Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help), December 26, 2019

The basement project is underway!–more details below, but We have one big, (almost) immediate need for help:  moving in sheetrock on Thursday, Jan. 2nd       

We have 44 pieces of sheetrock arriving sometime on the 2nd–we’ll know a more exact time as we get closer–and will need some more folks with stronger backs than mine to help carry it down the fire stairs.  If you can help sometime that day, please contact me, Tim, by email or phone:  802-225-8921!  My 68-year-old back is no longer willing to lift items like these, unfortunately.

Sing-Along brings enthusiastic singers and a variety of songs

A convivial crew gathered for our 3rd annual Holiday Sing-Along just before the longest night of the year began.   Grange Musician Mat Nunnelly accompanied the singers on the Grange piano, and we bounced from one carol to another.  Taylor Nunnelly kept up with projecting lyrics on the big screen, so we were often singing the same words!   We had carols jingle-y and jazzy, dealing with red-nosed reindeer, King Wencelas, and chestnuts, full of fa-la-la-las and good wishes for the new year.
       Singing together–sometimes in a variety of keys–we enjoyed a lot of standard Christmas-time carols, and then got a chance to try out some Hanukkah songs, led by Andrea Soberman.   We are glad to have a variety of types of celebrations to share in our Grange; this ties in so well with fulfilling our core mission of bringing people together to participate in community life–with the accent on participation!
       We were also able to keep kids occupied, if they didn’t want to join in all the singing, thanks to Wendy, Dan and family, who set up crafts tables on the side of the Hall (see photo below).  I would not have imagined that a candy cane could be turned into a reindeer with a red nose if I hadn’t seen it myself!   As usual, it takes a number of people bringing a variety of talents to pull off these events.
      We also collected some warm socks and other items which are being donated to homeless folks who need every bit of warmth; Mat does volunteer work on homelessness among his other commitments!

Boxes–and bags–of plenty go out to folks who need them

Kudos to Merry, who filled up the freezer, boxes and bags with tasty treats to give away!      

On the 19th, Merry was able to meet up with our partners at Capstone Community Action, which runs Head Start for Washington County, who distributed the food.   What is in all those boxes and bags?  Well, a partial list includes: turkeys, pie shells, chocolate pudding mix, whipped cream, canned vegetables, butter, stuffing mix, sparkling cider, pasta, clementines, peanut butter, crackers….and that’s just the beginning!   Merry, who did all the shopping to supplement the items donated by Grange members and Hall users, put together items that will make for fun holiday season dinners (and likely some lunches and breakfasts) for six families with kids.   Capstone found it all too easy to identify six families to receive this bounty, who would not be able to celebrate as many of us are lucky to do at this season. 
       Many thanks to others in addition to Merry, including Jacinthe Pellerin, who donated the stipend we tried to give her for running the Sweet Treats cooking workshop, the Premont extended family, who collected donations at their family Thanksgiving dinner at the Grange Hall, Kids Trade & Play donors, Alison Forrest who decorated boxes and donated food, and other donors whose names I don’t know!   
       If you missed the chance to donate, and want to help out next year, let us know!    If we can expand the amount of food we can donate, we will have no trouble making more families happier at this festive time of year.
       The other thing we need is more folks to help with food buying, sorting and handling–this is not something that Merry can do without help!   Neither Merry nor I is getting any younger, and we have the MRIs of our backs to prove it!  

The Basement Renovation project is underway, right now!

Project carpenter Stan Carlson (hard at work in the top and bottom pix) removed trim, and finally the stair landing, to make things easy for the Northern Basements crew that came in on Monday, the 23rd (see below).   With help from me, Patty & Kurt Giavara, Stan got the outer ceiling panels and old wiring from some previous sound system removed, and plastic hung to contain the dust from jack-hammering for the new drainage channel!

Northern Basements comes in and does it!      

