Farming has long been a family business -often passed down from founder to subsequent generations in the same family since agriculture took the place of hunter-gatherer-forager societies and became the staple form of food and livestock production, domestication, and consumption some 10-12,000 years ago. Though nearly everything else about farming has changed, the ties between farming families and their communities are still there when small, local, family farms are supported and protected.
In fact, local family-run farms have found an appreciation renewed through the newly growing field of agrotourism -creating tourist destination experiences amidst producing, fully-working farms, thereby allowing guests and non-farmers to learn about, participate in, or be immersed in farm life and harvests. One such local farm is Bensons Pond Cranberries, and one of the driving forces and brains behind its continued success is Plympton local, Erin Williams.
A Cornell University graduate who grew up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania, Williams was long-instilled with the appreciation of farm life, and aware of the work ethic, problem solving, and innovation required to keep an agriculturally based family business running amidst the changing landscape from family to cooperate farming models. By chance, she met her match in someone from another farming family in Massachusetts -Cassander Gilmore, a third-generation cranberry farmer.
“It all started when Cass and I got married,” explains Williams, “We had a traditional reception in Pennsylvania -you know, two farms, two families, but when we got to Massachusetts, we wanted to celebrate with people there, so we hosted a family clambake on the bog. I got permission from my in-laws to clean out the top part of the screenhouse and we got it ready to host the clambake. At the reception, we had some people show interest in using the space for more events and it gave me the idea.”
After a bit of uncertainty as to how this idea would go, and what Williams joked about as “too much free time on my hands that winter”, she got the approval of her in-laws, as well as the necessary town permits and legal clearances, to make some changes to the space to be appropriate for its intended use. “We kept most of it original and only updated a few things like the electrical and some basic rehabbing, but we wanted to keep is as intact and unchanged from the classic cranberry screenhouse as possible.”
That winter of excess free time was certainly fleeting, as Willliams’ business model for the farm has given way to Bensons Pond Cranberries and The Barn on Bensons Pond becoming a local tourist attraction now drawing up to 10,000 people a year. This dramatic transformation from a traditional cranberry bog to a wedding, educational, and event center, in addition to staying a working farm, was the result of Williams acting on the expressed interests of guests and locals and thinking of ways to meld them while sustaining farm production. “We would have family and friends visit and they expressed interest in the process of cranberry farming -particularly in harvesting, so we started offering ‘Berry Bog Adventures’,” explains Williams, “We host about 350-400 people a year to spend two hours in the bog. They wear waders and harvest with us and learn about the whole process. We have one full-time bog tour manager and 3-4 bog tour assistants, and we do groups of 25 people, with two groups a day, so that we can also keep up with the harvest side of things.”
Williams says that maintaining the working-farm aspect of the business while trying to incorporate tourism is a challenge but they are finding ways to make it work. “Some bogs have a ‘sacrifice bog’ where it is strictly for tourists to have bog experiences and harvests for commercial means are not taken from that bog, but we don’t have that here. I am passionate about keeping it a pure-farm model and balancing harvest with the volume of guests -we try to find a way to blend both.” Williams says that people who attend the Berry Bog Adventures are about 50% locals who have been here all their lives and never had the chance to be immersed in the cranberry harvest, or people who have been here a few years and are looking for ways to explore their new home. “The other half of our guests come from all over the country and even the world. We had some lovely people from Britain the other day on one of our adventures.”
One of the other challenges in an agrotourism business model is trying to plan guest’s schedules around Mother Nature. “The first few years we were learning how to time the Berry Bog Adventures around the needed time of harvest -which can vary by the date each year based on the season and weather, explains Williams, “We used to announce our dates for bog tours in July or August, but now, in our ninth season of offering tours, we have enough data and experience to be able to announce the dates as early as March or April and start booking then.” In addition to paid bog experiences where harvesting is part of the offerings, Bensons Pond Cranberries also offers strictly educational tours in the form of field trips for local schools. “We are part of the Ocean Spray Cooperative and so we largely do a wet harvest -which is what people love to see.”
Bensons Pond Cranberries is not, however, just a cranberry farming business anymore. Williams has taken the former screenhouse -now called a “barn” to better fit Google searches for event destinations, and made it a popular spot for local weddings, as well as events like Cranberries and Cocktails, and the Harvest Dinner with a Berry Bog Adventure. The Barn on Bensons Pond is now a stunning event space offering everything needed for events. Currently, however, Willams has scaled back on the number of weddings hosted each year to spend more time with her two young boys and her other full-time job at Rockland Trust as an SVP and Commercial Loan Officer. “We were hosting about 25 weddings a year,” says Williams, “but we have scaled back to ten a year.” The beautiful circa 1942 screenhouse has been transformed into a country-chic space -complete with strung white barn-lights, a gorgeous bar, long wooden tables, and carefully curated, antique and vintage farm-equipment-lined bride and groom rooms downstairs for the wedding party to change and get ready in. Truly, Willams has taken a common cranberry screenhouse and made it into a countryside fairytale spot for families to celebrate and gather together surrounded by 80 acres of bogs, woods, and local history. The Gilmore family purchased Bensons Pond Cranberries and Barn in the 1980’s, and it had been a working bog since the 1920’s, but Williams has taken it into the 21st century with creativity and style while insisting it stay true to its roots and function.
“My biggest challenge is the time constraint” says Williams as she is fitting in the call on her drive to work amidst her chaotic schedule, “I just don’t have time to do everything I think of, but the juggling act is worth it to be able to share this place with the community.” Any local, family-run farm would be so lucky to have someone like Williams taking risks and coming up with new ideas to keep their farm relevant and respected in a modern society that veers dangerously toward mass production and business models that damage, rather than support, the small-farm business model. Benson’s Pond Cranberries and The Barn on Bensons Pond, however, seem to have found a way to keep the core values of family and community at the heart of all they do while yielding an uncompromised volume of glorious cranberries each season -and that is the kind of well-rounded harvest our communities need.
