Patrons of Husbandry – a website dedicated to the Granges located in Maine
Craft fairs may be an untapped market for Granges–not just to sell crafts but to “sell” the Grange! People interested in crafting are great candidates for getting involved in a Grange! Mill Stream’s participation in the Mount Vernon Craft Fair gets a lot of things right! Remember, fundraising in any form is also an opportunity to promote the good work you are doing as a Grange. It’s possible to raise money and members. Congratulations, Mill Stream Grange!
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!
The December Bulletin is finished! Remember, you can always find recent issues of the Bulletin on the Program Books and Information Page.
Just a reminder to be cautious and suspicious of emails and phone calls you receive.
Don’t forget to submit the details for a website post and event calendar listing!
The National Grange Contest Guide is available for download. Before printing, note that it is over 100 pages long!
We believe all updates are completed! The correct information is listed in the online directory, the print directory (a copy will be mailed with the Bulletin), on the Bulletin, and on the Program Books and Information Page! Please let us know if you encounter any errors!
Could your Grange host a librarian from your local library? The librarian could bring some of the latest releases as well as other media resources.
“You know how I always dread the whole year? Well this time I’m only going to dread one day at a time.”
Charlie Brown
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!
A while back, we created a “Valley Grange Busy Box” – a tote containing activities that might appeal to children of various ages. Nestled among the puzzles, play dough, coloring books, and crayons is a metal box containing a game called Jenga.
Depending on your perspective, it’s either a simple or complex game. It starts with a tower of 54 blocks. Players then take turns removing a block from the tower. The player then places the removed block on top of the tower. The tower grows taller but loses stability until it ultimately crashes.
We had two middle school-aged volunteers helping us during a recent event. Since there was some downtime, I dug out the busy box and offered them the Jenga Game. A small audience formed to watch the play.
The tension and drama that builds during the game is hard to appreciate until you’ve watched it played. Sometimes, the removal of a block creates a crash. Other times, placing the removed block on top creates it. You need a steady hand, good hand-eye coordination, precision, patience, concentration skills, and a strategic mindset while playing.
Of course, the primary objective of any game is “fun.” But I found myself wondering this: What is the objective? Is the objective to build the tallest unstable tower, or is the objective to hear the blocks come crashing down?
As each girl studied the tower and attempted to remove a block, many observers held their breaths. Many observers repeated this as she attempted to place the removed block on top. There was almost a collective sigh of relief when she succeeded.
Since I could not stay and watch the game, I found myself listening for the crash. When it came, there was a collective sigh of relief from the tension and drama that built as the players removed and added blocks.
And you thought Jenga was just about playing with wooden blocks.
We could play Jenga Grange. Or we are without realizing it. The Grange is built on many different blocks–more than 54. I think of things like “ritual” as a block. Or maybe there’s a “meeting ritual” block and a “joining” ritual block. Even those Granges maintaining the meeting ritual find it increasingly difficult to maintain the joining rituals (degree days). It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the Grange is–or was–a learning organization. The rituals are the lessons of the Grange. Lecturer’s Programs are another block. You’ve removed a block if you have a meeting with no Lecturer’s Program. You’ve removed a block if you are not following the meeting ritual.
The Grange is a fraternal organization. Some additional blocks have been potluck and bean suppers. “Work parties” that benefit the Grange itself, community organizations, and individuals are blocks that also built the Grange. In years past, Pomona Meetings sometimes became a weekend affair. Plays and dances met the social needs and opportunities of the era.
You might see how we can compare our programming and practice to playing Jenga. If you find yourself using phrases like “Remember how we used to…?,” you’re describing a block that got removed. Chances are removing that block made the tower more wobbly.
That’s not to say that removing things is always wrong–it’s to say that removing things impacts the stability and structure of the organization–either positively or negatively.
It might be a different subject, but adding things also impacts the stability and structure of the organization, and not always in a positive way. Remember that sometimes the tower crashes when a block is removed, and sometimes it crashes when a block is added.
