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!
