Sagadahoc Pomona News

Submitted by Marilyn Stinson

Sagadahoc Pomona meets the last Wednesday monthly with a potluck supper at 6:00, and a meeting at 7:00. Enterprise and Merriconeag are 40 minutes apart, but we enjoy the visiting before the meetings, so it is worth the trip.

Ned Pierce filled in as Master for June, with elections bringing us quite a few changes. Our Master for 2023-2024 will be Samuel A. (Chuck) Alexander, Overseer– Marilyn Stinson, Lecturer – Sharon Kirker, Steward – Helen Stinson, Assistant Steward. – Ben Edgerly, Lady Assistant Steward – CJ Roy, Chaplain – Nancy Barton, Gatekeeper– Hope Tanguay, Treasurer – Ned Pierce, Secretary– Stephanie Alexander, Ceres – Helen Stinson, Pomona – Isabel Stinson, Flora – Sharon Kirker, Executive Committee – Stephanie Alexander for 3 years, Arnold Stinson – 2 years, Hope Tanguay – 1 Year. Some doubling of officers for Graces since we have Fifth Degree in April, and Lincoln Pomona Officers usually give us a hand at that time by filling Lecturer and Steward positions

Our Memorial Program honored two members who went to the Great Grange above, plus those who went before.

There will be no meeting in July, and plans are being made for our August meeting to be a family outing, possibly a lobster boat ride to Eagle Island State Park, for a family picnic with friends from other Pomonas. We will keep you informed because we hope you want to join us!

CWA Baking Contest was won by Helen Stinson with her chocolate chip cookies.

St George Grange July Public Supper

Public Supper at the St. George Grange 32 Wileys Corner Road in St. George, ME on Saturday, July 8, 2023 at 5 pm.
Come enjoy lots of homemade food with Grange members, family and friends. All welcome! We have public suppers the second Saturday of each month now until October.

Makers’ Market at Enterprise Grange

July 29, 2023 – 9:30 – 4:00

Enterprise Grange is located at 15 Alexander Reed Road in Richmond, Maine

Enterprise Grange in Richmond has been asked by our town manager to host a crafts/artists event (similar to The ART FEST  we hold each May) during Richmond Days, which is July 28-29th. Since we have a Pre-parade breakfast, we aren’t able to do the planning and set up for what is wanted. Some local artists who also want music have stepped up to plan the event. The artists will be located upstairs in our Grange Hall and outside with tents. They are charging only $10.00 for entry fees which will go to advertising, and any money left over will go to Enterprise’s “Build a New Porch” fund. It will be a “Makers Market” that can include any kind of items that are handmade – yarns, soaps, needlework, breads, all kinds of baked goods, eggs, etc.

The 28th late afternoon-evening would be for setting up. The actual event is on the 29th for the event. Grange Breakfast is from 7 – 10 downstairs in the Community Room, and setting up can be happening upstairs at the same time. The sale will be from 9:30 – 4:00, with music at various times during the day, either jamming with others or taking turns. The logistics haven’t been worked out, yet, because it is such a quick ‘popup’ event.

F.R.O.G. volunteers (FRiends Of Grange) especially want music, and since musicians won’t be sitting and selling products, they don’t have to pay the $10.00.

Can anyone help with your talents? It can be a good promotion for Grange and Granges and a possible start for something other Granges want to do, but we have limited time for planning.

The deadline for reserving your spot is July 18th. You’ll need to complete a brief entry form.

Communication Shorts 6-17-2023

By Walter Boomsma,
MSG Communications Director
207 343-1842

Communication Shorts are brief (short) but important items posted for your information and use. Send us your ideas and thoughts!

June Bulletin

The June Bulletin is now available for downloading and printing! Remember, you can always find recent issues of the Bulletin on the Program Books and Information Page.

Monroe Classic Grange Store

As a reminder, the Monroe Classic Grange Store is still open as an officially licensed Grange Store. They carry a wide assortment of Grange-related and branded items such as jewelry, flags, signs, awards, fundraising and promotional items, apparel, signs, and name tags.

Grange Supplies

Also, as a reminder, the National Grange Store is the place to find the supplies you use, such as treasurer’s receipts, membership cards, etc.