For more information on Bensons Pond Cranberries and The Barn on Bensons Pond, please visit:

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Fall is the perfect time of year to get outside, enjoy the crisp air, and explore some of the beautiful trails in Plympton! The Plympton Public Library and the Plympton Open Space Committee invite families to enjoy two fall Story Walks throughout the month of October. Visit Cato’s Ridge to take a short walk and enjoy The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming. Over at Two Brooks Preserve, families can walk a little longer and read Hello Autumn, Goodbye Summer by Kenard Pak while taking in the sights and sounds of fall. Story Walks are a fun way to combine reading, nature, and time together as a family. Visit one, or both, throughout October and enjoy a story while experiencing the beauty of fall in Plympton!

It is the first night with a new, but familiar chill that nudges me to get back out of bed and trudge down to the linen closet to get out extra blankets. As I pull the summer-stored stack of cozy cloth up to my neck, I hear the nearby song of Cailleach Oíche -the Night Crone, as I learned from my Irish family as a child -or to most people, a Great Horned owl. Cailleach is a powerful figure in Irish mythology. Her name means “old crone”. She is the shaper and maker of the land, and autumn and winter are her seasons -the seasons of senescence. Her purpose is to remind us of the inherent wisdom of the cycles of nature -teaching us that transformation requires something dying away to bring forth something new. Perhaps no other season evokes such romanticism, such mystery, and traditions of both preparation and celebration, as autumn. Perhaps no other part of the world has harnessed this autumnal magic, or perfected it via a fusion of nature and custom, as perfectly as New England.
Even without human custom and observance, autumn in New England would be a spectacle unmatched worldwide. Mother Earth puts on a show in this region that is more function than frivolity -though you can’t convince me that creatures of the forest and sky don’t pause their pre-winter frenzy now and then to just look and take it all in -even if it’s more for confirmation of their instinctual changes in routine than reverence.
Of course, New England foliage is the star in the show and people come from around the world to see and experience the feeling of being enveloped in a jewel-colored riot of vegetation. The Division of Travel and Tourism Development reports that over 7.5 million people will travel each year to one of the New England states for “leaf peeping” -a particular vacation planned entirely around seeing the fall foliage and taking part in the many autumnal customs and experiences New England has to offer. Over $8 billion annually is generated in New England strictly from fall foliage tourism. Mother Nature has drawn quite a crowd simply doing her thing in this region. That said, the process of taking the land from summer to fall is no small feat and deserves our utmost admiration, respect, and protection.
When the dense, vert, New England “jungle” as I like to call it, begins to be pricked here and there with neon oranges, yellows, and reds, it is actually often a process of returning to true form rather than transforming into something new. Leaves are not, in their original forms, green. Once they develop from their often-colorful bud stage, they turn green due to the chlorophyll that dominates the chloroplasts -specialized organelles that carry out photosynthesis in late spring and summer. When summer wanes, the chlorophyll breaks down, unmasking pigments that were always present or, sometimes, newly produced during the season.
Leaves with yellow and orange pigments are due to carotenoids (xanthophylls, beta‑carotene) and are present all summer but hidden by chlorophyll. Once green fades, they become visible, giving aspen, birch, and some maples their golden tones. Trees with red and purple pigments, via anthocyanins, are the exception because they are produced in fall, not present all year. Their formation depends on trapped sugars, sunlight, and cooler temperatures. This active process can create brilliant scarlets in maples and other species. When the kaleidoscope of fall is past peak, tannins come into play and give the faded brown tones that come from leftover pigments and chemical changes as leaves die and cells break down altogether. These are the skeletons of the canopy that are left just before the first snow fall. I cannot conjure up a more beautiful process of senescence that occurs on earth than the changing of the leaves -though I am sure there are some that rival.
With the canopy of transformation evoking the instinct for survival as well as sentiment, we creatures here below also change from our carefree summer ways to rushed revelry. In New England, some creatures leave and some stay -each having their own winding-down (or up, depending on their habits) process that begins if you watch closely on late August nights. Hummingbirds, that flew thousands of miles northward in the spring -often returning to the same nesting areas, gardens, feeders, and territories they left behind the year before, become little gluttons at the feeders. There is never enough sugar water or an adequate number of feeding holes in my feeders as tiny battles carry out between the territorial, minute sword beaks. They have reason to hoard and hurry, for they are about to embark on a GPS-free, 500-4,000-mile (depending on the species) journey before the frosts set in and flowers die back. They can’t afford a moment to relax as they enter hyperphagia -a natural state of eating 2-3 times more than usual and doubling their weight.
For those that stay, preparations are no less mandatory and serious. The hibernation preparation of bears becomes a nation-wide sports bracket with the U.S. National Park Service enthralling us via social media with “Fat Bear Week” in which we eagerly watch (and be honest, laugh at) and vote for tagged or observed bears in various national parks as they unknowingly compete to inflate like oversoaked sponges in preparation to live off their own fat stores for months. Perhaps a lesser known, but no less dramatic and cut-throat contest, takes place in our New England woodlands with much smaller residents than bears.
The Eastern Chipmunk has quite a task each autumn to ensure survival and if they had tiny GoPro cameras attached to them, we would likely be observing their daily adventures with as much interest as our favorite tv dramas. Chipmunks must take full-advantage of the seasonal release from the oak trees above. Stuffing as many as six acorns in their mouths at a time, chipmunks must gather at least 100 acorns to make it through the lean winter months ahead. Not only will the feast from the trees likely be under snow soon, it will also be scarce, if not nearly gone. Theft of their stores by other creatures while out gathering, and countless other creatures with the same goal in mind (survival) make preparing for winter an intense and stressful task for the common chipmunk.
Animals are not the only ones making fall preparations. Many plants, shrubs, and trees are transforming before our eyes. Each Autumn, many people fuss over non-native chrysanthemums and ornamental kales, but New England is awash with delicate billows of deep yellow and purple, pink, and white as native goldenrod and asters. These late-blooming natives provide critical nectar and pollen when most other flowers have faded, and, contrary to popular belief, goldenrod doesn’t cause hay fever.
