Patrons of Husbandry – a website dedicated to the Granges located in Maine
Our February 6th program was a Valentine card making party! Junior Granger and 2026 Miss Western Maine Jr. Teen Natalie shared some facts with us about the holiday before crafting cards as a group for the residents of Woodlands Senior Living in Farmington.
Big thanks to Girl Scout Troop #2096 for loaning their scissors, glue sticks, and markers!
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National Award Received for Community Service Project
With great delight, Master Jill Sampson presented our Junior Grangers with a FIRST PLACE medal for their National Junior Grange Community Service Project entry, a “Coastal Cleanup” of Vienna’s own Mill Stream. The prize was announced at the Awards Night during the National Grange in November. Congratulations Juniors! We’re very proud of you!
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By Walter Boomsma,
MSG Communications Director
207 343-1842
Communication Shorts are brief (short) but important items posted for your information and use. Please send us your ideas and thoughts!
The Maine State Grange Office is located at 36 Anthony Avenue, Suite 102, Augusta, ME 04330.
mainestategrange@gmail.com.
The February Bulletin is now available for download. Recent issues of the Bulletin are available on the Program Books and Information Page in the communications section.
Do you, your child, or your grandchild have some knowledge of WordPress? (For those unfamiliar, WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) that allows users to create, manage, and customize websites without needing advanced coding knowledge. The Maine State Grange Website uses it.) If so, let’s connect and explore some opportunities. I could use a few hours of volunteer help occasionally.
We’re always seeking resources of potential interest to Grangers and Friends that are not necessarily specific to the Grange. These will be short and easy to digest. As an example, the first concerns finding and tracking scholarships. You can help! Let me know what you think and, by all means, submit ideas and suggestions.
Remember, applications for National Grange Rural Life Initiative Grants are due by February 28, 2026. (You must submit through the online portal.)
If your Grange has an active website or social media presence, please make sure to let us know! We maintain a list on the site and publicize them as a source of more information.
“I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.”
attributed to Abraham LIncoln
I recently stumbled upon an organization offering a free “How to Write an Obituary” workshop. It might sound unusual at first, but offering some legacy-planning information could be a valuable service. Hospice workers, funeral directors, financial planners, etc., could be included.
St Patrick’s Day and Grange Month programs and events needed now!
Don’t forget to submit your special events and programs for our event calendar! We want people to know the Grange is thriving! Surely, there are lots of Grange things happening in Maine.
Remember, we don’t share your email address with anyone, and you get a weekly summary of what’s been posted. Subscribe here! Share that link with your members and Grange friends!
Thanks to those who help us keep these directories current by letting us know of changes!
Sunday, April 26, 2026, at 3:00 pm.
Community Citizen Awards for the Richmond area, including Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Dresden, as well as Richmond, Sunday, April 26, 2026, at 3:00 pm at Enterprise Grange Hall, 15 Alexander Reed Road, Richmond.
Citizens of these towns are invited to submit nominations to Enterprise, and we will make the final decision based on the applications and verify whether the candidates are willing to accept the awards. Except during the COVID years, we have presented the awards for over 20 years. We have tried different days and times and have found that Sunday afternoons work well for our area. Late enough for Sunday-morning church attendees and early enough for Sunday-evening service attendees. And usually, friends and families of the recipients are able to attend, and those attending are invited to share their stories of those receiving the award.
Light refreshments and fellowship follow. We usually end about 4:30.
Community Citizen Awards are a National Grange program, and Grangers are not eligible to receive the award unless it is for a group, such as the Food Pantry, and the members are part of that group.
Enterprise is undergoing electrical updates in the hall, and it should be completed to showcase the improvements and how much brighter our meeting hall is now. We still have work to do on scraping and painting, but taking it one step at a time is getting the work done.
Come join us!!
By Margaret Henderson, Director
Committee on Women’s Activities
207 948-2762
What crazy, cold weather we are having. I am sorry that I have not been able to get an article in the last couple of months. It has been a sad few months. I have lost 16 friends since November. I hope the rest of this year is better.
I hope that many of you are working on entries for the contests.
I always look forward to seeing all of the wonderful work that everyone does. I am going to start checking next week on the availability of different places to have the judging and the conference.
It will be different not to have it at Headquarters. We have many good memories in that building.
I hope that everyone is staying healthy and warm.
By Rick Grotton,
Membership Committee Director
207 582-5915
Spring will be here soon, which means that Grange month in April is on our doorstep. Does your Grange have anything planned? If so, please let us all know by advertising on the Maine State Grange website. Over the years, our Granges have become more individualized and isolated from one another, even within their own Pomona. A Pomona meeting is where the Granges in your area meet once a month to keep contact between Granges strong. However, many of our Granges do not have their Fifth Degree and hardly ever see anyone from their area or a neighboring Grange. What has happened? Why are many not finishing their degrees? Are we encouraging them? What do our new members know about Grange other than what they see in their own Grange?
We need to start bringing back programs that bring others to our different Granges to interact and to have fun. Some of the programs we used to be the following:
Three-point meetings. This is where a Grange invites two other Granges for a night of fun. One Grange usually provides dinner, another, the program, and the third, the officers.