Monday morning, the project truck and trailer from Northern Basements arrived with concrete, gravel, drainage channel, sump, piping, jackhammers, vacuums and a crew to use them.   By late afternoon, their jackhammers had created a space in the floor, exposing the footing, and drainage channel was laid to capture any leaks, draining to a new sump set in the floor.   The sump pump will removenot only groundwater that comes in, but also the condensate from the dehumidifier which will be installed.  They covered the channel with concrete, with a couple of access ports to allow hosing out–if it’s ever needed.
       Today, Thursday, the foam wall-insulating panels are being installed, and Friday will include foaming the rim-joist all the way around, so this has been an exciting week, bringing to fruition nearly two years of planning and fundraising by the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall.   Thanks to everyone who has contributed money, time, expertise and advice for this project! Besides moving the sheetrock….        ….we will have other ways that people can help with this project.  In addition to giving people a chance to help out, volunteer hours count toward our “match” with the grant from the VT Arts Council, which will fund 50% of the project cost.  Here are some of the needs we can foresee:

• Painting above the Fiberglass Reinforced Panels, which will cover the bottom 60″ of the walls.
• Brushing on varnish on the new hand-rails for the basement stairway.
• Installing new ceiling tiles in the existing grid.
• Taking the old ones to the transfer station.
• Providing a pickup truck for moving the ceiling tiles and other construction debris.
• Cleaning up after this work–we will be scheduling a work-day to make sure that the newly refurbished space is clean and as dust-free as we can make it.

       Can you pitch in on some of this work?  What skills do you have that will help?   Please contact me (Tim) via email:  swartztim15@gmail.com and let me know how we can fit you in!  

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) December 13, 2019

The shortest day may be coming, but that doesn’t mean we stop getting together      

December 21st will mean that the sun goes down early, but we choose to use that as an excuse to get together and sing, rather bewailing the lack of sunlight.  Please join us for an afternoon Holiday Sing-Along on Dec. 21st, from 4:00 to 5:30, followed by a bonus Community Potluck Dinner, from 5:30 to 7:00!
       We started our holiday sing-alongs on a December afternoon, in a snowstorm a few years ago, when we weren’t sure if anyone would show up–but the people who did were so grateful to have the opportunity to sing some songs together that we decided to make it an annual event.  Last year, we had at least 40 people, with activities for kids, lyrics projected on the screen and cookies to share.
       This year, we’re taking it to the next level, with a sing-along, cookie sharing, and then a potluck dinner for extra socializing.  
       Bring your favorite carols–if we don’t have the lyrics ready, we can find them on-line thanks to the Grange Wi-Fi, and our Grange Musician, Matt Nunnelly will accompany to the best of his considerable ability.   We’ll have a lot of the “standards” ready to go, too.   Previous years have included rousing renditions of songs ranging from Adeste Fidelis to Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, so don’t be shy!  
       And remember, this is singing along, so solos, no auditions and no judgments–which is good news for me and many others who enjoy singing, even if we’re not very good on our own!

Filling up–but still room for more!

We’re pleased to see that donations have come in for our “Holiday Food Boxes”, but we still do better!      

The holidays are fast approaching, and our partners at Washington County Head Start, who have picked out 6 families who need a helping hand to have some special holiday meals, want to pick up the boxes next Thursday, Dec. 19th!  
       A few people who have brought in non-perishable food items have added to the stock in the boxes, but there is still time, if you are coming to the Grange Hall, to drop off anything you want to add.  We have 3 boxes, and 3 donation containers spread around the Hall.
      We have also gotten some generous monetary donations–from Jacinthe Pellerin, who led our “Sweet Treats” baking workshop, and from the Premont extended family, who held a large Thanksgiving dinner in our cafeteria, plus more from Kids Trade & Play.  Using these donations and others, Merry will be doing a shopping trip on the 18th to get more food, particularly perishable items.  She arranged to get 6 turkeys at a sale price, from Shaw’s!   If you haven’t had a chance to contribute, be assured that we value everyone’s contributions, so let us know if you want to pledge some “buckage”, or bring cash or a check to the Hall before the 18th, and we’ll happily increase the amount we can buy!

