The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

Blessing of the Animals in Wellesley

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In honor of St. Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of Animals, some of Wellesley’s finest pets received a blessing at churches in town this past weekend.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and Wellesley Hills Congregational Church shared photos with us of their Blessing of the Animals services.

Rev. Judy Swahnberg of the Hills Church wrote to us that “St. Francis would be pleased at this Holy Chaos. Here are some happy and blessed good boys and girls and their humans.”

Hills Church blessing of the animals
Photos courtesy of Hills Church

Hills Church blessing of the animalsHills Church blessing of the animalsHills Church blessing of the animalsHills Church blessing of the animalsHills Church blessing of the animals

At St. Andrew’s, according to Beth Hinchliffe, “It was a fun, heartwarming, and touching celebration of the pets who enrich our lives.”

Thanks to Beth for enriching our lives by sharing these photos:

St. Andrew's Blessing of the Animals
Suzy Littlefield and Archie (photos courtesy of Beth Hinchliffe)

 

St. Andrew's Blessing of the Animals
Rev. Adrian Robbins-Cole blesses 13-year-old Cooper, while mom Julie Koeninger watches.

 

St. Andrew's Blessing of the Animals
Rev. Robbins-Cole blesses Clover, and gives thanks for his health after a life-threatening illness.

 

St. Andrew's Blessing of the Animals St. Andrew's Blessing of the Animals St. Andrew's Blessing of the Animals

More: Blessing of the Animals in Natick

Linden Square, Wellesley
Dedham Country Day School, DCD
Wonderful Wellesley

Photogenic fisher cat visits Wellesley yard

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A fisher cat knew what it was doing by roaming around Wellesley resident and photographer Beth Shedd’s yard. Shedd can make anybody look their best on camera, as you can see in this 11 seconds of glory for “Freddy” that she posted on social media this week (and allowed us to share).

This video is right up there with 2018’s “Otter vs. Eel” seen in Wellesley.

Fisher cats, or more accurately “fishers,” are known for being “elusive”—that’s the word everyone seems to use when describing this member of the weasel family. The only one I’ve seen in the wild skittered across Pond Road in Wellesley at dawn a few years back while I was running. Pretty sure I picked up my pace when I saw it.

Shedd said “this was our first up close and personal, but we’ve seen them under shrubs in the perimeter of our garden years ago.”

Wellesley Animal Control Officer Jenny Smith says the only one she’s seen in town since starting her job in early 2021 was unfortunately hit by a car. “Other than that it has only been reported to me once, a resident hearing one in their neighborhood,” Smith said.

Fun facts from Smith about the animals are that “they remain active year round and do not hibernate. Their preferred habitat is mixed forest with heavy canopy cover, as they tend to avoid traveling in large open areas. They commonly use hollow logs, stonewalls, tree cavities, and brush piles to rest. Fishers are omnivorous. Their primary foods include small rodents, squirrels, rabbits, birds, eggs, fruit, porcupines, and carrion… Although they are proficient climbers, most of their hunting takes place on the ground.”

Lisa Moore, the environmental education, outreach, and compliance coordinator for Wellesley’s Natural Resources Commission, calls them “one of the most misunderstood animals around here.”

She’s learned about them while working for Mass Audubon for the last 10 years, plus has spotted them in her yard on occasion. One of her fun facts is that fishers can climb down a tree headfirst.

“Often called a Fisher Cat, which is a misnomer,” Moore says. “They belong to the weasel family, and are not a cat and don’t fish. This small mammal ranges in size from 4-16 lbs, with females being smaller than males. Males tend to be about three feet long and females about two feet long, in both sexes the tail makes up a third of the body length.”

While I’ve bought into the idea that screaming fishers are among the critters that keep me awake at night, Moore says fishers screaming is a misconception. “Fishers will hiss, growl, and make a chuckle sound, but they do not scream. The grey fox also can climb trees and the female call during mating sounds like a child or woman screaming,” she says.

Mass Audubon says fishers were reintroduced in New England in the 1950s to control porcupines.

Moore says “I do not know if they rebounded or were reintroduced to manage the porcupine population that exploded as the fisher declined. Porcupine can decimate the understory of a forest and kill trees by collaring them, eating the bark and under bark off a tree around the entire trunk killing the tree. Fishers are one of the few animals that will actively hunt and eat porcupine. Really shows the importance of a balanced food chain or food web.”

The state’s MassWildlife agency encourages you not to “let fishers intimidate you: Don’t hesitate to scare or threaten fishers with loud noises, bright lights, or water sprayed from a hose.”

We’re not sure if that latter approach is an allowed use under the town’s outside water restrictions…

Page Waterman, Wellesley
London Harness, Wellesley

Swellesley reader photos: Gardens, fishing & visitors

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Thanks to Swellesley readers who share slice of life photos with us (theswellesleyreport@gmail.com).

