- This is where all the magic happens.

- This is, welcome to the cocktail garden.

- It's so wild.

I kind of was thinking, for some reason, that it was going to be like very structured.

- Perfect?

- Yeah, but it's like a very wild garden.

- It's all my personality on display in a garden form.

- [VO] This is a cocktail garden.

Where every herb, flower, tomato, cucumber, rhubarb stalk and blueberry finds its way into a syrup, shrub, ferment, tincture, cordial, tea or bitters that will eventually get stirred into a drink.

I'm Rachel Belle, host of Your Last Meal podcast, cookbook author and long time journalist.

Here on The Nosh, we explore some of the region's most delicious stories through the lens of art, nature and community.

Today on The Nosh, the sisters behind Simple Goodness Farm.

(upbeat theme music) - This is our lavender.

We can go ahead and harvest from here on down.

- Okay.

- I just kind of take a big bunch like this, and then I just kind of like snip.

- It's like how you'd give yourself a haircut in seventh grade.

- Exactly, right.

Like you're cutting your bangs.

- Yeah, put it in terms I understand.

(laughs) - So how did you become a farmer?

- Belinda really inspired a lot of this here farm.

- It was you.

(laughs) - She had a cocktail catering company at the time, and she needed some herbs and edible flowers.

So she convinced me to grow a plant or two.

And then... - This happened.

- As it typically does, it multiplied.

- So now when I'm making drinks, I start with what's here.

Like, how do we use all of these things to their fullest potential?

- [VO] In 2013, Venise Cunningham bought a ten acre farm.

But she was still commuting three hours a day to her corporate job in Seattle.

In 2018, she and her sister Belinda Kelley launched Simple Goodness Syrups.

And in 2020, they opened their tasting room in Wilkeson, Washington and rebuilt a historic cafe, bar and soda fountain.

- This little town is so cute.

- [Venise] Welcome to the soda shop!

- Thank you.

We're wearing the same outfit, basically.

- I know (laughs) I love it!

- Do I work here now?

- [VO] Today I get to be a part of the garden to glass process.

We're going to make one of their signature cocktail syrups.

- All right.

- We're gonna do blueberry lavender today.

- [Rachel] Blueberry lavender!

Okay, well, that makes sense.

- [Venise] Yeah, we harvested all of our lavender.

So now we're going to go put it all in the kettle.

- Alright.

Let's go.

- Alright, so first let's put our hairnets on.

Oh yes, I've been waiting for this.

- It's a real moment.

- It's a real "schlemiel schlimazel" trying to figure out how to get this big sheep tamed inside of this net.

- And then gloves... - This lavender smells so good.

- Yeah.

So it's all washed and ready to go.

We use these fun bags.

- Oh, cool!

- So we're making just a big ol' tea.

So if you could hold it open for me.

- Yeah.

(quirky marimba music) - Ah.

(laughs) - It's like a spa.

Then we're going to go over to the kettle.

- This is very witchy.

- I know, it's really super fun.

- Do you ever cast spells when you're doing this?

- I haven't tried it.

- Oh, because I'm casting one on you right now.

- So now everything is soaking, and then we're going to turn up the heat.

We'll get it to almost a boil.

The blueberries were frozen, and so once they start to heat up, they'll just release all of that juice.

The lavender will also release all of its oils.

And then we just kind of taste.

It's very much an art, not a science.

- Right.

- So we just kind of, keep tasting it until we get that perfect lavender flavor that tastes like lavender but doesn't taste like soap.

- So how did this turn into you and your sister starting a syrup business?

- So my sister, she planned a lot of events.

And what she noticed was that there was this kind of gap in the Seattle food scene where there was all of this, like, farm to table movement.

She could hire some really cool catering for food, but not for drinks.

So she was making all these really cool syrups and I was like, well, why don't we bottle that?

And then anyone can drink your lovely drinks.

- I think we are about ready.

- The color is so beautiful.

- Isn't it?

There's no dyes or anything in it, that's just the color of blueberries.

- Cheers.

- I like it.

I think it's done.

- Perfect.

- If I like it, it's obviously done.

- Let's bottle.

- It just continues to feel like potions.

I think there's something about living in the city and working at a desk that makes this kind of thing so freakin' fun.

I'm like, that's it.

I'm leaving.

All I want to do is put bottle caps on little bottles.

Like, I'm having a very good time right now.

- It's our little factory of two.

- That's right.

- [VO] Last year, Belinda and Venise published the Drink Your Garden cocktail cookbook, so you can make a foraged elderberry cordial, fig cardamom shrub, whiskey-soaked cherries, gorgeous edible garnishes, and dozens of cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks at home.

- Okay, let's make some cocktails.

- First, we're going to start with a non-alcoholic.

We're going to do a blueberry lavender tonic.

- I just made a blueberry lavender syrup.

- Oh my gosh!

What a coincidence!

- Right in there!

Yeah!

- So this is a great way to use it.

(upbeat jazz) - What are we doing first?

- Okay, let's put some peppercorns in it, just for texture.

Next we're going to take some floral sugar and we're going to do a pretty rim.

So like... - I'm cheating off you.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - Okay.

- And then drag and dip.

- And then you just get to lick the side of the glass.

- Yeah, you could just go full on.

Just preferably make eye contact.

Now we're going to add a lot of ice.

Pour to the top of your ice.

- It's a very satisfying fizz.

- It is.

Then we're going to add the blueberry lavender.

Pretty!

That's so pretty.

- It is so pretty.

I love this color.

- Okay, and then because it's not, you know, gorgeous enough we're going to add a lavender sprig to the top.

- Cheers.

- It does echo a cocktail.

There's an astringent kind of flavor.

Maybe that's from the tonic?

- Yes.

- Yeah.

Mmm.

- You got like, the bitterness from the quinine, and then the juiciness from the blueberries, and then the floral.

So you've got three things.

You want a minimum of three, kind of flavor notes in any drink to make it feel special.

- What are we making now?

- We're going to do a marionberry mint smash.

We're going to take our blackberries.

Use your muddler to kind of break them apart.

Get them nice and juicy.

We're going to add in your lemon juice, mint.

I know you were excited about this part.

- I'm gonna slap that mint!

- You know what to do, right?

- Yeah yeah yeah.

- Yes, okay.

Perfect.

Two ounces of bourbon.

Marionberry mint syrup.

Ice.

Now you're going to just put the top on your shaker.

Do you know how to do these?

- I don't know if I've actually ever done this.

- Okay, leave this down.

And then go like that.

That's going to seal your shaker.

And then just shake.

Do you know why we shake up here?

- No.

- So that you can get really good arms.

- Oh, yeah.

Look at my arm.

- It's giving, um... - Arnold Schwarzenegger?

(laughs) - And now we have to finish off the top to make it very beautiful.

- Cheers.

- Mmm.

- So good.

- I feel like I want to go get on the ponies.

(laughs) - Totally.

- There is a line from the book: "The women in our family are taught to be capable over ornamental.

And for this we are very thankful."

- Yeah.

We're really inspired by our grandparents.

My grandmas, both of them, were people who were, like, always in the kitchen, always cooking, always doing something.

That capability and ability to make other people's lives a little better every day, like, that's really passed down to us.

- Oh, I forgot to lick my glass.

- You forgot to make eye contact while licking your glass.

-That's right, yeah.

- See, now we're bonded.

That's what drinks do!

- I think we just got married!