Dec. 7th meeting gave us “the Dirt on Compost” and a lot more recycled information!

We had another great program in our bi-monthly series, featuring Theron Lay-Sleeper and Dora Chi of Central VT Solid Waste Management District (CVSWMD).   They taught us a lot about ways to reduce our contributions to our landfills, while gaining healthy compost and increasing the quality of our recycling. 
      We talked about a wide range of topics, and they answered a lot of questions; I can’t include it all in these notes, but I’ll pass on a few things that were new to me, after years of “amateur” composting, and recycling for decades:
Composting:

• Improve composting by making big things into small ones–e.g. cutting up banana peels with kitchen scissors.
• Meat scraps, bones, seafood and dairy waste can all be composted–and kept safe from animals–by using a “Green Cone”. It needs to be in fairly full sun to get the solar heat it requires.
• Adding 3 parts “browns”–sawdust, leaves, dried plants” to 1 part “greens”–grass clippings, food waste, etc. will speed up composting.
• Never put florist flowers in compost–they often contain fungicides.
• There are a few commercial composting drop-off places, to which food waste can be taken, if you can’t compost where you live.  Click here for a list for Central VT, compiled by CVSWMD.  There are also tips on what can and can’t go into these commercial composting operations–they can handle more than your backyard pile can!   

Recycling:

• Aluminum foil (cleaned of food) can be recycled–but should be accumulated in a ball at least the size of a baseball to avoid “tangling” in the recycling sorting machinery
• It’s OK to leave plastic caps on bottles for recycling–in fact, if they are loose they will fall through the sorting belts.
• If you do take caps off, they need to be taken to the “Additional Recyclables Collection Center” in Barre, along with other items less than 2″ x 2″–pill bottles, bottle caps, floss containers, and much more can be recycled there, for a small fee.   Plan on sorting your items into individual bins when you go.  For more info on the ARCC click here.  They take an amazing variety of things!
• Black plastic can’t be recycled–the black dye prevents the use of the plastic resin to be used for anything other than black or gray items, so it needs to be discarded.
• The basic mantra for recycling is:  when in doubt, throw it out.   Keeping recycled materials as “pure” as we can is the best way to keep the market paying for recycled materials!

      As I said, this is just a sampling of the information we discussed–we also got into vermiculture composting (worms are amazing processors), the international recycled materials market, and much more.  You can find a lot of information about waste reduction on the CVSWMD website to improve your “waste management” practices.
      Our next “program” will happen on Saturday, Feb. 1st–stay tuned to learn the topic and presenters, presently being finalized by Grange Lecturer Carl Etnier.

Here’s what I heard…      

…from callers, sound-people and musicians at contra dances, about the acoustic panel project which the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall has completed this year:

• What a difference!
• It’s like night & day!
• I don’t have to turn up the band and caller to get them to be heard at the back of the hall!

      These comments came from people who have played, called, or set up sound at the “Montpelier Contra Dance” in years past, and came back recently.  
      I can personally vouch for the improvement in the ease of hearing meeting participants at Grange meetings and programs–there is less “reverb” when there are only a relative few of us in the Hall, as well as when there are 100 to 150 or more for the dances!
      Many thanks to the FCCGH, to the people who have donated to the Friends, making this project possible, as well as the upcoming basement renovations, and other projects!  Also to our volunteers who put together the panels, and hung them on the walls.

Basement renovations:  starting this weekend!

