The Boston Globe

The nuns of Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey have been working the land for more than six decades, so they see their latest venture — having more than 20,000 solar panels installed in a field on the Trappistine order’s property — as one more way of working in concert with nature.

“Instead of harvesting crops, we harvest electricity,” said Sister Alice Chau .

More than 40 sisters live at the abbey, and many of them are too old to milk cows or garden. They were looking for ways to support themselves by utilizing the abbey’s land, which covers 500 acres straddling the Wrentham-Franklin line.