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PUG Times The newsletter of the Pittsfield Union Grange

Volume 14, Number 4 November 2014 Message from the President Ruth Scodel's first message as president, relecting on the State Grange Convention. I attended part of the State Grange session—the degree conferrals on Friday evening, and the Saturday meeting. Since we will probably be involved in hosting State Session next year, seeing the degrees, which I did myself last year, was good practice. The Community Center in Lawton was a lovely venue, though it was peculiar having a Grange session in a former winery with a definite Dionysiac feel (especially the plastic ivy in the restroom!). The church on which the Saturday session was held was perfectly okay but did not have the former winery's charm. On the other hand, the Community Center had stairs, and this was the kind of crowd in which people had trouble with the stairs, although it was also the kind of crowd in which the clearing of the room on Friday night was accomplished with amazing speed because so many folks helped. The most interesting segment of the meeting came when someone raised a question about whether local Granges were going to have to bear the cost of the National Grange's lawsuit against the California State Grange. Our State Master gave his own view, that actions of the California Master were not "kosher" but that the disagreements should have been settled over coffee—and explained that the National Grange has a loan from the North Carolina State Grange (continued on page 2)

Upcoming Events Friday, December 12 - Holiday party Potluck, recorder music, carol singing, and grab bag. Grange provides the turkey. Invite friends. 6:00 Saturday, December 20 - Junior Makers Program for elementary school age children with parents. Different project every month. Free. 10:00-noon Saturday, December 20 - Contra Dance Peter Baker and Martha vander Kolk call to music by Stout Hearted String Band (featuring three PUG members). $10/$7 Grange members/$5 students. 8:00 Wednesday, January 14 - Grange Meeting Ruth Scodel will speak on Roman agriculture. Potluck at 6:30, program at 7:15, business meeting (if needed) following Saturday, January 17 - Junior Makers Program for elementary school age children with parents. Different project every month. Free. 10:00-noon Saturday, January 17 - Contra Dance Peter Baker and Martha vander Kolk call to music by Big Fun (including one Grange member). $10/$7 Grange members/$5 students. 8:00 (continued on page 2)

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(continued from page 1) (I think it was North Carolina). He also told us that the National Grange headquarters is very close to the White House and is an immensely valuable asset. I looked it up, and he is absolutely right—1616 H Street in Washington, DC must be worth a fortune. There was no youth session on Saturday morning, because the youth weren't there, and there was a brief discussion about recruiting young people. Some who might have attended were at a school band event. But the prizes for the junior competitions were all awarded to the same handful of kids. You could hardly fail to notice that it was an elderly crowd, just as the active members of PUG are not young, and the session did not feel like an event that would attract younger people. The marching around, to tunes that probably have not changed in close to a century, belongs to a slower-paced America. I can't imagine what would make any of the younger people I know want to participate in the organization, except local programs. The Grange Foundation gives loans to students who are members, but the amounts are so small compared to what it costs to go to college that the program feels irrelevant. (continued from page 1) Sunday, January 18 - Family Dance Traditional dances suitable for children with adults. Calling by Dave Smith, Ed Vincent, and/or Marlin Whitaker. Live music by Donna Baird and Fred Karsch. Followed by cookies and lemonade. $12/family at the door. Grange members free. 2:00 - 4:00 Wednesday,February 11- Grange Meeting Potluck at 6:30, program TBA at 7:15, business meeting (if needed) following Sunday, February 15 - Family Dance Traditional dances suitable for children with adults. Calling by Dave Smith, Ed Vincent, and/or Marlin Whitaker. Live music by Donna Baird and friend. Followed by cookies and lemonade. $12/family at the door. Grange members free. 2:00 - 4:00

Saturday, February 21 - Junior Makers Program for elementary school age children with parents. Different project every month. Free. 10:00-noon Saturday, February 21 - No Contra Dance This is Dawn Dance Weekend. Wednesday, March 11 - Grange Meeting Potluck at 6:30, program TBA at 7:15, business meeting (if needed) following Apple Day A picture is worth 1000 words, so here are a few thousand words about Apple Day 2014.

