Patrons of Husbandry – a website dedicated to the Granges located in Maine
Submitted by Sharon Morton, MSG Secretary
It becomes my sad duty to inform you of the death of Dorothy H. Shores, on March 4, 2022. The mother of Susanne Verrill, Dorothy was a former Flora of the Maine State Grange and Ceres of the National Grange.
Condolences may be sent to Susanne Verrill and her family at 270 Bailey Hill Road, Poland ME 04274. Memorial donations may be made to the Maine Alzheimer’s Association, 383 US Route One #2C, Scarborough, ME 04074 in Dot’s memory.
produced by the
Maine State Grange Communications Department
Warning! This is a long video! You may decide to watch it in stages or steps but you will definitely want to watch it. This is a truly amazing program that will end up spanning a five-year period and it’s been over 150 years in the making.
Important additional resources for you:
Check out:
Please note that the June deadline is only true for certain, specific contests, including the Quilt Blocks, Photography, Publicity Items, and certain contests in the Junior and Youth Departments. Please consult the National Grange website or program guides for other deadlines. We will continue using social media and the Patrons Chain (as well as Good Day! magazine) to list upcoming deadlines.
The Grange Heirloom Program gets underway in March–just in time for Grange Month! Grange Heirlooms are snippets from the lessons of the Grange as taught in the Ritual and Declaration of Purposes. Please share “success stories” about the use of the program with us, or if you come up with other innovative ways to incorporate the Program in your Granges
This roster lists the state officers for every State… it’s available in booklet form (as a pdf) and as a spreadsheet.
Want to see your new members recognized in Good Day Magazine? Anyone who has not been recognized as a new member in the past year can be included. Use this link to share the news. The deadlines for each issue are:
156th National Grange Session is scheduled for November 15-19, 2022 in Sparks, NV
Our February Meeting included a number of guests, some great food, good conversation and a good time! We were especially pleased to “obligate” our newest members, Sarah Mahan and Nick Jackson. Some of us got to try lamb for the first time, thanks to their potluck contribution and most of us went home with some eggs! For those of you who didn’t come and haven’t seen it, you must watch this video. Not only will you get to meet the family, but you’ll also find their regeneration techniques fascinating.
In other news, we approved the new Hall Use Agreement. A copy will be uploaded to the website soon. We also began discussing Grange Month (we celebrate in May) and Community Citizen of the Year. If you now someone in the area who deserves recognition for their service to our communities, contact Mary Annis or Walter Boomsma. We’re looking for an unsung hero.
We received socks and have more on the way. Thanks to Helping Hearts Ministry in West Virginia for their generous donation! We’ll likely be making our final delivery for this year next week… if you intend to “Sock it to us,” please do so soon!
Thanks also to Phyllis Lyford from the Dover Foxcroft Historical Society for her donation of two patriotic lap afghans for the Operation Gratitude Hospice Project for Veterans.
We started to get writer’s cramp signing thank-you cards and notes. We’ve been so fortunate this winter to members of our communities who have helped us keep our hall open. I’m afraid I’ll forget someone, but thanks to Brian and Cindy Woodworth, Jimmy French, John McKusick… the anonymous donor who left socks in the tote on the porch… with all this help, we were able to come to the February meeting, see the fruits of our labor and have a certain sense that we conquered winter.
Our new Busy Box was put to good use! As a reminder, we are still looking for puzzles, games, etc. suitable for kids. I recently was able to replenish our Book Bin after a visit to the Abbot Liberry. Now that we have kids attending, we welcome any contributions to both! If you can’t come to a meeting, you can leave them in the tote on the front porch.
I stopped at the hardware store on the way to the hall to start the furnace. One of the clerks asked if he could ask a question. “Are you the guy who does that bookworm club thing?” I was able to explain that COVID has our Bookworm Program on hold, but yes, Valley Grange has bookworms who listen to the kids read at school. He complimented the program and said how great it was. (Little does he know that he’s on my list of potential volunteers when we get started again!)
