edible® SEATTLE EAT. DRINK. THINK. GROW. NUMBER 8 | SUMMER 2025 SOFIE’S SCOOPS | RAINY DAY BEES | BIGLEAF MAPLE SYRUP MEMBER OF EDIBLE COMMUNITIES
edible seattle | Summer 2025 1 La Dolce Vita Hello Reader, Summertime, and living is easy. Perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn’t, but summer is finally here. The long days stretch out before us, luxurious in their warmth and light. It’s the time of year where I will take any excuse to be outside—a morning walk to my community garden plot, taking video calls on my balcony, asking “Want to grab coffee in the park?” Meeting friends over a picnic blanket for a late, unplanned lunch of picky bits that stretches right into dinnertime is my idea of heaven. It’s worthwhile to savor the sweet things in our lives. All work and no play, as the saying goes. It’s in this delicious spirit that we come to this issue—sharing the stories of folks living the sweet life, literally. Beekeepers, jam artisans, maple syrup makers—these are the people who make our lives more satisfying, giving us our prescribed spoonful of sugar. Stirring that spoonful of sweetness into an afternoon cuppa, or scraping it over thick slices of toast, we’re not necessarily thinking of the steps taken to bring that product to our cupboards. It’s not always sunshine-warmed fruit and blooming flowers, and tapping tree sap directly into bottles. These producers are working hard and urgently to make the most of their short seasons—some only a few weeks long, as you’ll read in our piece about bigleaf maple syrup. This summer, we want to savor living in the season. Come with us as we grow our gardens to fill our glasses, tap trees to make true PNW maple syrup, listen as bees hum away doing their important work. And then head to your local farmers market to support these artisans—we’ve made a helpful directory to lead you to your nearest market, thanks to the support of the American Farmland Trust. We’re also here thanks to our advertisers, community partners and subscribers. If you happened upon one of our free copies, it’s thanks to their generosity. Please consider supporting local food stories by buying a subscription for you or a friend. This tiny but mighty team is grateful for every single one of you. Cheers to the sweet life, Lindsay Kucera Editor Image by Tim Jameson edible SEATTLE PUBLISHER + EDITOR IN CHIEF Lindsay Kucera COPY EDITOR Nina Wladkowski LAYOUT DESIGN Cheryl Koehler WEBSITE DESIGN Mary Ogle ADDITIONAL DESIGN Tim Jameson CONTACT US P.O. Box 651 Kirkland, WA 98083 info@edibleseattle.com SUBSCRIBE Edible Seattle publishes quarterly. Distribution is throughout western Washington, and nationally by subscription. Subscriptions are $35 USD for four issues, and can be purchased online at edibleseattle.com. ADVERTISE For advertising opportunities, please contact advertising@edibleseattle.com. We make every effort to avoid errors, misspellings and omissions. If an error comes to your attention, please accept our sincerest apologies and notify us. Thank you! No part of this publication may be used without the permission of the publisher. ©2025 Edible Seattle, LLC. All rights reserved. @edibleseattle Member of Edible Communities FROM THE EDITOR
2 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com IN THIS ISSUE Summer 2025 18 BOOKSHELF Drink Your Garden is here to bridge the gap from garden to glass 20 SMALL BATCH, BIG HEART Sofie’s Scoops is Olympia’s own hyperlocal gelateria 22 IN THE KITCHEN Raspberry Pavlovas with Brandi Henderson 24 EDIBLE FOR KIDS™ Batter Up! Created in partnership with Barefoot Books 26 FROM SAP TO SYRUP Tap into the magic of Neil’s Bigleaf Maple Syrup 28 THE SWEET LIFE WITH RAINY DAY BEES This urban apiary works hard for the honey 30 FARMERS MARKET GUIDE Created in partnership with the American Farmland Trust 32 LAST CALL The Southside ON THE COVER Amy Beth Nolte of Rainy Day Bees. Image by Theodora Teodosiadis. ON THIS PAGE Do you see the queen bee in this frame? Hint: She’s larger than the other bees. Image by Theodora Teodosiadis.
