Farmer's Market: CMS Swizzles

Marco Island resident Caitlin Schwab is the owner of CMS Swizzles, now in its second season at the Marco Island Farmers’ Market.

Schwab sells handmade, dishwasher safe cocktail swizzle sticks, hors d’oeuvre picks, chef’s knives, spreader knives, wine stoppers and other items, all beautifully decorated with shells that Schwab finds herself on the beaches in and around Marco Island.

As a shell guide with Treasure Seekers Shell Tours, she says she spends about 35 hours a week shelling in the 10,000 islands from the tour company’s boat, and another five to ten hours on her own shelling.

“My mom is a sheller and I got the love of shelling from her,” she says. “And the education that I got about shells totally came from her as well.”

In terms of her talent for arts and crafts, she credits her father. “My dad worked for Crayola, so I think that had something to do with it,” she says.

When she isn’t shelling or making her wares, Schwab tends bar at Fin Bistro, where customers are given her swizzles in their cocktails and can take the mementos home for free.

“My slogan is to share the love of Marco,” Schwab says. “You paid for the drink, they’re yours.”