For a long time I have had a dream that I could grow and sell fresh produce grown on my farm and share my home baked goods with everyone. Then, the idea came to me to build a mobile farm stand so that I could display and sell all of my amazing products anytime and anywhere! When my Father in-law asked if I wanted his old trailer. I gladly accepted it because I knew that I could some how turn that old truck bed into the traveling Farm Stand that I had wanted for so long.
This is where my husband (a mechanic) and a good friend of ours (a carpenter), came into the story. The journey through planning, gathering materials and building it from start to finish was a pretty big undertaking. It even left my husband with a broken bone in his hand from building it. That is not the best outcome for a Heavy Equipment Mechanic that needs both hands to do his job.
The beginning of our farm stand truck bed make over!
Ok, so to be honest, it was not the prettiest trailer out there. Camouflage was obviously not the look I was striving for. No disrespect to Camouflage, it definitely has its place. However, that place was not on the cute farm stand that I had dreamed of and had my heart set on. At any rate, it was a free trailer and I was more than grateful that my father in-law gave it to me.
Was This My Vision?
I wondered a couple of times what I had just gotten all of us into? The veggies were growing so fast and were almost ready to harvest! Would we be able to finish in time? Determined to keep my Grand Opening date and not put the veggies on a silly looking plastic table to sell. After all, a grand opening is just as it sounds. It has to be Grand and Spectacular! It is after all, the very first impression of your business. I wanted to make that first impression a fabulous one.
Finding The Right Color
After a few tries on a couple of test spots looking for just the right color. I had finally found it! Periwinkle blue trimmed with white accents would be our farm stand colors. This old truck bed is starting to look better by the minute. One of my favorite things to do, is to re-purpose old things and bring them back to life. I have found some great old junk pieces over the years and turned them into some pretty cool things. One person’s junk is another persons treasure!
Ready to build the roof
A couple of problems we all came up with were, will there be enough room for the veggies and all of our other items that we sell? Where will I put my pies and other fresh home baked items? After we talked it through over a couple of cold ones we came up with a plan.
Every Board Made it Cuter and Cuter!
That old truck bed was taking shape right before my eyes into the beautiful farm stand I had been dreaming about. My husband, our friend, my son and myself worked on it all day on that hot 4th of July! We were finally making a lot of progress with all hands on deck.
Tin Roof
Piece by Piece It was Coming Together
During the process of putting the roof on, our friend thought of the best idea for more space. He said we need to build it so that you can put down the tailgate and pull out an extra shelf for your pies! Eureka! He and my husband could see my vision and they were making it all happen right before my eyes.
A couple of days later, our friend showed up at our house with this crazy roller looking thingy hanging out of the back of his pick up truck. He said “I was at Home Depot getting some lumber for the Farm Stand and this guy had this old factory roller in the back of his truck. I asked him if it was for sale and he sold it to me”. This is exactly what we needed to roll out the sliding shelf.
Cutting and Fabricating
The roller is in and my husband Injured his hand!
While my husband was drilling a hole in the roller bar to attach it to the trailer. The drill twisted and we all heard a loud pop. He injured his hand, but kept working and said he was fine. We all knew as time went by he really wasn’t ok. He kept working on the trailer for the rest of the day.
Slide out Shelf Installation
Veggie Rack Supports
It was coming together. Everyone was coming up with great ideas on how to proceed. The next step was building supports for the shelves to hold the vegetables. We repurposed some roof framing off of the original trailer. We were able to cut and fabricate those into the perfect frame to hold the shelves.
Side and Front Shelves
Our Friend came up with a great idea to add side shelves and front shelves to the stand. We needed these to hold the Spices and Jam that we sell. At this point, I could hardly contain my excitement. It was all coming together and it was more beautiful than I had ever dreamed of. I couldn’t stop looking at it and smiling.
Turns Out He Took One For The Team!
The next day we found out that my husband broke a bone in his hand. Not the news we were hoping for but it was the news that came from the x-ray. Now we will have to adapt and overcome to finish the farm stand.
Adding The Finishing Touches
This was the fun part for me. The guys did such an amazing job changing that old truck bed into this beautiful farm stand. Now it is time to add those final touches and finish up the shelves. With my husbands broken hand, it was time for my son and I to tear apart some old pallets that we had collected and turn them into some functional shelves. Remember, turning someone else’s junk into your own treasure? That is what we did with the old pallets put out for the trash at a local business.
Repurposing Wood Pallets
The picture below is how our shelves turned out. To say I was proud of myself is an understatement. I cut each board by myself and then my son and I put them all together. I think they turned out great. Not only did they look nice they were functional and able to hold all of the vegetables for display. The rooster weather vein on top is one of my favorite additions.
GRAND OPENING DAY!
It was finally here! The day I had been dreaming of for years! The grand opening of our Farm Stand. It was the perfect day! So many people stopped by and loved our little stand. If they could only have seen and known the journey we all took to get to this place.
From my Father In-Law giving me the trailer, to my husband braking his hand trying to help his wife’s dreams come true! All the gratitude I had for him, our amazing carpenter friend, and my son for all of their hard work. I will always be grateful to them and will never forget our journey from an old truck bed to a beautiful farm stand.
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