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4 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com BOOKSHELF A HAPPIER HOUR Drink Your Garden encourages you to elevate your drinks in this garden-to-glass guide WORDS BY EDIBLE SEATTLE | IMAGES BY RYLEA FOEHL Picture this: You’re lounging in a backyard garden. It’s a late summer afternoon. The sun is out but not punishing; there’s a light breeze that keeps you cool. The air smells of warm earth, and flowers. Music is playing somewhere nearby. Someone hands you a glass, cold with condensation. Ice cubes clink musically against the glass as you take a long sip. A zing of lemon on your tongue, but other flavors coalesce—is it rhubarb, lilac, strawberries? You take another sip, and another. Life is good. You smile off into the middle distance as the screen fades and credits roll. While no cookbook can guarantee life will suddenly become a scene in a Nora Ephron movie, with Drink Your Garden: Recipes, Stories and Tips from the Simple Goodness Cocktail Farm, the romanticized garden party ideal seems suddenly attainable, even if you might not have a garden. Drink Your Garden is the first book from sisters Belinda Kelly and Venise Cunningham, the minds behind Simple Goodness Sisters drink syrups and their flagship Simple Goodness Soda Shop in Wilkeson, and is the natural extension of both projects. The book begins with the sisters’ background as lifelong Washingtonians, raised in Kent by a cadre of can-do personalities, farmers, entrepreneurs and consummate hosts. One sister goes on to build a mobile cocktail company, one sister takes up farming— it’s easy to see how it was only a matter of time before the two worlds met. They launched Simple Goodness Sisters in 2018, with their three flagship drink syrups: Rhubarb Vanilla Bean, Marionberry Mint and Huckleberry Spruce Tip. The soda shop followed soon after in 2020. Kelly and Cunningham frame their book around their values: they favor connection and seasonality over convenience, and deeply value the time and skill it takes to grow food yourself. Both are avid gardeners, so while many of the recipe ingredients can be purchased (from your local farmers market or co-op), the book is
edible seattle | Summer 2025 5 full of tips and ideas for your own garden, even if your garden is just a windowsill. “An understanding of the patience, hard work and skills needed to produce food,” writes Kelly, “will make anyone appreciate a plate of food or a drink differently.” Sections run through what Cunningham and Kelly keep in their own “cocktail gardens” and then break down the ingredients into different layered components of a delicious drink. They explain how to make your own syrups, cordials and shrubs, as well as the difference between hot and cold infusions, tinctures and bitters. There’s the sense of their sisterly guidance, encouraging creative flavor layering and waste reduction, while sharing the best of what’s worked for them. The sisters call their philosophy “whole-animal bartending”—the idea that any fruit, herb or vegetable you use can be used entirely. Their example is using citrus juice for a syrup, peels for a garnish, pith and pulp for a shrub. Beyond the guidance, the recipes welcome us to make our own attempts. Some are expected, like a simple strawberry syrup, or are classic flavor combinations like cranberry and rosemary. Some are intriguing, like a recipe for buzz button gin—using the curious buzz button flower, also known as a “toothache plant”—which creates a fun numbing effect in drinks—or the kale and chard vodka, which is just offbeat enough to make us want to try it. (The sisters suggest a “Garden Gibson” with a pickled chive blossom to let the spirit shine through.) There are plenty of cocktails, but non-alcoholic drinks abound as well—the sisters’ philosophy is for everyone, and any occasion. Kelly and Cunningham take us on a tour through their garden in every season as the recipes progress. In spring, the delicate lilac and woodsy spruce tips make spritzes, an unexpected bumper crop of fennel leads to necessary invention in an attempt to use as much of the plants as possible. “When life gave us a fennel lawn,” writes Kelly, “we made fennelcello.” Fall is laden with apples, but also brown butter-washed vodka and chili peppers. Winter has the anticipated toddies and Christmas punches, but also some intriguing cocktails like the “Heart Beet” using a beet shrub, and the “Figgy Pudding Fizz.” Every recipe is approachable, and encourages experimentation, while living up to the Simple Goodness brand by keeping the recipes simple, and the expectation joyful. And while we can’t live all the time in the rose-colored world of Drink Your Garden, we can certainly plant our gardens with our bar carts in mind, in anticipation of a “happier hour” in the future. To get the party started, Kelly and Cunningham have graciously included the following recipes for us to make a “Southside” (page 32), a jammy, spirit-forward cocktail that plays like a mojito, but presents like a daiquiri. To make it, you’ll need the sisters’ Blackberry and Mint syrup, and their Mojito Berry garnish—both of which can use that summer explosion of blackberries in every hedgerow, and the mint we can’t seem to keep contained in our gardens this time of year. Cin cin! DRINK YOUR GARDEN: Recipes, Stories, and Tips from the Simple Goodness Cocktail Farm By Belinda Kelly and Venise Cunningham Countryman Press, W.W. Norton & Company, 2025 BLACKBERRY AND MINT SYRUP Blackberries ripen beginning in August where we live, which tends to be the hottest month on the farm, when our mint begins to struggle to keep enough water under the sun’s relentless shining. We always do a big trim of the mint right around Belinda’s birthday (August 16), which is the same time that the berries are ripe on the drive up to the farm—so we go out with the kids in the cooler evenings and mornings to pick. The timing of these mint cuttings— while ripe, dark berries were draining in colanders in the sink— first inspired this syrup flavor. Makes: 12 ounces Cook Time: 15 minutes 1 cup marionberries or blackberries 1 cup granulated cane sugar 1 cup water ½ cup fresh mint (Use young, soft mint leaves without any browning for best flavor.) Combine the berries with the sugar and water in a saucepot over medium heat and mash the berries as they heat to release their juices. Stir often to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved and the berries are finely mashed and juicy, remove from the heat and add the mint. Infuse the mint off the heat for 5 to 10 minutes, tasting as you go until the mint flavor is round and present but not bitter. Strain out the mint and berry seeds. Bottle in a clean container with a lid, and store in the refrigerator for up to two months. Note: You can use any berry in this recipe and any variety of mint, though we like spearmint. The mint can also be replaced with lemon balm, which works well.
