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.
Okay, so these are a little different than the ones released by National Grange. As mentioned in her March President’s Perspective, Master/President Sherry has completed an inventory of items currently being stored at MSG Headquarters: seals, charters, and records of Granges that no longer exist. As some will recall, these are available to interested local historical societies. The list is sorted by the original Grange Name and is four pages long! A copy is also being mailed to Subordinate/Community Grange secretaries.
Check the list to see if there are items that might be of interest to historical societies in your area! These items certainly deserve a good home. There is a Historical Society Agreement Form that should accompany any items provided. Both the list and the form will remain available in the Historical Resources Page of the Program Books and Information Page.
“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”
Mahatma Gandhi
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 it!
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.
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:
By Clay Collins, MSG Chaplain
207 837-0564
“Being forty days tempted of the devil And in those days he did eat nothing; and when they were ended, He afterward hungered. And the devil said unto Him, ‘if thou be the son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.’ And Jesus answered him, saying, ‘it is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”
Luke 4:2-4
I am here writing this month’s article looking at the snowy field and the snow-covered woodpile beside my house thinking that soon it will be spring, then summer, and I will be out there restacking what wood there is left getting ready for another delivery for next year’s heating season. Thinking of how I can make it easier to store and retrieve when needed.
We all should be looking to the future planning always how to make things easier. I know, this sounds like the beginning of a commercial for retirement planning, but I promise, it isn’t!
Although planning for the future is important, planning for the here and now is just as important! By this, I mean following God’s plan. Like the Bible passage this month states: When Jesus was tempted by the devil to turn the stone into bread, Jesus told him that it is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
By following God’s word, we can have faith that the present will be good, we can have hope that our future will be secured in His love, and we will be able to bask in His charity. God only asks for our fidelity to Him and only Him!
I mention every month during these cold winter days and nights that we must not forget our neighbors who might be less fortunate than we are. I continue to ask all of you that are able to please, check on them to see that they are all right. This is one way to show our fidelity to the One that loves us dearly!
By the way, happy St. Patrick’s Day (March 17). On this day, everyone is Irish for the day!
May the sun shine, all day long,
Everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
And may all the wishes you wish come true.
Until the next time, “Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.”
DON’T FORGET TO THANK A VETERAN AND ALL FIRST RESPONDERS FOR THEIR SERVICE!!
Benediction: “May the good saints protect you and bless you today, and may troubles ignore you each step of the way. Amen.”
Thought for the month:
God between us and all harm.
An short Irish Blessing
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
The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) Animal Health Division announced today that it is working closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to respond to the H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza detected in a small flock of non-commercial backyard birds (non-poultry) in Knox County. APHIS announced Sunday that it had confirmed the presence of the virus in Maine. Avian influenza does not present a food safety risk; poultry and eggs are safe to eat when handled and cooked properly. No cases of this particular strain of the avian influenza virus have been detected in humans in the United States. And according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recent detections of this strain of influenza in birds in Maine and several other states present a low risk to the public.
This weekend, animal health officials from DACF worked with a farm in Knox County to control the potential spread of avian influenza. DACF placed the property under quarantine and euthanized affected birds humanely. DACF also implemented additional safety measures, such as monitoring properties with domestic flocks within a 10 km radius of the initial property and notifying bird owners of the importance of proactive safety measures to help prevent disease.
DACF’s animal health officials are also working closely with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC). Though this strain of avian influenza has not been detected in humans in the United States, Maine CDC is monitoring the health and wellbeing of Animal Health staff and flock owners who were exposed out of an abundance of caution. Signs and symptoms of bird flu infections in people can include: fever (temperature of 100ºF or greater) or feeling feverish, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, fatigue, headaches, eye redness (or conjunctivitis), and difficulty breathing. Other possible symptoms are diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. As with seasonal flu, some people are at high risk of getting very sick from bird flu infections, including pregnant women, people with weakened immune systems and people 65 and older. The U.S. CDC provides information on avian flu transmission at this link. The Maine CDC’s Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory is prepared to process samples and quickly provide results for anyone potentially exposed to the virus.
According to the USDA, all bird owners, whether commercial producers or backyard enthusiasts, should:
Resources for backyard and commercial poultry producers:
Grange Heirlooms are snippets from the lessons of the Grange as taught in the Ritual and Declaration of Purposes.
