CENTRE HALL — The Garden & Seafood Shack is a Centre Hall-based produce and seafood business owned by local farmers Tim and Amy Lake. Tim’s family has owned the farm for more than four decades, and the business is currently beginning its ninth year of operation.
The Centre County Gazette recently sat down with the Lakes.
CCG: When did you start your business?
Lake: We opened the produce business in 2008.
CCG: Why did you decide to add seafood to your business in 2014?
Lake: We added seafood, in a big part, because we missed O.W. Houts. Their seafood counter was like a candy store for adults. There’s nothing better than fresh scallops or steamed clams.
CCG: Describe your business.
Lake: We are a local, small produce farm that now addresses everyone’s hidden seafood addiction. The business grew from our large backyard garden. Our friends and neighbors got tired of us always giving them all of the extra vegetables, broccoli and zucchini, in particular. So we plant less broccoli and have diversified what we plant to cover everyone’s tastes.
CCG: What produce do you offer?
Lake: We offer almost all vegetables that can be grown in our area and a lot of local fruit.
CCG: What seafood do you offer?
Lake: We offer fresh and frozen seafood — wild caught when it is available. Good-quality, wild-caught seafood is hard to find. We try to find restaurant quality seafood so you can make fabulous meals at home. We have 18 varieties of fish, king crab legs, snow crab, raw and precooked shrimp, scallops, oysters, clams, alligator and more.
CCG: Do you have any future expansion plans?
Lake: Do you mean besides the 30 by 50 fully functional green house, and adding an additional 6 acres into production? Ha ha, let us recover from this one first.
CCG: What are some benefits to your location in Penns Valley?
Lake: Being in Centre Hall allows us to service the direct area, Lewistown and State College.
Some of The Garden & Seafood Shack’s most popular harvests include their very own strawberries in June, tomatoes by the bushel in August and sweet corn in yellow, white and bicolor varieties. Other popular selections include herbs, carrots, lettuce and cabbage from the farm, and locally grown peaches, watermelons and berries. In addition to produce, the business also carries goods from several local producers, including Lost Hollow Honey and sauces and dressings from The Village Eatinghouse. The fresh and frozen seafood is delivered every Friday. The Garden & Seafood Shack is currently operating under winter hours, and is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. Summer hours will resume in early May, and the stand will be open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.
SAMANTHA BASTRESS/For the Gazette
The Garden & Seafood Shack, located in Centre Hall, is a unique store. Owners Tim and Amy Lake carry everything from plants to seafood.