6 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com MOJITO BERRIES These sugar-encrusted, rum-soaked berries may not be worth the extra dishes every time you make a mojito, but they add significantly to a cocktail’s presentation when you want to make the effort. Even better, you can make a bowl of these and set them out during happy hour as a boozy snack. We love a snack and drink combo! Makes as many as you need! | Prep Time: 10 minutes Firm berries (like blackberries), enough for 2 to 3 berries per bar skewer or toothpick, depending on size of berries ½ cup rum ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice ½ cup granulated sugar Prepare the berries by gently washing and then patting them dry. Skewer the berries cleanly through the center on bar skewers or toothpicks. Firm berries work best for this recipe, as you will be adding moisture and you don’t want them to fall apart. Combine the rum and lime juice in a small, shallow bowl. Pour the sugar into a second small, shallow bowl or saucer. Dip the berries in the rum and lime mixture, rolling them so the mixture coats them evenly; let soak for 1 minute. Then, lift them out and shake gently to get drops off the berries before coating them in the sugar. Rolling them in the sugar will give you a thicker coating of sugar, which is delicious but less pretty. Pinching sugar and sprinkling it over the berries as you rotate them will give you a more delicate coating. This recipe has been adapted for use in Edible Seattle from Drink Your Garden: Recipes, Stories, and Tips from the Simple Goodness Cocktail Farm by Belinda Kelly and Venise Cunningham. Used with permission of Countryman Press, W.W. Norton & Company, 2025. Image by Rylea Foehl
edible seattle | Summer 2025 7 Co-op ice cream is handmade with cream from PNW dairies in exceptional and unexpected flavors. Skagit’s Hidden Gem Just off I-5 | Exit 226 | Open Daily to Everyone at 7am | skagitfoodcoop.com
8 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com At Sofie’s Scoops Gelateria in Olympia, every scoop tells a story. Sophie Landis begins every day by setting the vibe— whether it’s Frank Ocean, The Flaming Lips or Ella Fitzgerald— she chooses music as unique and joyful as her gelato. In the shop, the team chills the gelato case and fires up the waffle cone irons, filling the space with the sweet, buttery scent of freshly made cones. They sample special flavors and prepare for the question every scooper hears on repeat: “What’s your favorite flavor?” In the kitchen, Chris Proctor starts up the pasteurizer and mixes fresh gelato bases. He juggles a mix of prep tasks, from handprocessing fruits and making sauces like fudge and dulce de leche, to mixing waffle batter and greeting local growers making deliveries, offering them a taste test of his latest creation. It’s this blend of craft, community and curiosity that defines every day at Sofie’s Scoops. The shop is named after Landis and her great-grandmother, with a nod to a playful misspelling of her name as a child. SMALL BATCH, BIG HEART Sofie’s Scoops is Olympia’s hyperlocal gelateria WORDS AND IMAGES BY HEIDI ROTH | ADDITIONAL IMAGES BY BEN MATTHEWS Sofie’s Scoops co-owner Sophie Landis loves spending time with guests of the gelateria. A gelato by any other name Gelato’s magic lies in its luxurious texture and flavor intensity. With less fat, minimal air and a denser, silkier consistency than ice cream, gelato offers a richer experience. The smooth, velvety base of gelato is the perfect platform from which Sofie’s bold, artisanal flavors can take center stage. Sofie’s Scoops is the brainchild of Landis and Proctor, both veterans of the service industry with more than 16 years of experience. When the couple decided to go into business for themselves, however, opening a restaurant was out of the question. While they’d enjoyed working at various restaurants throughout Seattle, they’d seen how challenging it is to own a restaurant. “It’s really fun to be the chef, and it’s rewarding to be a server and watch people’s eyes light up when they experience the perfect dish,” says Landis. “What’s not so fun is having the overarching responsibility of making a restaurant work.”
