Notes from National – March 2022

Important Trademark Information

Remember that the Grange emblem is a registered trademark, so the full Grange emblem should always include the (R) symbol. Many publications and other locations only have the old TM included, which is no longer correct. To ensure that our trademark is protected, it’s important to get this updated on websites, social media, program guides, and more. Meanwhile, the Grange Youth and Junior Grange logos are only trademarked by the Grange, so only have the TM options. The current logos are available here.

Grange Month Calendar

As a reminder, the “Raised Right Here” theme lasts through 2023, so if you didn’t think about using the theme in this year’s Grange Month programming, be sure to start thinking about it for 2023!

National Grange Heirloom Program

The Grange Heirloom Program is underway–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. Information and materials are now available on the National Grange Website.

New Member Recognition in Good Day Magazine

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:

  • April 30, 2022
  • June 30, 2022
  • August 30, 2022
  • November 30, 2022

156th National Grange Session is scheduled for November 15-19, 2022 in Sparks, NV

Sign up for Open Farm Day

MSG Comm Department Logo
This article is reprinted with permission from an e-newsletter published by UMaine Cooperative Extension.

Now is the time! This annual event happens on the fourth Sunday in July (7/24/2022 this year). There is no fee to join promotions, but you must opt-in via Real Maine.

The sign-up steps differ for those who currently have a listing and those who don’t. Please, start here:

For those who do not have an account or member listing

A Note Regarding Zoom Accounts

by Walter Boomsma, MSG Communications Director

As most of you know, I operate Abbot Village Press providing “books, blogs, and education.” The Zoom meeting platform has become an important tool for us!

For this reason, I recently received notice from Zoom Video Communications that included:

…As a result, effective on April 1, 2022, the purchase of video-conferencing and audio-conferencing services by residential and business customers with a sold to address in Maine will be subject to the Maine Service Provider Tax. Maine Revenue Services set the Service Provider Tax rate, which is 6%, and will adjust the percentage as needed. 

With the disclaimer that I am not a tax advisor, I can share that the state of Maine does provide an exemption for a number of different kinds of organizations and institutions, such as hospitals, schools, churches and libraries, etc. Obviously, personal accounts will not qualify for the exemption, but your Grange or other organization (including historical societies which appear to be eligible) might. To explore and apply, visit: https://www.maine.gov/revenue/taxes/sales-use-service-provider-tax/tax-exempt-organizations

For most organizations, the savings would not be significant, but most people I know do enjoy avoiding paying taxes!

Androscoggin Grange Starts Fundraiser!

Want to learn about a Grange with ambition? You’ve got to read this article written by Vanessa Paolella of the Sun Journal. The Androscoggin Grange located in Greene, Maine has kicked off what has to be one of the most ambitious Grange fundraising projects in some time! And, as if to both encourage and show the possibilities, the article also reports on the recent successes of Victor Grange in Fairfield. Is a trend developing?

Check out what Androscoggin Grange Master Patricia Lehoux has to say about their future plans. They are not just hoping people will donate; they are already planning events that will allow their community to enjoy helping.

Julia Cody recently joined Androscoggin Grange and has set up a “Go Fund Me” page encouraging donations from anyone who would like to help keep this “beacon of unity, liberty, and charity” glowing.

Mill Stream Grange Delivers Dictionaries

Lisa Goucher, Lecturer of Mill Stream Grange in Vienna, delivered dictionaries to the Cape Cod Hill School in New Sharon in February. There are 28 students in the 3rd grade this year, and all were quite happy to receive their very own dictionary.  Happy learning, kids!

Jonesboro Grange Easter Baskets and Breakfast

Jonesboro Grange, in collaboration with the Jonesboro Union Church, offers a weekend of baskets and breakfast! The Easter Basket Festival funs from Friday, April 8, 2022 (4 pm-7 pm) through Saturday, April 9, 2022 (9 am – 3 pm) at the Jonesboro Grange Hall. Purchase tickets to win over 50 Easter Baskets–a 50/50 raffle will be included!

Breakfast with the Easter Bunny Happens on Saturday, April 9, 2022 (9 am-noon) at the Chandler River Community Center. Bring your camera to capture a photo with the Easter Bunny! (Photographers will also be available.)

Proceeds benefit the upkeep of two historic buildings: the Jonesboro Union Church and the Jonesboro Grange Hall.

For more information contact jonesborogrange357@gmail.com.

Visit the Jonesboro Grange Facebook Page

Parkman Grange Scholarship News

Parkman Grange is located at the four corners in Parkman, Maine!

The Parkman Grange is announcing plans to award 2022 Minnie Welts Bridge Memorial Scholarships to one or more deserving SAD 4 residents continuing their education beyond high school. If and when there will be a 2022 Memorial Grange Supper is yet to be determined. The last two Suppers were canceled because of the pandemic. The Grange last awarded $500 scholarships to David Hession and Bailey Woodard, both of Parkman, in 2020. No applications were received in 2021.

