Membership Moments – August 2025

By Rick Grotton,
Membership Committee Director
207 582-5915

There are many active Granges doing many events, which are well-advertised and appealing to the public. What a great way to attract new members. I know of a few that have done so successfully. This is probably the easiest way to attract new members. Keep in mind that any public or community event is also a membership drive, not just a fundraising event. Take advantage of this opportunity.

When speaking to interested parties, be prepared to answer their questions. Subjects in which they are interested include the following:

  • The history of the Grange.
  • What is the Grange?
  • What does the Grange do?
  • Rituals and traditions.
  • What has the Grange done to affect our lives now and in the past?
  • Is the Grange just for farmers?
  • Is it family-friendly?
  • Meeting times and dues.
  • Why did you join?
  • Benefits (insurance, discounts (for example car rentals)

If you are unsure of the answer of any of these questions, we have literature that explains and covers these areas. Give them contact names and numbers,  and make sure they are not confused when you end your conversation.  The Grange is a great organization and an opportunity to change one’s life for the better. There are many people out there who are waiting for you to ask or invite them to become a member. Do your best to encourage them into membership. Open up a new world for them; one of knowledge, history, and helping fellow community members. Make this world a better place in your little corner of it. Get out there and recruit!

Fraud Watch- Pause, Reflect, Protect

MSG Communications Resources Logo
Reprinted with permission from AARP’s Fraud Watch Network.

Keeping up with the latest scams and all the red flags that warn us of each one is exhausting. Scams constantly evolve, and each comes with its own red flags to remember. But some warning signs apply to a wide range of scams, and recognizing them can help you to react safely.

Most scams come at us with three elements: unexpected contact, a surge of emotion, and a sense of urgency. Together, these elements form a “trigger” for a safe response. Many of us learned as children that if our clothing caught fire (the trigger), our response should be to “stop, drop, and roll.” The safe response for scams is to take an “active pause.” The active pause is a deliberate act that allows us to move away from an emotional response and engage with logic.

With the active pause, we can reflect on what we might know about the situation confronting us. Is this something I have heard about before? Does the scenario make sense? Is there some way I can verify the communication? In the end, the active pause can help us recognize the scam and protect our money and sensitive information.

Know the triggers, know the response: Pause. Reflect. Protect.

More Topic Resources

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.

AARP Fraud Watch Network

Need a scam prevention speaker for your group? Click the link to fill out the AARP online form or email me@aarp.org.

Vermont State Grange Fall Festival

By Beth Morse, VSG Fall Festival Director
802 388-2653

abundance of orange pumpkins
Photo by Tom Fisk on Pexels.com

Maine Grangers are invited to join us at the VT Grange Center (located at 308 West St, Brookfield, VT 05036) for our annual Fall Festival on Sept 5th, 6th & 7th. 

Like many fairs, we give Grangers the opportunity to showcase the quality products they produce. (Forms are listed at the end of this post.)

Here is a copy of our schedule of activities for the weekend:

Friday:

  • 5:00 pm – Entries for judging can be turned in with entry form
  • 5:30 pm – Potluck Supper
  • 6:00 pm Bonfire (weather & burn ban permitting, plan B movie)

Saturday:

  • 7:00 to 8:00 am Breakfast  ($8) Waffles, Bacon, Syrup, Fruit, Coffee & Juice
    • 8:00 am Activities will commence:

Cribbage Contest
Checkers Contest
Hula Hoop Contest
Horseshoe Contest
Cornhole Contest
Selfie Photo Booth
Pumpkin Checkers
Pumpkin Ring Toss
Frying Pan Throwing
Rolling Pin Throwing

There will be sign-up forms available for each contest. 

  • 9:30 am All Vegetable, Flower, Cooking, and Craft Contest entries are due with the entry form (no form, no entry).  
  • 10:00 am Winter Building will be closed while the judging is going on (signs will be posted on the doors).
  • 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm Lunch ($12) Meatball Grinders with/without sauce, Macaroni & Potato Salad, Brownies & Ice Cream, and Drink
  • 1:00 pm Activities will recompense, and Winter Building will reopen for viewing winners.
  • 1:30 to 2:30  – Live music provided by Granville Daze. 
  • 3:30 pm Action – items that have been exhibited and donated to auction. 
  • 5:30 pm Dinner ($15) Ham, Scalloped Potatoes, Vegetables, Coleslaw, and Apple Crisp
  • 6:30 pm Awards and prizes for the activities will be announced and presented.
  • 7:00 Movie 

Sunday

  • 7:00 am Breakfast ($10) Egg Sandwiches, Bacon or Ham, Hash Browns, Fruit, Coffee & Juice
  • 8:00 am Chapel Service
  • 9:00 am Clean/Pack Up

Festival Registration (Meals and accommodations)
Festival Information (Contest Categories)
Festival Entry Form
Vermont State Grange Website

View from the Farm – August 2025

Webmaster’s note: The format of this column includes all of the Quill’s Endians participating at various times and in various ways! Phil writes this month’s column.