First step: buy some apples from John

Then wash them and go to the grinder. Dave will help.

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Richard and Ruth demonstrate how to operate a press.

Inside is a variety of apples for tasting.

Patrick ran a special all-day session of Junior Makers - a "wreck lab". Here he examines a small part of something with a prospecitve maker.

The Peruvian Amazon In September Dave Wilson spoke on his family’s trip to the Peruvian Amazon last May. Although we generally think of Peru as desert, Andes, and the Incas, some 40% of Peru is Amazon rain/flood forest. The Amazon basin is almost the size of the U.S., and the flow of the Amazon is some ten times that of the Mississippi, making it by far the largest (though not the longest) river in the world. Sparsely populated, the Amazon basin is mostly impenetrable jungle that is flooded half the year. The Peruvian Amazon’s only connections with the outside world are by air and by water; roads are few and short, and do not connect with the “outside”. We flew to Lima, then spent a day in this city that dates back to Pizarro’s time, the early 1500’s. High points were the Plaza Mayor with its cathedral, auntamiento (city hall) and fortified presidential palace; the Aliaga home, built by Geronimo Aliaga, Pizarro’s second in command, in the 1500’s and still inhabited by Aliagas; and the Museo Lorca, which houses Sr. Lorca’s collection of Moche, Chavin, and other pre-Inca artifacts, including some 45,000 pots! A short flight over the Andes took us to Iquitos, a city of 460,000 with no roads whatsoever to the outside world. A 60-mile ride then took us to Nauta, a town of about 60,000, where we boarded Delfin II, our home on the river for the following week. I cannot speak too highly of our crew. They were very friendly and competent—and the cooks were superb. We had traveled before with Carlos Romero, our trip leader, in the Galapagos--a great guy. The guide-naturalists were incredible in their depth of knowledge, skill at finding critters, and patience in answering our many questions. The Amazon Basin is a network of creeks, streams, small rivers, large rivers, and enormous rivers. Those that originate high in the Andes are brown from soil eroded from those mountain slopes. Those that originate in the jungle are black from tannins from decaying vegetation. A few are white, from the sands of a desert in Venezuela. These waterways

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provide transportation for the people living there, and the source of fish to feed them. Transportation for the poor is a log canoe and a paddle. If you’re not so poor, you put a cheap, reliable, direct drive Chinese outboard motor on your canoe. Little outboard-powered water taxis and freight boats provide local public transportation. For kids, tiny dugout canoes take the places of trikes and bikes. Small ships bring freight 3,000 miles up the Amazon from its mouth. The rain forest is incredible. Magnificent forest giants rise out of the surrounding jungle and are the basis for a cottage logging industry. Cut logs are rafted and floated to the sawmill at Nauta. Streams may contain lily pads four feet across, and are sometimes choked with massive growths of water lettuce. Some palms walk (very, very slowly) toward the light; others are protected with formidable thorns. Beautiful purple convolvulus flowers often border the streams. Insect life was bizarre; termites, leaf-cutter ants, army caterpillars, an occasional beautiful blue butterfly, and a couple of tarantulas of formidable size. Mosquitoes were not a problem. Wasps are similar to ours, but these wasps provide protection from predators to birds that nest very close to the wasp nest and are unharmed by the insects. Amphibians and reptiles were common. We saw several beautiful little frogs, including a tiny scarlet-backed poison dart frog. Lizards included caiman lizards sunning after feeding on snails in the stream, a large iguana, and some spectacled caimans—a kinder, gentler version of the crocodile. On one hike a local boy brought an angry, very poisonous fer de lance snake for us to view, after which he took it off into the jungle to be available for the next batch of tourists—catch and release. A little later he showed up with an anaconda of modest size (about 8 ft.) and amiable disposition draped over his arm and shoulders. We saw a number of three-toed sloths. A diet of leaves gives them little pep, and they don’t