Kids Trade & Play, on Saturday 12/14 will be the last event to be held in the basement, until after the renovation project!   The usual clean-up following that popular event will be a bit different, as Erin Barry and her crew will move the shelves and the many bins into the kitchen, or other locations away from the outside walls.   Stan Carlson, who will be our carpentry contractor, will be starting to do prep-work for the Northern Basements workers who will come in starting Dec. 23rd, to install drainage under the stair-landing and along the East wall of the basement.   NB will also put foam insulating panels on the East, North, West and furnace room walls (except the kitchen on the West wall, and the bathrooms), and will foam the rim-joists all around the basement (except behind the bathroom–that was already done!).   Stan will make sure that there is a safe stairway put back once the insulated panels are done, in case anyone is wondering!  We will make arrangements for the basement to be used for coats and shoe-changing for the contra-dance on Jan. 4th
       Following that work by Northern Basements, our electrician Alana Norway will rough-in the electrical outlets for the outer walls, and the dedicated circuits for the sump-pump and dehumidifier which NB will install.   Then Stan will sheetrock the insulated walls, as required by the Fire Marshal, and put up the “FRPs”–Fiberglass Reinforced Panels–that will protect the walls from damage, and make them easy to clean, too.  He’ll have to re-trim all the windows, among other things, and put up new railings on the main basement staircase.
      By the end of the project, we’ll be replacing all the panels in the dropped ceiling, and having Country Floorsinstall carpet tiles on the entire floor, and a new carpet runner on the stairs.  Our goal is to have that carpet help remove the grit and wet from people’s shoes and boots as they go downstairs.
       All in all, this is a major improvement for our lower level, which we expect will save us significantly on our heating bills as well as making major improvements in the attractiveness of the basement!  Removing moisture from the air with the internal drainage channel and the dehumidifier, along with the insulation of the cold exterior walls will bring a major reduction in the mildew we now have. We hope you are wondering…how can I help with this exciting project?        Besides the generous contributions which many of you have made to the Friends, which help match the grant money we’ll get from the VT Arts Council, we’ll also be needing help with some parts of the project:

• Moving sheetrock from a delivery truck into the basement
• Moving FRPs from a truck into the basement
• Painting above the FRPs, which will cover the bottom 60″ of the walls
• Installing new ceiling panels in the existing grid, and
• Taking the old ones to the transfer station
• Cleaning up after this work–we will be scheduling a work-day to make sure that the newly refurbished space is clean and as dust-free as we can make it.

       Can you pitch in on some of this work?  What skills do you have that will help?   Please contact me (Tim) via email:  swartztim15@gmail.com and let me know how we can fit you in!  

OK, now what’s going on?      

Since you’ve stuck it out this far in these Grange Notes, you will know that our plan is not to flood the basement, but rather to prevent floods with the interior drainage & sump pump…and Hannah has promised not to flood either the Main Hall or the lower level…
      This picture is actually to let you know that our Grange Hall is hosting another arts organization:  Hannah Dennison’s “Quarry Project” dance rehearsals will start taking place in our Hall starting in January.  You can read more about it in this article in 7 Days.  Props for these rehearsals have been stored in our basement for the last couple of months; Grange users have been very good about not disturbing them!   We’ll pass on news about the performance schedule as we get closer to its debut in August of 2020.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help), November 27, 2019

We know this is not what your Thanksgiving Dinner looks like!       

But we all know that no delicious food gets prepared without generating some “leftovers”–even before the kids leave their vegetables on their plates.   For decades, we’ve been able to put food waste in the trash, where it ended up in what used to be “the dump”, and now is a sealed, supervised “sanitary landfill”. 
        In 2015, the Legislature passed Act 148, the “Universal Recycling” law, which has been moving us toward more and more recycling, and toward producing less “waste”.   Starting on July 1st, 2020, residents of Vermont will join the restaurant and institutional kitchens who have become subject to “mandatory composting” of all food waste.
       On Dec. 7th, we’ll help you get prepared by hosting 2 speakers from the Central VT Solid Waste Management District, Theron Lay-Sleeper and Dora Chi.  They will help us learn about options:

• Ways to compost food waste at home–including meat, fish and dairy scraps!
• Finding “haulers” who will pick up food waste–in some areas at least
• Finding drop-off locations for food waste
• How to keep your food waste from smelling up your home!

       There will be opportunities for discussion and question-asking too!
Saturday, Dec. 7th, from 5:00 to 6:00 PM
at the Grange Hall!

Followed by the Community Potluck Dinner at 6:00, bring your favorite dishes and share!

