It Is Just An Over-The-Counter Supplement – It Must Be Safe

Many of us take dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, or other products to boost our health. Since many supplements contain natural ingredients, it’s easy to assume they are always safe. But “natural” does not always mean safe, especially when combined with medications. Nor does it always mean effective.             Let’s get the “effective” […] Read more »

Blowing in The Wind

            My parents were smokers, most likely beginning their long partnership with the tobacco industry when they were teens.             Dad quit cold turkey in 1964 when the first Surgeon General warning was aired on prime-time TV. He’d spend the next year sucking on hard candies as suggested by all in the know.             Ma […] Read more »

Companion Plants and Permaculture

            For the last 10,000 to 12,000 years, humans have relied on agriculture for most of their food cultivation and consumption. Starting off with small homebound gardens, this process eventually evolved into estate-driven farming and then feudal/serf farming. In the modern era, we have vast fields that stretch to the horizon in all directions. Much […] Read more »

Memorial Day Remembrances

            The weather could not have been better on May 26 as the community of Mattapoisett gathered at Center School to remember the living and the dead whose military sacrifices were tenderly recalled.             The hour-long ceremony featured the vocal talents of the Showstoppers whose harmonies while singing much-loved patriotic tunes and favorites such as […] Read more »

Tri-Towns Share Winner’s Circle

Memorial Day saw the continuation of the annual Rochester Memorial Day Boat Race, as every town in the Tri-Town region, Marion, Rochester and Mattapoisett, saw a winner this year in some division.             Competitors build and race in their kayaks down 12 miles of the Mattapoisett River. Racers are staggered, one departing every minute from […] Read more »

Leaving the WHO/Defunding USAID Penny Unwise and Pound Foolish

Penny Unwise and Pound Foolish President Trump announced on the day of his inauguration that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization, a process that takes a year under a joint resolution of Congress passed in 1948. The stated reason was the WHO’s failure to quickly sound the alarm about COVID-19.             […] Read more »

Rochester Elections

Editor’s note: Since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 interrupted the South Coast League of Women Voters’ annual effort to host candidates’ nights, The Wanderer has been offering a platform for candidates in contested races for elected offices in the tri-towns. This year, candidates were invited to submit up to 250 words in one paragraph. Candidates […] Read more »

Change by the Numbers

As we all know, the individual currently residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington is big into change. He has changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and he recently said he was going to change the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Gulf. This will, no doubt, keep the […] Read more »

The Mighty Trucks

On May 17, trucks and utility vehicles from across the Tri-Town convened in the parking lot of Old Rochester Regional High School for the “Touch A Truck” even hosted by teacher Elizabeth Kennedy and the Early Childhood Education program.             The event saw both local town departments and businesses bring their important vehicles to allow […] Read more »

Spring Flora Beckons

Nature’s first blush has passed. Daffodils and forsythia have receded, and catkins have dropped off trees, making way for tender new leaves. The bright pastels that piqued our interest in early spring are fading away, being replaced by delicious shades of green.             If you look at the grass and the leaves of certain deciduous […] Read more »