Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) October 9, 2025
Help us give the State Grange a great time
at our Hall on Oct. 24 & 25!
We are providing lunches for delegates on both days, plus dinner on Friday, and we are lucky to have Albert Sabatini as our chef. Albert, who is a Grange member, cooks regularly for the Montpelier Community Meals which are offered at lunchtime for free. He’s also a retired professional chef. He’s been working with Merry Shernock to set up the menu and to find local vendors for as many ingredients as possible.
Albert has also given us a list of helpers he needs to get the meals served, and then to clean up afterwards. No special skills needed! Our appeals have filled some of the spots, but we still need people for the following slots:
- Friday lunch set up and service: 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM–2 volunteers needed.
- Friday lunch cleanup: 12:30 to 1:30 PM–2 volunteers needed.
- Friday dinner set up and service: 4:00 to 6:30 PM–1 volunteer needed.
- Friday dinner cleanup: 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM–2 volunteers needed.
Your help in any of these time slots will be greatly appreciated!
State Grange note: helping us with construction financing!
I’m pleased to pass on the news that the State Grange is greatly helping us with our current Grange Hall improvement project, by providing us with a loan to finance the installation of an Energy Recovery Ventilator system to bring in fresh air to the Main Hall, plus a commercial, and very quiet air purifier. We’ve been awarded a grant from the VT Arts Council and the State of Vermont which will pay 50% of the cost–but as usual, we won’t receive the grant until the project is completed. The no-interest loan from the VSG will allow us to pay the contractors; we’ll repay the loan with the grant proceeds. We greatly appreciate the help!
October 4 meeting program
As discussed in the recent Grange Notes, we had a fascinating program put on by the group that campaigned to get “natural burial” made legal in Vermont, and which now operates the Vermont Forest Cemetery in Roxbury. The program started with a showing of a documentary film called: From Earth to Earth: the Lost Art of Dying in America. Produced by film students from Ithaca College, this film is currently being shown at film festivals, and has already won awards.
We did ha
ve some technical problems at the beginning of the film, despite a trial run, but I hope that it was visible and audible to the people who tuned in virtually. The audience in the Grange Hall had to listen carefully due to low sound levels, but still were transfixed. The film shows footage about natural burial at a couple of other cemeteries as well as showing the first burial at the VT Forest Cemetery, in fall of 2023. There were also interviews with spouses and family members of those who have chosen this burial method. It was touching and emotionally gripping, as well as being informative.
The film was followed by a Q&A session with Jim Hogle, who is President of the VT Forest Cemetery. His daughter, Michele Hogle Acciavatti, founder of VT Forest Cemetery, was scheduled to do so, but was busy with a professional event. Jim, who has been touring with the film, turned out to be a very well-informed and thoughtful speaker, who answered many questions from the 30 or so attendees. He, plus Michelle (who arrived during the Q&A) and a couple of other people involved in the project stayed for the potluck dinner afterward.
If you were at the presentation, you heard that there will be an Open House at the VT Forest Cemetery this coming Saturday, Oct. 11th, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. It will celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the opening of the VFC. There will be music, art, poetry and presentations; you can learn more at the VT Forest Cemetery’s website, which also was the source of the photo.
Next Grange Program: Dec. 6th
The next public program, at the next Grange meeting in an even-numbered month will feature a presentation by the local chapter of Trout Unlimited, the conservation group that works to restore streams, rivers and brooks to natural conditions, for the benefit of the fish–and all the other species on which the fish depend. The local chapter, named after the Mad River and the Dog River, has been holding meetings at the Grange Hall for years! They will also be presenting Dog River Day on the Common in Northfield, on Saturday, Oct. 18 from noon to 3:00 PM. The afternoon will feature walks along the Dog River, and more, put it on your calendar–and we look forward to seeing you on Dec. 6th as well!