The early day founders and leaders of the Patrons of Husbandry were disciplined and thoughtful when building the organization. By design, every member, every community, Pomona, and state Grange builds and maintains the organization by removing and adding blocks–even those that may seem minor. A question we might consider is, “Will what we are about to do (or not do) make this tower taller and stronger?”
Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-sixth edition of the 2013 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.
By Walter Boomsma
207 343-1842
Communications Director
“I left my leash in the car,” explained a recent guest at a gathering. I sensed a kindred spirit. The leash he was referring to was, of course, his smartphone. (I think someone had asked for the latest weather report, and he explained that he couldn’t provide that information.)
His announcement did, however, serve as a spark igniting an interesting conversation regarding addiction. Since we’d met for the first time, we’d found a common ground—we are both working in addiction counseling at the university level. We ended up having an energetic and engaging chat about the spiritual aspects of addiction.
Later the same evening, I had a slightly different conversation with a fourteen-year-old working on a school paper regarding the Electoral College. I delved into her thinking, genuinely and gently curious. The first time, she said, “I don’t have my facts with me…” I teased, “Why worry about the facts?” She laughed and expressed some of her thoughts. If she had her smartphone with her, I didn’t notice. At least she didn’t immediately reach for it to access her facts.
This article is not the beginning of an anti-smartphone crusade. It’s a column on communication.
The commonality between those two conversations was they both were an exploration of thinking, not a discussion of facts. In the first, neither of us cared much about the current weather forecast, but we were interested in what we allow to control us as we journey through life. In the second, we were willing to explore a political topic from both the head and the heart, and the conversation drifted from whether or not the Electoral College was a good thing to the importance of considering both sides of a question. I suspected I knew why she thought the Electoral College should be eliminated, but I still wanted to hear her reasons and understand her thinking. Unlike a text or social media post, actual conversation creates opportunities for engagement. Engagement is fundamentally different from arguing. (Social media gurus know that a post creating controversy tends to get the most clicks because we are reacting instead of probing. The context (how) of dialog becomes very different.)
Join me in a time travel machine. Imagine sitting in a Grange Hall 100 years ago, enjoying a potluck supper. What’s the conversation like? I doubt we’ll hear anyone say, “Oh, darn, I left my phone in the buggy.” We may not hear anyone complaining about all the political advertising. But someone might mention that there are more and more cars on the roads these days. (In 1925, there were 115,229 cars and 23,794 trucks on the roads in Maine.[1] One interesting bit of trivia is that painting lines on roads first caught on in 1926, inspired by someone watching a leaky milk truck make its way down a road. I digress, only to note that might have been a conversation at a Grange supper. Later, under “new business” during the meeting, someone may have suggested a resolution petitioning the government to consider developing a protocol to standardize line painting…
Communication is about content (what we talk about) and context (how we talk about it). I’m only kidding a little when I speculate that we might consider giving the Gatekeeper an added responsibility to monitor the content and context of communication at Grange events. I have attended Grange suppers and meetings where the content has been almost exclusively complaining—sometimes loudly and specifically. Sadly, sometimes there are guests (non-members) present.
“Traffic is horrible—there are too many cars and trucks on the road, and it’s getting out of control.”
“Yeah, my horse got spooked when a big truck passed us on a hill going too fast.”
“I’d never own one of those car things. They’re too expensive and too noisy.”
“I passed one stuck in a mudhole. Thought about pulling him out but decided he deserved it.”
Did the invitation to the meeting say, “Here’s your chance to complain about cars and traffic! The person who has the biggest and best complaint wins a framed certificate of accomplishment!”
Or maybe one person shifts the context from complaining to positive action. “I was following a milk truck leaking the other day and noticed it left a white line on the road. That got me to thinking maybe we could…”
[1] For an interesting history of Maine Roads, read A History of Maine Roads 1600-1970. https://digitalmaine.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=mdot_docs
► FACT: By the time the calendar year 2023 ends, the Maine State Grange Website will have had over 8,000 visits.
Emails sent to betsy@nationalgrane.org are now being forwarded to Chris Hamp, effective immediately. If you would like to contact Betsy Huber directly, please use her personal contact information below.