There will be a short, non-ritual “Executive Session” Grange meeting from 4:30 to 5:00, before the Food Waste program–all are invited to that as well.

What’s wrong with these boxes?

They’re not full of food!

You can help–by donating non-perishable food items, or making cash donations, we can fill up these boxes.  As the signs on them say, these are for our annual Holiday Dinners for Local Families food drive.   We’ll be providing a LOT of tasty food for 6 families, selected by Barre Head-Start, who need a helping hand to have a fun holiday season this year. 
     Merry has gotten Shaw’s to reserve 6 turkeys at a sale price already, which they are holding in their freezers, and a couple of donors have already stepped up with some “starter” food items.  Jacinthe, who ran the “Sweet Treats” workshop a couple of weeks ago has donated the honorarium we offered her to the food drive, too.  
      We’re looking for basics and also for fun food items that will be easy to prepare–last year we provided pie crusts and chocolate pudding, for example!   What would YOU like to have in your cupboard to make it easy and fun for the kids? 
      If you want to donate some money, we’ll buy some perishables when we’re getting ready to hand the boxes off to our friends at Head Start.
       So that’s how you can fix the problem we have with our boxes.

Don’t Forget!

Please join us for singing at 4:00 PM for singing, and 5:30 PM for Holiday Potluck, on Dec. 21st!
     Below is a picture from the holiday sing-along last December!  We never planned on a dress code, but note the number of red sweaters!

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help), November 14, 2019

Jacinthe teaches us many ways to combine maple syrup, butter, flour, eggs, cream…all those tasty ‘gredients!       

On Saturday afternoon, one of the participants in the previous cooking classes at the Grange Hall stepped forward to lead a workshop herself.  Jacinthe Pellerin (second from the right in the photo above) collected recipes for “Quebecois Sweet Treats”, and showed us how to make them all.  These are all treats from her family and childhood, as part of the large French-Canadian community in central VT.   She was aided by her daughter Becky, and her sister came too, making sure that the family’s tastes were well-represented!
       Below are more photos, showing the 8 people who took part (plus a photographer from the Times Argus–watch for photos in Tuesday’s paper).  Jacinthe had us measuring ingredients, mixing, beating, heating, stirring, rolling out pie doughs–and eventually eating 5 different holiday-season treats.
         Thanks to Jacinthe and the rest of the workshop participants–who also told us to donate the fees for the workshop to the Grange “Holiday Food Boxes”  project!

Are you salivating?  Wishing you had signed up?   Keep your eyes open for future workshops–we’ve been talking about “International Soups” and other tasty options.  We’d love to hear what you would like to learn about–and if there is something you would like to teach others about!

Turn this:

Into This:

Helping those who need it–a Grange tradition       

For the past few years, the Capital City Grange community has collected donations–of non-perishable food items and also money–to overfill 6 large boxes.   Each of those sets of donations has gone to a family with kids, who might otherwise not have the special holiday meals that many of us take for granted.   Our partners at Washington County Head Start have found it all too easy to find 6 families in need, each year.
       This year, we’re doing it again.  Thanks to a generous donation from the “Sweet Treats” workshop (see above), and contributions from “Kids Trade & Play” attendees, we are well-started on the financial side.  We will have a large, decorated box at the Grange by this weekend, where you can bring boxes and cans of non-perishable food items, as well as donation containers for this specific project.   We will use financial donations to purchase perishable items–like the 6 turkeys which Merry got Shaw’s to reserve for us (at a sale price), and fruits and vegetables–as we get close to delivery time.
         The feedback we have gotten from our Head Start partners is that the families really enjoy getting these boxes.   You can share the warm feelings we get by donating a food item, or even a buck or two.  Every donation will make a difference!

Yet another holiday tradition at the Grange:   a holiday sing-along!      

