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.    

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help), October 3, 2019

Equal Exchange–bringing some of their coffee and tea to drink, and chocolates to sample!

We’re pretty sure all of you who read these Grange Notes eat; the popularity of our monthly potluck dinners reinforces that.   So we are especially pleased to present a program about food, and the food system, and how it can be improved.  This is the first of our alternate month longer programs, and we think the extra time for discussion this will allow is a good fit.   Because we know that people not only like to eat, they have opinions about food, how it is grown, how it is distributed, how much it costs, and its impact on everyone’s life.   Come to the Grange for a presentation and discussion, from 5:00 to 6:00 PM, on Saturday, Oct. 5th!

Many of us will have recognized the logo above, which is on quite a few packages of coffee, bulk bins of coffee, packages of chocolate and tea in local co-ops and food stores.   You may know, in general, what “Fairly Traded” means on that label–that the farmers who grew the crops are getting a reasonable return on their labor.  That is because Equal Exchange is set up to guarantee that by dealing directly with the farmers.

What you probably don’t know is the dedicated people behind that label, who jointly own Equal Exchange as a co-operative.  We’re luck to have one of them coming to visit us:

Danielle Robidoux has been an organizer at Equal Exchange for the past 3 years. A long-time food activist with a Masters in International Relations and Economic Development at Umass Boston, Danielle manages a community of 4,000 food activists across the US as part of Equal Exchange’s network. She is co-host of the Equal Exchange podcast The Stories Behind Our Food. Danielle has been one of the main organizers of Equal Exchange’s yearly Summits bringing together producer partners internationally, citizen-consumers, and worker-owners of Equal Exchange to sit around one table and grapple with issues plaguing our food system.

Danielle will be talking to us about the history of Equal Exchange and what they have been doing in the over 30 years they have been in business.  
She will also talk about their wider goals of making changes in the food system.   As part of their mission to improve the lives of farmers around the world, they see the current system as dominated by large corporations–from seeds to fertilizers to agricultural chemicals to marketing and transporting agricultural products to market.  What should change about this sort of dominance?   What can be done to change it?   Come on Saturday and let’s talk about it with someone who is directly involved in making changes.

Fun fact:  one of the major campaigns of the Grange, after its founding in 1867 was using the power of rural people united in the Grange to challenge the power of the railroads in transporting their harvests and controlling prices for transport and sale.   We’re going back to our roots with this issue!   Equal Exchange:  This organization was founded 30 years ago, to make “a closer connection between people and the farmers we all rely on”.   The 3 founders wanted to provide “fairness to farmers” by removing many of the middlemen, providing fair, direct payment to the people who produce the food, rather than profits to those who just pass it on. They work with democratically run farmer co-ops, purchasing coffee beans, cocoa and tea directly.  Equal Exchange, a cooperatively run, worker owned business itself, processes, packages and distributes the fairly-traded products to food co-0ps and other customers in the United States. Equal Exchange U.S. partners with Equal Exhange U.K., La Siembre (Canada), and Oke USA, which imports fair-trade bananas. For more information about all of these organizations, visit equalexchange.coop. Come to the presentation by Danielle Robidoux to ask questions and learn more!

And after the discussion…a potluck dinner!

In keeping with our theme of food, we encourage you to join us after the presentation by Danielle, for a Community Potluck dinner.  Our post-Grange meeting potlucks have drawn a lot of people to share a lot of food over the years.   Bring a dish to share (you can heat it up in our microwave or ovens in the kitchen downstairs), or a salad, beverage, chips, bread, cheese, dips, or whatever you’d like to–we generally have a good variety for all parts of the meal, and it’s all delicious.
Since you need to eat dinner anyway, make it a social occasion with your friends, neighbors and people you haven’t met yet.   We have all the plates, bowls and utensils we need–we wash the dishes together afterwards too.  Hope to see you there!

And starting a little later….the Fun-Raiser!  see more info (and more food) below.

Reminder:  Challenge Fun-raiser:  finishing up on Oct. 5th!     

