Patrons of Husbandry – a website dedicated to the Granges located in Maine
Valley Grange is proud to have handed out close to 250 dictionaries to third-graders this year. That puts us well over 4,000 since starting the program several decades ago. Enjoy some photos of this year’s program.
Dictionary Days are fun because learning is fun!
If your Grange is interested in starting a Words for Thirds Dictionary Program, complete the form below. No obligation!
In a recent post, Seth Godin reminded us that some restaurants keep a photo of the local food critic in the kitchen. That way, if someone notices that person in the restaurant, everybody bends over backward to make things right.
But why not try to get things right even if the critic isn’t there?
What if we conducted every meeting as if there were a dozen potential new members sitting in the back? Or do we ask the gatekeeper to warn everyone, “We have guests!”
For that matter, there’s a place in the opening for honoring “special guests.” Traditionally, that means someone from “higher up” in the Grange. Maybe the steward should at least announce ALL guests, regardless of their status.
Quick tips from Granges and Grangers are always welcome… on any topic that might improve or make things easier for other Granges. Use the submission form or email yours to the webmaster for consideration!
by Walter Boomsma
Occasional Talking Head and Cage Rattler
The talking heads – and admittedly I am sometimes one of them – love buzzwords and catchphrases like “elevator speeches” and “value propositions.” Then we can ask “What’s your [fill in the blank]?”
As a talking head, I’d suggest that elevator speeches and value propositions create an internal focus. As a cage rattler, I have a different question.
Where does your community Grange fit into your community’s infrastructure?
“Infrastructure” is the set of facilities and systems that serve an area. Without digging too deep, hard infrastructure tends to be seen as physical-buildings, roads, etc. Soft infrastructure is all the institutions that maintain the economic, health, social, environmental, and cultural standards of an area.
Don’t get too overwhelmed.
We often talk about how important it is for a Grange to be relevant to its community. Maybe it’s time to think of our Granges as part of our community’s infrastructure. The Grange Hall falls under the category of hard infrastructure. The Grange is an institution that maintains the economic, health, social, environmental, and cultural standards of an area.
Or at least it used to.
How easy it is to take the infrastructure for granted…
What would happen if tomorrow you woke up and all the street signs in your area had disappeared? You lost some hard infrastructure. Or, suppose you decided to go to the library, and it was closed and boarded up? You lost some soft infrastructure–the building is still there, but the institution is gone. You might miss it for a while, particularly when you drive by the vacant building. Maybe your GPS will replace the need for street signs. The internet might substitute for the library.
Or maybe not.
Some years ago I talked with a school guidance counselor who expressed his frustration. His impression was that there were many resources available–the problem was finding them. He was happy to learn about what the Grange was doing and could do. But his question was “Why didn’t I know about this?!”
We attempted to develop a directory of community resources. It became part of the infrastructure describing the infrastructure!
If you’re a Granger (although that’s not a requirement) find a community leader and ask the question, “What’s missing in our community?”
Then figure out how to fill the void.
Voids create pain. You’ll get more members when you find people who share that pain and who feel the need to provide the missing infrastructure.
Here’s a not-too-creative example. Those monthly potluck suppers might be about fundraising, but we’re also starting to see monthly community suppers, sometimes free, provided by volunteers and donations. They are offered in part to address food insecurity but also to provide an opportunity for people to come together simply to be together, enjoy, and know each other. That’s pain relief, and it’s also infrastructure.
We have at least one Grange in Maine that has other organizations meeting in their hall nearly every night of the week. That’s infrastructure. That community has the hard and soft infrastructure that supports the efforts of non-profits like Alcoholics Anonymous, blood drives, birthday parties, and even celebrations of life.
What’s missing in your community? If you don’t know, start asking the question of your friends and neighbors. What’s one thing our community really needs! I’ll bet you get a lot of interest and dialog. Try it!
How about conducting a “Life Skills Class?” The class could focus on what it takes to properly and easily balance a checkbook, write checks and reconcile any errors found. These are skills that sound simple to some, but not everyone knows how to do them.
This could actually be a series of classes including writing a resume/cover letter, practice interviews, container gardening, budgeting, simple mending, cooking, car care, de-cluttering, and household repairs.
Consider what skills you and your fellow Grangers could use some help with and start a life skills class of your own! Brushing up on life skills like these can really simplify your life and the lives of your fellow Grangers.
The Fourth of July – also known as Independence Day or July 4th – has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941, but the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back to the 18th century and the American Revolutionary War.
On July 2nd, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, and two days later delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson.
The Declaration of Independence allowed Congress to seek alliances with foreign countries, and the fledgling U.S. formed its most important alliance early in 1778 with France. Without France’s support, America might well have lost the Revolutionary War. The war waged by the American colonies against Britain, which began more than a year earlier in April 1775 at Lexington and Concord near Boston and ended at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781 when British forces surrendered, had far-reaching effects around the globe as other nations saw a small novel nation win its freedom from the greatest military force of its time.
From 1776 to the present day, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence, with festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues.
This article is reprinted with permission from an e-newsletter published by Paul Davis, State Senator for District 4.
By Marilyn Stinson, Enterprise Grange
As the Community Service Coordinator for Enterprise Grange #48, I’m challenging ALL Granges, Grangers, and Friends to consider their local food pantries for the 12 Days of Christmas which starts on Christmas Day, using the song as a guideline. Let’s see what innovative items people can come up with. Let’s fill Community Service Reports with pictures of what they came up with.
For a previous year, the reasoning was:
Day 1. Pear Tree = can of pears.
Day 2. Turtle Doves = ??? turtles are in the sea and so is tuna, so Chicken of the Sea Tuna.
Day 3. French Hens = French cut green beans. (add a can of mushroom soup for a casserole)
Day 4. Calling Birds = oatmeal or dry cereal to call them with?? Birds like uncooked cereals.
Day 5, Five Gold Rings = rings of canned pineapple. Or spaghetti-O’s.
Day 6, Geese-a-laying = I had hens laying eggs so I shared. This year, I’ll use cans of corn to feed the geese.
Day 7, Swans a-swimming = chicken soup (swans taste like chicken??).
Day 8, Maids a-milking = cans of milk (put with the corn for corn chowder). Or the boxed regular milk.
Day 9, Ladies Dancing = Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix would be Swiss ladies dancing, I think.
Day 10, Lords-a-leaping is another challenge. I used baby wipes because once you open the package, the rest leap out at you. Tissues would do that, too. Maybe corn to pop??
Day 11, Pipers Piping = elbow macaroni looks like little elbow pipes and food pantries sometimes ask for pasta.
Day 12, Drummers Drumming = dry spaghetti for drumsticks, or frozen chicken drumsticks. Or isn’t there a snack cracker that is drumsticks?
(Donations of can openers would also be an extra item.)
The Twelve Days of Christmas start with Christmas Day and end with the eve of Epiphany on January 5th. The Twelve Days of Christmas dates back to English origins in the sixteenth century although the music is reputed to be French. The first publication date for The Twelve Days of Christmas (The 12 Days of Christmas) was 1780.