live in a very fast lane. They’re usually seen as a sleeping ball of gray fur up in a tree. Monkeys are more interesting, and we saw quite a few—squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, red howlers (well-named, those!), white-faced capuchin monkeys, and tiny night monkeys. Very young monkeys make nice pets, but become obnoxious and violent teen-agers. We visited a “monkey island” where such ex-pets were being “rehabilitated” to jungle life. One spider monkey was not happy about this. He was a house monkey, and wanted desperately to be restored to pet status. He kept trying to drop into our skiff, but Alex, our pilot, always backed the boat up in the nick of time, to the monkey’s frustration. Another very strange animal we saw was an arboreal ant-eater, well-fed, I hope, on arboreal ants. Aquatic mammals included pink (yes, pink) river dolphins and manatees. Dolphins are protected from human predation by a belief that eating them causes loss of libido in men and unwanted pregnancy in women! Manatees are not so fortunate. Slow, trusting, defenseless, and delicious, they have been hunted to near-extinction. We visited a center for raising and weaning orphan manatees. The young ones loved to be petted and hand-fed water lettuce—cute. Amazon birds are numerous, varied, and spectacular: several herons and egrets, including the spectacular great egret, cormorants, terns, a variety of kingfishers, several kinds of hawks, impressive jabiru storks, parrots (including red macaws), and many others. The Amazon Basin is a great place for birding. Human settlements are along the rivers, which provide transportation and fish. The soil, like many tropical soils, is infertile. In a few places high ground provides a good village site; elsewhere homes are built on stilts to keep them above high water. Spanish is widely used, and the people are friendly, jolly, and happy to chat. Life is fairly primitive, but the people look healthy and happy, and there are elementary schools in all the villages. Kids commute by

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boat to the larger villages to go to high school. Manga Peru, an NGO, provides information and help on fish farming, sustainable agriculture, health, and family planning. (Rapid population growth and over-population are serious and are being attacked with vigor.) Local arts and crafts are for sale in village markets (basketry, wood carvings, decorated gourds, bead jewelry, etc.). The sellers were so nice and friendly that we didn’t have the heart to bargain to any extent, and I’m sure they plucked us like chickens. Big changes are coming to the Amazon Basin, in part because of its oil. The people seem to be looking forward with enthusiasm to what these will bring. One can only hope that they will not be disappointed by seeing great wealth but not sharing in it—so often the pattern elsewhere. Time will tell. Art, the Artist, and Flowers Our October program was given by Dr. Julia Hardy, a psychiatrist whose passionate avocation is art, particularly lovely water color portrayals of beautiful flowers. It was easy to see why Julia’s enthusiasm for her subject virtually bubbled over as she explained the nature of her art and took us through stunning views of landscapes and flowers, especially big, yellow, spectacular sunflowers. She gave illustrations of how some of the effects the artist wants are transferred to paper, and how the artist projects her own spirit and emotions into a landscape or a still life with flowers to create something that focuses the observer’s eye on aspects of the scene that he would easily overlook in nature. Her talk was illustrated with quite a number of examples of her work and a gorgeous collection of slides. Thanks so much, Julia, for sharing your passion with us. Mongolia - a different world At our November meeting Mary Underwood gave a most elegantly illustrated talk on her