Green Sash and Pink Sash nights. This is when a Grange invites the members of its Pomona or the State Officers to take their offices for the evening while the host Grange provides the program.
Youth Nights. Sadly, with the lack of youth in our Granges today, these nights are almost non-existent. To the youth of different Granges, it was their night to shine and provide a program.
Ritualistic Night. When I was lecturer at my Grange years ago, this was my favorite program to present, so all members could learn or refresh their knowledge of rituals and traditions.
Agricultural Nights and Legislative Nights. There were also fun nights in which the program was based on Ag or legislative issues. Resolutions were conceived, and we also learned about planting, harvesting, and filled with skits, or having a speaker as part of the program.
Without the above programs, what do we have now? Do Granges still have programs that invite others? How are we to take in new members if we have nothing exciting or beneficial for them? We need to start interacting more with one another through our Grange meetings (Community, Pomona, and State) to grow and prosper. ALL OF US are responsible for keeping Grange alive, so ask this question at your next Grange meeting: What is our vision for the future?
Submitted by Marilyn Stinson
Enterprise Grange #48 has changed its meeting nights. It is now the third Tuesday of each month (except October, due to the State Session). Public Pot Luck Supper at 6:00, meeting at 7:00.
Our January meeting was close to February, and we held a candle-lighting ceremony to observe Four Chaplains Day with veterans reading the four paragraphs and Master CJ lighting the candles. As I researched the program and learned that the priest, two Protestant pastors, and a rabbi went down with the ship, praying and singing hymns, I wondered which hymns would be central to their different faiths. I settled on Faith of Our Fathers.
Submitted by Marilyn Stinson
Public Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner
Saturday, March 14, 2026, 5:OO PM – 7:00 PM
Corned beef OR ham, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, rolls, desserts, beverages, home made pickled beets. Served buffet style, but we will assist anyone; takeout available without the coffee.
Only $18.00 (cheaper than most restaurants and no tip), Seniors 65+ only $15.00, Family rates.
Reservations or FMI – Marilyn at 207-308-3901. Gluten-free dessert option.
Dilemmas and Decisions
I confess to having recently watched several fictional movies about time travel. The science is interesting. The application is fascinating. When someone travels back in time, there’s usually a dilemma about whether to take an action that might alter the future. Seth Godin points out, “When you give people a choice, they make a choice.”
Traditions rarely happen deliberately. But the development of the Internet is one example of how traditions will change dramatically. For example, somewhere along the way, Grangers developed an interest in cooking and recipes. Consider how many Grange Cookbooks exist and notice that recipes continue to be a feature in the National Grange Magazine. It’s not just limited to Grangers. You can probably find a recipe box and several cookbooks in most homes today. That may not always be the case.
It may not matter how many cookbooks you have. If you can’t find (or don’t have) a recipe box, AI (artificial intelligence) can create a new recipe for you in just a few seconds. It may not be unique or have secret ingredients. Without getting too technical, it will create your recipe by analyzing and combining vast pools of information. Some will no doubt see this as good news. Others will see it as bad news. They’ll all be correct.
In a very real sense, this is one of the major challenges we face as an organization. No, not cookbooks and recipes, but balancing the old with the new.
We may not be time travelers to the past, but we have similar dilemmas and decisions. We are given choices and shouldn’t ignore them.
Time-travel movies often make the point that small changes can have big effects in the future. It’s true for both organizations and individuals.
An individual who decides to read for ten minutes every day is potentially altering his future, and if you appreciate the ripple effect, the future of others, and, literally, the world.
The Grange decided in 1867 to give women equal standing (at least in theory), full voting rights, and leadership positions. We can rightfully claim that those radical decisions contributed to women gaining the right to vote fifty years later.
While our crystal ball is often cloudy, it’s worth keeping an eye on it as we make decisions. It’s important for individuals and organizations to accept the idea that we can at least influence our future if not control it. As we travel through time, it might be fun to consider what the Grange Way of Life looks like in the future. The decisions we make and the actions we take will determine it.
“As we are again to separate, and mingle with the world, let us not forget the precepts of our Order. Let us add dignity to labor, and in our dealings with our fellow men be honest, be just, and fear not.
We must avoid intemperance in eating, drinking, and language, also in work and recreation, and whatever we do, strive to do well. Let us be quiet, peaceful citizens, feeding the hungry, helping the fatherless and the widows, and keeping ourselves unspotted from the world.”
Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-seventh edition of the 2023 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.
Every Saturday, 10 AM-4 PM, Kennebec Valley Grange hosts a flea market on two floors. Seamstress in attendance 10 AM-2 PM. You’ll find baked goods such as whoopie pies, regular pies, and Needhams. (Pies by preorder. Doris 399-1191) There are also baked beans, Dynamites, and haddock chowder available to go, by the pint or quart. Fresh local eggs. We also offer a small lending library of books and magazines on homesteading, cooking, and farming. FMI Diane Pinkham, Master, 314-5135
Kennebeck Valley Grange is located at 560 Main Street in Madison, Maine.