These questions and the support we receive help us remain committed “…to labor for the good of our Order, our country, and mankind.” Thank you!
And if you want to experience the warmth and welcome of the Grange, our next meeting is Friday, March 18, 2022. Potluck is at 6 pm–bring a dish to share if you can. Our meeting and program start at 7 pm and we are usually finished by 8:30 pm. Come as you are and bring a friend! Remember, we are kid-friendly!
Friday’s Meeting!
You haven’t forgotten we have a meeting Friday, right? Let me explain that I will always make every effort to have our meetings. If you are not comfortable traveling for some reason, just don’t feel obligated to come. When we cancel meetings, we deprive those who want to come of the opportunity and start down a path that suggests a foreboding future for our Grange. Janice and I are Grange Bees for the February Meeting. Unfortunately, I will be returning from teaching in Augusta that day. I may be late for dinner. I plan to visit the hall Thursday afternoon to make sure the furnace is running, etc. Thursday is actually supposed to be a warm day with rain… yay! Between starting the furnace and the forecast, the well should be thawed. Potluck Supper at 6 pm, Meeting at 7 pm will include voting to accept our new members and a review of the hall use policy. During the supper hour, we’ll be sorting socks! Don’t forget to bring your donations! Socks have been arriving from as far away as Pennsylvania and West Virginia!
We’re Needed!
I received an email over the weekend from Carol Smith, Principal of Brownville Elementary. It seems, unfortunately, one of the third-grade students, Garrett Ames, who received a dictionary from us has been diagnosed with leukemia. He won’t be able to attend school for a while and his teacher, Ms. Cail, and his classmates are making an effort to support him. We can too, right? You can watch the news story on WABI-TV 5’s website. It’s both heartbreaking and heartwarming. Garrett has a dream of becoming a firefighter and “rescuing people from the house.” Fire Departments around the country are responding with support. (If you are associated with a Fire Department or know a fire fighter, why not pass the word along. Our member Pat Engstrom has already found some cool material and is working on a blanket. I’ll be working on this during the week and hopefully have some additional information for our meeting, if not before. I did share the WABI story on the Valley Grange Facebook page and Mr. Boomsma’s Facebook Page.
And as Further Proof
One town office called Mary Annis and requested our letter asking for financial support! As a reminder, as town meeting season approaches, please consider attending and speaking on behalf of Valley Grange. I can help you with talking points and give you a copy of the information sent to the towns in the area. You know you’re doing something right when people call and ask for an opportunity to donate!
Say “Thanks!”
We will be sending a note of thanks to John McKusick and McKusick Petroleum for “bailing us out” several times recently. Most recently we learned a powerful lesson. We’ve been using RV antifreeze in the furnace. The label says “rated to 50 below.” Well, I don’t think it got down to fifty below but I can tell you that the anti-freeze froze! John not only patiently helped me through the thawing process, he’s donated some special antifreeze to help us out. When I offered to pay he said, “We gotta keep you going.” If you see John, let him know you appreciate his support of Valley Grange! With the support we’re getting, “We gotta keep us going!”
We Now Have a Busy Bin
I picked up a tote and “seeded” it with a puzzle and a few games. We’re looking for activities especially for kids who attend meetings and events… coloring books, crayons, board games, and puzzles. (How cool would it be to have a puzzle going on one of the dining room tables?) Whatcha got to offer? The Busy Bin, the Book Crate, and the extra remaining dictionaries are probably going to end up under the dessert table. We’re running out of room under the Bulletin Board… our blistered finger knitters are refilling those bins!
You’re Needed!
If all goes as planned, we might be able to “Obligate” our new members at Friday’s meeting. It sure would be nice to meet upstairs again, fill most of the chairs, and “do it right!” I’m going to try to “draft” a few people from other Granges… this will be a “Cabin Fever Reliever” with lots of fun!