If you would like to contact The National Grange President, Chris Hamp, please use the following contact information below.
Christine E. Hamp
National Grange President
National Grange Office
1616 H Street NW, Floor 11
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: (202) 628-3507 ext. 112
Email: champ@nationalgrange.org
Washington State Office
14619 W Jacobs Road
Spokane, WA 99224
Tel: (509) 953-3533
Betsy Huber
Past National Grange President
362 University Road
Lincoln University, PA 19352-1606
Phone: (484) 459-1957
Email: hhuber@zoominternet.net
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.
Last week, we had a wonderful reminder of what a good snowfall can do. The browns and grays of late fall, along with the murky weather, gave way to a brilliant landscape of snow and sun. The reflected light, blindingly bright, brought with it cold weather that invigorates the body and mind.
It changes routines this new environment. The driveway, the paths, every coming and going must be cleared or recorded in a frozen memoir. The hose to water the livestock now receives more attention than any other time of year. Careful metering means running water that does not overflow the troughs. Careless metering means frozen lines or flooded places. The need to drive anywhere now has a time before takeoff component, to clear, to warm, and to scrape. Careless summertime steps now must shorten and become mindful of the ice beneath.
Bernd Heinrich, in A Year In The Maine Woods, reminds me that the coming of snow also shows the evidence of traffic. The pastures record but a fraction of the night traffic that occurs. The snow records it all. Walking the pigs’ fence line shows me who else I’m feeding when they dare venture into the open field, where they came from, and where they went. It truly is fascinating how populated everything is and how many wild things walk the same ground every day.
So, it is with sadness that I reminisce on the past week because today, the landscape has taken a 180-degree turn and pushed us back a couple of weeks. This current weather can only be helped by culinary delights. Beef stew, yup. Veal or beef short ribs…oh, my! Burritos with spice to warm from the inside out, please. Steak, home fries, and a beer? Tastes like summer. Tacos with salsa and Queso Fresco? I’m nearing the equator.
Late fall and winter give us that opportunity to draw closer to our loved ones. You can’t work outdoors as much, so gather, laugh, and eat.
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 permitted us to share some of their columns with Grangers. Visit the Quill’s End Farm Facebook Page for more information.
By Roberta Meserve, MSG Ag Director
(207) 998-3857
The raffle, drawn at State Session, earned over $600.00. The winner of the Visa gift card was South Sangerville Grange; Harriet Spencer won the basket of goodies. Thank you to Agnes and Bob Nelson for taking care of the raffle table during the convention.
In my 55 years of Subordinate Grange Membership, this is my first time on the Ag Committee at any level, and I’m still learning the ins and outs and expectations. I look forward to discovering more.
I hope to see some of you at the Trade Show in Augusta in January. Stay safe on the snow and ice!
By Brenda Dyer, MSG Community Service/FHH Director
(207) 608-9193
May the spirit of the season be with you.
Community Service opportunities are endless during the Christmas season. Visiting a person who lives alone, shoveling a pathway or driveway for a neighbor or fellow Granger, inviting community members to a coffee/tea social and share time together, calling a friend on the phone, sending a note to a shut-in, volunteering at a local facility and talking to residents, and become Christmas Carolers for the community are a few suggestions.
Family, Health & Hearing
December A Grange Holiday Season – display what it is to be in Grange and not only during the holidays but all year round.
January 4 – National Buffet Day
January 9 – National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day
January 28 – National Lego Day
These are suggestions, and your Grange may add to these. It is not too early to be thinking about submitting “Granger of the Year,” Police, Firefighter/EMT of the Year.
Merry Christmas and a Healthy, Happy New Year!
Yes, there was an error in the original posts! Thanks to John Lowry for spotting it and bringing it to my attention. It has been fixed and is included here for your convenience.
The moral of the story is, “Don’t use a new software feature until you’ve thoroughly tested it.”
A secondary lesson might be, “Don’t be surprised at the methods software developers will use to introduce their software to new users!”
Sorry for any inconvenience or confusion!
