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We often talk about garden-to-table, but what about garden-to-glass? AKA how to grow plants for garden inspired cocktails, and all the ways to turn a harvest into something delicious, regardless if you drink alcohol or not. I spent a full year not drinking, first through fertility treatments and then through pregnancy. And I learned that the mocktail section of most menus is a trap. Everything is so sweet that you finish it in about 90 seconds. And then I met Belinda and Venise at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. They're sisters, they're plant ladies, and they run a garden-to-glass syrup company called Simple Goodness Sisters. They also wrote the book called Drink Your Garden. In this episode, they share different ways you can enjoy your garden harvest in easy yet delicious cocktail and mocktail recipes. Let's dive in!

 

In this episode, we learn:

• [02:46] Meet Belinda and Venise of Simple Goodness Sisters!
• [03:26] How did their syrup business begin?
• [06:29] Venise's homesteading story (horses, goats, and a half acre of garlic)
• [10:49] What the farm grows for the business vs. for their families
• [13:52] What counts as a cocktail garden?
• [14:42] Why Venise grows full rows of edible flowers and Belinda only grows two plants
• [15:29] Grow fresh herbs and tomatoes year-round with Home Greenhouse Revival by Leslie Halleck!
• [17:07] How to use edible flowers for more than a garnish (drying calendula, edible flower sugars, and salt rimmers)
• [18:18] Which edible flowers are easiest to grow?
• [20:50] Why the buzz button makes you the most interesting person in the room
• [21:33] What actually belongs in a cocktail garden
• [22:41] Why purple sage and mojito mint taste better in drinks
• [23:49] Rows vs. interplanting, reusable mulch, and letting the garden be a little messy
• [27:05] Building a bar cart from your garden (syrups, shrubs, tinctures, bitters, and the infusing chart)
• [29:32] Why they wrote the book they couldn't find
• [30:34] What is a syrup and how do you make one?
• [32:06] Their favorite syrups, and why most mocktails are just too sweet
• [36:09] What is a shrub and how do you drink it?
• [38:11] The beet shrub and why people don't expect to like it
• [38:57] Beet shrub showstopper
• [40:05] How to make a blue mocktail for a baby shower
• [40:48] Tinctures vs. bitters
• [42:42] How an infused spirit becomes a liqueur
• [44:59] Buzz button gin, cherry bourbon, and Midnight at the movies
• [49:03] Travel syrups hack!
• [52:06] Cordials, and balancing sweet, sour, bitter, and spirit
• [53:00] What to gift a gin-obsessed dad, and why you might just dislike tonic
• [55:00] How to make your own compound gin at home
• [56:38] Garnishing like a container garden (thriller, filler, spiller, and powdered rims)
• [58:30] Braided chives, pickled garnishes, and drinks you can snack on
• [1:00:10] Where to find Belinda, Venise, the book, and the Farm Club subscription box!
• [1:02:47] The herbal lemonade and blue spritz I served at my baby shower

 

 

Order my book!

Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants) by Maria Failla, Illustrated by Samantha Leung

 

 

What Is a Cocktail Garden?

A cocktail garden is just a garden grown with your ‘glass’ in mind.

Belinda's version at home is four or five raised beds plus pots. Venise's version is fifteen hundred-foot rows on a farm. And both count.

A good one has a balance of four things:

• Edible flowers
• Herbs
• Vegetables you actually like the flavor of
• Fruit, if you have the room

Note: Belinda's rule is the one I keep repeating to people. Don't plant anything you don't actually like!

 

 

The Best Edible Flowers to Grow for Drinks

I've grown nasturtium and viola for years, and they're staples for me. I think most gardeners overlook edible flowers entirely, which is a shame, because tossing one into an ice cube is such a cheap little hit of joy.

The sisters' easy picks:

• Nasturtium and Marigold (can also be pest deterrents)
• Viola (blooms in cool weather, so you get flowers early)
• Calendula (self-seeds everywhere, and the petals keep their color dried)
• Bachelor buttons
• Lavender
• Chamomile

Lavender and chamomile are the two with real flavor. Dry those.

