Action Granges

[Richard Roth]

I am finding out that many granges - struggling within the confines of the old traditional rituals are not being made aware of the Action Granges. They are the result of a committee set up years ago to address the declining membership and encumbered ritual that turned so many prospective new members off. I talked last night with a friend who joined the Grange back in 1999 with about 5 friends. They applied for membership, got accepted, went through the ritual process, and never came back. It was all just too weird for them.

Here are the recommendations of the committee, which were approved by national and the program implemented.

http://www.nationalgrange.org/ActionGrange/PositionPapers.pdf

Hope this helps.

Richard

[MASinPT]

[MASinPT]

Thanks so much for this valuable information. I found another useful link from New Hampshire: http://www.nhgrange.org/actiongrange/actiongrange.html

There is no way any of the Grange supporters where I live would participate in the old rituals. Zero.

On Wednesday, December 5, 2012 11:27:14 AM UTC-8, Richard Roth wrote:

[Anniegreenjeans]

Our next local Master (probably, yes - election tomorrow) has just called & asked me to organize a series of the Degree work 1-4th for 2013, isn't it interesting that there is some interest in seeing where we came from?  I am trying to get an editable copy of them to take a red pen to...make them viable for Greenhorns in the 21st century if I can!  The original intent is to offer deep values of stewardship & love of the land, & that is still desirable & permaculture contains many such references that would be great if modified to a ritual or theatrical format.
On the other hand, the history of Grange tends toward embracing all new things that appear to bring advancement in yield or reduce work- GMO is the new kid & therefor ok. 150 years ago all advances in farming technology were hailed as important & embraced with not much thought about their ecological implications...now we know that heavy tractors plowing with metal discs are causing damage to the soils over & over.
How can we change this overarching value?  That is much more interesting to me than spending time decrying ritual.

[Anniegreenjeans]

Oh, yes - much of my recent post & response is in context of the National Master's address which exhorts us to add MORE RITUAL to our meetings!  it would be great if someone who is NOT from California asked him a few pointed questions...I dont dare because of our current spotlight & may cause undue grief to our Calif leadership at this time...
What would i ask?
1- What kind of ritual does Ed Lutrell believe will help grow the Grange, and is there any actual experience with any of his ideas?
2- Are action Granges still being implemented or at least encouraged by NG?
3- Is there any plan to update the Degree work in 1-5th degrees?
5- Would NG consider input from their members (not State Officers) across the US in this updating?

On Monday, December 10, 2012 12:44:38 PM UTC-8, MASinPT wrote:

[Richard Roth]

An engineer told me one of the best yard sticks for measuring quality. He said: The farther you get from nature, the more problems you are going to have.

I think the role of ritual is to connect us to nature. It is that which makes me appreciate Grange Ritual.

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Richard H. Roth

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[Richard Roth]

To put some perspective on it,  the Farm Bureau passed a resolution that global warming is a hoax.

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Richard H. Roth

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[Anniegreenjeans]

     
   
    yes, we are in trouble in big grange, like big ag, they grew up
together...sometime i will regale you with more concerns i had after the
7th degree work in boise

[MASinPT]

Another useful document produced by the National Action Grange Task Force is on Goal Setting: http://www.nationalgrange.org/ActionGrange/GoalSetting.pdf

Are there other documents you know of that relate to Action Granges?

On Wednesday, December 5, 2012 11:27:14 AM UTC-8, Richard Roth wrote:

[MASinPT]

I see on The Grange Insider Dec 6th post you have added links to the many documents generated by the NationalGrange Stategic Planning Task Force. What a goldmine! I don't recall all the links to recommendations of that committee being there before. They contain many excellent suggestions. One of the suggestions was electing a board of directors. Do you know of any Granges with a board? If so do they meet seperately from regular meetings?

On Wednesday, December 5, 2012 11:27:14 AM UTC-8, Richard Roth wrote:

[Richard Roth]

Not sure what you mean exactly, but the Chico Grange has an Executive Committee that meets regularly as needed to address issues that come up between meetings. This might entail emergency maintenance issues, permits, or situation monitoring in relation to management of the Grange Hall. We also set up separate Rental Committee, and a Grounds Committee to set and tweak policies and set priorities. All committees report back to the monthly meeting on any actions taken for review or approval by the membership.

This any help?

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Richard Roth
Chico, CA 95928