Goldenrod self-seeds at will with a vigor that usually indicates it should be yanked out immediately from any manicured area, but if you understood the critical role these nearly-glowing, starry-bloomed tufts play in ensuring the health of over 115 specialist-species of native pollinators, you would happily enjoy their stunning, cheery compliments to a fading landscape. In fact, if you leave them be in your yards, they will also reward you by improving the soil they have been grown in and they will outcompete invasive plants. Often dancing in the autumn breezes together, New England native asters and goldenrod that border the edges of neon woodlands and rain-soaked roadsides, should be as treasured as the pumpkins on our porch.
Should any of the millions of tourists need more than the stated above to be enthralled in the majesty of a New England autumn, they will easily find a nearly overwhelming number of other autumnal pastimes to satiate their Mabon itch. Any jaunt down a country road will inevitably lead you to an apple orchard, pumpkin patch, farmstand, or fall festival that will most likely look like a Tasha Tudor painting or something from a Thomas Kinkade gallery.
There are, apparently, so may apple orchards in New England, that there is no source with an official count, and more are added and closed each year creating a constant flux. What is easy to find out however, is how many varieties of apples can be found across the six states of autumnal abundance. Over 120 varieties of apples, both heirloom and modern, are grown across New England. Cult favorites, such as Roxbury Russet (the oldest named American apple, hailing from Massachusetts) and Northern Spy, draw the hard-core pome enthusiasts, while everyday cravings for McIntosh and Honeycrisp can be satiated with an hour or so wandering fruit-laden trees among children and families and foodies determined to tap into their inner-pomologist. Around $2.82 million a year is spent by orchard goers in New England each year -making this “as American as apple pie” pastime a crucial part of the local economies.
In addition to the fresh fruit, there is a seasonal quest for hard apple cider fans and New England has little competition for being the hub for the finest hard ciders around. Using heirloom apples like Kingston and Roxbury Russet, New England cideries have continued producing the historic beverage and earned it an immovable place in the local cuisine and culture. With most of the $6.1 billion made each year by apple cideries -most of them in New England, it is safe to say it is as much a part of local autumn industry as the humble apple itself.
In addition to the ubiquitous apple, there is little to no competition for the other autumn crop found in New England this time of year. New England pumpkin patches are a must-see and must-do event for the full autumn in New England experience. While again, the exact number of pumpkin patches in New England is not documented, there are over 200 according to newenglandharvester.com. While most pumpkin patches are privately run and do not publish annual income statistics, there have been some larger pumpkin patches in the area that reported over a million dollars in revenue from a single season. While that is the exception more that the rule, it is no joke to consider the colorful Cucurbitaceae an imperative part of the New England autumnal season.
Truly, the merits and wonders, both natural and human-made, of autumn in New England could run the entire length of this paper. Considering the confines of print, and the fact that all this and more is just outside your door, it is best for you, reader, to see it all for yourself -whether you have been in New England all your life or, like me, you are a fairly new transplant still in their green wonder of the region. Perhaps the crowds are off-putting and trendy destinations irritate those seeking a unique experience, but there are still so many passed-by moments of seasonal splendor found in a quiet walk in golden woods, or a solitary picnic of orchard apples and Vermont cheddar and a can of local hard cider. Perhaps you get a thrill from the scarf and boot-clad crowds hauling wagons of pumpkins and the happy riots of festival games being played by Halloween-anticipating children. Whatever kind of autumn experience you seek, you will find it best fulfilled in our little corner of this vast world. How lucky are we for that simple gift?
The most important thing I learned from the legend of Cailleach Oíche about autumn is that it is a time to come back home to yourself -to gather the abundance of lessons and experiences you grew and harvested for the year, to filter out the ones that don’t help, and to cozy up with and turn over in our minds the ones that are worth keeping. Cailleach Oíche would have found her lessons all the more perfectly mimicked here in New England -where autumn is an experience, not just a season, and where we can marvel at how beautiful senescence -letting go- can be.

Imagine being a child and arriving at a new house, with a new family, and only the clothes on your back. As of last year, that was the experience for over 8,300 children in Massachusetts alone. For one Kingston woman, helping children adjust to foster care and ensuring they have adequate clothing and other common childhood belongings has become a life mission.
Sharon Collins became a foster parent after her divorce. With two children of her own, she fostered other children for 9 ½ years and adopted three. Now, as a busy family with five children, Collins and her co-founder and friend, Jeanne Bello, dedicate time and energy to making sure other children in the foster care system do not go without basic needs and comforts.
“I was at a meeting about foster care and I sat next to Jeanne and another woman. We started talking about how foster children often arrive with nothing but the clothes they are wearing and usually those need to be thrown away,” says Collins, “We thought, ‘Why wouldn’t we create a place where they could shop for clothes and other things?’”. After that meeting in 2018, South Shore Foster Closet began to take shape and became a 501c charity.
Once donated clothing started to come in from friends and family, they needed a space to store and sort it. “We started out using basements,” explains Collins, “and then Jeanne got us a space in the Duxbury Baptist Church. We outgrew that space and asked if we could take the abandoned house behind the church. Jeanne’s family has a painting company and they helped us renovate it.” Now, the “Little White House” is full of shelves and shelves of clothing and supplies for foster families. Initially open to the public, Covid changed how they ran the organization.
“During Covid, we had to close to the public, so we had people request things. We put together bags of the items needed and they could pick them up. This ended up working out so well for us that we kept it like this. Our house is not open to the public, but we put orders and bags together to be picked up.”
As far as the items and supplies available from South Shore Foster Closet, they cover many bases and needs. “We provide things like clothing, footwear, underwear, socks, jackets, coats, diapers, toys, backpacks, and holiday items for celebrations,” says Collins. “We are always in need of new underwear, sneakers, toys, and boys and girl’s clothes -especially in sizes 5-12.” Collins assures that gently used items in good condition are accepted but underwear, and most toys and sneakers should be new. “We would accept used things like high-end gaming systems or other high-end toys if they are in good condition as well -we just want to be able to get the kids things they enjoy and need.”
One of the busiest times of the year for South Shore Foster Closet is approaching. The holidays can be difficult to prepare for -especially when caring for children in need. “We gave away 1,500 toys in one night last year to foster families for Christmas,” says Collins, “We have an event where the toys can be picked up in November and that way families can have some great things for the kids on Christmas. We even have an Easter event where we put together Easter baskets for the kids.”