Priscilla Messing captured the Weston Road Community Gardens heading into fall mode.

north 40 garden
Photo by Priscilla Messing

 

north 40 garden
Photo by Priscilla Messing

 

north 40 garden
Photo by Priscilla Messing

 

Even at a drought induced “low tide” the fishing was good at the Guernsey dock. Photo courtesy of the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust.

guernsey fishing pier
Photo courtesy of the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust.

 

Phil Gormley shared this photo of a surprising visitor. “We’ve had coyotes before but this one is huge! Very bold too to run around downtown,” he wrote.

wellesley coyote
Photo shared by Phil Gormley
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Beyond Wellesley: We tour the new barn at Land’s Sake Farm in Weston, Mass.

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Land’s Sake Farm in Weston always has plenty to celebrate in summer. This year, the fields that produce over 130,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables annually are prolific. Organic practices that prohibit the use of synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers have been successful, ensuring that the land is used sustainably. And the education programs that serve over 10,000 kids and adults per year are well attended.

Land's Sake Farm, Weston
Land’s Sake Farm in Weston last month held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new barn that was built on the 40-acre property. Inside the barn, look for the massive oak tree used as a support post. It was selected and cut last fall before being integrated within the building’s frame. Although the tree was stripped of bark, it looks so much a part of the landscape that a farm stand visitor asked it the oak tree was alive. The answer is no, but it’s certainly an amazing centerpiece. The building plans were developed pro bono by architecture firm Payette. Payette CEO Kevin Sullivan is a Weston resident. Much of the timber for the structure was donated by a Weston landowner.

So nothing new to report on the growth of food or the education mission of Land’s Sake. The really big news on the farm is the ambitious $6 million infrastructure project in progress as a result of the Land Sake’s Grow With Us capital campaign. Now in its third calendar year, a phased approach to fundraising allowed Land’s Sake to act quickly on long-desired improvements. Only a couple months after the Weston Select Board approved the campaign, a groundbreaking ceremony for a new timber-framed Animal Barn was held in summer 2021. A renegotiated lease on the land helped make the project possible. “The town owns the land, and we are the nonprofit that runs the land as its stewards and managers,” Land’s Sake business manager Heather Hilton explains. “We used to renew the lease every three years. The reason we’re able to do all this now is because Weston allowed us a 30-year lease.”

Land's Sake Farm, Weston
Land’s Sake business manager Heather Hilton, left, and board member and Wellesley resident Bob Glowacky in front of the new barn.

By last month, the Animal Barn officially opened, serving for now as a farm stand, and the public was invited to a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Unfazed by the timeframe

Phase I with its goals of enhanced parking, construction of the Animal Barn and a greenhouse and hoop house is nearly complete. Completion of Phase II, the construction of a 3,000 square-foot, net-zero, energy-efficient Farm Stand, is expected to be finished in fall 2023. When that happens, the big swap will occur, and the Farm Stand operation will move from the Animal Barn to its permanent home.

Farmers working at the Animal Barn now have access to water year-round, thanks to the new frost-free water line system. “This is how we can have animals in the winter, because we have access to water after the frost now,” Heather said. The goats and bunnies will now have a forever home and no longer have to live a nomadic existence off-farm during the winter months.

Land's Sake Farm, Weston
The new barn has an area for kids to stow their backpacks and change into farm-worthy boots. The area where the farm equipment is parked will be restored to a grazing area for animals once the barn finishes its service as a temporary farm stand and transitions to its permanent purpose as the farm’s Animal Barn.

Unsurprisingly, programs featuring goats, bunnies, and chickens are a very big draw at the farm, so the ability to extend the season for these farm stars is a big plus. So beloved are these well-tended and sleek creatures at Land’s Sake that when I asked a farm employee whether animal slaughtering takes place on the farm or at an off-site location, first she nearly fainted, then she assured me that the animals are never killed. Guess I’ve been reading too much into those bumper stickers that commonly adorn vehicles around farms, the ones that read, “No farms, no food.”

OK, got it. It’s a working farm, but not that kind of a working farm. On Saturdays, Farm Stand visitors can  purchase USDA certified pork chops, roasts, steaks, ground beef, ground sausage, and bacon supplied by Bascom Hollow Farm, so meat products are available for sale at Land’s Sake.

Bob Glowacky, a Land’s Sake Farm board member, emphasized that the Grow With Us campaign is first and foremost about helping the farm run safely while ensuring that organic practices and a sustainability mindset thrive. “We thought, if we had a really efficient operation, the farm could really run without the wasted hours of setting up and breaking down things like the farm stand every day. Then imagine what more could happen here.”