travels and adventures in Mongolia, a fascinating part of the world virtually unknown to most of us. Mongolia is land-locked, bordered by Russia (Siberia) on the north and by China on the east, south, and west. Some 45% of its population of only 2.9 million live in and around Ulan Bator, the capital. About 30% are nomads, herding cattle, sheep, goats, and camels in an endless search for water and grass. Most are Tibetan Buddhists, with Islam being dominant among the Kazakhs. The largest and most powerful of the various empires of warlike nomads that ruled the area was that of Chinggis (Genghis for us old folks) Khan and his grandson, Kublai Khan back in the 1200’s. Mongolia became a subject state of the Soviet Union in 1924, after which Buddhism was virtually wiped out. The country recovered its independence in 1990, shortly after the collapse of communism in Europe and the Soviet Union, and Buddhism has since bounced back with vigor. Mongolia is a sparse, austere land, ranging from high mountains in the north through a broad expanse of dry, treeless steppe to the Gobi Desert in the south. Mary’s first venture to Mongolia, made when she was in her fifties, involved a rough seven-day horseback trip to Genghis Khan’s holy mountain. Quite a jaunt! Like so many other cities, Ulan Bator, the capital, is plagued with serious seasonal air pollution; here this occurs in the winter. Signs of modern times include some that are a bit strange: a store front simulating a Singer sewing machine, the Mercy Masage (sic) parlor, and the Destroy Hair & Beauty salon. Roads are few and, generally, horrible; cars, often crammed with passengers, have padded ceilings to ease the pain of bumped heads on bumpy roads. Motorcycles are fairly common; horses and camels are the way to go in much of the country. School starts at age six for those who can get there. Top students generally study abroad; there is a bit of a brain drain, but many return home. A mining boom (gold, iron, some coal) is currently causing a good bit of inflation. Several pictures of one type of horse were of particular interest to me. Pryzbalski’s horse is a

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horse native to Mongolia that almost became extinct but has now made a comeback. Occasionally one comes across “deer stones”, mysterious pillars of stone dating back to the Bronze Age. Petroglyphs of animals are common; one of Mary’s pictures showed a snow leopard having dinner. Horse racing, wrestling, and archery are major sports; the Mongols invented the compound bow, uniquely suited to horseback warfare. Horse race jockeys are often as young as eight, and ride bareback over a course up to 28 kilometers in length. (Mongols are not wimps!) Mary attended one horse show that included racing, bronc riding, and competitive lassoing with a strange looking lasso on the end of a long stick—quite different from ours. Camel racing is a common winter sport; Mary noted that (1) it takes three days to teach a camel to kneel so it can be mounted, and (2) camels are very comfortable to ride. These are two-humped (bactrian) camels, with built-in saddles. The nomads are pretty much tied to their herds and a cyclic migration governed by winter, summer, grass, and water. Homes are “gers” (yurts), quite portable, quite cozy, quite cleverly made. The frame joints are tied with camel’s hair rope, and the cover is made from canvas and felt. Mary had pictures of a wedding ger that was most elegant, with a beautiful carved door and some lovely tapestries inside. Mongols frequently brighten their day with song, and folk dancing, sometimes with gorgeous costumes, is an important activity. Food involves lots of dairy products from cows, goats, yaks, horses, and camels. For milking camels, one stands up and holds the bucket on his knee, and hopes that the camel has a gentle, compliant attitude. Cheese (often from Kashmir goats) is common, and “beer” consists of fermented mare’s milk. (I don’t think that Coors is seriously worried about this competition.) Potatoes, meat, blood sausage (not bad, we hear), and ghee (clarified butter, stored in sheep stomachs) are included in the diet. Food is governed by the “three day rule”, as there is no refrigeration. Nomad life is not easy. Winters are quite cold, wolf tracks in the

snow warn of danger to the herds, severe winters and summer droughts can kill off lots of livestock. The devastating impact of one such kill was eased considerably by a women’s NGO that made and sold felt rugs to ease the crunch. Mary found that her interests in fibers, textiles, and weaving gave her an introduction and made her friends everywhere she went. Despite the austerity of the land, the people are warm and very friendly, whether one is camping in the far north up near Siberia (32 degrees in June), watching the cutting of wild hay in the western mountains, or visiting the Gobi Desert in the south. Thanks so much, Mary, for sharing your visits to this fascinating part of the world.

Grange contacts: Ruth Scodel, President 734-761-6172, rscodel@umich.edu Joan Hellmann, Vice President/PUG Times 734-769-1052, hellmann@umich.edu Richard Raymond, Treasurer/Membership/ Hall Rental 734-662-9290, rraymond@umich.edu Peter Baker, Hall Maintenance p.j.baker@me.com David Wilson, Program Chair 734-699-7623, djw1ls0n@s bcglobal.net