For the most part, Collins and Bello run the South Shore Foster Closet on their own, but volunteers are often needed for their clothing drives and events -the dates and times can be found on their website and Facebook page. One of the biggest challenges they face is space. “We have run out of space again,” says Collins, “We just serviced 143 foster children for back-to-school supplies and it takes up so much room for that many supplies. Things like coats and shoes -it all requires a lot of room.”
Supporting South Shore Foster Closet is easy to do and Collins asks that all items be dropped off at 9 Page Ave. in Kingston -preferably with notice of what you are going to bring. “Anything you want to donate can be bagged up and dropped off on the lawn and we will pick it up and sort through it,” says Collins. In addition to foster children, Collins says that foster families with other children in the household may receive donated items. “Your children can be fostered, adopted, or biological -as long as they are part of a foster care family, we can help you have the clothing and things you need. We also give away groceries on a monthly basis at the same location.”
With so much of our attention going to our own lives and families, sometimes we don’t notice the miraculous and incredible things going on right under our noses. Collins and Bello are working every day to improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable children in our communities and the families caring for them. “We try our best to provide whatever is needed for these kids. We want people to feel supported and heard when working with us and know that they are not on their own in this,” says Collins, “We are blessed to be able to live our passion to help others and provide children with things that comfort and make them happy.”
South Shore Foster Closet is a testament to what can happen when care meets passion. When we look beyond ourselves and our busy lives and see a need, instead of waiting for someone else to fill it, I hope we take initiative and network with others to help in whatever way we can. What more precious need can there be than that of a child?
For more information on South Shore Foster Closet and ways to help please visit:
www.southshorefostercloset.com or email: ssfostercloset@gmail.com
For contact or drop off information, or to organize a clothing and supply drive text Sharon Collins at 781-336-8439.

The only predictable thing about life is that it is unpredictable. In fact, sometimes it seems the more we prop up our expectations on plans, the more life reminds us that it will not be tamed. Still, the lifelong dance between foresight and flying by the seat of our pants, though often unpleasant, is the means by which the human spirit is refined and made resilient. Such a resilient spirit can be found in True Repertory Theatre’s Artistic Director, Donald Sheehan.
Developing a passion for theater at the age of thirteen, Sheehan holds an MFA in Acting from Trinity Rep Conservatory in Providence, RI, and has worked extensively as both an actor and director with major regional theatres such as Williamstown Theatre Festival, Trinity Rep, Beowulf, The Gamm, and The Theatre Cooperative. He founded True Repertory Theater in 2000.
A true talent, matched equally with passion, Sheehan was set to join a prestigious theater company in New York City, but life had other plans. “I woke up one morning and I was so swollen and felt very ill,” recalls Sheehan, “I found out, the summer of 1999, that I had kidney disease and it changed everything.” The decision to forgo acting opportunities in NYC was made all the more difficult by the fact that Sheehan would need to maintain employment with insurance benefits to manage his intense and expensive treatment. “I found myself having to focus on keeping a day job that didn’t make me happy while undergoing dialysis and keeping up with my treatment plan,” says Sheehan.
Staying in Massachusetts with family to provide support meant Sheehan had to turn to local opportunities to continue his passion while dealing with a chronic disease. While relying on medication for number of years kept his condition manageable, eventually dialysis was necessary. “I was going to my 9-5, which didn’t help my health, then going to dialysis three days a week for four-hour blocks, then to rehearsals for whatever project I was involved in, but I had to keep doing theater. I refused to give it up. It was what sustained me and gave me a sense of normalcy,” explains Sheehan.
While dealing with chronic health issues, Sheehan made sure to continue making a new plan for his life and found a dire need for local theater in surrounding communities. “I realized there was plenty of local and community theater in the big cities, but it was not easily found outside of places like New York and Boston, so I decided to make my own.” True Repertory Theater opened in 2000 and quickly became a hub for local talent and local ideas.
After over a decade of managing his kidney disease, Sheehan was finally able to receive a kidney transplant on July, 19, 2016 at Mass General Brigham Transplant Center. After his transplant, Sheehan founded a nonprofit, Project 719 which is a community-based outreach initiative that brings awareness and fundraising to various organizations whose missions align with the dramatic themes of the True Rep season.
This year marks the ten-year anniversary of Sheehan’s transplant and with that milestone came the inspiration to share his story in hopes that others waiting for a transplant or managing disease would be able to relate to and feel hope for a life past illness while in the thick of enduring it. “I had been journaling my thoughts and feelings about the whole process for a long time, and last year I came to my colleague, Victoria, and started sharing this idea with her. I wanted to tell a success story on the anniversary of my transplant and also be able to give back in some way,” says Sheehan. In a unique spin, instead of one person writing an original play, Sheehan began to work with four other people in the company -each of them adding their own unique style and perspective. The collaboration with Sheehan, and co-writers, Victoria Bond, Maureen Cornell, Mike Hoban, and James Sullivan, resulted in True Repertory Theater’s first original work, “Hold Please! Drama, Dialysis, Dead end Jobs and How Katherine Helmond Saved My Soul.”
“Working together on this was a huge educational experience,” says Bond, Associate Artistic Director, “We learned a lot about this disease and what it takes to overcome it.” “There are over 100,000 people in the U.S. alone waiting for a transplant,” says Sheehan. “Still, our play is relatable in many ways -not just for people with chronic disease or waiting for a transplant,” he assures. “Most people can relate to being tied to a non-fulfilling, 9-5 job that takes a lot out of you, or trying to juggle your dreams with reality, or using humor to get through difficult things -there are plenty of themes in the play that anyone can recognize and appreciate.”
In addition to Hold Please! raising awareness and being a relatable experience to many people, Sheehan is also donating a portion of the proceeds to the Mass General Brigham Transplant Center in honor of Dr. Cecil Coggins -a foremost nephrologist in Boston, an instructor at Harvard Medical School, and editor for the Annual Review of Medicine.