Resources

The summer weather we have been receiving for the past couple of months is enough to make a northerner blush. We don’t know what to do with it. Some of us can just enjoy, others of us dread the ‘payment’ for sunny skies and 80 degree weather.

“Just you wait,” I can hear a part of my brain say.

The lack of moisture, of course, concerns a farmer more than most. After a wet, wet spring and just 3/4″ of rain since July 1st, the current trajectory is not a good one. Our stockpiled pasture will soon run out and we’ll have to start feeding hay months earlier than normal.

In years like this–3 of the last five–our thoughts turn to patterns and possibilities. Could we irrigate the pasture? What kind of infrastructure would that require? Where would we procure the water necessary? To reliably irrigate 25 acres of ground, one would need to be able to draw over 2,000,000 gallons of water for about 4″ of coverage. That would handle a seasonal drought only. We could have used that this year just since the middle of July alone to keep the pastures verdant and vigorous.

Aroostook County potato growers are in full irrigation mode. Potatoes planted in May add bulk to their tubers in August. Acquaintances of ours have spent untold thousands digging ponds and piping water underground to spigots that service their fields. They can now put an inch on an acre fairly quickly. That is over 27,000 gallons.

Alas, it is a pressing problem in the moment as the parched earth below our feet begs us for relief. For now, we can only watch and manage for the resources we do have.

In that vein, I’ve heard from some folks that humans are geo-engineering and can control the weather; if any of you know to whom I could address my concerns for immediate relief, I would appreciate that information.

Until then, I’ll try to turn this northerner’s anxious-for-rain brain to low and enjoy the gorgeous weather.

Heather and Phil Retberg and their three children run Quill’s End Farm, a 105-acre property in Penobscot that they bought in 2004. They use rotational grazing on their fifteen open acres and are renovating thirty more acres from woods to pasture to increase grazing for their pigs, grass-fed cattle, lambs, laying hens, and goats. Quill’s Endians are members of Halcyon Grange and publish a newsletter for their farm’s buying club of farmers in her area and generously permit us to share some of their columns with Grangers. Visit the Quill’s End Farm Facebook Page for more information.

Staying Cool…

Can you stand one more reminder to use caution during the heat we’re experiencing in Maine? Here are some resources we’ve found. (If you receive this post as an email, you’ll need to visit the site to watch the video.)

The American Red Cross offers a fairly complete page of resources including a guide to the three types of heat illness and a complete Extreme Heat Safety Checklist.

This is a great time to be a good neighbor by checking on others. Something as simple as handing out bottles of cool water can help. Staying hydrated is important. If your Grange Hall can serve as a “cooling center,” send us the details and we’ll post an annnouncement.

Communication Short – Secretary’s Report

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!

Addition, Secretary’s Report

For some reason, (Grange Gremlins?) a portion of the August Secretary’s Report was missing from the post! It has been corrected and is included here.

Clear and timely communication with Grange members, officers, and committees is essential.  Sending out meeting notices, reminders, and reports ensures that everyone stays informed.

The secretary is responsible for preparing and submitting Quarterly reports to the State Grange on time. (September 30th, December 31st , March 31st and June 30th )  Your report will not be considered late if postmarked on or before the 15th of the month following the quarter it is due.  Remember that there is a $5.00 late fee to be included with such report if postmarked after the 15th.  It is extremely important that you keep the State Grange informed of any changes in membership, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.

As your State Secretary I appreciate your dedication to being secretary in your Community/Subordinate and Pomona Granges. 

Have a safe and enjoyable remainder of the summer season and will see you all soon.

Our apologies! You can also read the entire report here!

Duck Pond Heritage Day Update

Duck Pond Variety, Highland Lake Church, Highland Lake Grange, and Lenny’s at Hawkes Plaza are pleased to announce a celebration of history at Duck Pond Corner, located at the intersection of Route 302, Duck Pond, and Hardy Roads in Westbrook.

The Day will feature open houses at the church, Grange, and Lenny’s, live music, historic photos, Scout & 4-H activities, food sale fundraisers, a special church service, displays of artifacts, Westbrook Police K9 demonstrations, a display of historic signs at Duck Pond Variety, and much more! 