We’re planning another participatory project, one that has been popular every time–a holiday sing-along!   Grange Musician Matt Nunnelly (yes, one of the Grange offices is “Musician”) and singer/Rental Agent/Treasurer Merry Shernock (yes, we have many multi-talented folks in the Grange, who wear many hats!) have scheduled Dec. 21st (winter solstice!) for this year’s version of our annual tradition.   We will combine it with a potluck dinner this year, and ask for food/financial donations..for the holiday boxes!  
       As we have in years past, Matt will take requests, doing his best to comply with the wide-ranging list of favorites which the group will contain.  We’ll have some song-books, and will likely project some lyrics with our digital projector, too. 
     Please join us for singing at 4:00 PM for singing, and 5:30 PM for Holiday Potluck, on Dec. 21st!
     Below is a picture from the holiday sing-along last December!  We never planned on a dress code, but note the number of red sweaters!

SHHH!         

I’m pleased to report that on Sunday, Oct. 27th, working with Sam Planck (above) and Merry Shernock, we were able to complete our planned acoustic panel installation!
        Sam is shown, below, completing installation of the 10 panels we filled with acoustic insulation, wrapped with fire-resistant acoustic fabric, and hung above the rest of the windows.   Farther below is a panorama showing one long wall, with all panels in place.  Please ignore the distortion of the wall, we didn’t bend it!
        At this point, we are getting kudos on the improvement this has made in the sound from a number of Grange users, including Grange members at our most recent meeting, participants in “Dance, Sing & Jump Around”, sound-people at the contra dance events, and others, and we don’t plan to install any more panels. 
        Please continue to let us know what you think about the acoustic environment!

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help), October 21, 2019

Thanks for the help:  We’ve almost met the Challenge with our Fun-raiser, plus some ice cream!     

We thank the contra-dance community for supporting the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall, at the Oct. 5th dance, and then some more on Oct. 19th!   The first dance in October was billed as the finale of this year’s “Challenge” fundraiser to raise money for improvements to the Grange Hall.  Contributions at that dance brought the “matching contributions” up to $1,600, just a bit short of the $2,000 amount raised from generous early donors.   Then, generous folks at the dance last Saturday contributed or pledged another $200, so we are just $200 short of our goal!  We served most of the rest of the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, which they donated to the Friends for the fund-raising campaign at the break in the dance!
      Thankfully, none of our “Challenge” donors  has asked for the return of their contributions–so the Friends have been able to raise a total $3,800 to support the major renovation projects they organize in conjunction with the Grange.  With your help we can get the rest of the way! 
     Besides Ben & Jerry’s we especially want to thank Rob Nichols for the beautiful potted plants given away for donations, folks who donated the pot-luck dessert sweets and savories, and a small crew of decorating volunteers that included my son Marty Swartz, plus Patty Giavara.  But most of all, thank you! to everyone who donated.  We’ll have donation containers available at future dances, in case you missed the chance at the last couple of dances–you can drop off cash or checks, or you canalwaysdonate online, with your credit card or Paypal account–we try to make it easy!
     See below for preliminary schedule info for our next big Hall project, starting in December!
     Future projectsfor the FCCGH will include more hall improvements–for both sets of entry doors, even better acoustics, a wheelchair lift to the basement and stage, heating system upgrades and more. 
       The Grange and the Friends keep improving with everyone’s help!  Learn more at the Grange Website.

Your dollars will be hard at work–starting in December!   

We now have a schedule for the start of the major renovation of the basement:   Following Kids Trade & Play on Dec. 14th, we’ll start to clear space along the walls, cut-back the suspended ceiling support frame, and get ready for the major contracted work.
      Northern Basements will be working during Christmas week (starting Dec. 23)  to:

• Jackhammer a drainage trough on the East wall, and under the stair landing, to catch the foundation leaks that happen periodically.
• Install drainage channel in the trough, leading to a new sump and sump pump, which will drain to the outside.  It will be covered with new concrete.
• Install foam insulating panels on the cold, poured concrete walls everywhere except the kitchen.
• Foam the rim joists above the dropped ceiling, around the entire exterior (except the “new” bathrooms, where it was already done!).
• The Hall will be kept vacant for 24 hours after the foaming to allow any fumes to dissipate.
• Northern Basements will also provide a dehumidifier, to drain into the same sump.  We’ll install that after the sheetrock and painting are done on the walls.

