Scoop by scoop, Nicole Blan starts another day of ice cream making over at a Croton staple, The Blue Pig.

"I make all the ice cream within a couple of days," she said. "Everything that you'd be eating here has been made usually within one to two days, three days max."

Blan took over as the fourth owner of the shop 8 months ago after being a manager and ice cream maker for 10 years prior. When the opportunity rose, she just couldn't say no.

"I always had in the back of my head that I would love to have my own business, [but] I just never had an idea of what exactly it would be," she explained. "So, when I started working here...I realized that this particular business was something that I would love to take over if there was ever the option to do that... I just love this place. It's like my home. My happy place. I am also a social worker, [and] the previous owner was also a social worker... So, dealing with a staff of [mainly high school] students and dealing with the public, social work skills always come into play. If someone is having a hard time or if a customer is feeling a certain way, then I can use those skills to talk with them, make them more comfortable and get them through the day."

From classic chocolate and vanilla to more unique flavors like M&M, sangria and mojito, Blan offers a wide variety of choices for all customers of The Blue Pig.

"The customers really appreciate all the hard work that goes into all of our flavors, [as well as] the time, the effort, and [the fact that] that we grow some of the ingredients ourselves or partner with local farms to bring those ingredients and flavors," she said.

That includes the shop’s famous local blueberry crumble flavor, which keeps customers lined up out the door at times.

"It is so delicious because it combines our French vanilla base with a homemade local blueberry sauce," Blan explained. "The blueberries are from Red Hook, New York, and brought right down. We [then] turn it into sauce. It gets swirled into the vanilla ice cream, along with our crunchy, salty [and] sweet graham gravel...so, that all gets layered in with the blueberry sauce."

After more than 20 years of satisfying customers' sweet tooth, Blan says the camaraderie between the shop and customers has become more than just a community; it's a family.

"There's a lot of customers that come in [and] know us by name," she explained. "They come in asking for certain staff. They want to say hi [and] see how we're doing... I have seen our customers grow. I have been able to work with so many wonderful staff that come back after they've graduated college…It's [also] been wonderful seeing the evolution of families that I've met 10 years ago that had no children when they first moved to Croton. Now, they have a bunch of kids coming in with them to have ice cream...a lot of customers have [even] expressed that this is the first ice cream that their child has eaten ever in their life. So, that's a really special moment for them to be able to come in and have a kid experience their first bite of ice cream."

After seeing all the love that the community has shown to The Blue Pig over the years, Blan is making it a priority this season to give back to them.

" I feel like I have an obligation as a small business who has quite a large amount of space on our patio and on our shelves," she said. "Even though our shop is small, we have some local vendors or other people in the community that make [and] sell things. Sometimes, due to the weather, the markets aren't great. So, I decided this year to have different local products on our shelves that we use in the ice cream, and also sell [things like] local honey [and] jams."

Another way Blan has given back to the community? Creating a pay-it-forward board for her customers.

" That's been going wonderfully," she said. "Customers can come in and take a look on the board. If anything applies to them, they can cash out a free scoop or whatever someone left for them. If they feel inclined, they're welcome to purchase something for someone else, which has been really sweet to see what people are buying. [It can be] a scoop for a pregnant mom or a scoop for someone who's having some anxiety going back to school."

The Blue Pig is located at 121 Maple St. in Croton-On-Hudson.