This Saturday evening, we hope you will join the CDU and the dance community to support the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall.  The Oct. 5th dance will be the finale of this year’s “Challenge” fundraiser to raise money for improvements to the Grange Hall.  The Friends have gotten some very dedicated contributors to pledge  $2,000 this year, for the Grange and dance communities to match.
     If you don’t know the Friends, you should know at least the initials which you can put on your donation check:  FCCGH.  You should know that your contributions are tax-deductible, since it’s a 501(c)(3) organization.  And you should know that the Friends is not only non-profit, it’s all-volunteer–and all-dedicated to helping the Grange to renovate and improve the Grange Hall, which so many community members and organizations enjoy.
     The work of the FCCGH has brought us a new dance floor in 2012, new windows, new fire exits and bathrooms in 2014 & 2015, all through grants which the Friends have gotten.   This year, a grant from the VT Arts Council will finance a major renovation of the lower level, with water-leak remediation, wall and rim-joist insulation, a dehumidifier, new walls, ceiling panels and carpet tiles.   The Friends have to match the grant funding, though!
     Every dollar the Fun-Raiser brings in will go to renovation projects like these, that make the Grange stronger, more attractive, more sustainable and less expensive to maintain.
     We try to make donating a fun experience–without raising the price for the dance, this especially festive Fun-Raiser Finale at the Oct. 5th dance will feature holiday lights, a tote-board to watch the donations mount, and a great “dessert potluck” at the break.  The treats will feature Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and lots of tasty home-made sweet and savory snacks–contact Dana Dwinell-Yardley if you want to bring in a dessert, or just bring it in…and drop off a few bucks as you sample from the spread.  There are a couple of pictures from last year below, showing the hunger and enthusiasm of the crowd!

     Also, Rob Nichols, who has been a very dedicated supporter, will bring in even more of the lovely house-plants he has raised at his home.   He raises them just to give them away to donors at this fund-raiser finale!    I’ve put a picture of some examples from last year below as well.  Feel free to donate even more than Rob’s suggested contribution levels!
     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.  You can bring cash or checks to the dances, or donate online, with your credit card or Paypal account–we try to make it easy!
The Grange and the Friends keep improving with everyone’s help!  Learn more at the Grange Website.

Baking workshop coming in November:  Sweet Treats the Quebecois way      

You can find out  how to make Poor Man’s Pudding without being poor, and Nun’s Farts, even if you don’t have a nun handy, at the next Grange kitchen workshop.
Mark your calendars, and sign up soon–Nov. 9th from 1:00 to 4:30 will be your chance to learn the arts of Quebecois holiday treats, and to enjoy eating them too!  Jacinthe Pellerin, who came to our previous Indian Cooking workshops will be the teacher, and everyone gets to pitch in.  Space will be limited to 12 people!  Suggested donation of $20.00, to cover the costs of the workshop.
     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.    

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) September 25, 2019

Happy Fall to all!  We enjoy a good harvest of crops, potluck dinners and discussion.

As cooler, drier weather comes in, like lots of Vermonters the Grange is getting ready for colder weather–and we are enjoying the bounty of the season at our dinners together.   The September meeting on the 21st, which was delayed to avoid conflicts with the State Grange Fall Festival (see the photo below) let us catch up on summer news, and was followed by an outdoor Community Potluck dinner on the ADA entrance porch.   We enjoyed the usual wide and tasty variety of home-made dishes, including several with home-grown ingredents.   More can be expected at the potluck after our next meeting on October 5th. 

The October meeting will also be the first of our “extended program” meetings, starting with a Grange Executive meeting from 4:30 to 5:00 (still open to everyone, but limited to business matters and held without the Grange ritual), followed by an hour-long presentation by a member of Equal Exchange, the cooperatively run non-profit food importer which helped start the Fair Trade food movement–see below for more.   We (and the presenter) expect lots of questions and discussion from Grange members & friends, and we welcome new folks to join us!

That presentation and discussion will be followed by a Community Potluck–we can hope for more outdoor-eating weather, but will be prepared to set up our tables indoors.  Harvest-time bounty should be part of lots of dishes by then–as well as surrounding fall foliage.