→FLASH UPDATE!
As I was finishing this up, I learned that Garrett is starting to lose his hair as a result of the chemo. The journey begins in earnest. I also now have an address for mailing cards and other items: Garret Ames, 5690 Bennoch Road, LaGrange ME 04453. If you do send a card, mention Valley Grange so he and his Mom know who you are and where you’re from!
By Walter Boomsma
207 343-1842
Communications Director
It’s not too early! How are you going to create a stir in your community? For many Granges that should ask “How are you going to create a bigger stir in your community?” I recently had an exciting conversation with a member who described the overwhelming support their Grange is receiving because the community loves what they are doing and wants to keep things happening. I don’t think that’s a Grange that will need much help figuring out what to do during Grange Month!
National Grange has offered the theme “Raised Right Here” for this year. An interesting addition is a plan for a special “Grange Spirit Week” April 3 – 9, 2022. Each day of that week is dedicated to one particular aspect of the Grange.
If that feels overwhelming, think of it as an idea starter. Could, for example, your celebration of Grange Month include information about your Grange Friends? In addition to recognizing a “Community Citizen of the Year,” why not celebrate individuals and organizations who your Grange counts on for help when it’s needed? And, while you’re at it, how about a history of your Grange Hall that includes features available to those who use or rent it? Think about posters and displays. Can you enlist a member of the local media to write a series of articles? Are there organizations you could collaborate and partner with?
The idea is to overwhelm your community with awareness of the Grange. There’s not much time, so get on the phone, schedule a Zoom Meeting, or have an impromptu meeting at your Grange Hall. Throw out some ideas–the crazier the better! You may not do them all, but you just might be surprised at the energy you’ll generate.
Remember, we’re happy to post your events on the Maine State Grange Website–but you have to tell us about them!
If you are going to celebrate a Community Citizen of the Year, don’t forget to order that award from The National Grange Supply Store.
I’ll be updating the Grange Month section of the Program Books and Information Page over the next week or two as resources become available for National Grange. Don’t wait! Start planning the party now!
► FACT: The Maine State Grange Website was visited by over 600 people during the month of January 2022.
Are you old enough to remember when television programming involved sometimes dreaded and sometimes eagerly anticipated summer re-runs? What we call “media” was certainly different.
In completing some recent research, I happened to look at a program Amanda Brozana Rio and I did together on April 18, 2020. While it was centered on the book I wrote about the Grange Way of Life, we spent considerable time on the challenge of maintaining the Grange Way of Life during the pandemic.
Whether or not things have changed much since this interview is perhaps debatable, but that’s not the intent of reposting it. The Grange Way of Life doesn’t change much fundamentally, even if how we live and practice it does. Therefore, it seems worth reposting this for consideration. Don’t miss the part about caterpillars and butterflies.
Please spend a couple of minutes enjoying this reminder that Granges in Maine are making a difference!
The following article was written by Walter Boomsma in the spring of 2009 as part of a National Grange Essay Contest… and it won second place!
One of my greater pleasures in life is attempting to explain the origins and purpose of this organization called “the Grange” to excited third graders as part of our “Words for Thirds” program. I start by attempting to determine what they already know and I’ll always remember the young girl who waved her hand enthusiastically and announced “I was born there.”
It took a little thinking to realize she’d heard me say “LaGrange” – one of the small, rural communities here in Maine. Her answer was certainly amusing, but it was also insightful and telling. Like the organization she was learning about she was proud of her roots and heritage. She announced her connection and kinship to LaGrange just as enthusiastically as I announce my connection to the Grange.
That sense of connection attracts people to rural small-town America. But even small towns are experiencing a “social disconnect” as things like regional school systems and “social networking” using the Internet change the traditional model of community. We now have cell phones, PDAs and computers to stay “connected” with people – in many cases people we only rarely see and certainly can’t touch.
But beneath all the communicating, we still want
Continue reading “Why Every Community Needs a Grange Today”