Joan and Drew Norman, founders of One Straw Farm, have found a way to store summer in a bottle with two new products—a bloody mary mix ($12 a bottle) and a unique tomatillo salsa ($7 a jar)—utilizing the surplus tomatoes, onions, and peppers, and other vegetables normally sold at local farmers’ markets and through CSA memberships.

“A few years ago, we had so many tomatoes left over, we couldn’t sell them all,” explains Joan Norman. “Our processor said, ‘These are so good, you should try making a bloody mary mix,’ so that’s exactly what we decided to do.”

For now, the products are currently available at local farmers’ markets including the Kenilworth Farmers’ Market and the 32nd Street Farmers’ Market, but once the markets shut down, they’ll still be for sold at the Mill Valley General Store.

“We’ve started making value added products,” says Norman, who hopes to develop more products in the future. “I’m hoping our Boom Boom Bloody Mary Mix becomes Baltimore’s favorite just behind Natty Boh.” 

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Last year, Faith Myers opened Fresh Bites Snow Domes, a gourmet snowball truck.

Myers handcrafts inventive gourmet syrups with a fun, sophisticated flair using quality ingredients.

Myers takes real fruit and develops unique combinations, like pineapple ginger, strawberry hibiscus, and watermelon mint. She also uses natural sugar, herbs, and spices, and tops the shaved ice with sweet cream or whipped cream.

“I grew up on the snowballs that everyone else is ingesting and that’s with artificially-prepared flavorings,” says Myers. “Eventually, I outgrew those flavors. My palate matured, so I just started dabbling and making my own.”

Myers tutors elementary school kids and would make Snow Domes for them after tutoring sessions.

“One thing led to another and my friends were enjoying them, the kids were enjoying them, and my husband, who is a New Englander and did not have exposure to snowballs, enjoys them,” says Myers. “He had his favorite flavor, my son had his, and that was really how it was born.”

Myers’ personal favorite Snow Dome flavors are pink grapefruit and chocolate.

Fresh Bites Snow Domes is at the Kenilworth Farmer’s Market in Towson every Tuesday from 3:30-6:30 p.m, but Myers also does private events.

This is what summertime is all about. Be on the lookout for the little “snow” white trailer. 

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