Our September meeting also welcomed a new member, Carl Etnier, who is taking over the duties of scheduling programs from Marj Power, who has held the Grange position of Lecturer since 2006.   Marj brought in many good speakers over the years–ranging from Dr. Deb Richter and Rep. Topper McFaun on Universal Health Care, to Town Forests and their importance, to Everybody Wins, to the Vermont Milk Co., to one discussing the dangers of “No Child Left Behind” and its emphasis on standardized testing.  As Marj has taken on more responsibilities at the Old Socialist Labor Hall in Barre, and acquired grandchildren, she has been looking for some relief in her Grange responsibilities.  She expressed only enthusiasm for the choice of Carl as her replacement as Lecturer.
Carl is a well-known advocate for local, sustainable agriculture, for bicycle commuting, columns in VT Digger, the Times-Argus and others over the years.   He’s on the East Montpelier Selectboard, too.   One of his major involvements is with WGDR, where he has hosts the “Relocalizing Vermont” radio show on Thursdays, 9:00 to 10:30.  He will be able to use this show as part of publicizing the programs at the Grange.   We’re glad to have him on board!  We will do a “New Member Obligation” ceremony to welcome him to the Grange at our November meeting.

New research on daily steps was also revealed at our September meeting, by our “Health” specialist, RN Phyllis Skinner.   She reported that researchers have explored the benefits of the “10,000 steps” usually recommended.  Using actual human beings, they found that “substantial benefits” for cardiac health came from 4,400 steps per day, and that benefits “topped out” at 7,500.   In some ways the most interesting finding is that the 10,000 recommendation came from Japanese makers of a pedometer…and that the character for “10,000” resembles a person walking, making that number a good selling point

Equal Exchange–building bridges to the people who grow the food

As noted above, this is the first of our “expanded programs”, from 5:00 to 6:00 on Oct. 5th.   The public is invited to join us!

In the wider food system corporations control everything from seeds, to supply and prices. Join Danielle Robidoux from Equal Exchange in building a vibrant community that challenges the status quo, and business as usual. There will be a short presentation on Equal Exchange’s  organizing work, the steps that have led us here, and how you can get involved in imagining a better food system. Our event will focus on discussion and how your participation as an individual is integral to this work in building a successful alternative trade organization for years to come.   Bio: Danielle Robidoux has been an organizer at Equal Exchange for the past 3 years. A long-time food activist with a Masters in International Relations and Economic Development at Umass Boston, Danielle manages a community of 4,000 food activists across the US as part of Equal Exchange’s network. She is co-host of the Equal Exchange podcast The Stories Behind Our Food. Danielle has been one of the main organizers of Equal Exchange’s yearly Summits bringing together producer partners internationally, citizen-consumers, and worker-owners of Equal Exchange to sit around one table and grapple with issues plaguing our food system.   Equal Exchange:  This organization was founded 30 years ago, to make “a closer connection between people and the farmers we all rely on”.   The 3 founders wanted to provide “fairness to farmers” by removing many of the middlemen, providing fair, direct payment to the people who produce the food, rather than profits to those who just pass it on. They work with democratically run farmer co-ops, purchasing coffee beans, cocoa and tea directly.  Equal Exchange, a cooperatively run, worker owned business itself, processes, packages and distributes the fairly-traded products to food co-0ps and other customers in the United States. Equal Exchange U.S. partners with Equal Exhange U.K., La Siembre (Canada), and Oke USA, which imports fair-trade bananas. For more information about all of these organizations, visit equalexchange.coop. Come to the presentation by Danielle Robidoux to ask questions and learn more!

Find out how she felt….at the Wool Festival 

The annual Wool Festival, at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds, on Oct. 5 and 6 will feature art work made on rectangles of felt.   The picture above shows one made by Grange Chaplain Alison Forrest, who is a weaver, knitter and fiber artist, among other skills.   Her work will be part of a display of over 20 artists’ work based on the same size rectangle of felt.
In addition, the festival will feature wool in all forms–on actual sheep and goats, fleeces, yarn, felted, spun and fiber-artistically arranged.  There will be over 70 vendors of food, wool products, shearing tools and much more.   Demonstrations of sheep-herding & shearing!  Willow basket weaving!  The list goes on…check it all out at the Wool Festival website, and when you go, remember to look for Alison’s artwork!