Open Mic at East Madison Grange

Bring your talent and friends to the East Madison Grange for an Open Mic night on the first Friday of every month at 7 PM. Refreshments are available, free to the public, but donations are appreciated. Contact hideandgopeep@gmail.com or 207 716-6441.

Do You Love the Grange?

The world wants to hear about it! Fill out the simple I Love the Grange Form… it only takes a couple of minutes! Thanks to all who have shared so far!

Ideas for Granges

How about an engaging gathering for individuals with memory loss and their care partners? Potential participants are invited to enjoy an afternoon of conversation with some new and old friends and take in some music, play a game, or enjoy a different form of entertainment… lunch could be offered.

Thought for You…

“When everyone’s thinking alike, someone’s not thinking.”

General George Pattaon

Online Directories Available 24-7

  • The ODD Directory features all state officers, directors, and deputies with contact information.
  • The Directory of Granges features all Granges in the state with a contact person. Please make sure your listing is correct!

Do You Have FOMO?

“FOMO” is, of course, a Fear Of Missing Out. One strongly recommended treatment is to subscribe to the Maine State Grange Website. We’ll send you a daily summary whenever news and columns are posted, and we won’t share your email address with anyone!

Subscribe to the Maine State Grange Website

Beal University Promotes Grange Scholarships

With campuses in Bangor and Wilton, Maine, and New Brunswick, Canada, Beal University offers 26 programs, from Diploma to Master’s, across six fields of study, including Health Sciences, Nursing, and Addiction Counseling.

Driving Dynamics Course

Reprinted with permission from an e-newsletter published by Senator Stacey Guerin, District 4.

The Maine Bureau of Highway Safety (BHS) offers a Driving Dynamics course, which is a driver improvement course designed to improve a student’s defensive driving awareness. The five-hour course includes a discussion of collision avoidance techniques, safety issues, driver habits and attitudes, and the basic elements that constantly challenge drivers on Maine’s highways.

Students who complete the course will receive a three-point credit on their driving record and may be eligible for an insurance discount. BHS has also approved two AAA online and classroom driver improvement courses that satisfy the requirement for students needing an insurance discount or three-point credit on their Maine driving record. The cost to register is $40 for drivers under aged 65 and $25 for those aged 65 and over. To register for a class, visit the program’s website. 

View from the Farm – June 2023

Webmaster’s note: The format of this column has changed a bit, with all of the Quill’s Endians participating at various times and in various ways! This month’s column is written by Phil.

With all the animals out on pasture now, our “inter-chore time” is spent shoveling out barns and shelters and planting as much as we can as we can. This week the goat house and the heifer shed have been on the list along with getting all the potatoes in the ground at long last. As we clean up the last of winter in the barns, I can’t help but start to think of winter in the woodshed. It’s time to get firewood cut and split.

I’ve always maintained that a successful northerner has a short-term memory, but the reality is that the successful northerner knows winter is coming, no matter the season. Thankfully, this thought doesn’t extend to the rest of nature. It lives in the moment not knowing the moment won’t last.

Our bluebird land baron now occupies himself with feeding his brood and mostly forgets to maintain his supremacy in his domain only occasionally fighting his reflection in our truck mirrors. The cows now step out of the barn to head to a new paddock as a matter of course, rather than romping up into the next field or the wrong barn door just for kicks. The clover, vetch, and grasses soak in the sunshine and rain and store it all down, just as they were meant to.

For now, I feel pretty sure of what is to come. The peas, the greens, the new potatoes, the tomatoes, the apples…all of the work that bears fruit will please us (may we be so blessed) in its season. But the wood pile, the preserving and freezing, they call to us on cold rainy days and remind us of our roots. Life here takes a short memory, and a long trajectory.

For the growing season, we must live for the day and also plan for the year(s) ahead. Farmers live on a fulcrum thinking simultaneously of the decades ahead and how we can make the time of plenty last all year, while improving everyday functions and work for the moment. The bluebirds and the cows, the vetch, clover and grasses are following their internal rhythms. We’ll keep taking our cues from their textbook

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.