KEVIN YOUNG, DIRECTOR
60822 Creek Road
Niles, MI 49120
269-684-3870
kevin60822@sbcglobal.net
JULY/AUGUST 2024 GRANGE NEWS
We are a few short months now from our 2024 State Session that is being held in Charelvoix. It will be a great time celebrating yet again the 151st of the Michigan State Grange.
As I sit here on June 17th writing this, we are in a very hot start of a week of weather. Today it has been in the mid 90s with heat index of at least 104 degrees. We have had a couple of thunderstorms roll through which is great for the mositure but then the humidity and temperature goes right back up. At least we are getting the mositure to help with the crops and gardens to grow.
Remember one class that anyone can enter is the class labeled: Any planting in a Unique container. It can be any type of container, but the planting must have grown in the unique container. Keep in mind that you must be able to transport this item to State Session and be able to bring it from your vehicle with little assistance.
Here is hoping your gardens are growing or will be and that your harvest is bountiful. Until the next MGN….
Wow it’s July!? The first 6 months of 2024 have gone by way too fast! I hope everyone that planted a garden kept in mind the Agriculture Department classes for the 2024 State Session. I really hope to have a good turn out in my Department again this year as there were a wonderful number of entries at the 2023 Session.
We are a few short months now from our 2024 State Session that is being held in Charelvoix. It will be a great time celebrating yet again the 151st of the Michigan State Grange.
Fair season is here again. In just two short months the Berrien County Youth Fair while be coming to a close, as it starts on August 17th. This year will be bittersweet at the fair. My niece made the hard decission to not exhibit for her final year at the fair. It means less activities for our family at the fair but also a little more free time as well. Please go support our local youth by attending a Fair near you. There are plenty of things to see besides the amusement rides and fair food if that isn’t something you care to do. I remember when I was an exhibitor how it felt to have everyone walk by looking at my animals or still exhibits. It is the youth exhibitors’ time to shine for all of their hard work during the summer months (or winter too) leading up to entry day.
Well last year at this time we were having an addition put on to the chicken coop. It was so nice this past winter to have the extra space for all of the hens and the rooster to have. This spring we had to do away with the rooster. He was getting too aggressive towards the hens and I had to watch my every move when in the coop as he would come after me. I had a close call and I told my Dad that it was time. I didn’t like culling him but we can’t have something that could seriously injure the hens or humans. Now we just need to get more pullets to help raise egg production back to where we had been.
As I sit here on June 17th writing this, we are in a very hot start of a week of weather. Today it has been in the mid 90s with heat index of at least 104 degrees. We have had a couple of thunderstorms roll through which is great for the mositure but then the humidity and temperature goes right back up. At least we are getting the mositure to help with the crops and gardens to grow.
Remember one class that anyone can enter is the class labeled: Any planting in a Unique container. It can be any type of container, but the planting must have grown in the unique container. Keep in mind that you must be able to transport this item to State Session and be able to bring it from your vehicle with little assistance.
Here is hoping your gardens are growing or will be and that your harvest is bountiful. Until the next MGN….
AGRICULTURE
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 GRANGE NEWS
Wow! August is just about over as I write this article and another County Fair season is just about over for my area. The weather is up and down with temperatures and humidity, but it wouldn’t be summer and fair season without that type of weather! The Berrien County Youth Fair just finished on Aug 17th and we had almost perfect weather, besides 2 days that had some rain. But once it stopped raining, it was great, and the people flocked to the grounds. There are only a few more fairs left in Michigan now with one of them being the St. Joseph County Grange Fair in Centreville and I believe the last one in Michigan being the Hillsdale County Fair.
We got our garden in around Memorial Day weekend this year, planting zucchini, tomatoes, butternut squash and pumpkins. I have seen a few squash amongst the vines so we will be able to enter in the Ag Department class. We had a hill of volunteer potatoes grow in the middle of the garden, so we will have to see if we can dig any up for State Session in October. I hope others have had better luck and will have lots of items to enter in this year’s classes. If there is a class suggestion for the 2025 State Session that you would like to share with me, please do so. I am always up for making changes if it works with when our State Session is held.
As we move into the harvest season, please keep in mind that we will once again be sharing the roads with very large sized farm equipment. I know we are all in a hurry to get where we are going but we need to keep in mind that those big pieces of equipment help to put food on our families’ tables.
I look forward to seeing everyone that will be coming to the Michigan State Grange Convention that is being held in late October up in Charlevoix. I hope everyone has been working on entries for the Departments so we have a great Grange Contest year!
See you at State Session!!