edible seattle | Summer 2025 9 Rather than taking on the heavy lifting required to open a full-service restaurant, they opted to produce small-batch gelatos. With Landis’s affinity for people and Proctor’s mad scientist kitchen skills, making gelato felt like the perfect fit. “We didn’t originally set out to make gelato,” admits Landis. “Sofie’s Scoops actually began as an ice cream concept. But after some thoughtful research and reflection, we realized gelato made far more sense for us.” Gelato’s lower fat content allows them to craft more complex flavors that showcase their pristine ingredients and experimental combinations. Initially, Sofie’s Scoops was to be a food truck. However, an opportunity appeared to move into the vibrant, bustling 222 Market in downtown Olympia—an ideal setting, surrounded by complementary offerings of freshly harvested oysters, baked goods, tacos, wine, flowers and gifts. The market naturally draws foot traffic, and Sofie’s Scoops is now perfectly positioned at its heart. Visitors can’t help but pass by the shop and be greeted by inviting smiles and generous samples. Landis works mainly with their customers and staff in the “Scoop Shop” inside 222 Market, except for the occasional production day, when she moonlights in the kitchen on State Street, which is where Proctor spends the majority of his time. Sofie’s Scoops’ gelato is what you might call “hyperseasonal.” With a rotating menu of unique flavors based on the fresh fruits, herbs and produce provided by local growers, customers can expect a constantly rotating menu. Whether it’s a simple scoop in a waffle cone, a sundae or a milkshake laced with scratch-made dulce de leche sauce, you’re walking away with an incredibly happy belly. Chris Proctor, co-owner of Sofie’s Scoops, spends much of his time at their State Street kitchen, creating the bases and fixings that make their unique flavors. Integrity in ingredients All Proctor and Landis’ work experience reinforced one lesson in particular: quality ingredients make all the difference. With easy access to many food producers in Thurston County, local dairy, fresh fruits and herbs are the cornerstone of each flavor they develop. Sourcing local strawberries from Boisfort Valley Farm, picked at their peak, not only tastes better, it gives their strawberry gelato a vibrant pink color, tempting even the staunchest dieter. The way Landis looks at it, if you’re going to splurge, splurge on sustainably sourced whole foods. Handcrafting a product with only the best ingredients is a non-negotiable for Landis and Proctor. Their cocoa powder and chocolate come from Bellingham, and their eggs are sourced at home in Thurston County. Honored with the prestigious Snail of Approval Award from Slow Food Greater Olympia in 2024, Sofie’s Scoops is recognized regionally for their commitment to quality, sustainability and supporting local producers. “It really just came down to integrity,” says Landis. “We were like, ‘Okay, who are we as people? How do we feel about the world and our food systems?’” Proctor and Landis made intentional choices about how they’d make their product, placing their priorities on people, the planet and then profit—in that order. Many ice cream and gelato shops use ready-made pasteurized bases to make products churned on-site. By pasteurizing the dairy they receive and creating their own bases, Sofie’s maintains complete control over flavor and quality. They can customize each recipe to suit specific ingredients, using heat to activate flavors that wouldn’t be possible with a cold-blended, premade base. This approach allows for better butterfat and sugar content balance across different gelato varieties, avoiding the one-size-fits-all limitation of commercial bases. Although in-house pasteurization requires extra equipment and expertise, it eliminates the need for artificial flavors, stabilizers or preservatives, resulting in a truly artisanal product. Proctor mixes sugar, milk and cream and heats that mixture to 155 degrees Fahrenheit. The base is held at this temperature for 30 minutes, which kills off any harmful bacteria that might be present in the dairy, while keeping the good bacteria and probiotics intact. It takes a village—or a farmers market Gelato comprises two essential components: dairy and sugar. It’s vital that those are of the highest quality. Compared to milk from the grocery store, the dairy Sofie’s Scoops sources from TUNaWerth Creamery (formerly in Tenino, now in Oakville) costs twice as much. Knowing they’re sourcing from a family-run business producing the best tasting dairy, with integrity and a focus on the quality of their product and the health of their animals, makes the expense worth it to Landis and Proctor. Anita and Peter de Boer’s herd of Jersey and Holstein cows is fed an all-natural diet, raised without rBST or antibiotics, and given year-round pasture access when weather allows. Formerly from the Netherlands, the de Boer’s learned to dairy farm after moving to the US in 1996, using recipes passed down through generations to make unique types of cheese.
