View from the Farm – January 2023

By Heather Retberg, Quills End Farm

We live in a world where you can eat summer all year long.  It is not right.  

We are northerners.  As such, our diet depends on summer, but does not resemble summer.  The last of the tomatoes, kale, greens, and peppers have been frozen, canned, or consumed.  So, although we live in a world that offers you summer from around the world, I propose a winter cleanse, a winter diet that reflects where we live: bread, milk, meat, and potatoes.

There are but a few things more that Maine produces that last the whole year through, but these four… they just keep, or… keep coming. 

Listen!  No one in Florida shovels snow from their driveway in shorts, and no one in Texas revels at frozen nose hairs. No one in Arizona puts -20 windshield wiper fluid in their car. 

Let THEM eat kale!   

We need food that will keep us alive and well through the winter months, and that means a balanced diet of protein, vitamins, starches, and carbs; that means milk, bread, meat, and potatoes. Join us in the local food winter cleanse, where we embrace our latitude, our northern heritage, and our necessity to survive six months of nothing growing.  

We can patronize our local farms all year round by buying the produce of summer.  The yield we have left is hay, tubers, and small grains.  Fresh milk, a wonder, keeps flowing all winter long. Let’s eat!!!

Tinder Hearth bakes all year round, and their bread, pastries, and pizza are beyond world-class.

Horsepower Farm’s potatoes, carrots, garlic, and onions will have you welcoming cold days and nights in culinary ecstasy.  Quill’s End Farm makes it all delightful eating, because…Tinder Hearth bread with our cheese,  Horsepower mashed potatoes with our milk, beet borscht with Greek yogurt, carrot cake with plain Farmstead cheese frosting, 44 North coffee with our cream…mm-mm-mmm.

Rainbow Farm captured the summer sun in beautiful birds that await addition to your French Batard-garlic & chive-Farmstead-cheese pleasure. 

Now, some of you, who are undoubtedly thinking of different sorts of diets and cleanses, may see this option as bland, but it is actually full of variety. Alternate between cow milk and our newly available goat milk. Once you’ve had your fill of chicken, take respite with Quill’s End Farm’s whey-fed pork (coming at the end of the month!).   

The cows will give you the D vitamins to get you off the couch AND the B vitamins to get out the door; the meat will give you stamina to keep going through the day; the alliums will ward off ailments of all kinds, keeping you fit as a fiddle; and the bread will give you the chutzpah to brave the cold. 

We’re not encouraging gluttony, mind you, merely attempting to share our new year’s recipe for surviving winter, commodification, and globalism.

We aim to make it easy for you.  We work to make it possible for you to garner your diet from nearby, appropriate to where you live, and available year-round.  

So, belly up, we’ll provide.

Webmaster’s note: This month’s column is provided by Phil and Ben.


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. Heather is Vice President of Halcyon Grange #345 and writes a newsletter for their farm’s buying club of farmers in her area and has generously given us permission to share some of her columns with Grangers. Visit the Quill’s End Farm Facebook Page for more information.

Communications Column – January 2023

Staying Out of Copyright Jail

By Walter Boomsma
207 343-1842
Communications Director

This may not be the most exciting and entertaining column I’ve written in a while, but it could be one of the more important. A few years ago a number of Granges in California got into some serious trouble due to copyrights and licensing. Not understanding and honoring copyright basics can get very expensive. There’s a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding. I’ll try to keep this short.

Copyright is about intellectual property. It literally establishes the ownership of a creative work (intellectual property). When I, for example, write a book copyright law establishes that I own the content and reserve the right to make copies of it. That’s why you’ll often see “All rights reserved,” as part of a copyright notice. As the owner, I can give (or sell) others the right to reproduce what I’ve written, but others can’t do so without my permission.

This affects the MSG website and Bulletin in a variety of ways. Let’s consider a few, but first let me say that social media in general and Facebook, in particular, are not good examples of copyright compliance. The comparison I would make is a friend who constantly speeds and somehow manages not to get caught. The reality is that they are still breaking the law and, if they do get caught, it may get quite expensive.

Example One: You have an event at your Grange. A local reporter shows up and writes a great article, takes some photos, and the article and photos are published in the newspaper. Generally, this is considered “work for hire,” and the newspaper owns the rights to that article. No one is supposed to “copy” it without permission—that’s the law. If you send me a copy, I can’t (won’t) post it.

Example Two: You write a press release about that same event. Pay attention to the word “release.” As the author, you have ownership of that article, and you are releasing it for publication—effectively giving the media permission to “copy” (print) it. We (in the media) like press releases. No fuss, no muss, no worries about posting or printing them.

