costs of different heating systems and fuels. Prices are updated each week during the heating season.
Review electricity rates
View Maine electricity rates on the DOER electricity prices page, or find information about competitive electricity providers through the Office of the Public Advocate or Maine Public Utilities Commission. Higher usage households may qualify for alternative rates from Central Maine Power (CMP) or Versant Power. Contact your utility for details.
To view the full winter heating guide, visit DOER’s winter heating resources webpage.
Nearly all of us use social media to stay connected with friends and family. Unfortunately, scammers use social media to connect with us, too. Before accepting a friend request on your social media platforms, keep these tips in mind to protect yourself from scams.
Fraud criminals are adept at copying people’s social media profiles to impersonate them. Indeed, Facebook reportedly shut down more than one billion fake accounts in the third quarter of 2024 alone. Criminals use cloned accounts to reach out to the actual person’s friend list for nefarious reasons: to fake a problem they need help with, to access sensitive information, or send out malicious links to the real person’s friends. To make sure you are hearing from the person and not a clone of that person’s profile, double-check that you are not already friends with them. If not, reach out if you can to the person by phone, email, or text to confirm that the request is real.
Finally, adjust the privacy settings of your account to limit who can see your posts and your profile details. Information like your workplace, school, or hometown can all be used by scammers to build convincing cloned accounts and target your network.
Report scams to local law enforcement. For help from AARP, call 1-877-908-3360 or visit the AARP Fraud Watch Network at aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork.
The Grange and FFA share many things in common and that means we have an opportunity to help each other. FFA member Delaney McKeen joined us to explore!
An interview with FFA member Delaney McKeen exploring some comparisons between it and the Grange. It’s not trite to say that “this is not your grandparents’ FFA.” You’ll be surprised at how and why the FFA continues to grow and develop–and in some ways, Granges and other organizations can both benefit and help.
Due to a bit of a snafu, this video truly features Delaney–my portions were not captured visually. I assure you I was there virtually! For more information, visit the FFA website or send us an email, and we’ll give you a hand.
Mill Stream Grange in Vienna has a dynamic duo of Junior Grangers! If you’ve been following recent posts, you may have noticed them.
Natalie Heck recently received the Passion to Progress Award, bestowed through the Maine Academic Scholarship Pageant and presented by Rosie Haibon, USA Ambassador Miss. The award is based on her essay regarding volunteering at the Mount Vernon Food Bank this past year. Natalie also earned the Crossroads Leadership Volunteer Service Award for completing 50+ hours of community service during her reign as 2025 Miss Western Maine Pre-Teen.
We were pleased to recently feature her as a guest columnist with her award-winning Passion to Progress Essay.
Natalie’s sister Caroline is equally ambitious and community service-minded. Caroline is working on an outreach program to raise awareness of the importance of childhood literacy. The project includes building and placing a Little Free Library TM at the Mill Stream Grange Hall. Her outreach includes designing a bookmark with statistics and facts about the importance of reading to children. These will be printed and shared locally through her Girl Scout Troop and Service Unit, in the pre-K classrooms at Mount Vernon and Cape Cod Hill elementary schools, and in Mill Stream’s Words for Thirds.
She has already collected 203 books, a mix of board books, picture books, early chapter books, and middle-grade novels, all donated by the local community. If you’d like to support Caroline’s outreach program, contact her Mom, Kirstine Heck, or visit the Vienna, Maine, Mill Stream Grange Facebook Group.
Both girls demonstrate the value and power that come from collaborating with like-minded organizations. Energy creates energy. We are grateful and proud of their efforts and accomplishments.
A third Junior Granger, Sam Hanley, recently became an adult member and will surely continue to support his friends and the community. Earlier this summer, these Junior Grangers and another friend organized a Coastal Clean-Up that brought people together to clean the banks of the Mill Stream, which gives the Grange its name. They know how much fun Community Service can be! Maybe we should all find some kids to hang around with!