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Farmington Grange Updates Building and Mission

February 20, 2010 - FARMINGTON -- The Farmington Grange's prominent, white-clapboard 19th-century building is on the verge of a renaissance.

The first step in the new beginning is to convert the drafty and cold former Free Will Baptist Church into a facility for year-round agricultural projects.

A weatherization project began Thursday with the help of the Western Maine Community Action's energy audit program.

If a variety of grants are approved, Grange members plan to start work this summer, said Grange member and local farmer, Richard Marble.

A tighter building will save an estimated 50 percent on heating costs and that will mean the existing year-round farmers' market there can be expanded, he said.

The long-range plan also calls for a commercial kitchen and installing walk-in coolers for produce storage. It would be a step toward becoming a food distribution depot for farmers who want to ship to markets in Portland, Boston and beyond, Marble said.

He said farmers' markets do well in the summers and if growers could anticipate a steady customer base for winter produce like carrots, winter squash and cold-hardy greens, they would grow them.

"Maine is ideally situated for agriculture," Marble said. "We are close to large markets in the Northeast, we have plenty of water and we have grasslands."

"It is important to position ourselves now for the future so that small farms can be viable," he said.

Grange master Stephen Scharoun said enhancing the building will broaden its use in the community. But the key goal will be to support local agriculture.

"We want to bring economic development to Franklin County through agriculture," he said.

Community Action is working with several nonprofit organizations, donors and the JTG (John T. Gorman) Foundation in an Energy Leak Reduction Program, a five-year project that will target 65 low-income area homes.

The goal is to help owners and tenants affordably weatherize their homes by reducing air leaks under the guidance of energy auditors. These technicians are being trained as part of the program, said Del Downs, the program manager of the JTG Foundation grant awarded to Community Action. Five area energy auditors have now been trained in Franklin County. Two have been selected to work on the energy audit for the grange -- Richard Mitchell of Energy Savers in Phillips and Ted Ellis of Freedom Electric in Wilton.

If approved by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, the first $10,000 of the Grange project would be funded from the town's tax-increment financing reserve fund.

There is currently about $175,000 in the fund that has been generated out of property tax revenues paid by Franklin Printing.

Additional funding is being sought from the Maine Community Foundation and other programs, said Grange member Gerald Libby.

"We plan to do whatever we can to support the process," Libby said. "The Grange has already spent a considerable amount of money painting the building, digging up the foundation, and gutting the basement."

The Sandy River Farmers Market is open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Libby said at 4:30 a.m. on market day, a Grange member has to turn on the furnace so that by 10, the temperature inside is bearable.

The once-a-week use eats up a one-fourth of a tank of heating oil, he said. Over the next week, Mitchell and Ellis will go through the building with specialized equipment to pinpoint air infiltration sources.

Their report will make recommendations on ways to minimize the loss of heat, they said.

Betty Jespersen, Morning Sentinel, February 20, 2010

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