Sheehan’s play explores his journey through the phases of illness, treatment, and triumph and is a new, original work to the theater community. “We have been creating by the seat of our pants in real time,” says Cornell, “We came together with open minds and were aware that some things would not work, but we stayed flexible and appreciate that theater is, naturally, a collaborative art. This has been that on steroids -it is an unusual way to make a play, but we have loved it. This theater has made a huge difference in my life.”
Hoban had more of an outside take on the process, “I am a sketch writer, so I am not as immersed in the story and that means I can give kind of an overall, outside perspective that can get lost with too much hyperfocus. I love that this play, and this theater, prove that you can still have a good life, even if it doesn’t go exactly how you want it to.”
“I come here to learn -to learn from these people I work with. We show up, ready to work together with open minds and it’s been neat to see what we can do,” says Sullivan. “You can’t have an ego and if you leave that at the door, you can do some really great stuff!”
Bond had her own health scare and found that her passion for theater carried her through times that could have been all-consuming. “I had a health scare and it was surreal to be worried and going through tests, and waiting and feeling helpless, but I brought scripts along with me and reading those helped me find calm and focus.” Bond is also continually focused on True Repertory Theater’s mission -to be an incubator for new works, new voices, and new ideas. “Community theater should not just be the classic plays or the big titles -the ones everyone already knows about. Community theater should be a place to showcase new works and ideas from people around you. It is a place of connection in a world of disconnection.”
Sheehan has been connecting people and creativity to the community for over two decades as True Repertory Theater celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year. Hold Please! is only one way you can be a part of the magic happening at True Repertory Theater. On Sept. 25, 26, and 27, the company will host Playwright Platform, their 4th Annual New Play Festival. These evenings will feature selections from 24 plays in 72 hours -chosen from over 100 submissions. Sheehan explains, “This festival gives new playwrights a chance to have their work heard and to see what impact it has on the audience. There are already some we have selected that are really special and we want to produce them as mainstay plays for the company.”
If you are looking for a way to celebrate and make a difference financially for this amazing local theater, then you don’t want to miss True Repertory Theater’s fundraiser, “The Greatest Gift on Earth” -a circus-themed fundraiser celebrating Sheehan’s transplant anniversary. “The theme started off with the idea that life is a roller-coaster,” says Sheehan, “And then it turned into life is a balancing act -like in a circus and before you know it, we had a whole circus- themed fundraiser going with the ‘greatest gift’ referring to organ donation and the healing power of art.” The fundraiser will take place at the Pembroke Community Center on Oct. 3 at 7p.m. The proceeds will also go to The Mass General Brigham Transplant Center and True Repertory Theater to help cover the cost of production.
With so many incredible things happening, and Sheehan at the helm of it all, it is hard to believe that ten years ago things seemed quite bleak for him. “I want to share my story to help others who feel stuck and scared. I want them to know that things can get better. The key is to find your personal ‘medicine’ -be it laughter, theater, or whatever moves you through the hard times.” For as unpredictable and cruel as life can be, it can also be constant in providing opportunities for connection and inspiration. Sheehan and True Repertory Theater have taken a could-have-been finale, and turned hardship into a story where not only Sheehan’s new dreams come true, but others have the space and opportunity for theirs to come true as well. Success in the big, flashy ways, doesn’t always mean fulfillment, and when it comes to creating a life of meaning and purpose, Sheehan is purely aspirational.
For Ticket and Upcoming Event Information please visit:
www.Truerepertorytheater.org

Many mothers have the scenario perfectly pictured in their minds long before they walk through the door of their home with their new baby. There is often an idealization that upon arriving home, things will fall into place, routines will eventually come from the happy chaos of this new phase, bonding with your precious little one will be blissful, and those around you will support and help you heal and navigate. Nearly every mother dreams about the same kind of natural, beautiful transition after growing, carrying, and welcoming a new life into theirs. Of course, new mothers also know there will be intense fatigue, a recovery period, struggles of all kinds, new worries, a bit of anxiety, and feeling overwhelmed at times; no new mother expects a postpartum experience without the full gamut of adjusting to new or “added to” motherhood.
That said, what happens when the postpartum experience is all-but-consumed by the struggles -fatigue or insomnia beyond comprehension, recovery that never comes or is hindered due to a lack of support, struggles and worries that haunt the mind day and night and prevent basic functioning, anxiety that alters heart health and makes getting out of bed physically impossible, and depression and hopelessness that make life more unbearable and frightening by the day, and can even prevent bonding and feeling motherly towards the new baby in your arms?
Postpartum mental health disorders are more than just “baby blues”, they are chemical alterations and imbalances set off, and enhanced by, the giant internal chemistry experiment that goes on in a mother’s body for well over the nine months of pregnancy and after birth. The usual coping mechanisms and things like, “eating healthy” and “taking a walk” are not only largely ineffective, they are asking too much of someone in crisis who needs far more than an inspirational quote and a long nap to feel better.
While the gray clouds (which can be more storms of terror than just cloudy skies) of postpartum mental illness do not come for the majority of mothers, they are common enough and on the rise for a number of reasons. Statistics show that one in five mothers will experience significant postpartum anxiety and/or depression. Patricia Wasiolek of Plympton knows, first hand, the severity of the storms new mothers sometimes face with postpartum mental illness. After recovering from her own storm, she has dedicated her time and energy to help others find safe shores and see the sun again.
“After my son was born, I experienced awful postpartum anxiety,” explains Wasiolek, “So severe that I could not get out of bed.” Wasiolek and her husband knew things had gone beyond what could be remedied on their own at home, so they headed to the emergency room. “I was assessed in the ER by a psychiatrist and, though they were just doing their job, they were impersonal and unhelpful for what I was feeling and experiencing. The whole experience was very clinical. I was sent to a partial day clinic in Norwell, but it was more of a mood disorder clinic and I was unable to relate to anyone there. It was not, at all, a fit for new mothers with postpartum anxiety, so I kept looking for something else.”
Wasiolek found the Day Hospital at Women and Infants Hospital in Rhode Island and moved her care to their program. “You can bring your baby with you, which a lot of programs don’t let you do. They have clinicians, physicians, group and individual therapy, and lots of programs to help new moms with postpartum disorders. I was there for two weeks and it really helped me.”