Basement Improvement project: coming in December!

The Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall, besides raising money with our Challenge Fun-Raiser (see below) is also getting the schedule for the work to be done figured out.
At this point, it looks as if we will start in mid-December, just after Kids Trade & Play finishes their Dec. 14th clothing exchange.  The first batch of work–Northern Basements installing interior drainage, sump & sump pump with outside drain, plus dehumidifier–will get done before the Dec. 21st contra dance.  Dancers will be able to use the basement for coat and shoe changing, plus access to the bathrooms, of course!   After that weekend, Northern Basements will come back in and install the foam panels on the walls, and foam the rim joists.  While we need to keep the Grange Hall vacant for 24 hours after the foaming, there should be no lingering fumes to speak of.
After that, the most disruptive work will be done–but lots left to do.   Electrical rough-in, sheetrocking, joint-compound work, fiber-glass reinforced panels (FRPs) to be installed over the sheetrock to provide durable, easy-to-clean surfaces, ceiling panels to be installed, carpet tiles to be put down–and other trim, painting and miscellaneous carpentry.   We expect to be able to schedule these without significant disruption of the many groups that call the Grange Hall “home”.  
In the end, we’ll have a much more attractive and comfortable downstairs level, ready for even more activities.  
We are going to need volunteersto do painting, help moving sheetrock and FRPs into the building, etc.   If you can help out, please email me, Tim Swartz, and let me know!  It will be especially helpful if you have time on weekdays to help unload deliveries, but we will need a variety of help.    More specifics to come as we figure out the whole schedule.

Challenge Fun-raiser:  the excitement builds to a peak on Oct. 5th!

By now, we are pretty sure you know that every year, the CDU joins with the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall to raise money for improvements to the Grange Hall.  Generous folks who can afford it have pledged nearly $2,000 this year, for the Grange and dance communities to match.
We suspect you already know who the Friends are, even if it’s only the initials:  FCCGH.  You likely know that your contributions are tax-deductible, even, since it’s a 501(c)(3) organization.  And we hope that you enjoy–as we do–the improvements the Friends have carried out.   If you’re a Grange Hall user, you enjoy acoustic improvements in the main Hall, the bathrooms, the “new” dance floor, and the windows upstairs and down…and soon, a renovated basement which will also save us money on our heating bills.
Since every penny goes to support these improvements, we hope you will pitch in with the many others who help us get the funds raised.

We try to make it a fun experience–without raising the price for the dance, we are holding an especially festive Fun-Raiser Finale at the Oct. 5th dance.   There, the excitement will  mount as the tote board shows our progress to match the challenge donations.  There will be a great “dessert potluck” at the break, including Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and lots of tasty home-made treats–contact Dana Dwinell-Yardley if you want to bring in a dessert…and drop off a few bucks as you sample from the spread.  There are a couple of pictures from last year below, showing the hunger and enthusiasm of the crowd!

Also, all during September, people have been donating in exchange for the beautiful house-plants grown by Rob Nichols, who has been a very dedicated supporter, raising plants at his home and bringing them in.    I’ve put a picture of some examples from last year below as well.  Feel free to donate even more than Rob’s suggested contribution levels!
All the donations go to meet the challenge, and will be used for more hall improvements–we’re looking at door improvements, acoustic improvements, a wheelchair lift to the basement and stage, and more.  You can bring cash or checks to the dances, or donate online, with your credit card or Paypal account–we try to make it easy!
The Grange and the Friends keep improving with everyone’s help!  Learn more at the Grange Website.

Music-making at the Fall Festival

Many thanks to Robin Russell, who put together a very talented group of musicians to play for some dancing at the VT State Grange Fall Festival, on Sept. 7th.   From the left, the stage was full of:  Carl Ellis (harmonica), Mike Fiorillo (guitar), David Carpenter (fiddle), Jason Bergman (fiddle), April Werner (piano) and Robin (accordion).  When she wasn’t playing, Robin led the dancing on the floor–though we had a small turnout of dancers, we all had a fun time!
Next year, we’re talking about holding the dancing in the afternoon, when folks have more energy, I’ll spread the word when the time comes.