Following that, other contractors install new electrical outlets, sheetrock over the foam panels, install wainscot or full-height fiberglass reinforced panels, trim out the panels, and install carpet tiles in the basement–except the kitchen and bathrooms, as you might imagine!
     We are counting on getting some volunteer help to keep our costs down–just like monetary donations, it all counts as “in-kind” matching for the grant money we will be receiving.   If you can help with prep-work, clean-up work, putting in ceiling tiles, painting, or any other way, please email Tim Swartz to get on the list.
     This whole project is being financed by a major grant from the VT Arts Council, which will cover half the cost–but we won’t receive that until after the project is done.   We are very grateful to the Vermont State Grange, which is providing us with a no-interest construction loan–we’ll pay them back (with many thanks) as soon as we receive the grant money.    The remaining half of the cost is covered thanks to donations from Grange users and supporters–people like you who want to keep improving our community Hall.   We couldn’t do it without you!

Equal Exchange–taking the next steps beyond selling coffee, chocolate & tea!

Our October 5th presentation, the first in our bimonthly format of longer “programs”alternating with full Grange meetings, was, shall I say, a delicious experience.
      Danielle Robidoux, an organizer with the co-operative, worker-owned company that is Equal Exchange, brought samples of chocolate varieties and nuts, a 5 pound bag of coffee, and interesting information about this Fair-Trade company, and their developing focus on ways to combat the consolidation of the food industry.
      Equal Exchange was one of the founding organizations of the Fair Trade movement, which prioritizes fair pricing and cooperative relationships with small farmers and producer co-ops.  They were founded over 30 years ago as a way to connect American consumers with food producers in developing countries.  You can read more about their “Standards and Practices” for Fair Trade business here.
     Since their founding in 1986, importing “Cafe Nica” from Nicaragua (then in the throes of throwing off a right-wing dictator, and subject to U.S. government intervention), Equal Exchange has become a major player in the importation of coffee, chocolate, teas, and most recently nuts and dried fruit–some of which we got to try out, thanks to Danielle’s samples!  Throughout their growth and evolution, they have pushed themselves to adhere to their own standards:  democratic involvement, fair and nurturing relationships with farmers, protection of farmworkers and their rights to organize, paying prices above the commercial market prices, and promotion of safe and sustainable farming practices.   Equal Exchange formally became a worker-owned cooperative soon after its founding, so the people who work there are also the ones who make decisions about the organization’s policies, as well as being the ones to do better if the co-op prospers.   This fits their principles that those doing the work should control the results of their hard work.
      Danielle also talked about the next stages of activism being promoted by Equal Exchange, and offered ways for anyone interested to be become involved.   In addition to supporting “authentic Free Trade”–more committed to purchasing from small farmers than plantation owners, and involving small farmers in the governance of trade–the organization is working to reduce monopolistic ownership of the food system, and its impact on farmworkers, small producers and consumers.   Danielle shared information about the vast number of seemingly independent “small brands” that are actually part of large, multi-national corporations, and how this concentration of ownership is “sucking the oxygen” out of the independent food economy, including EE.
      Among the immediate initiatives to counteract and reverse this trend, they are supporting the ” Food and Agribusiness Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 2019″.  This legislation (S.1596/H.R. 2933) is designed to temporarily stop mergers and take-overs of food businesses, while carrying out a review of the impact of this trend on our food system, on the viability of small agriculture, small food distribution companies and consumer choice.  For more information, and for ways to get involved, check out their Anti-Trust Review Act page.  Danielle said that people can also email her for more info.  She also sent a link to her presentation, with the slides about all of these issues.
      On the Equal Exchange website, you can also find out much more about their history, their products–and how to get involved in any way you choose.   As a Grange, we support people getting actively involved in public policy discussions, local, regional and federal government–this is just that sort of opportunity.
      Our extended “program time” allowed a good amount of time for discussion, questions and more information; Danielle welcomed the chance to focus on the specific issues people wanted to know about.  We were happy to have her stay for our Community Potluck Dinner afterward, at which discussions continued.  She even stayed for a few contra-dances as well!
       Keep posted for information on our next community-involvement program at our December 7th meeting!