The new Heirloom Program kicks off in March. If you haven’t heard about it yet, it’s an exciting program designed to remind seasoned members and introduce new members to the values and lessons of the Grange. National Membership and Leadership Development Director Amanda Brozana Rios is hosting several introductory Zoom meetings to provide more details about the program and its use, answer questions, and brainstorm how Granges may build from this great resource. Several sessions have been scheduled to ensure everyone who wants to attend can. Each of these sessions will cover the same material, so you need only attend one.
Each Grange that sends a representative to attend one of the meetings will receive a certificate of recognition and a prize. The State Grange with the highest percentage of Granges attending meetings AND with at least one of the following attending will also receive a prize (President; Lecturer; Secretary; State Communications Director or Newsletter Editor; State Membership Director). You can attend any of the scheduled meetings by clicking this link a few minutes before the meeting.
We’ll be adding a resource page to the Maine State Grange Website soon. It will include all of the information you need to take advantage of this great new program. We’ll also be posting a Grange Heirloom every month. Make sure every member in your Grange knows about this! It’s a great time to subscribe to the Maine State Grange Website!
by Walter Boomsma
National Grange is kicking off a program called “Grange Heirlooms.” I recently realized I’d been referring to it as “Grange Heritage.” Since words interest me and I think they’re important, I couldn’t resist wondering about the mistake. For those interested, several dictionary definitions suggest an heirloom is a “thing,” handed down from previous generations. There are several connotations, including the idea that an heirloom stays within the same family for generations.
Anyone interested in farming and gardening is probably aware of a revived interest in heirloom seeds and plants. An heirloom variety or cultivar often exhibits distinctive characteristics such as superior flavor or color.
So the name of the program is wisely chosen. It’s an ambitious five-year program that will make it possible for every Grange to take just a few quick moments at one meeting each month to introduce a key lesson and reflect upon it – thereby passing on part of our heritage. (Maybe that’s why I got confused!) The words were written more than a century and a half ago, but they have much application and meaning to daily life today.
Words like “heirloom, heritage, tradition, and ritual” have more importance every day. Not only is the naming of this program on target, so is the timing. We need more than ever to become aware of the things in our life that do not change but offer us assurance and stability. Without that awareness, we can easily become the victims of the future instead of creating and contributing to it.
I remember a conversation a few years ago with a Granger who insisted her Grange was “not doing any ritual.” I assured her that was not true. My proof went something like this, “You may not be ‘doing’ THE ritual but I’ll bet many of you are parking in the same place every time and probably sitting in the same seats. The same person probably makes the coffee every time…”
We could, of course, explore the difference between ritual and habit. Habits have value with the obvious downside being we stop thinking. (We don’t have to decide where to park–unless someone “took our spot.” That can be very disconcerting to some. Humans like predictability.)
The Grange Heirloom Program will be an opportunity to create some predictability by tapping into our heritage and looking at some heirlooms. At least once a month we can revisit principles that have remained with us through generations of time. We won’t do it out of habit because we’ll think and reflect on one. How many times have you said, “A patron places faith in God, nurtures hope, dispenses charity, and is noted for fidelity.”
Most will realize that we say it twice during a Grange Meeting that is opened and closed “in form.” We accompany it with hand motions that help us remember. (See if you can do it sitting down without the motions.) While we’re thinking and reflecting on this “heirloom,” consider this question: “How many of those four things have you done today?” We are not just Grangers during a meeting, right?
Fifteen words make us think about what it means to be a Granger. Fifteen words that we could recite every morning. We have a lot of heirlooms in the Grange. It may be past time to explore them. The heirlooms haven’t disappeared, but we may have stopped looking at them and thinking about them.
In describing the Grange Heirloom Program, Amanda Brozana Rio said, “[The heirloom lessons of the Grange] are easily overshadowed by the business of the Grange and hampered when spoken by short attention spans and language that is beautiful but uncommon. New members often wait years to see or hear all of these words of wisdom. More seasoned members may recall the words but have not taken the time to think about them and apply them to daily life for some time.”
It’s time.
The first heirloom will be revealed in March. Are you ready?
Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-sixth edition of the 2013 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.
by Walter Boomsma
Sometimes the idea of traveling back in time seems like a great idea, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t it be fun to travel back 106 years to attend the Installation Ceremonies held at Ocean View Grange? Before you say “Yes,” when Larry Bailey, current Master of Ocean View Grange, sent this photo, he commented, “It must have been very cold in January 1916. These folks had stamina as there was little heat and no running water but in those days the indoor ‘outhouses’ we had were still functioning.”