Note: Venise talked about buzz buttons, also called electric daisies, and said they numb your mouth and make you “instantly the most interesting person in the room.” She infuses them into gin.

 

 

Herbs for Cocktails: The Variety Matters More Than You Think

Rosemary, thyme, and sage are perennials worth planting once. 

But pick your variety carefully: purple sage is milder than green, and mojito mint beats spearmint in a drink. 

If your soil stays wet, put Mediterranean herbs in raised beds.

 

 

Syrups, Shrubs, Tinctures, and Bitters, Explained

Belinda describes the goal as building your own personal bar cart from your garden. Here's what goes on it.

• Syrup – sugar, water, and whatever you're infusing
• Cordial – a syrup with juice swapped in for some of the water. Use citrus, and you get sweet and sour in one bottle.
• Shrub – a syrup with vinegar instead of water. Tart, shelf-stable, and delicious diluted in sparkling water.
• Tincture – one to three ingredients steeped in high-proof alcohol
• Bitters – the complex version, sometimes 30 ingredients, originally made for digestion
• Infused spirits and liqueurs – a liqueur is just an infused spirit with syrup added

Two recipes from their book that I'm making immediately:

• The Heartbeet uses a beet shrub, which goes stunning magenta in the glass and tastes earthy and sweet, unlike beets.
• Midnight at the Movies is cherry-infused bourbon poured into a glass bottle of Coca-Cola.

Shrubs get diluted, by the way. About an ounce in sparkling water.

 

 

How to Garnish a Drink So It Looks Like You Paid $15 for It

Anyone can stick a rosemary sprig in a glass. But Belinda's framing changed how I look at it. 

Treat the top of the glass like a bouquet. She builds it the way you'd build a container… thriller, filler, and spiller.

Something tall, contrasting colors, something small and flat on the surface, and something on the rim. That's what makes it look like a $15 cocktail.

For rims, skip the salt and brush on beet or hibiscus powder. Or rim just half the glass. And braided chives are gorgeous in a Bloody Mary.

 

 

If You Think You Don’t Like Gin

You might just not like tonic. Try gin with herb garden syrup and club soda instead!

And if you want a project, you can make your own compound gin at home: start with vodka, add juniper berries, orange, and whatever else you love.

 

 

Start With One Bed and One Syrup

For my baby shower, I made an aperitif lemonade with their herb garden syrup, then turned half of it blue with blue spirulina. Blue since our baby is a boy. 🙂 It was layered and herbal and not remotely too sweet.

My dad got a bottle too. He runs Gin and Tonic Fridays, and he's been using it in place of tonic ever since.

In short, go grow something you can drink!

 

 

 

Mentioned in our conversation:

• Join the Cocktail Farm Club – Simple Goodness Sisters
• Drink Your Garden: Recipes, Stories and Tips from the Simple Goodness Cocktail Farm by Belinda Kelly and Venise Cunningham
• USDA Organic Blue Spirulina Powder
• Organic Apple Cider Vinegar | Bragg
• Herb Garden Syrup (Lemon Herb)

 

 

Thank you to our episode sponsor:

Quarto: Home Greenhouse Revival by Leslie F. Halleck

Have you ever wished you could harvest fresh herbs in the middle of winter, grow tropical plants year-round, or keep your vegetable garden thriving long after the first frost? Home Greenhouse Revival by horticulturist Leslie Halleck is a practical guide that walks you through choosing the right greenhouse, creating the ideal growing environment, automating watering and climate control, and successfully growing everything from vegetables and herbs to orchids, citrus, and houseplants. Whether you're buying your first greenhouse or making the most of the one you already have, this book will help set you up for success.

Home Greenhouse Revival is available for pre-order now at quarto.com and launches in September. Pre-order your copy wherever books are sold or through your local bookstore.

 

 

Follow Simple Goodness Sisters:

Website
Instagram
YouTube
Recipes

 

 

 

 

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