It’s time to complete the acoustic panels!  Join us on Sunday afternoon for a work party!       

We had 26 panels to complete–now we have only 10 left to fill with acoustic batts, wrap with fabric and hang in the Grange Hall.  
      The panels we have already hung have made a noticeable difference–appreciated by Grange meeting attendees, and by the sound-people at contra dances.  We’ll mount the last 10 panels above the windows, and expect a little more improvement.  
       We will supply staplers, cutting tools for the fabric, and hanging hardware.   We’ll start at 1:00 PM, and work until 4:00 if it takes that long.  Come and enjoy some shared work that will help us all!  Next Sunday, Oct. 27th is the date.

Next Grange meeting:  Nov. 2nd, 4:30 PM–with a Community Potluck at 6:00!

Our next meeting will be a full Grange meeting, with discussion of standard reports on the building, legislative affairs, agriculture, health concerns, etc.   We’ll be getting some longer-term financial reports as well, looking at rental trends, utility costs (has our new water heater saved us money?), heating costs, and more.   Part of having a Grange and a Hall is running a small business, and we need to look at our income and outgo to see how we are doing.  
      Happily, the Grange tradition also includes some sing-along opportunities during our meetings, so it’s not all poring over the ledgers; in face we do our best to have a bit of fun along the way.
       I will also be reporting on the VT State Grange session, just concluded on Oct. 19th, and the fate of the resolutions which were proposed–you can see the proposed ones here. 
       We’ll be going over the schedule for the basement renovation (see above) in more detail, and making sure we have minimal impact on our regular Hall users in the process.
        And we’ll be talking about plans for the next Program meeting on Dec. 7th.

     And–as noted in the title, it will be time for another excellent Community Potluck dinner at 6:00–always a good variety of tasty food options.  Bring your own contribution, be it a casserole or a jug of cider or a loaf of bread, it will be welcomed.   There is always interesting conversation to be had, and friendly people to meet.   You now you gotta eat anyway, come and join us!

Coming up:  Holiday Food Box donations!  
or, Merry got turkeys!

In 2018, we collected a great assemblage of holiday foods for donation to 6 needy families identified by Washington County Head Start, to help them enjoy the holiday season.   We plan to do the same this year; Merry has already gotten Shaw’s to promise to sell us 6 frozen turkeys and hold them for us in their freezers! 
       Now all we need to do is collect more donations, of non-perishable food items, and also money so we can purchase more of the “fixings” that will go with the turkeys.   Watch for donation boxes soon, and donation cans for this community service project too!

Sweet treats from Quebec on Nov. 9th–still time to sign up for the next baking workshop!

Our sign-up sheet is half-full, so contact us now to sign up to take part.   Our previous kitchen workshops on bread-baking and Indian cooking have sold out, as well as being much enjoyed.  Nov. 9th from 1:00 to 4:30 will be your chance to learn the arts of Quebecois holiday treats.
      Jacinthe Pellerin, who learned from her mother and grandmother, will be our guide to learning how to make:

• Pouding Chomeur (Poor Man’s Pudding)
• Tarte au Sucre (Sugar Pie)
• Grandpere (Dumplings in Maple Syrup)
• Pete de Soeur (Nun’s Farts, we kid you not)
• Sucre a la Creme (Cream Fudge)

      Space will be limited to 12 people!  Suggested donation of $20.00, to cover the costs of the workshop.  This is a hands-on workshop, bring an apron (we’ll supply a few too), and you will get to eat the treats too!
     To reserve your place, please email rentals@capitalcitygrange.org, or leave a message with name, phone number & email address on the Grange phone voicemail:  802-229-9425.