ORANGE — The community shares offered by the Quabbin Harvest Food Co-op used to consist of local produce, but little in the way of meats, dairy and eggs. Enter, “protein bundles.”

The co-op has partnered with Quabbin Food Connector — a nonprofit tackling food supply issues among farmers and low-income families in the North Quabbin region — to assemble monthly food distributions to low- to moderate-income residents to ensure they have a sufficient amount of protein, which is vital to nutrition and well-being. This project started as a pilot program in 2022 with a grant that Quabbin Food Connector received from the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts. Another round of funding has enabled this year’s program, which continues through December.

“Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Julie Davis, the co-op’s manager. The program is at capacity now and no other residents will be accepted this year.

Pat Larson, who chairs Quabbin Food Connector’s board of directors, explained the funding permits the co-op and Quabbin Food Connector to work with four partner organizations — the Athol-Royalston Regional School District’s Family and Community Center, Valuing Our Children, Quabbin House and the Creative Sector Pathway Program at LaunchSpace.

“Protein bundles” include meat, cheese, eggs and other proteins along with vegetables. Pick-up is the fourth Wednesday of every month. Some of the partner agencies can arrange deliveries.

Davis said the bundles come with three recipes — two based in animal protein and one that is vegan — and the ingredients necessary to make the dishes.

“And every bundle has a theme,” she explained during this week’s pick-up. “This one is actually ‘salad,’ which sounds kind of boring until you think about what the salad is. So, there’s a Cobb salad recipe that features a local strip streak from Hager’s Farm [in Shelburne Falls], a dozen eggs from Diemand Farm [in Wendell], some local blue cheese and then all the vegetables that you need for it.

“There’s a Vietnamese pork noodle salad with pork chops from Coolidge Hill, right down the road [in New Salem],” Davis added. “And then all of the ingredients to be able to make that, including items that maybe folks may not have as much familiarity with — things like fish sauce, lots of fresh citrus, lots of fresh herbs. And then the third one, actually, is … a chickpea tuna salad.”

Davis noted the recipes encourage people to use “meat as an accent, instead of a focus.”

The three other community shares projects at Quabbin Harvest provide vegetables and some fruit to at least 90 households, the CISA Senior FarmShare program for the Athol and Orange councils on aging, and the Seeds of Solidarity Stocking Up Shares program for Orange households.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-930-4120.