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Healey Talks Healthcare, Housing, ICE at South County Farm

Farmer Elizabeth Keen gives Maura Healey a ground cherry to try.

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Maura Healey visited Main Street and then Indian Line Farm during campaign stops in South County on Tuesday. 

The current governor is running for re-election with no Democratic challengers. On the Republican primary ballot, Michael Minogue of Hamilton and Brian Shortsleeve of Barnstable are vying for the gubernatorial nomination in the primary Election on Sept. 1. 

"Some people, I may not be everything they want. OK, I'm never going to be everything that everybody wants, but it's like, for God's sakes, people have got to know, you're either going to get this, or you're going to get a rubber stamp for Trump-Vance. Period," Healey said. 

"… I'm proud of Massachusetts. We've got our challenges, but we're number one in education and healthcare. We've got the safest drinking water in the country. We've got clean air. We've got great recreation. We've got a lot. We protect people's rights and freedoms, not for nothing. These are really good things." 

During a meet and greet at Indian Line Farm, she spoke to a couple dozen supporters about issues impacting them: healthcare, affordability, quality education, and civil protections around U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She began the day with stops at local businesses on Main Street. 

The farm's owners, Elizabeth Keen and Al Thorp, had an array of farm-fresh offerings for Healey, and she even tried a ground cherry. The farm is in its 29th season, and its Community Supported Agriculture group has 285 members.

"As a farmer in Massachusetts, I continuously tell people who come to visit, and when I give farm tours: Massachusetts is such an amazing state to be a farmer because there are so many resources," Keen said. 

"There have been many, many projects that we have received technical assistance from the Commonwealth, and in addition to grant funds. I wouldn't say we wouldn't be where we were without it, but we would be a very different farm without it." 

Healey said her administration is always looking for ways to support Massachusetts farms. She explained that she grew up on farmland in New Hampshire's seacoast region, and highlighted how farmers support their community's nutrition and economy. 

"Everybody should be getting up to our farms around the state to support our farmers and the beautiful food that they provide," Healey said. 

"So you have got my commitment to doing everything that we can." 

One resident explained that she is unable to find a cardiologist in the area, and her primary-care physician just announced they will be leaving.  Another resident reported that the immigrant community has almost gone underground because of ICE, "which hurts our farms, hurts our restaurants, our livelihood, quite frankly." 

State Rep. Leigh Davis, running unopposed for re-election, reported that she talks to people who want to retire in the area but can't get access to cardiologists or healthcare providers, which deters them from moving here.

Healey said that as governor, she has capped copays and deductibles and gotten rid of prior authorizations. The administration is also working to invest in primary and mental health care, she said. 

Explaining that the state needs to "do new and innovative things to make sure that people get the care they need," she floated the ideas of free tuition for medical students and residents who want to practice primary care here, or tax breaks to incentivize healthcare providers to all regions of the state. 

"That is something I'm actively thinking about and working on now," Healey said.  

Pryor & Peacock's Whimsical Furniture Environmentally Friendly

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:17AM / Friday, August 21, 2026

 

The company uses digital printing to create the upholstery fabric, saving water and saving vintage furniture from ending up in landfills.

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — A unique furniture store has popped up on Elm Street this month.

Mom-and-daughter store Pryor & Peacock is hosting the pop-up storefront from Aug. 13 to Aug. 25 at 6 Elm. The New Marlborough business is co-founded by Rosalina Wright and Luca Shapiro, who is also the creative director. 

Their online shop was created in 2024 but they wanted people to see the pieces in person, so they're renting the space for a limited time before a long-term tenant moves in.

The store sources prints to create unique fabrics and reimagines vintage and antique furniture acquired at auctions, local shops, and online.

"We source prints from all over the world that date from the late 1600s up through mid-20th century, and Luca turns those prints into fabric by manipulating them, scanning them, oftentimes has to add or subtract things, and then we manufacture the fabric using only digital printing, which is very environmentally friendly, unlike traditional textile printing," Wright said.

Upholstering the furniture can take weeks of work. Shapiro looks for the perfect design for each piece and, if need be, uses Adobe Photoshop to extend the art work to fit or enhance the print.

"One of the most difficult parts comes in marrying the fabric to a piece of furniture because we only use antique and vintage frames also to be earth friendly, and they're also more beautiful and durable than new furniture," Wright said. "So the image has to go with the furniture, so that takes a lot of work."

One of Pryor & Peacock's missions is to be environmentally friendly. Digital printing doesn't use the same amount of water as traditional textile productions do nor does it contaminate water with ink according to their website.

Not only are they saving water, but they are saving furniture from going into the landfill while also using more durable furniture that doesn't break as easily as current pieces. They started their business to create something unique and to help the environment together.

"It's creating something nobody else is doing. People can't continue to buy throwaway furniture. Six percent of American landfills is furniture, and digital printing not only opens up the possibility of being able to put unique images on a piece of furniture, but it also is, as I said, environmentally friendly. So, for us, the excitement is to take an old East Lake settee that somebody's going to store in their barn and forget about, and make it something completely new and surprising," Wright said.

They hope their furniture helps bring a pop of fun to someone's home.

"We think our furniture is very whimsical and surprising, and most furniture today is oatmeal colored couches and gray neutral chairs, and it's boring," she said.

The two named their business after their mothers' maiden names to honor them and believe the name reflects their pieces.

Shapiro works in interior design outside of the business and the two liked working together and thought it would be great to start a business together. Shapiro says they can work well together and that her and her mother, Wright, has flipped houses before and have the same eye for design.

"So it's very easy for us to work together. When we see something, generally we agree on whether it works or doesn't work on a piece. We agree on the color schemes and that sort of thing. So it's very fun and fulfilling to work together," Shapiro said.