Last modified: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 2:20 AM EST Sister Rafaela Polando feeds the sheep in the barn at Mount St. Mary's abbey in Wrentham. This spring, the religious sisters will be constructing a new candy factory and gift shop and adding a large wind turbine to power the abbey. The turbine should provide up to 75 percent of the community's energy needs. (Staff photo by Martin Gavin) Worship, work, wind BY RICK FOSTER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF WRENTHAM - For most of the past 50 years, the fields surrounding Mount St. Mary's abbey have been filled with sheep, dairy cows and the contemplative nuns who tended them as they worshipped God and made their internationally famous candy. But this spring, the abbey's 49 religious sisters are prepared to make a technogical leap forward by constructing a new candy factory and gift shop and adding a large wind turbine to power the abbey and its industry. The projects are intended to replace a 40-year-old structure and provide up to 75 percent of the community's energy needs, said Mother Maureen McCabe, abbess of the community, which was founded in 1949. For a group of nuns whose pastoral lifestyle mimics monasteries going back to the Middle Ages, all the technology may seem a little incongruous. But it's all a part of the order's ethic of work and worship, and making sure the abbey remains self supporting, McCabe said. "It's a beautiful life," she said. "But we also have to support ourselves. God provides, but we have to do our part." The dairy was discontinued several years ago, but the abbey continues to sell its chocolate via the Internet and through a gift shop. The sisters also continue to keep a small flock of sheep whose wool is spun into blankets that they sell. Candy is the abbey's main source of income. The abbey, part of which is in Franklin, has already received permits to locate a 100 kilowatt wind turbine on a 130-foot tower. Luckily, or perhaps with the aid of Divine foresight, the nuns established the abbey on one of the best potential windpower sites in the area. According to Sister Mariann Garrity, the abbey's facilities manager, an engineering study determined that the abbey contained one of the few sites in Franklin that is ideal for wind power generation. The sisters obtained a Massachusetts Technology Council grant to help finance the $450,000 wind turbine, half the cost of which will be paid by the abbey. Construction is planned for spring. Beginning in April, the sisters will also begin construction of their new "candy house" which will replace a 1960s structure that has been adapted and added onto throughout the years. While the building has housed the nuns' major industry for more than 40 years, the building's electrical system is outdated and the structure cannot accommodate larger, more energy-efficient machinery the candy making enterprise needs, said Sister Elizabeth LaSalle, who until recently oversaw candy production. The cost of investing in the new building and wind turbine has forced the sisters to look to innovative forms of financing, including grants, individual donations and private foundations. The economy has slowed donations somewhat, but the sisters are confident that they will succeed. About half of the needed money has been raised so far, McCabe said. Despite technological improvements, the nuns expect their life will remain much the same as it is today, alternating work with prayer. The abbey, itself, will continue to look much as it is today, a community of sisters surrounded by farming property. Design of the new projects has been thought out with self-sufficiency and environmental friendliness in mind. Besides using windpower to provide electricity, the new candy house is intended to be equipped with solar collectors to supplent the building's energy efficiency. "We want to make it as green as we can," LaSalle said. Members of the public can learn more about Mount St. Mary's and make donations by visiting the abbey's Web site at www.msabbey.com. Candy can be purchased at www6.mailordercentral.com/trappistinecandy.