A sweet treat in a sweet truck!

Guess what! We have a truck! And there's ice cream in it!

Photo Credit: Shannon Marie Photography

Like many of our farm projects, this sweet little truck did not always look like this. In December, Kyle purchased a decommissioned fiberoptic cable splicing truck. His staff at the farm? we were, well...unsure. To put it lightly. But like many of our farm projects, Kyle had a vision. 

The truck was boring, drab, and a little weird looking, but it had the right features important for a mobile food truck: electricity, hook-ups, and the ability to run water.

But even though it had good bones, it couldn't stay like this. We wanted a colorful, fun, and vibrant truck.

When looking around for options for the outside of the truck, we found this great company in Dubuque called Digital Designs. After looking through their portfolio, we knew these were the guys who could bring our vision to life. 

They do this thing called vehicle wrapping, which is basically covering the vehicle in large sheets of vinyl stickers. These guys were awesome. They worked with us throughout the whole design process, going back and forth through a couple of drafts (because we're a bit picky) until we reached a design we loved. 

Once we reached a design concept, they worked HARD on executing the design on the truck. It took them nine days to finish the truck, working around all the weird structures and vents and jut-outs and just all-around not smooth sides of this big ugly service truck. They did an absolutely amazing job, even stopping to take photos to update us on their progress. 

The staff at Digital Designs completely transformed our truck and we couldn't be more grateful for their hard work and help in turning this old service truck into our new sweet wheels!​ Seriously, these guys are the best!

Photo Credit: Shannon Marie Photography

But the outside was just the first step in getting this truck road-ready. Kyle spent the next few weeks cleaning and updating the inside, putting in a sink, painting, and finding space for the freezer. We also had to cut a hole for our service window and install that. He had to spend quite a bit of time underneath the truck to re-wire and put in a water tank, which was a pretty tricky business. Plus there was the installation of an impressive back-up camera system to make sure even staff like me can drive this thing! 

And then there was the paperwork! The truck has to meet state health and safety requirements and so there was a whole process to making sure we can safely and happily serve you all ice cream from this transformed truck. Because of the pandemic, we actually had the truck inspected virtually rather than in person. Kyle had to take quite a few photos and send them all in for approval. The state will come and inspect the truck in person soon, but virtually, we got our passing grade!

More fun was deciding on uniforms - from the hats to the bow ties, we had a good time dreaming up the ice cream outfit!

About a month ago, the truck was health checked and passed, equipped with a freezer and all the things we need to serve ice cream, and wrapped up in fun colors and cones. We were ready to hit the road!

We were ready. The world wasn't. With the pandemic, a lot of our plans for the truck have been put on hold. There are no markets, not many neighborhood gatherings, and many food vendor events have been canceled or put on hold. Again, this global pandemic changed our plans. But, you know, we can roll with the punches. 

Our new plan is to establish a route that covers communities in the area. We are flattered that so many of you have been driving to the farm from 30, 40, or even 60 miles away to do our curbside pickups, and we want to instead bring the ice cream to you. We are currently exploring the idea of visiting towns each month or every couple of weeks to serve cones, but also to fill pre-ordered pints. The details on this are still a bit unsure, but in the next couple of weeks, we will be announcing a new schedule and a new plan for our sweet treats! And we can't wait to see and serve you!

Also, we need to give a big shoutout to our wonderful families and to Shannon Marie Photography, who all came out to our ice cream photoshoot. Thank you for the wonderful photos and the fun afternoon!