10 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com “Our low-temperature pasteurization process eliminates harmful microorganisms but leaves valuable enzymes untouched,” explains Anita de Boer. “Folks who have a tough time processing dairy can enjoy our products and we’re proud that our dairy is part of the Sofie’s process.” While Landis and Proctor source much their fruit and herbs from vendors at the Olympia Farmers Market, as well as farms within the region—like Sundowner Farm (a 2025 Slow Food Snail of Approval awardee) and Sundance Farm—a lot of local growers will drop by unannounced to offer fresh produce. Of course it’s fun to have your hard work showcased in an iconic gelato flavor, but it also speaks to the close, collaborative relationships of this region’s producers and their desire to promote local food. These partnerships are so robust that customers can pick up their local farm CSAs at Sofie’s. Inspiration is everywhere A quick glance at the menu and you’ll understand that a lot of thought goes into each flavor. These have mainly been inspired by what Landis and Proctor have been eating, and at first, they might not always seem like flavors that would taste good in a sweet treat. “We’ll eat desserts or enjoy a cocktail and often ask ourselves, ‘Would this taste good in our ice cream?’” says Landis. Their Olympia Fog flavor is based on a London Fog tea cocktail she made working at a Seattle restaurant. Using flavors that have impacted them, and riffing off those to create something new and unique is a hallmark of Sofie’s Scoops. Their rotating menu—though there are several permanent bestsellers—is driven by what local farmers bring them. It might be a flavor they talk about beforehand, but Proctor is most inspired when growers just bring him ingredients. Their “Sage Whaaaa?” flavor (sage gelato, chocolate-covered almonds and sour cherries) was innovated to prevent wasting an overabundant delivery of fresh sage. Using herbs as the base flavor, rather than an addition to more traditional base flavors like berries, vanilla or chocolate, has become standard operating procedure at Sofie’s, and it’s what sets them apart. Best of all, they haven’t had any epic failures yet when it comes to unique flavor combinations. “Maybe we’re lucky, or maybe we just haven’t gone weird enough yet,” says Landis. But not for lack of trying—one April Fool’s Day they posted about a new flavor featuring local maker Olykraut’s sauerkraut. They felt terrible when
edible seattle | Summer 2025 11 people showed up looking for it. So far, every experimental flavor they produce finds plenty of people happy to try it. They recently created a flavor with reishi mushroominfused honey for a mycelium conference, and next on Proctor’s list is a flavor featuring black garlic. At the end of a day filled with testing and sampling, their favorites are currently Blood Orange Saffron for Proctor, and the Olympia Fog for Landis. Flavors change constantly at Sofie’s because their ingredients frequently change, so it’s best to come with an open mind. In addition to their cow’s milk-based gelato, they also have dairy-free options like a fruit-based sorbeto and coconut milk-based ice cream, available at both locations. It’s best to start with samples of their bestsellers: the refreshing Fig Sorbetto, decadent Basil Stracciatella with Marionberry Swirl, aromatic Cardamom, the intriguingly herbal Sage Whaaaaa? or the rich, velvety Butterscotch. For Landis and Proctor, crafting gelato from scratch is more than a business choice— it’s a commitment to quality and their relationships. “We recognize that not every small shop can take this approach,” says Landis. “But we have great access to incredible ingredients, so why wouldn’t we?” Sofie’s Scoops Gelateria at The 222 Market 222 Capitol Way N STE 116 Olympia, WA 98501 Sofie’s Scoops at the Olympia Farmers Market 700 Capitol Way N Olympia, WA 98501 sofiesscoops.com Heidi Roth is a food-obsessed writer and photographer living in the PNW. She’s passionate about sustainability and enjoys talking about and taking pictures of food, and convincing people to eat with her. You can find more of her work at crunchcreative.work, a blog her sister and Aunt Evelyn read faithfully, or at @heidirophoto. Ben Matthews is a photographer based in Spokane. Most of his work is rooted in wild places, but he has a passion for documenting the chefs, farmers and fishermen of the Pacific Northwest. View his work at bentmatthews.com, or on Instagram @bentomat.
12 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com IN THE KITCHEN RASPBERRY PAVLOVAS WITH WHIPPED GREEK YOGURT RECIPE BY BRANDI HENDERSON Pavlovas are a great dessert choice when you want to impress, but don’t want to spend a ton of time layering and stirring, or sitting in your sweltering kitchen with the oven on high in the heat of the summer. While often made into one large dessert, Chef Brandi has opted for individual portions, shortening your oven time even more. Paired with a tangy whipped Greek yogurt cream, and tart raspberries, you get the all sweetness of summer without overpowering the delicate meringue.
