Crowdfunding is the modern way to raise funds for business initiatives. Wee Isle Dairy Ltd are a small company operating on the Isle of Gigha in the Inner Hebrides, creating a delicious range of home-made ice cream using the milk from their farm.

Don Dennis and his wife Emma, have been making ice cream for four years, supplying shops around Argyll and throughout Scotland. The initial six flavours were packaged in a range of tubs that were printed back in 2016, however, in a bid to expand their range, there is a need for new tubs to be printed, and this is where the crowdfunding comes in.

Wee Isle Dairy use their own original photos of the area for the artwork on the tubs, as they feel their island is so beautiful, it's best to share it. The printing is a big cost for a small business, as the print run minimum is 30,000 tubs. They have five new flavours they want to launch and also need their original vanilla tub reprinted. Personally, I want to try their bramble and peat flavour... that's a rather inventive combination.

This is where you come in. Kickstarter (one of the most popular crowdfunding websites) works on the premise that supporters pledge a monetary amount in exchange for a reward, depending on how much is contributed. You can pledge anything from £3, in this instance. That gets you a tub of Wee Isle ice cream (as a redeemable token when taken into one of the shops carrying their range), and a thank you letter. Pledge £5 and the reward can be a larger tub of ice cream or two wee tubs. Their home-made ice cream sauces are also a 'reward' option. You can pledge as much as you wish, and if you have a look at the Kickstarter page for Wee Isle Dairy, there is an option to pledge £300, which offers a two day artisan ice cream making workshop.

Supporting small farm businesses is, of course, to be encouraged. Don says: "Our ice cream is made with milk only from the cows at Tarbert Farm on Gigha, the farm where my wife was born, and which she runs with the help of her brother Mark, and sons, Bryce, Sean, and wee Mark; and Bobby Park. We also bottle the milk in glass bottles and supply that to the shops across Argyll and beyond."

For more information or to pledge support go to:

www.kickstarter.com

and search for Island Farm Artisan Ice Cream. The Kickstarter campaign ends on June 8, 2019, so don't delay and do your bit to help a dairy farmer out – you'll get a terrific ice cream treat out of it.