In addition to finding professional support and treatment, Wasiolek also found solace and support in a friend who had suffered from postpartum illness during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. “I reached out to a friend I knew had struggled with this and she gave me a lot of advice. Her care was wildly mishandled, as is the case for many women, and I was shocked at the lack of awareness and resources for these things in such a large medical hub like Boston.” One invaluable resource Wasiolek’s friend shared was Postpartum Support International, PSI -a global nonprofit that promotes awareness, prevention, and treatment of mental health issues related to childbearing created by a worldwide network of individuals and organizations and professionals.
“I was invited to PSI’s ‘The Climb’ by a college friend where I connected with Kelly Winter who had started advocating for PSI locally,” says Wasiolek, “Kelly watched her friend go through postpartum illness and wanted to do something to show support, so she put together the first ‘Climb’ in Duxbury. I asked her if I could help and we started meeting in January.”
Founded in 1987 by Jane Honikman in Santa Barbara, Calif., PSI is a unique organization in that it provides global support to families and individuals through perinatal health support, education, advocacy, and research through helplines, educational and training programs for professionals and individuals, lists of resources and the perinatal care programs and providers closest to you -no matter where in the world you live, online support groups, webinars, and educational materials. Since its inception, PSI has grown to be an international resource that provides support and connection for over 100,000 people a year.
PSI’s “The Climb” is a family-friendly, community-building walk starting at the Pilgrim Church of Duxbury on Oct. 3, from 10 a.m. -1 p.m. The event is sponsored by many local businesses and also accepts individual donations. The walk aims to raise awareness and money for perinatal disorders, and to continue to work on erasing the judgment and taboo often associated with postpartum illness. One in five mothers and one in ten fathers will experience intense anxiety and/or depression after the birth of a child. Over 800,000 people a year are affected by perinatal mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, Perinatal OCD, enhanced Bipolar 1 and 2, Psychosis, and Perinatal PTSD. Sadly, only 25% of those impacted by these disorders are able to receive treatment or follow-up monitoring. “One of the great things about PSI,” says Wasiolek, “is that they do all the homework and research for you. When you are in the depths of postpartum crisis and trying to cope, its just too much to also be expected to make lots of phone calls and search online and stay on top of seeking out something that works. PSI makes all the information easy to find and it is specified to your area.”
PSI’s “The Climb” had resounding success last year -raising $10,000. “This year,” notes Wasiolek, “We set an initial goal to raise $15,000, but we have already raised over $18,000 and we aren’t even to October.” When asked what, beyond fundraising, Wasiolek and Winter hope to accomplish with “The Climb”, Wasiolek replies, “This walk shows the power of community and why it is important. Community can not only provide support, but validation and recognition for what so many go through -sometimes silently. There is such a spectrum of what a perinatal disorder can look like -for some it’s manageable with therapy and for some professional help in a care center or hospital is needed. We need to help people find resources BEFORE they reach their breaking point. Treatment plans need to include the mother, partner or spouse, and healthcare professionals -and family if possible. It should never be left largely up to the mother -the one enduring the disorder, to manage on their own.”
In light of recent events, perinatal health is on the minds of most of us -especially in our South Shore communities. Some of the public dialogue has been encouraging to see and hear, but some of it has been deeply hurtful, judgmental, uneducated, shortsighted, and ignorant. There are clearly many who do not understand the severity and reality of perinatal disorders, or comprehend the overall failure of our mental health system as it applies to perinatal care and women’s health. There is also a looming gap between realizing that a healthy and cared for mother is a healthy and cared for baby/child.
Perinatal disorders are not a phase, they are not imagined, and they are not usually something that can be dealt with alone or by simply “cheering up”, “being grateful”, or “snapping out of it” -as were some of the “tips” I was given over the course of having perinatal disorders with all four of my children the last 20 years. These are serious conditions and terrifying for the person enduring them at a time when their greatest desire and focus is bonding with, cherishing, and caring for the new little miracle in their lives. When you can actually feel the chemistry in your body “crash”, as I described it each time, and you have no control over the wild imbalances and reactions taking place inside of you, it is one of the most terrifying and helpless feelings someone can have. It steals away many moments of joy that you had dreamed of having with your precious newborn.
Please, reach out to new moms and their partners. Ask about the mom as readily as you do the baby. Please, don’t say, “Let me know if I can do anything for you,” because they usually feel like a burden, ashamed, or an imposition and they won’t ever ask. Please, listen to women when they say they are not okay or they need help. Please hold their hands and truly listen, without judgement, to what they feel and need. Please, show the same compassion to new mothers that you would wish for yourself and your loved ones. Be the catalyst for their treatment to begin and stay on course. Allow them to grieve, be angry, and collapse, safely, so they can begin to heal -because healing IS possible and the outlook is bright for women (and their families) who have the support they need. Mothers are superheroes, but sometimes even superheroes need someone to save them. It is time we all put on our capes and set out with a message that there is, indeed blue, beyond the gray sky.

To Register for PSI’s The Climb in Duxbury on Oct.3 visit:
https://Give.postpartum.net/event//2026-climb-duxbury-2026/e763328
To Donate:
https://give.postpartum.net/fundraiser/7050672
For Information on Postpartum Support International:
https://postpartum.net

Walking into the New Again and Refill-Able retail shop is an instant lift for the spirits. Immediately, you are greeted with the pleasant scent of handmade candles and a sun-lit expanse of carefully curated products on shelves lining every wall. Intricately knitted sweaters and scarves hang on racks and an adorable Cardigan Corgi named Pandora is happy to investigate customers while being pet. The cheery space then draws the eye back to a large, long room with work tables, more shelves and displays, and people sitting and making. This is the homey and creativity-inducing space that Gail Farrell, Executive Director and Founder of New Again and Refill-Able, and local artist, teacher, and owner of Hello Peach Arts, Jennifer Godbois, have put their hearts and minds into.