edible seattle | Summer 2025 13 Yield: 5–6 servings Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 80 minutes, divided For the meringues: ¼ vanilla bean 4 ¾ ounces superfine sugar 2 ½ teaspoons cornstarch 3 ounces egg whites, room temperature Pinch kosher salt 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar For the whipped Greek yogurt: 1 cup heavy cream 1 cup Greek (strained) yogurt 1 tablespoon sugar For the raspberry sauce 4–6 cups raspberries Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 250°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, rub the vanilla bean seeds into the sugar and stir in the cornstarch. Sift to remove clumps. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the egg whites and salt, starting on low, increasing incrementally to medium speed until the egg whites turn opaque and white. Increase the speed to medium-high, and slowly and gradually sprinkle in the sugar-cornstarch mixture. A few minutes after the sugar is added, pour in the vinegar. Increase the speed to high and whip until the meringue is glossy and stiff, about 5 minutes. Spoon the meringue into 6 mounds on the parchmentlined baking sheet. With the back of a spoon, create an indentation in the middle of each for holding the filling once the meringue is baked. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 70–80 minutes, or until the meringue is crisp and dry to the touch on the outside. The interior should have a marshmallow-like consistency. Check the pavlovas at least once during the baking time. If it appears to be taking on color or cracking, reduce the temperature by 25 degrees, and rotate the pan. Once baked, gently lift the meringue from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. Whip together the heavy cream, Greek yogurt and sugar in a mixing bowl until you have medium-stiff peaks. Spoon the whipped yogurt over the cooled meringue. Push one pint of the raspberries through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds and create a purée. Toss the rest of the raspberries with the purée. To assemble the pavlovas, spoon the whipped yogurt into the wells of the cooled meringues, and then top with spoonfuls of the raspberry mixture. Serve immediately. Produced in partnership with The Pantry. Thepantryseattle.com Brandi Henderson is the Creative Director of The Pantry. Raised in Montgomery, Alabama, with a background both in architecture and the culinary arts, she moved to Seattle to create a true community kitchen: a place for cooking classes, food swaps, family dinners and any event that brings neighbors together around the table. Earlier this year, Brandi also opened Wool Friends, a community fiber arts studio.
14 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com THE SWEET LIFE OF RAINY DAY BEES This urban apiary works hard for the honey WORDS BY LINDSAY KUCERA | IMAGES BY THEODORA TEODOSIADIS Peter and Amy Beth Nolte in their teaching apiary at their home. Their company, Rainy Day Bees, manages more than 200 hives around Seattle.
edible seattle | Summer 2025 15 Walking up the driveway to the headquarters of Rainy Day Bees in Shoreline, you don’t hear the bees at all. From the street, it’s simply a lovely house, shaded by trees, tucked away from main roads. But come upon the large greenhouse attached to the house, you’ll see the hives—and hear them. The warmer weather has the bees hard at work, flying to and fro, collecting pollen and nectar to bring back to their hives, and the whole scene has a low, comforting hum. With the sun shining on the hives, the air smells faintly of warmed honey. “I had always liked social insects,” says Peter Nolte, who owns Rainy Day Bees with his wife, Amy Beth Nolte. “Eighth grade was when we were at the Puyallup fair as a family, and a beekeeper told me—‘Oh, you can have bees in the city.’ So that was probably when I first got interested, when that first felt like a possibility.” He started with a gifted hive that a friend in Phinney Ridge hosted in their backyard, and now more than 14 years on, the Noltes are all about backyard bees. Rainy Day Bees was founded in 2014, and is most well-known for its hyperlocal raw honeys. Some are specific to the flowers and crops the bees have foraged from, like fireweed or blackberry blossom—others harvested by neighborhood, which is where things can get interesting. “The bees can forage between two and six miles around their home base,” says Amy Beth. “So obviously our residential hive hosts get more pollination in their yards, but the bees are all over. And that’s the magic around the neighborhood-specific honey, is that the bees are all around. People in the neighborhoods feel real ownership of the bees.” The Noltes and their beekeeping staff spend swarm season, usually March through June, checking on their hives all over Seattle on a weekly basis, sometimes more often to prevent swarms and keep the bees happy and healthy. “Bees are a superorganism, and if the superorganism dies, that’s the end of the colony’s genetics. So spring is when they have the most time to create a new colony, and have the best chance of surviving the next winter,” Peter says. “So in the spring, the superorganism naturally divides itself in half, like an amoeba, and half of the bees fly away with the old queen to go find a new home. The other half stay in the hive, finish raising a new queen and continue the life of the original colony. No single bee can survive by itself.” Preventing the bees from swarming can require some subtle persuasion on the parts of the beekeepers—convincing the bees they’ve already swarmed by manually splitting colonies, and other techniques that keep half your honeybees from flying off without you—and keeping their honey all for themselves. The Noltes have planted many native plants over the years in conjunction with their hives, and encourage their hive hosts to do the same, but admit some of the fun is in the wide variety of plants Hardworking honey bees zoom around the hives at Rainy Day Bees in Shoreline. “Bees are a superorganism, and if the superorganism dies, that’s the end of the colony’s genetics. So spring is when they have the most time to create a new colony, and have the best chance of surviving the next winter… No single bee can survive by itself.” —Peter Nolte