Land's Sake Farm, Weston
Land’s Sake farmers harvest over 45 varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs and other greens, and flowers. Okra is a new crop farmers tried out this season. “We did it just for fun to see if it would take. It’s being sold at the farm stand and people are buying it,” Hilton said.

“Magic” was a word I heard a lot on my tour of the farm. While walking through a cloud of dirt kicked up by the tractor (it’s a farm, these things happen), it seemed possible that soil alchemy was at work. Could it be that the billowy mass was nothing special, just ordinary organic matter, floating on the wind before settling elsewhere on the farm? Or did I walk through stardust?

For information on programs, workshops, events, CSA shares, pick-your-own availability, and more, visit the Land’s Sake website.

Land's Sake Farm, Weston

LOCATION: Land’s Sake Farm, 90 Wellesley Street, Weston, MA 02493
FARM HOURS: Year-Round, dawn to dusk
FARM STAND HOURS: Mon: closed
Tues – Fri: 11am – 6pm
Sat. & Sun: 10am – 3pm

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Call and Haul, Wellesley

Geese stand their ground at Wellesley Square post office

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Wellelsey appears to have introduced a new traffic calming system at the Wellesley Square post office. A line-up of Canada Geese put the brakes on drivers looking to visit or circle the mailboxes in front of the post office this week. Thanks to reader Priscilla Messing for sharing.

wellesley geese
Photo courtesy of Priscilla Messing

 

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Rick Cram, leader
National Children's Chorus

Wellesley Square mail carrier honors local dogs (and 1 cat) with new electrical box painting

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It didn’t take me long to see why Wellesley Square mail carrier Toni Alexander might very well need all the way until “June 31” to finish her painting of an electrical box near the post office. I stopped by to take a few quick photos. An hour later, after a conversation that spanned from her clown friends to vintage belt buckles to clubbing in Boston back in the day…

Alexander took part in the town’s ongoing electrical box public art painting program, the application for which included a deadline for the mythical date of June 31 that I reference above. The town’s Public Art Committee approved Alexander’s proposed design, which features favorite pups from along her route, plus a cat named Rocket who adorns the top of the box, encircled by a compass. The box pays homage to these pets, both living and deceased.

The box location at Central Park, that patch of open space in front of the Wellesley Square post office, couldn’t be handier for Alexander, who dutifully painted for half-an-hour to an hour or so before work and after work, just minutes away. “It’s convenient—and shady,” she said.

dog electrical box

The box was nearly done on the afternoon I stopped by, but Alexander wasn’t quite satisfied with a number of critters, who she described in some cases as looking too cartoonish. She kept showing me pictures from her smartphone of the real animals so that I could compare and critique. The paintings looked pretty life-like to me. She relayed the story of one local dog owner stopping by after she heard that her pet Poppy was depicted on the box, and being “over the moon” about it.

Others dogs immortalized include Pi, Nola, Cisco, Cooper, and Sammy. The original plan was to devote the painting to Pi in a “Pi-casso”-style, Alexander posted online, but she figured that approach wouldn’t have been community-focused enough to qualify.

Alexander didn’t get a lot of brush strokes in while I was there. Moments after I arrived, a mom and daughter on the way home from a camp pick-up stopped to check out Alexander’s progress, and were given a tour of the box. The next thing you know, Alexander is sharing videos of herself hand feeding peanuts to chipmunks at her home, egging the kid on to try the same and remarking on her own “awesome” daughter of about the same age. Alexander described herself a a huge animal lover, even of crows, and said despite what you might think from seeing the box, she’s more of a cat-person than dog-person.

dog electrical box painting central park
Rocket lives on

 

Alexander says she had painting lessons as a kid, but that this would be her first work of public art. She has painted dog portraits as a side gig, and also has taken on other subjects, including rock bands such as Soul Asylum. I heard about her exploits getting into now-defunct night clubs like Boston’s Channel with homemade press passes, and eventually working as a roadie for years, including in California, where she earned her way into handling coveted sound duties at a major club.

Alexander would stop every so often during our chat to ask if she was talking too much. Nope. This post was writing itself…

The hi-jinx continued when Wellesley Police Chief and resident tastemaker Jack Pilicki swung by.

The chief is part of the team that coordinates the electrical box paintings, and he gushed over the doggie box, telling Alexander she was being too hard on herself over any elements or details missing (the shadows!). From there the conversation veered into other matters, including the touchy territory of mail box thefts (maybe those boxes will be the next public painting targets?).

toni alexandar & jack pilecki electrical box
Wellesley Police Chief Jack Pilecki (right) sharing his art theories with Toni Alexander

 

After getting to know Alexander a bit, I suspected she might just be the type of artist inclined to hide a message or image in her project. She laughed, and said it took all of her willpower not to do that since it was a community project.

Still, I’m going to take another look…

Deland, Gibson Insurance, Wellesley
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