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History
The National Grange is structured with state, regional, and local granges. The national grange was formed after the Civil War (1861 – 1865) by eight men and one woman from the Northern States to help resurrect border and Southern farms ravaged by four years of war. Since both the founding and subsequent Patrons of Husbandry were agents of unity, its growth was exponential, reaching 858,050 after seven years.
Those early grangers lived in an America torn by bitter political feelings that needed to be healed for the welfare of all — and so do we today. Those volunteer men and women chose to work to bring people together — and so do we today.
In 1867 President Andrew Johnson commissioned Oliver Kelley to go to the Southern states to collect data to improve Southern agricultural conditions. In the South, poor farmers bore the brunt of the Civil War and were suspicious of Northerners like Kelley. But he found he was able to overcome these sectional differences as a Mason. With Southern Masons as guides, he toured the war-torn countryside in the South and was appalled by the outdated farming practices, damaged buildings/equipment, and difficulty of getting seeds. He saw the need for an organization that would bring people from the North and South together in a spirit of mutual cooperation to rebuild America as he once knew it.
After many letters and consultations with neighbors and friends, Grange #1 was born in 1868 in Fredonia, New York.[2] Seven men and one woman co-founded the Grange: Oliver Hudson Kelley, William Saunders, Francis M. McDowell, John Trimble, Aaron B. Grosh, John R. Thompson, William M. Ireland, and Caroline Hall.[3]
The organization was unusual at that time because women and any teen old enough to draw a plow were encouraged to participate. The importance of women was recognized by requiring that four of the elected positions could only be held by women.[4] Additionally, the Grange was the first national fraternal organization to have women leaders (Master/President) co-equal to men. This equality was established long before women gained the right to vote.
Many of the 1980s state and local granges adopted non-partisan political resolutions, especially pushing for free rural mail delivery, and regulating railroad transportation costs for local short-haul shipments by farmers. Today, we can see that their’s was a battle against harmful monopoly business practices.
Mission
Prunedale Grange #388, founded in 1927, proudly follows the tradition of volunteerism described above. We do that via our mission of promoting North County community wellbeing, farmer values, and local agriculture. We are a 501c non-profit volunteer organization that supplies a number of significant benefits for North County residents and travelers passing through Monterey County. We initiate or support issues, initiatives, and legislative action. But the Grange as a non-partisan organization does not endorse nor support individual political parties or individual candidates running for office.
Here are examples of our past and ongoing volunteer actions.
In 2016 members of our grange were instrumental in forging a county zoning initiative that protected ongoing oil operations while preventing toxic oil fracking techniques from threatening water sources and 74,000 farm jobs in Salinas Valley, known as the Salad Bowl of America. How big was this win? Monterey County is the only oil-producing county in California and in the United States to ban local fracking operations.
Since 2015, our grange has also volunteered our buildings to county law and fire agencies as a disaster shelter and our large parking lot as a staging area during fire or traffic emergencies, as well as a landing/takeoff site for helicopter ambulances.
Additionally, we provide at a minimal cost a Youth Center building for North County Future Farmers of America, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, summer tutoring, and other youth-focused training. To better protect school children, we also allow parents and local schools to use our parking lot as a safe place to load and offload students traveling to and from their schools.
Monterey County government organizations (like the Registrar of voters and Public Works), homeowner associations, neighborhood watchdog organizations, religious sects, and other non-profit community organizations pay minimal donations to hold periodic or annual gatherings. For example, the SnipBus uses our Youth Center parking lot to provide a neutering service for feral cats in North County. This non-profit service reduces a food source for nuisance coyotes and reduces the knockdown of the quail population by cats hunting birds.
Individual families or clubs rent our affordable facilities for private events like car shows, scrapbooking, dancing, weddings, quinceañras, celebrations of life, and other events. And we host grange events benefiting the community like are annual rummage sale and question and answer forums for candidates seeking to be elected as a county supervisor or to the Board of Education.
Membership
So, after considering our history and mission, and the opportunity to volunteer and provide a meaningful benefit to North County families, please become a Grange member. Step forward and be an agent of unity among our neighbors. It’s easy. Just download our membership application on our “Join the Grange” page. Then drop it off or mail it to the grange with a $40 individual donation or a $50 family donation.