Farrell started New Again in 2012 with the people who were aging out of special education in mind. New Again is a 501c(3) nonprofit that teaches vocational skills and job training to adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. New Again is especially fostering of those interested in becoming artists. The retail space and business model offer job opportunities for these adults while also providing shared studio space for local businesses and students participating in the offered classes.
In addition to New Again, the retail space also houses Refill-Able -a zero-waste store for household items. Businesses labeled “zero-waste” mean they eliminate single-use packaging for their products as well as carry reusable, often biodegradable items such as shampoo, conditioner, body wash, laundry soap, toothpaste, makeup, soaps, lotions, sponges, dryer balls, food storage containers, and many other personal care and household products. Refill-Able also strives to use as many local products as possible and is always looking for local businesses and partners to feature.
“We also have a refillery where we refill your empty containers with more product, or you can purchase one of the containers we have here for reuse.” If you are wondering about a specific type of product to provide refills for, all you have to do is ask. “We listen to our customers,” says Farrell, “We don’t have a set sign for what we offer in the refillery because it is such varied list and it’s always changing -largely based on customer feedback.”
At the beginning of the year, Godbois was searching for a space to build her business. She walked into New Again and found the perfect fit. “Jennifer came in just to ask how this area was for business, but we quickly realized her business would fit perfectly in here and she could be a teacher as well,” says Farrell. Now, Hello Peach Arts is integrated beautifully into the space and had room to grow.
Godbois is an artist of many talents, but fiber arts and teaching are her passions. After a long career as a Federal Auditor for the Department of Health in Boston, she was in need of a change of pace from her intense, high-demand job -one where she could use her creativity and hands to make beautiful things as well as teach others these oft-neglected skills. “I have been doing crochet since I was little. Both of my parents are fiber artists. My father crochets like a machine -he makes beautiful Afghan’s,” explains Godbois.
To further her goal of incorporating art and teaching into her life, Godbois became a certified art teacher and taught at Scituate High School last fall and Halifax Elementary in the spring. She also works in local schools as a substitute teacher. When asked what her favorite material is to work with she says, “My hyper fixations tend to go from one thing to the next, so whatever my focus is at that moment would be my answer, but if I had to choose only one thing to do, it would be sewing. You can make so many things that way, the possibilities are endless.”
In addition to crochet and sewing, Godbois embroiders, felts, and will take on basically anything to do with fiber arts. “I am holding a back-to-school embroidery class on Aug. 29. I was shopping with my kids and saw these sneakers with beautiful eyelet fabric and thought, why not decorate our own? The class will teach you how to embroider things to personalize them -from shoes to backpacks to shirts -anything you want to customize and make your own style.” Godbois also plans to hold sewing classes in the shop, as well as felting. In order to do that, however, she needs the equipment. “I am looking to see if anyone can donate some working sewing machines that I could use to teach on,” she says, “and I am always looking for, and accepting donations of, yarn, fabric, ribbon -or any art and fiber art supply. Most of this yarn was donated.”
Godbios can also be found teaching at local libraries in the community. She leads the Night Ravelers club at the Holmes Public Library and enjoys bringing Hello Peach Arts offerings in a free-library setting. “I want to get out there and help people of all ages become acquainted with fiber arts. A lot of the time, people think it sounds intimidating. But you don’t have to have any experience to come to a class. We can start from the beginning if needed and there is no rush or pressure -if you mess up, which you will, oh well! That’s part of it. Hello Peach Arts is a stress free, all-inclusive environment to learn.”
So when you are settled into your fall routine this year and need a reprise from the chaos of schedules and hurry, consider heading down to New Again, Refill-Able, and Hello Peach Arts to stock up on household wares in the most eco-friendly way you can, support local artists with special needs by purchasing their beautiful products, or take up a new skill, or feed an existing passion in fiber arts. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.” Perhaps now is the perfect time to defy the machine made, and find out how much your heart can imagine.
For more information on New Again and Refill-Able visit:
http://www.newagaininc.org or call (774) 608-9960

For more information on Hello Peach Arts and classes offered visit:
https://www.hellopeacharts.com or text (603) 340-3918

Over the last two weeks we “visited” two local watersheds in our communities through the PHK Express and learned about the amazing and tireless organizations and citizens that have come together to repair, protect, and preserve these vital parts of our ecosystem. It has been inspiring to find such passion, commitment, and intelligence among the many stewards of our local waterways. The Taunton River Watershed Alliance, our last featured local watershed in this series, is comprised of the same caliber of people and also accomplishing vitally important things.
Based on geologic evidence, we know that 10,000 years ago the landscape of southeastern Massachusetts was covered by ice flows. The retreating glaciers in this flow created a large glacial lake that eventually drained to become the Taunton River and its tributaries. This river system moved through glacial deposition that included outwash plains, wetlands, and the many kettle ponds we enjoy today. The Taunton River begins at the confluence of the Matfield and Town Rivers in Bridgewater and runs over forty miles to Mount Hope Bay. It is considered “tidal” water due to saltwater intrusion for its last eighteen miles.
The Taunton River is the longest undammed coastal river in New England. The land area that drains into a river is known as its “watershed.” The watershed of the Taunton River, and all of its tributaries, covers 562 square miles. This river is also unique because in 2009, the Taunton River was designated a Wild and Scenic River by the National Park Service, the U.S. Congress, and President Obama. The Wild and Scenic Rivers System currently protects 12,709 miles of 208 rivers in the United States.
The recognition and protection of the Taunton River is largely due to the efforts of the Taunton River Watershed Alliance, formed in 1988, much in the same way that the other local watershed advocacy organizations in the area began -concerned and activated citizens. A “Taunton River Stewardship Plan” was completed in 2005 by the Taunton River Wild and Scenic Study Committee. The Taunton River Stewardship Council was then formed and is composed of delegates from each of the communities in the watershed to identify goals and objectives to guide future efforts to restore and preserve the Taunton River corridor.
One of the many people dedicated to the TRWA is Abby Abrahamson, Bruce Spooner Education Center Program Manager. “We are very lucky to have a large group of dedicated board members and volunteers that support us,” says Abrahamson, “In fact, we still have some of the original members from 1988 serving on the board and involved in our programs.”
