Above photo: Co-owners Nicole Nesenger and Kelly Shultes open their brand-new Schoharie store, The Farmhouse Artisans.
SCHOHARIE — Last Friday, Schoharie residents were delighted by the first opening of The Farmhouse Artisans on Main Street.
Filling in the spot left by Schoharie Mercantile, the shop focuses on being the bridge between agriculture, textiles, and artisanal goods.
To help accomplish that goal, The Farmhouse Artisans works with over twenty different vendors from the surrounding area, with some standouts like coffee from Chatty Wren in Cobleskill, towels handwoven in Richmondville, and small-batch hot sauce from Ulster County.
Several of the goods on sale, like cotton t-shirts, earrings and greeting cards made from wool, and custom ice cream scoopers are made from material rescued from a fate at the landfill, thus repurposing it and giving it new life.
However, co-owners Nicole Nesenger and Kelly Shultes don’t want to stop there. They have big plans for expansion, with goals both near and far.
Firstly, for the shop itself, they plan to work with local dairy farms to stock fresh milk, and they plan to showcase an “artisan of the month,” which would include a rotating display of different goods for customers to peruse.
In addition, they also want to set up floral pop-ups on the weekends to introduce even more of that natural feel into the store.
Secondly, the co-owners want to transform their backroom into a fully functional classroom to offer free learning courses to anyone that’s interested.
“We really want this place to be a community anchor,” said Mrs. Nesenger.
Mrs. Shultes backed up her sentiment, stating “There’s no cost to learning how to do something, and we want to emphasize that here.”
The first course on offer will be a Knit Night on Fridays from 5 to 7 PM, where they’ll hold a demonstration in collaboration with Cece’s Wool.
“It’s for anyone that wants to learn how to knit or crochet, and if you have a project that you’re already working on, you can bring that in too,” Mrs. Shultes said. “We’d also love to have people who just want to socialize.”
Finally, the shop owners stated that if this location is successful, they’d like to open a sister location in Cooperstown, which is closer to Mrs. Nesenger’s own business, Sunny Valley Farms.
“We’re looking forward to working with more non-profits to benefit the community,” concluded Mrs. Shultes. “Many thanks to everyone who helped us, we’ve had a lot of support in getting this far.”