16 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com That’s not a bee earring that Peter Nolte is wearing as he tends the Rainy Day Bees’ hives. Compared to some pollinator species, honeybees are known for being relatively docile, acting aggressively only in defense of their hives. the bees pull pollen and nectar from, which ultimately informs the flavor of the finished honey. “Our favorite honey we ever produced was I think in our second year of beekeeping,” says Amy Beth. “It was in one of our hives in Phinney, and it got some crazy, late-season Mediterranean herb flow. It was this dark, complex, amazing honey. And with the backyard hives, you get surprises like that.” Over the years, the Noltes have slowly grown their operation. They took on a couple employees, and added to their equipment. This year, they were able to purchase vehicles for beekeeping staff to use. A recent Washington State Department of Agriculture grant allowed them to get a new labeling machine, honey harvesting equipment, and equipment to freeze-dry bee pollen. “We’ve been selling it frozen, but we’ve bought a ton of pollen traps, and it will be freeze-dried now, so it’s shelf stable. Pollen isn’t as reliant on the weather, meaning if there’s a lot of rain, or if it’s super dry, it’s another way we can stay stable.” Stability can be a hard thing to find. Peter remembered that in 2016, the spring and summer were unusually hot and dry, meaning less nectar, meaning less honey. He had just moved to working full time with the bees, and they had made a large investment in scaling up to around 60 hives. The reduced honey crop was a hard pill to swallow. “People said, ‘Well, that was a weird year, but it’s your first one,’” says Peter. He’s installing a nucleus hive in the teaching apiary as he talks, inspecting frames of bees as they go about their work before installing them in a full Peter installs a nucleus hive. “We feel more strongly about giving people more context and connection to bees and pollinators. To us, what’s good for honeybees is good for native bees, is good for honeybees, is good for native bees, right? We should all be planting more flowers.” —Amy Beth Nolte
edible seattle | Summer 2025 17 size hive. In just a few minutes, Peter is able to assess the health and production of the bees by sight alone, keeping them ahead of any potential pitfalls. Amy Beth laughs, adding, “Right, that was an unpredictable year. And every year since, it’s been ‘a weird year.’ For like a decade now.” Rainy Day Bees tries to weather the constantly changing conditions of beekeeping—some of which are the normal cost of doing business with a superorganism like bees, and some of which are due to climate change or market changes—by creating a diverse array of products and services. They teach classes, host events and keep corporate and residential hives, as well as hives on local farms, like Jubilee Farm in Carnation, or in rural forests. They have classic raw honeys, and also incredibly popular products like their Nordic Spice Creamed Honey, Honey Cocoa and classic creamed honey, but also carry products like bee pollen, and handmade beeswax candles. Through another grant, they were able to work with a business strategy consultant and a marketing consultant, both of whom suggested they may be doing too many things to remain sustainable. After working with them, the consultants changed their tune. “At the end of it, they’re like ‘You’re actually really well diversified to mitigate the risks of farming,’” Amy Beth says. “Well, we’ve had to be! This is where we are.” They work on staying flexible, and taking on new opportunities as they arise. This past winter, Peter took their hives south to California to help with pollination in the almond fields. Almonds are one of California’s top agricultural exports. It wasn’t easy for the Noltes to decide to participate. “It was a complicated decision for us,” says Amy Beth. “The goal was to learn, but it is part of Big Ag[riculture]. Should California have so many almond trees? Maybe not, but does almost the entire beekeeping industry depend on pollination? Yes.” There were added benefits, like learning about larger scale techniques for keeping bees and utilizing hives. Rainy Day’s bees also got a jump on the season, growing bigger and stronger in the California sunshine, while Seattle was still deep in the throes of cool, wet springtime weather, which with the added learning opportunity, seemed like a pretty good deal. Each new year brings new opportunities and challenges for Rainy Day, but Peter and Amy Beth meet both with a similar cheerfulness. Though Amy Beth works a full-time job for an accounting firm, the couple work constantly to make Rainy Day Bees stronger and more independent. It can be difficult to keep moving forward, especially when controversy crops up, like debates about resource competition between honeybees and native bees. The phenomenon known as “colony collapse disorder” notwithstanding, several invertebrate conservationists have cited honeybees as a possible reason native bees also appear to be struggling. The Noltes think the issue is a lot more nuanced, but it cost Rainy Day and many other beekeepers access to honey flows on federal lands while the science on competition between bee species was even more opaque than it is today. Even a recent review of pollinator competition studies, done by Oregon State University in May, found that results were nearly split down the middle on positive or negative effects of honeybees on native bees. The general consensus of the review was that more habitat and less chemicals (like pesticides) would be the most beneficial to all pollinator species.
