Patrons of Husbandry – a website dedicated to the Granges located in Maine
Due to an issue with the furnace at State Grange Headquarters, the Degree Day scheduled for April 23, 2023, will be held at Manchester Grange located at 953 Western Ave, (Route 202), Manchester, ME 04351 starting at 1:00 pm. Please contact Maynard Chapman or Sherry Harriman for more information!
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!
Columns and posts for the April Bulletin are due April 14, 2023. Remember, you can always find recent issues of the Bulletin on the Program Books and Information Page.
Listen to this one-minute podcast and think about Grange Month! Could you drop off some pies around your community together with some information about your next meeting or program?
Don’t forget to tell us what happiness you experienced during Grange Month at your Grange. Use the Submissions Tab or send an email!
How about a House Plant and Seed Swap? Invite people looking to build their plant collection or interested in gardening and looking for seeds to join other plant lovers to trade plants and seeds. Serve light refreshments.
Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’
Robin Williams
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!
“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!
It’s time for farms to sign up for Open Farm Day; the deadline is May 1. The event is on July 23, 2023. There will be a webinar on April 5, 2023, at 5 pm for farms who want to learn more. More information and resources, including how to signup for the webinar and Open Farm Day 2023.
April 15, 2023, 11:30 – 1:00 (or until the food runs out)
Enjoy lunch to go from Kennebec Valley Grange! The menu includes smothered beef, mashed potatoes, peas & carrots, homemade biscuit, and peach cobbler. The cost is $10 per lunch.
Kennebec Valley Grange is located at 560 Main Street in Madison, Maine.
For more information, email Diane Pinkham or call 207 314-5135.
It’s not too late to get your event listed on the calendar! Use the “submit” tab at the top of the page.
Each Friday morning, an email arrives – your computer dings, your phone buzzes, a notification pops up on your computer screen. The email is from the National Grange – either the Patrons Chain or the once-a-month View from the Hill. Without fail, that email has come to you for years, and then you notice… it’s not coming anymore. It’s not in your junk or spam folders, you didn’t change your email address… where is it?
Scrolling emails on your phone, it’s really easy to accidentally unsubscribe, mark the email as spam, or remove yourself from our mailing list. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy for the National Grange staff to re-subscribe you. Because of the software used to send these emails, the only way to get back on the weekly email list is to sign up again – staff are unable to do it for you.
That’s why we tried to make it simple for you to get back on our email list! Visit www.nationalgrange.org/comeback to be added back to our mailing list through Constant Contact. On the form, check “Newsletter” to start getting our weekly Patrons Chain and View from the Hill emails again. Checking “General Interest” will also subscribe you to other communications through the National Grange emails. Don’t worry, we promise not to clutter your inbox.
If you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter before, this form will still work for you!
Here’s what you can expect by signing up:
So, if you’re feeling a little disconnected from National Grange news and information, be sure to update your subscription to the National Grange’s newsletters!
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.
“Notes from National” is based on a monthly email received from the National Grange Communications Department.
Early figures indicate that traffic fatalities have dropped dramatically in Maine since the start of the year. Compared to this time last year, 12 people have died because of accidents compared to 32 at the same time last year.
According to Lauren Stewart, director of the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety (BHS), 2022 was one of the deadliest years on record when 177 people were killed across the state, including 20 people who were either pedestrians or bicyclists. It was the highest year since 2007 when 183 people died that year.
Stewart said last year’s figure continued a trend that began during the pandemic, especially involving those who speed or drive recklessly. The increase in Maine follows a national trend that saw half of all states experience an increase in fatalities in 2022, according to the December 2022 estimate by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Traffic deaths in the U.S. have been rising steadily since the summer of 2020.
Stewart said contributing factors in the fatal crashes in Maine continue to be unsafe and illegal speeds, reckless driving, alcohol and drug impaired driving and non-use of safety restraints, the latter of which she said was probably the greatest factor.
What can drivers do? BHS offers a few tips to avoid being in a serious crash, including:
TIP: Could this be the basis for a Family Health and Hearing Report?