| APRIL 1, 2025 -- Since my last article, the Stock Market dropped 1,000 points in one week with tariffs aimed at our allies. There is concern over the efforts of DOGE to close government agencies and a loss of faith in the US economy.
Project Sustenance was featured in the last issue of the Granger, talking about food security. With proposed cuts in food assistance and school lunch programs, our neighbors, children, and families may be left out of these programs.
This reminds me of the Victory Gardens during WWII. When I worked at the UConn Dairy Barn on the Storrs Campus, we had photos of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visiting the barn watching young men and women from the cities learning to milk cows and do farm work with chickens, pigs and vegetable gardens. The field behind the yellow barn was a bog with drainage tiles that made it a great fertile field. During the war, the area was a large Victory Garden to raise food for the area people to survive due to the rationing. It’s that call to service that is needed to help our State. We need everyone to chip in, like the Pandemic, we will have to take care of each other.
We have heard the US Postal Service will be laying off 10,000 workers and request DOGE to evaluate this department. Postmaster General Dejoy has submitted his resignation for June 2025. Since he has been Postmaster General, he has diligently worked to destroy this agency by removing sorting machines, closing rural Post Offices and regional centers. He now wants to delay delivery to outlying areas, “Rural America”, which the National Grange lobbied for in the 1890’s.
We should keep our eye on the changes and closures of government agencies. We all need to stand up for ourselves, our children, grandchildren, parents and grandparents. It’s the Grange way. The State of Connecticut has had some hearings on Ag issues. The DEEP is looking to rent, or lease land agricultural land purchased under the Open Space Land Acquisition program. Some farmers wish to have an exemption to polystyrene and single use plastics. The Grange passed a resolution three years ago to ban single use plastics and polystyrene containers to help save the environment, plus there are many plant-based options for containers today.
Money is going to get tight - we all need to tighten our belts and help each other get through this.
Happy Easter and pray for an early spring.
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