As with the other two local watershed organizations, the TRWA relies on volunteer citizen science to collect data and record observations as well as carry out projects and gather resources for the alliance to continue its important work. “We have significant programs to restore and protect, assist in restoration and preservation, and provide education and advocacy in the community,” Abrahamson explains. “We monitor 20 sites for nine months of the year for water quality and species status -all through volunteers. Volunteers need no prior training or experience, but we do require them to attend a training in April to learn about how to gather and submit data as well as be organized into teams.” Citizen-gathered results are then tested at the Veolia Water Treatment Plant in Taunton where the data collected strengthens the ability of the TRWA to work with and provide information to the Environmental Protection Agency. The goal is to ensure that harmful levels of nitrogen and other pollutants in the river and its tributaries are reduced.
Abrahamson continues, “We also monitor groundwater levels and promote water conservation in local communities and assess barriers throughout the watershed and the species affected by the river flow.” One of the main focuses of the TRWA is the monitoring and protection of the threatened Diamondback Terrapins. Abrahamson explains, “We work in partnership with Mass Wildlife and Bristol County Agricultural High School to assess the population of the terrapins in the watershed. They are very threatened by human development and they also have a large number of predators. Volunteers participate in nest watching along the rivers, and if nests are particularly vulnerable, we carefully remove the nests, put them into bins, and transfer them here to the Bruce Spooner Education Center to hatch safely. We can get them over the first hurdles to a point where survival is more likely.”
Another focus of the TRWA is nothing new to those of you who have heard or read about the work the Jones River Watershed Association, North and South Rivers Watershed Association, and every other local watershed organization is focused on -water flow and quality improvement via the removal of outdated, unnecessary, and harmful dams.
Stephen Silva, Corporate Clerk and Board Member of the TRWA, has a Civil/Environmental Engineering background from the University of Vermont, and an Associate of Science in Offshore Marine Technology from the Florida Institute of Technology. Silva offers his time and expertise on a constant basis to the TRWA and the gathering and evaluation of data as well as spearheading dam removal projects. Though the Taunton River itself is dam-free, its tributaries are not.
Silva explains why the removal of these dams is crucial to our watersheds, “What we find is the area behind the dams revert to healthy streams quickly, and fish and wildlife do much better. Anadromous fish, like herring, are food for many fish and birds that come upstream. Flood risk is reduced by removing dangerous dams and reopening flood plains which were flooded in the former impoundments.”
Silva has been a part of various dam removals and has seen firsthand the drastic difference restoring water flow makes to water and ecosystem quality. “The Three Mile River dam removal project was one of the bigger ones in our watershed -three dams were removed and a state-of-the-art fish ladder was put on the last dam at Lake Sabbatia. That has enhanced the Three Mile River which runs right through the heart of Taunton. It improved water quality and fish passage.”
There have been smaller dam removals as well, including one that is personal to Silva. “One of the dam removal projects was on the Cotley River -which is right near where I sample. I have actually seen the benefits when that dam came out -the water quality improved -you could see it visually, never mind my sampling.” Another significant and recent dam removal was in the Town River in Bridgwater. “The Town River Bridge Removal was a very big project,” says Silva, “and that really opened up the river and it allows fish passage into Lake Nippenicket.”
None of the data, or projects it spearheads and supports, would be possible without the volunteers that work with Silva. He explains, “We sample twenty sites once a month, and we have 40 volunteers that go out on the second Tuesday of the month. We were just out this morning sampling.” Information on becoming a volunteer, or even looking up and monitoring the data collected to satisfy your own curiosity, can be done on the website. “If you go to the homepage”, Silva explains, “Go to ‘Watershed News’ and you can see the results of our sampling. It explains the water quality, the accomplishments to date, and also the future goals of stormwater management.”
Of course, one of the key elements to assure longevity and success for organizations like the TRWA is education and outreach. The TRWA is dedicated to taking their mission out into the community and teaming up with other local groups and organizations to promote and support their mission. “We have a number of educational programs that get people involved and engage children. One of our collaborations is ‘Learning in Concert’ where we have collaborated with members of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra who present a narrated 40-minute musical performance which brings the ecosystem to life,” Abrahamson goes on, “This is a program for children, ages 7-10, to learn about the connectivity of living parts in a salt marsh ecosystem, as well as among musical parts in a piece of music.”
In addition, the TRWA makes great effort to offer education to and involvement with local libraries. “Right now, we have a grant in place which makes our public library outreach programs free,” says Ambrahamson, “Children can also be involved in helping with the terrapin monitoring program as long as they are accompanied by an adult.”
One of the TRWA biggest public events is the Taunton River Festival in June. Abrahamson explains, “The Taunton River Festival brings people together to celebrate the Taunton River and support local artists while learning more about the watershed in a fun, festival setting with food and vendors.” If you are looking for a way to support the TRWA from home while encouraging local photography, the TRWA publishes an annual Taunton River Tide Calendar that combines tide data with seasonal photography from the watershed. The photography is selected via a digital photography contest that is open to adult and teen photographers -amateur or professional.
The TRWA has certainly accomplished a great deal in terms of restoring and preserving their watershed, but there is always far more to do than to check off as “done”. Luckily, the team moving the alliance into the future has plenty of resolve and passion to accomplish their goals. “We are passionate about engaging with all members of the watershed,” says Abrahamson, “We are all connected and these programs and this alliance exist because it is important that we do this and learn together. It takes all of us. We are always interested in talking to community members and we really want to know, what can we bring to YOU?”
It is my personal hope that the last three weeks learning about our local waterways and the wonderful organizations that protect and preserve them have given a clearer picture of the vital role they play in our ecosystems and communities. We cannot separate ourselves from the ecosystem when we are such a large and impactful part of it. Water is as powerful and omnipotent in this world as it is fragile and vulnerable -meaning what we do with it can make or break us as a species. I am grateful for those who gave their time and energy to share these stories with our readers and I encourage everyone to learn about their local watershed and instead of waiting for them to ask what they can bring to you, ask what YOU can bring to THEM. You will be surprised at how much you are needed.
For more information and news about the TRWA, please visit:
www.tauntonriver.org
www.savethetaunton.org