This is a call for qualified applicants for the 2022 Minnie Welts Bridge Memorial Scholarships. Applicants must be SAD 4 residents, must have successfully completed at least one term of post-high school education, and be enrolled for the upcoming term. Application packages may be picked up at any of the Parkman, Guilford, Sangerville, Abbot, Cambridge, and Wellington Town Offices. Completed applications must be submitted by June 30, 2022, with no exceptions. Winners will be announced in August.

Minnie Bridge (1909-2011) was a lifelong resident of Parkman, a retired schoolteacher, and a life member of the Parkman Grange. In her memory, the Grange established the Minnie Welts Bridge Memorial Scholarship Fund, originally to benefit deserving Parkman students continuing their education beyond high school. Due to a lack of Parkman applicants last year, the Grange has decided to expand eligibility to include all SAD 4 residents.

The Grange annually awards one or more scholarships funded through donations and the proceeds from an annual supper in Minnie’s name. To date, the Grange has awarded $12,000 in scholarships. For more information contact Sue Manchester, 277-3942.

Junior Grange April Meeting Date Change!

Due to a scheduling conflict, the April Spring Challenge Meeting will be held on April 9, 2022, at Enterprise Grange from 9 am until 2 pm. This is an “in-person” meeting! For more information, contact one of the Junior Directors.

View from the Farm — March 2022

By Heather Retberg, Quills End Farm

The light is strengthening and lengthening.  The first smell of change wafted across the farm this week as winter begins to yield to spring.  Mud replaces ice. The search for spring shoots has begun, the bare branches brought into the house to “force” spring where we can see the buds swelling with leaf and blossom long before they show up outdoors.

 And…the sap is rising.

 Phil found a spare hour on Monday to tap the trees and the first harvest of 2022–and a new daily chore–has begun.  Each afternoon before evening milking now, Phil and Carolyn or visiting friends check the taps, empty the sap pails into 5-gallon buckets, bring the 5-gallon buckets to the wood stove in the house, pour the sap, ice and all, into the pan, keep the stove hot, and boil that sap down.

There’s a certain sound it makes when the whole pan reaches a simmer, a sizzzzzle loud enough it is its own voice in our conversations–the company of maple syrup.  The sap that has dripped out of the buckets coats the stones on the hearth with a sugary shellac and we stick a little to the floor passing by the stove.  It’s syrup time.   The house smells and feels like a maple sauna, that time of year when we keep it cranking more for the syrup than the humans.

 The wildlife returned to the fields this week, too. So long as the cows are away, the deer and turkeys will play.  The non-domestic Quill’s Endians are first growth opportunists.  The fox looks sound and healthy, the deer have emerged from the woods looking plump and well, the turkeys are still great in number.  The winter was not too harsh for them.  We hope the ticks and parasites have fared worse.

In the cow barn, Chirp’s little feller has gotten vibrant and spritely and has caught onto drinking milk from a nipple bucket.  Good and clever for a 2 week old.  Chirp is re-accustomed to the milking parlor and has taken it all well in stride.  The next-gen Bonnie calf (sometimes called ‘Cube’ as she is our 3rd Bonnie) got weaned this week and filled the barn with wailsome protest.  All else is well and spring fever has not set into cow realms in earnest…yet.

 All told, we’re emerging from winter fairly well.  Mud and mess and boiling maple sap, green shoots, and starlings in the birches, and, oh!, the smell of spring triumphing once again over the still sterility of winter!

May your week be filled with hopeful observations and peace-instilling reminders of constancy and life.

Heather and Phil Retberg together with 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.

Lowe’s Hometown Grants Program

It was recently announced Lowe’s is looking for nominations for this year’s “Lowe’s Hometowns Grants Program”. 100 projects across the nation will be selected to receive funding. Projects must benefit the community as a whole and not just a single group. Projects must be able to be completed on or before November 15, 2022 and be located within a reasonable distance of a Lowe’s store. Full rules can be found at https://lowes-hometowns.com/en-us/Rules.

Individuals can nominate up to two projects through the Lowe’s Hometowns Grant Program online portal.

The nomination period runs from March 1st, 2022 – March 28, 2022 at 11:59:59 PM ET.

Projects must fall into at least one of the following categories:

  • Community Resources/Space (e.g. park, senior citizen center, youth center, etc.);
  • Safe Affordable Housing (e.g. critical repairs, block of homes, accessible home needs, etc.);
  • Cultural Preservation (e.g. theatre, memorial renovation, sustainability, etc.);
  • Area Revitalization (e.g. a new playground at a community park, small business renovations/repairs, renovations to downtown areas, etc.); and/or
  • Skilled Trades Education initiatives (e.g. mobile training programs, high school vocational, etc.).

Note that recipients must be capable of being sponsored by a nonprofit entity recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (“Nonprofit”) or a government entity.