Mount Grace, North Quabbin Harvest mark 10-year partnership

At the Aug. 10 celebration of a decade of partnership, Quabbin Harvest Board Chair Margot Parrot (left) and Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust Executive Director Emma Ellsworth (right) were presented with citations from the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives by Sen. Jo Comerford (second from left) and state Rep. Susannah Whipps.

At the Aug. 10 celebration of a decade of partnership, Quabbin Harvest Board Chair Margot Parrot (left) and Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust Executive Director Emma Ellsworth (right) were presented with citations from the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives by Sen. Jo Comerford (second from left) and state Rep. Susannah Whipps. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Staff report

Published: 08-25-2024 5:00 PM

ATHOL – Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust and Quabbin Harvest Food Co-op co-hosted a lively celebration on Aug. 10 of the first decade of their partnership in Orange.

The land trust owns the building that houses the co-op’s storefront business, but the collaboration comes out of a shared vision that goes well beyond brick and mortar. The two organizations are working together to support the broader goals of farm viability, ecological stewardship and community resilience.

Founded in 2009 as the North Quabbin Community Co-operative, Quabbin Harvest operated for its first five years in the Orange Innovation Center. When the member-owned co-op needed more space in order to continue expanding, it approached the land trust about a possible partnership. Like most land trusts, Mount Grace was already protecting working farmland through agricultural conservation easements, but its leadership recognized that farmers also need markets in order to keep their farms viable.

In 2014, the land trust purchased the former Workers Credit Union building on North Main Street to serve as a new home for the fledgling grocery store.

On Saturday, Aug. 10, Mount Grace and Quabbin Harvest celebrated their 10th year of partnership with an event at Honest Weight Artisan Beer in the Orange Innovation Center. The event attracted over 70 attendees and featured food from Quabbin Harvest. The event’s speakers praised the innovative partnership and stressed the importance of addressing food insecurity in the North Quabbin region. Attending on behalf of U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern, a noted anti-hunger advocate, Regional Director Koby Gardner-Levine spoke about how this project fits within regional and national efforts to strengthen food security for all.

State Sen. Jo Comerford also traced the connections with food security and more broadly with social justice and equity issues. Quabbin Harvest Board Chair Margot Parrot mentioned that in the past four years, more than 13,000 no-cost food shares had been distributed through the co-op, with much of the food sourced locally and with support from grants and partnerships (for example, with the state’s Healthy Incentives Program).

Mount Grace’s Executive Director Emma Ellsworth talked about how this work fits within broader land conservation and planning in the land trust’s 23-town service area and well beyond. Director of Rural Affairs Anne Gobi compared this kind of local project to what happens when a pebble is thrown into a stream.

“It can have ripple effects that are much more than you expect,” she said, adding that people and organizations in the nine-town North Quabbin area have a history of tackling challenges and figuring out ways to meet them.

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State Rep. Susannah Whipps, an Athol native and trained chef, illustrated that outlook when she noted that she had served as a kitchen prep volunteer at Quabbin Harvest all the way through several pandemic years while also supporting food and farm support programs in the state legislature.

The event was sponsored by several community-focused businesses and organizations: Greenfield Savings Bank, Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee, Marty’s Local, and the North Quabbin Chamber of Commerce.

GSB Vice President of Business Development and Director of Philanthropy Tara Brewster spoke of the role that the bank had played in the purchase of the building in Orange, adding that it understands that “protecting land, farming, and food security are inextricably tied together. The union of Mount Grace and Quabbin Harvest is a modern example of how seemingly different organizations can come together for the common good of a shared goal.”