Example Three: You write an article or column for the website. In it, you include a poem or quote from someone else’s book. This could be a problem—do you have the right to use it? If not, both you and I could be guilty of copyright infringement. This is not always an easy question to answer. There are some narrow exceptions to needing permission that include “fair use” (very difficult to determine) and public domain.

As Communications Director I tend to be ultra-conservative because a mistake or poor decision can create serious legal and financial liability for the Grange. It’s the same with photographs, especially of children. This can get complicated, but the short version is that we will not post photos that include children on the website unless we have written permission. (This is more about privacy than copyright.)

If you have questions or concerns about this, I’ll try to answer them, but please understand this can become a legal nightmare. Also, bear in mind that, while I’m happy to help, I cannot assume the responsibility for getting reprint permission for those submitting to the site. I am confident that, with a little common sense, we can all stay out of copyright jail!

FACT: Your MSG website was viewed nearly 1500 times during December 2022–and over 20,000 times during the entire calendar year 2022.

President’s Perspective – January 2023

By Sherry Harriman,
Maine State Grange President/Master
207 490-1029

Successful Granges are led by people who are:

  1. Willing to make trade-offs
  2. Work for the goals
  3. Effective communicators
  4. Sensitive to the group
  5. Good at integrating various interests and priorities
  6. Creative and adaptable
  7. Positive role models
  8. Acknowledge other people’s efforts

The responsibilities of a leader are to:

  1. Listen
  2. Contribute but not dominate
  3. Show enthusiasm
  4. Put the group at ease
  5. Promote teamwork
  6. Discourage criticism
  7. Focus on the task, not the personalities
  8. Be fair
  9. Give recognition

Junior Report – January 2023

By Betty Young
207 786-2120
MSG Junior Director

The Junior Grange will finally meet Saturday, January 14 at Danville Jct Grange. We will practice the Ritual, take in a new member, choose officers, and learn about contests. We will plan for the rest of the spring then after lunch go our separate ways for another month. I hope to gain more members so if you have children or grandchildren between 5 and 14 encourage them to check us out. Besides monthly meetings, I hope to plan some fun things.

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Lecturer’s Column – January 2023

By Margaret Morse, Maine State Grange Lecturer
207 439-0413

New Category of Winter Photos

Are you the type of person who is always taking pictures? This year one of the categories for the photo contest is WINTER. So, although our state session is almost nine months away, now is the time to take photos for this category. Often when people think of pictures of winter in New England, what first comes to mind is landscapes taken either during or soon after new snow has fallen. However, there are so many other photos that could be taken, such as kids or pets playing in the snow. Photos of people skiing, skating, or involved in other winter sports might also make interesting photos. Just remember that all entries in each category will be judged against each other based on the following: Composition and arrangement, Interest, Presentation, and Technique. So, pick up your camera and see what interesting photos you can take.

Sagadahoc Pomona Lunch Canceled

Sagadahoc Pomona Annual Lunch-out on MLK Day (Jan 16, 2023) is canceled for this year. The Award for Public Service will be presented at our May meeting at Topsham Grange. That is also our guest night when other Granges and Grangers are invited to fill the chairs and participate in the program.

Plan to join us on May 31, 2023, with a potluck supper at 6:00 and a meeting with a program theme of “Harmony” at 7:00.

Contact Marilyn at beedlehill@twc.com or 207-737-2611 or Ben at 207-699-6466 for any questions or more information.

Dorothy loves the Grange!

I love the Grange because it gives me an opportunity to meet new people as I join others in creating and doing community events. It’s the giving and learning .

Dorothy St Hilaire, Winthrop Grange #209

CWA Report – January 2023

By Margaret Henderson, Director
Committee on Women’s Activities
207 948-2762

Committee on Women’s Activities

Happy New Year, Everyone!

 I hope that you all enjoyed the holidays with family and friends. I found out a few days before Christmas, that my neighbor, who is in a wheelchair would be alone. I cooked the meal and took it over to her apartment, where we enjoyed our meal and then I did the dishes. It made me happy that I could do something special for her.

 I am hoping that you folks are working on entries for the contests. There are so many things we can do inside on cold or snowy days.

I am praying that you are all healthy and safe.

Webmaster’s Note: Did you listen to “Dropping by with a Pie?” Dropping by with a meal is a great version of it! Nice job, Margaret!

Highland Lake Grange Honors Westbrook Officers

Officer Tony

Highland Lake Grange is proud to support the Westbrook Police Department K-9 unit. Joann Levesque, our Community Service chair, presented Officer Colby Clarke and Tony with items purchased by the Grange for the K-9 unit. Many more items are on the way! The success of our turkey supper fundraisers helped finance this project. Colby and Tony attended our meeting and educated our members about K-9!

Joann Levesque, Officer Colby Clark, and Officer Tony