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At our May meeting, Granger Jannike Allen gave a presentation entitled Prepping You and Your Home for Wildfire in California.

Click here to view or download a copy of her presentation.

Here are some tips she shared:

Living with Fire
Jannike encouraged us to change our attitudes and learn about fire ecology.
Our local vegetation needs low intensity fire in order to be healthy.
Controlled/prescribed burns are beneficial, and although the smoke is still a nuisance, it is better than the smoke from a mega-fire.
Check purpleair.com for the latest information on air quality.
Buy N-95 and MERV-13 filters now before there is a spike in demand.
Get an air purifier or create one with a box fan and a MERV-13 filter.

Evacuation Prep
Freeze extra ice to fill your fridge when the power is out.
Place a penny on top of frozen container of water. If the penny falls to the bottom, you might want to think about the quality of your frozen food because the power would have been off for quite a while.
5 P’s for Evacuation: people, prescriptions, papers, personal needs (a Go Bag), priceless items.
·Check your insurance to see if it is up-to-date. Do a video walk-through of your home. Back up documents to Cloud storage.

Fire Prevention
Heed Red Flag Warnings. This happens when there are strong winds, low relative humidity, and dry fuels. Generally speaking, it is better to mow in the morning when the relative humidity is higher.
Pay attention to local emergency alerts. Watch Duty is a good app.
Have a home assessment done by local professionals.
Develop good neighborhood relationships and contact information.
Have a reflective address sign.
If you have to evacuate, leave hoses and ladders out for firefighters to use.
Reducing Home Ignition
Reduce wildfire risk by working from your home outward.
Upgrade vulnerable components like attic vents. Use 1/8” or 1/16” wire mesh to keep flying embers out of the attic.
Develop good maintenance habits like clearing gutter of leaves and needles.
Be smart about landscaping—reduce ladder fuels and debris.

Further Resources

• National Fire Protection Association  
• Firewise U.S.A. 
• Map your Neighborhood      
• Firesafe Sonoma (our local Firesafe Council)   
• Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network  

At our April meeting, Grangers and friends gathered to enjoy the Laguna sunset view and tailgate drinks. We came inside to enjoy Minestrone Soup and garlic bread and good company!
We sang out “the love between our brothers and our sisters, a-a-a-all over this land”, led by Paul Schwebel and Lawrence Jaffe!
Granger Elin Lennox shared a presentation on the unsustainable nature of our shrimp consumption.
Everyone is welcome to join us for our General Meetings, held on the last Tuesday of every month!

The exchange is a great place to build community, share starts, produce, recipes, food recovery information and tips on local plant adaptations.

What:  It is time for our yearly local project to redistribute homegrown produce and eliminate food waste.  This is an opportunity to trade surplus items from your garden for something you don’t have.  You may also bring produce that you have gleaned (with permission of course) from a neighbor’s yard. Check in for dates when we will be joined by the Master Food Preservers who have a wealth of information to pass on.   Plant starts will also be shared and traded. 

Bounty for the County   We encourage all to grow extra to donate to our community members in need of healthy produce. At the end of the exchange period, all left over produce will be donated to a food recovery partner.

Where:  The Sebastopol Grange  6000 Sebastopol Rd/Hwy 12

When:  5:00 – 5:45 pm on the 2^nd and 4th Tuesdays, May 10 – Oct 25, 2022

Dates:  May 10 & 24, June 14 & 28, July 12 & 26, Aug 9 & 23, Sept 13 & 27, Oct 11 & 25

Contact:  Dena atproduce@rahus.org or 707-484-5703

Please follow covid-safety protocol; clean hands before & after exchange, follow current mask mandates and respect each other’s needs and personal space.

#2 – May 20, 2022

We are looking for friends and neighbors of all ages to help us build a community that fosters: sharing, mending, learning, self-reliance, friendships, zero waste, re-use, and repair.

MEND & BEFRIEND will be a recurring event that evolves over time based on our needs and talents.

When: Friday May 20, 2022, from 4:30-6:30 pm.
Where: the Sebastopol Grange – 6000 Sebastopol Ave, Hwy 12, Sebastopol.
Who: open to Grange members and others of all ages.

We ask that participants bring clothes or fabric items that need repair and also sewing supplies, if you have any. We can help each other learn mending techniques both basic and decorative like embroidery and Sashiko: The Japanese Art of Mending Fabric with Beautiful Stitches. In addition please bring any yard tools that you would like to mend.

In addition, please bring any clean clothing items or fabric that you would like to put out for our clothes/fabric swap. If the item has a special story behind it, you can opt to write a small note about it and pin to your offering.

Also consider bringing any small tools that you know how to fix or that you need to fix so that we can start thinking about expanding our mending.

We will supply the following: extra sewing supplies, material scraps, project ideas.

We ask that you bring the following: a mask for when in close proximity to others while inside, your own plate, cup and silverware & a snack if desired, plus a basket or bag for taking home your projects and any clothes you pick from the swap.

A donation jar will be circulated so that we can continue to support the maintenance of our Grange Hall.

Wanted – community members with tool repair and small electronic repair skills and sewing skills

Contact– produce@rahus.org.

Seemed like old times at the February Grange meeting!
Carol and Dena prepared a delicious soup dinner for us, Barton offered the blessing, Paul led a sing-along, and we all enjoyed visiting among good company!
Join us next month! General meeting is the last Tuesday of every month. Everyone is invited!

Our December meeting was a combined business meeting and general meeting. We enjoyed a boxed brunch of salmon toasts, quich, salad, and more, prepared by Dena with help from Carol and Dorothy Morgan.

President Laura reported on her conversations with Sean McNeil at the City of Santa Rosa about the tilling being done on the adjacent Kelly Farm by the current farmer, whose lease will be ending soon. McNeil said he is open to our Grange’s suggestion that the property be leased to a farmer who will use more biodynamic, no-till farming methods. They discussed the posibility of grants in partnership with the The Natural Resources Defense Council, the City of Santa Rosa, and the Grange.
“We have planted the seeds to make changes in local agriculture,” said Laura.

This historic building is in danger.
Please help save the Morgan Hill Grange. Because of COVID, it is in financial trouble due to the inability to rent out the venue. The Grange has been very friendly to the bluegrass community and could really use help. Click to learn more and contribute to their Go Fund Me account.

Lost In the Middle movie at the Grange Backyard!
May 15, 8pm

A group of friends in their 40s come together the year after helping a friend die with dignity. They didn’t do a great job at it, sure, but they did their best, each of them getting through the pain in the ways they always have: sex, drugs and social justice organizing. Now, as they convene in the small town they grew up in to scatter the ashes and say one final good-bye, they discover grief about the past and fear about the future have changed them.

Think The Breakfast Club thirty years later meets The Big Chill, only more queer and diverse and funny.

Shot in Sonoma County, where writer/ director Angie Powers grew up (her childhood home is a major location), Lost in the Middle celebrates the hidden diversity of small-town life and the longevity of the friendships she nurtured here.

Tickets: $10 ($11.49 w/service fee), proceeds shared with the Grange. Max. 50 attendees. Bring your own chairs and blankets. Parking will start at 7pm; music by Paul Schwebel will precede the film, which starts at 8pm.