Click to enlarge this schedule of events. There are a lot to choose from!

Come join us to explore the long history of this community. No cost to attend. 

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These are some of the many raffle items available.

Fraud Watch- Customer Service Scams

MSG Communications Resources Logo
Reprinted with permission from AARP’s Fraud Watch Network.

Most of us appreciate when we can talk to a real person about an issue or concern with a company, and what better way to find customer service than to search for it online? Criminals are well aware of this tendency and take advantage of it. Customer service scams often involve criminals setting up fake web pages and phone numbers to impersonate legitimate businesses. They buy online ads to appear high up in a search list, and answer incoming calls pretending to be friendly customer service agents of a particular company. Perpetrators also send phony text and email messages and post on social media, impersonating customer service for major brands.

The next time you are looking for an organization’s customer service number, log into your account if you have one or find it on a prior statement. If you go online to find it, be sure to type the company web address directly into your browser rather than doing a search.

If you’ve been targeted by a customer service scam, report it to the company involved through contact information on the company’s official website. If you are a victim, report to local police or the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

More Topic Resources

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.

AARP Fraud Watch Network

Need a scam prevention speaker for your group? Click the link to fill out the AARP online form or email me@aarp.org.

Watering Tips

Reprinted with permission from an e-newsletter published by Maine Representative James White.

Summer’s rising temperatures often coincide with rising outdoor water use, primarily due to an increase in lawn and landscape watering.  While using water efficiently is important throughout the year, sometimes the timing of water use can make a big difference for community water supplies—and your water bill.

In most areas, the amount of water homeowners use to keep their lawns green or gardens lush spikes in the summer—two to four times as much water than they use the rest of the year!  Additionally, those with timed outdoor watering systems often forget to monitor the weather or set their irrigation controllers back in the fall, leading to more overwatering during the cooler months.

You can help use less water and create a healthier landscape by using and sharing these facts about overwatering and tips for reducing outdoor water use.

Secretary’s Corner – August, 2025

By Sharon Morton
MSG Secretary
207 485-6197

August is the beginning of our late summer months before our State Grange Convention in October.

I am reminding all Secretaries that resolutions to be considered at our Annual Convention must be received at the State Grange postmarked no later than August 15th. 

Delegate credentials and updated State Grange Banquet information will be arriving in August with a return date no later than October 1, 2025. The delegates who will be representing your Grange must be voted on at a regular Grange meeting. The delegate credential may be mailed (preferably) to me prior to the State Session or brought to the State Session in October. Remember that your September Quarterly dues must be in the office prior to October 15th for your Grange to have representation at State Session.

The Maine State Grange currently has 76 active Community/Subordinate Granges. I have received  64 June Quarterly reports, with two of the 64 not providing a quarterly report.  There are still 12 outstanding June Quarterly Reports which I will be notifying of the lateness of their reports. As you can see, it is very hard for me to give the National Grange an accurate number of members for the State of Maine when I don’t have that information.  My report must be at National Grange no later than August 31st.  

I also need the Pomona annual reports, of which I have received 8 out of the 12 remaining Pomonas. I will note that one Pomona just elected their secretary, and I have forwarded the report to the new secretary. I am also notifying the Pomona secretary that the annual report is now due.

You may also receive a notification from the IRS regarding the filing of your 990N. Please do not respond to this letter, as I am working on the filing of all 990Ns as quickly as I can. If you would like to know how to file your own, please contact me and I will gladly try to help you navigate the IRS filing system.

The role of a Grange Secretary is vital to the success of your Grange. As the keeper of records and administrative backbone, a secretary ensures that meetings run smoothly and that members remain informed.

A Grange Secretary is responsible for keeping precise minutes of meetings, recording membership details, and preserving historical documents.

Clear and timely communication with Grange members, officers, and committees is essential.  Sending out meeting notices, reminders, and reports ensures that everyone stays informed.

The secretary is responsible for preparing and submitting Quarterly reports to the State Grange on time. (September 30th, December 31st , March 31st and June 30th )  Your report will not be considered late if postmarked on or before the 15th of the month following the quarter it is due.  Remember that there is a $5.00 late fee to be included with such report if postmarked after the 15th.  It is extremely important that you keep the State Grange informed of any changes in membership, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.

As your State Secretary I appreciate your dedication to being secretary in your Community/Subordinate and Pomona Granges. 

Have a safe and enjoyable remainder of the summer season and will see you all soon.