Plasko’s Farm Creamery

Flat Farm, not Fat Farm!
Plasko’s Farm Creamery, Trumbull
April 2024

In late 2024, the owner announced plans to turn Plasko’s into a franchise, where other farms will be able to sell their ice cream and coffee under the farm’s name.

Contrary to what their website says, you’ll be welcome here no matter where you’re from.

What do I mean? I mean that every subsection ends with the same “welcome” to Trumbull and nearby towns. Heck, this is a header on a few pages:

Proudly Serving the Trumbull, Monroe, Fairfield, Shelton & Easton, CT Communities

Welp, I arrived here from West Hartford with my son and another West Hartford boy. Maybe they just didn’t know we were outsiders. I’m happy to report we were treated well and were not made to sit in a “Non-Trumbull Patrons” section.

Plasko’s seems to be a hub of Trumbull life. I know that if my family lived nearby, we’d visit often. Charmingly, they’ve been here a hundred years:

Plasko’s Farm originated in 1925 by the first generation immigrants from Czechoslovakia, Martin and Mary Plasko. Martin was only 16 when he arrived to the United States. He worked on an Oyster boat in Norwalk for about 10 years before saving enough money to buy the land in Trumbull where he and his wife Mary would raise their family. The farm was continued by the next generation, John and Pauline Plasko. They established the 8-acre farm on Daniels Farm Road in 1952, as well as 20 acres of additional farmland.

Curious, I wondered if “Plasko” had meaning. And it does! In Czech, Slovenian, Croation, and probably other similar languages, it means “flat.” (See: my awkward title at top). Still more curious, plopped “plasko” in a few other random languages. It means “plastic” in Swahili. “Flask” in Cebuano, a language I’ve never heard of. (Ever more curious, Cebuano… “is the lingua franca of Central Visayas, the western parts of Eastern Visayas, some western parts of Palawan and most parts of Mindanao.” Hm. that didn’t help me at all. Ever still more curious… it’s spoken in part of the southern Philippines. Okay, enough superfluous curiosity… we have ice cream to eat!)

In 1997, John Plasko Jr. rebuilt and expanded the farm to not only its original purpose of a nursery and farming sweet corn & other produce, but also to include a country store & full-blown bakery in addition to a corn maze, pumpkins and Christmas Tree sales. In 2017, John and his wife Lisa incorporated a new creamery which serves Ultra Premium Homemade Ice Cream & Italian Ices which are made FRESH DAILY on premises using only the highest quality ingredients.

They weren’t quite done yet, and in 2020 the Plasko’s announced the opening of Plasko’s Café. There’s nothing “flat” about this place at all. It’s positively bubbling with options.

The boys and I walked through the cafe area first, and I picked up some apple cider donuts. I love apple cider donuts. I even like them when they lose their freshness and get that weird humid dampness to them. You know what I’m talkin’ about.

As we looked over the extensive flavors of ice cream available, I stared into the viewing window. It’s there for us to stare into, gawking at the guy inside making ice cream. It’s a completely weird set up, but stared I did. The guy didn’t seem to appreciate my interest in his work, however. (I’m imagining people staring at me sitting at my desk while I stare at datasets… and I hate it.)

Plasko’s offers a wide variety of flavors, some of which we had no idea as to what they were. Yes, this is yet another place that offers ice cream flavors with random names that don’t tell you a thing about the ingredients. For example, would you like some Gone Fishin’ or some Donkey Tracks?

(Gone Fishin’ is Vanilla Ultra Premium Homemade Ice Cream Swirled With Chocolate Fudge, M&M’s, Chocolate Chunks And Cookie Dough Bites. Donkey Tracks is Chocolate Ultra Premium Homemade Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Swirl, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Heath Bar.)

Hmmm, I wonder if people from Trumbull and nearby towns inherently know that? And that’s why outsiders are as welcome? That just makes sense.

I got a small coffee Oreo cone, Calvin went with a medium waffle cone of Fireside S’mores, and his friend Owen got the same but with Cookies and Cream. The prices here are far, far less than at most other “premium homemade” places, and certainly less than other Fairfield County ice cream joints. That’s reason enough to love Plasko’s. I’m happy to report another reason is that the ice cream is really quite good.

Calvin will gobble up any ice cream in any format any time of the day, but Owen is more discerning. The fact that he polished off his cone is testament to how much he enjoyed it. As for me, the coffee to Oreo ratio was perfect; not too much of either. Also, the amount of butterfat was on point as well. Sure, this is fattening (not flattening) stuff, but I tend to dislike those overly rich homemade efforts.

Well done Plasko family.

They also have slushies, Italian ice, customized cakes, and sundaes (in addition to the bakery items and the cafe items and the pumpkins and Christmas trees and tractors and corn mazes and donkeys and – what?)

Yes, Plasko’s offers all those seasonal items, although the donkeys and beat down tractor are year-round attractions. The boys enjoyed both…

Don’t forget! “Located in Trumbull, we happily welcome residents of surrounding communities such as Monroe, Fairfield, Shelton, and Easton* to order with us as well!”

*And West Hartford too, I swear. We’re living proof!

Plasko’s Farm
CTMQ’s Homemade Ice Cream Trail