Since Valley Grange had one of those until just a few years ago, I remembered a January meeting when one of our “old-time” members returned from a trip to the indoor outhouse rubbing her arms to get warm and saying, “Well, that was a trip down memory lane.” Maybe a trip isn’t such a bad idea.
Before we leave for another time, what was life like for our Grange Brothers and Sisters in 1916? For starters, only 8% of them had telephones, so they didn’t call each other to find out who was going. As Larry points out, there was no running water and probably not much heat. They probably had some hot coffee–it only cost $0.15 per pound–but they most likely pumped the water by hand and heated it on the woodstove.
It’s interesting to note that the scheduled start time was 8:00 pm, a bit late by today’s standards. A reasonable guess is that this was done to accommodate completing chores on the farm. There’s no mention of refreshments; people truly came for the installation and not the food.
They probably hadn’t watched the second-ever Rose Bowl on January 1st, but they may have talked about it before and after the ceremony. (Washington State beat Brown University 14-0.) According to at least one major newspaper, the biggest threats to America in 1916 were the number of unmarried men and women (17 million), an increase in divorces, a declining birth rate due to “birth restriction” by parents, an excessive infant life waste (due to illness and disease), a large number of “defectives” in schools and “increasing idiocy and insanity.” The next problem on the list was “Enormous number of drug and alcohol victims.” Are we really describing life 100 years ago?
We can guess it was a “younger crowd” making its way to the Grange Hall on that day than it might be today. The average life expectancy for men was 49 and for women 54. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know the average age of Grangers then versus now?
So after completing the farm chores, harnessing the horses or cranking their Model Ts, these Patrons arrived at the hall hoping someone got there early enough to start the wood stoves and put the coffee on. Our time machine has allowed us to join them. We arrived during a light snowfall and parked between the buggies and Model Ts unnoticed.
We feel a bit like guests and remain in the background even though we are, by definition, fraternal brothers and sisters. Conversation ceases as we find our seats in the upstairs hall. Then we hear the words, “We have met on this occasion to install the officers of this Grange; let us first invoke the blessing of God.” We are not startled by the three raps calling us to stand; we expected that. We notice it’s a bit difficult because we are still wearing our heavy winter coats as we listen to the Chaplain’s invocation. The installing master starts things in earnest with the familiar words, “Since God placed man on earth, agriculture has existed. There is no occupation that proceeds it, no order or association that can rank with the tillers of the soil….”
We notice that many in attendance are nodding their heads in agreement. They know that truth first hand. They are part of it, and it is part of them. We can hear the children downstairs playing. Some of those who have joined us upstairs pretend to smoke because they can see their breath until the hall warms up.
We are in is a strange time and yet not. We find comfort in hearing familiar words. “The Order of Patrons of Husbandry is the only association whose teachings accompany its members in their daily pursuits…” They are more than words. Our attention drifts to look around the room and consider how true that is for our brothers and sisters over 100 years ago. The tired looks and calloused hands offer us an explanation. The faint “earthy” smell is not objectionable. They brought the earth with them in much the same way the teachings accompany them as they work the earth.
Caught up in another time, we realize how well it all fits. We might just as easily have visited their farms and homes to experience the meaning of the Grange. Yet after a long day of work, they left the comfort of those homes and farms. The first to arrive saw a cold and dark Grange Hall. But they came not out of obligation. They came for a reason. They knew the hall would light up and warm not only from the crackling wood stoves and kerosene lamps but also from the Grange Ritual and teaching and the bond it creates.
Hopefully, on the return trip, we’ll consider how true it is for us 100 years later. Some of us want to stay in this time, perhaps because life seems simpler. How long would we need to stay before we realize that it is not simpler; it’s just different? Will our halls not be brighter and warmer thanks to the comforts we now have? What have we gained, and what have we lost?
Some of us are anxious to return to the present time where things are familiar and more comfortable. We are grateful to our ancestors and our visit in time for the reality we experienced and shared with them. And we are more deeply committed to the Grange way of life with its teachings that accompany us not only through time but also, if we choose, to wherever and whenever we travel.
“The Order of Patrons of Husbandry is the only association whose teachings accompany its members in their daily pursuits…”
Some resources used for this post:
https://dailygenius.com/facts-about-the-year-1916/
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/america-1916-what-happening-100-years
https://mashable.com/article/american-perils-1916 is the source of the biggest threats to America in 1916. It does an interesting comparison to 2016, one hundred years later
Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-sixth edition of the 2013 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.