ARCADE, N.Y. — A mother-daughter duo in Arcade are giving back to the community by supporting local farmers, while also promoting farm safety.
Every morning Patti Schenk and her daughter Sarah Brown check the produce that’s delivered to their stand, The Scratch Pantry.
“Yes, absolutely," said Brown. "We make sure we get the freshest stuff.”
The two opened their roadside business in July and source their produce from local farmers, they also create their own line of salsa, tomato sauce, jams and jellies. It’s something they’re passionate about because they come from a family of farmers.
“Mom comes from a family of 10 so they really lived off their land,” Brown said.
Now they’re providing a more convenient way to access produce in the area.
“You don’t have to go all the way into town to get fresh produce and it's local and buying local is always huge,” Brown added.
They are also promoting farm safety. Patti’s husband passed away in 2014 after a tragic farming accident. Patti has traveled all over, speaking on this topic.
“That’s a huge part of it too because being involved in the farming community as we can, it just touches our family and mom especially through all of the tragedy," Brown said. "There can be light in his memory.”
And in his memory, they hope their stand can give back to the community. They say opening something like this was always a dream, which was pushed forward by the pandemic.
“Just being home, I love to cook, mom loves to cook and I started making stuff from my garden and giving out to friends and family and they loved it," said Brown. "And with mom's background, we had the idea of opening up a shop and see how we can give back to the community.”
Patti makes the salsa, which she’s done since 2001. After stopping in 2014, she's back to it once again. Sarah makes the jams and jellies and her label is distinct, with the letters E-L-E. It stands for "everybody love everybody."
“I think it’s important to treat people with kindness and be open and accepting to everybody," Brown said.
So by spreading some love, positivity and fresh local produce, they hope to bring people together at the table.
“We are bringing back the roots of where it started a very long time ago," said Schenk. "The roots of farming to be able to put it on the table for people to realize that sitting in a family group, that people are so busy that they forget they aren’t sitting in the family group and that’s where I get the joy out of it.”
They’ve received a lot of help along the way from local farmers and the community, to which both women say they are so grateful for the support and help.
The Scratch Pantry is located at 7945 Route 98 South in Arcade. Their hours of operation are:
- Wednesday-Friday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
- Saturday-Sunday: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
You can also pre-order items. They say a portion of every product bag sold will be donated to a local farming organization.