18 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com “I’m more cautious now,” says Amy Beth. “It’s sad that [tension] is there at all. We feel more strongly about giving people more context and connection to bees and pollinators. To us, what’s good for honeybees is good for native bees, is good for honeybees, is good for native bees, right? We should all be planting more flowers.” To that end, they spend a lot of time trying to educate people about not just their honeybees and other pollinators, but also the effects of harmful weed killers and invasive plants. One of these, Himalayan Blackberry, is very commonly pollinated by honeybees, but notoriously invasive. Peter says while as beekeepers they like the blackberry blossom honey, they also realize the effects of such a pervasive non-native plant. They recently launched a new honey flight, a trio of native wildflower honeys—fireweed, snowberry and meadowfoam. The trio is actually a collaboration with a few PNW beekeepers. It’s a good chance to spread some love for native plants, while also enjoying some really good honey. Their hard work is paying off in other ways too. This year, Rainy Day Bees received a Snail of Approval award from Slow Food Seattle, an organization celebrating people in Puget Sound who are working towards a more sustainable and just food system. They’re also working on opening a retail space, where folks can find their honey and other products outside of farmers market hours. “For us, it’s not an either-or conversation,” says Amy Beth. “Our world is complicated, and we want to have these conversations about what is right and what’s sustainable. All pollination is so important. We might not change the world, but we can do our thing—we can offer amazing employment in a really cool job to our beekeepers, and we can bring bees to people’s backyards where they get to watch and wonder at them. Spending that time, even just sitting and being present with the natural world—and if we can get people much better tasting honey too? It’s another thing we can use to connect.” Rainy Day Bees 1240 NE 175th Street, Suite B Shoreline, WA 98155 Opening soon! rainydaybees.com Lindsay Kucera is the editor of Edible Sea le. She’s passionate about our region’s wild foods, and food justice. She’s on Instagram as @the_omnomnivore. Theodora Teodosiadis, founder of Studio Moss, is a Seattle-based food, product and lifestyle photographer known for capturing dramatic, bright, and mouth-watering moments. You can find her work at theodoraart.com or on Instagram @theodora.photo. “The magic around the neighborhood-specific honey is that the bees are all around. People in the neighborhoods feel real ownership of the bees.” —Amy Beth Nolte www.maelstrombrewing.com
edible seattle | Summer 2025 19 SUMMER 2025 CALENDAR, DETAILS & REGISTRATION: BellaLunaFarms.com ALL PHOTOS: JENN TAI & CO Farm-to-Table Experiences | One-of-a-Kind Workshops BELLA LUNA FARMS CLASSES ON THE FARM
20 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com Washington Farmland Trust has been protecting farms and supporting farmers for 25 years. Our work is more important today than it’s ever been, and we wouldn’t be where we are without people like you—the eaters, growers and farmland champions who make our work possible. To celebrate 25 years, we’re excited to share a series of meaningful events, partnerships, stories and opportunities to support local farms and farmers all year long. Most exciting of all, every gift from first-time donors will be matched up to $35,000. Since our founding, we have conserved thousands of acres and supported hundreds of farmers across Washington. Today, we need local farms and farmers more than ever. They breathe life into our communities, create resilience for a changing planet and ensure we all have healthy food and a thriving landscape right here in our backyard. Join us in keeping farms in Washington for future generations. wafarmlandtrust.org/25 Keeping Farms in Washington for 25 Years
edible seattle | Summer 2025 21 Find our special 25th anniversary products at select locations around the region! A portion of proceeds from these limited-edition products directly support our mission at Washington Farmland Trust. Available at select PCC Community Markets locations and the Bellingham Community Food Co-op while supplies last. PCC Community Markets | This market tote features artwork from local illustrator Erin Wallace and was sewn, cut and screen-printed in Seattle. Aslan Brewing | Love the Land is a bright and expressive IPA with notes of bold citrus, tropical fruit and pine. Tony’s Coffee | Love the Land is a smooth and full-bodied organic coffee blend with delicious notes of chocolate and malt. sponsored content Save the Date for Love the Land: September 27, 2025 at Funny Farm on Mercer Island Love the Land is Washington Farmland Trust’s signature fundraising event featuring delicious food from local chefs, inspiring farmer stories, music from KEXP DJs, and more. Each guest will go home with a limited-edition tote bag filled with local goodies. Sign up for The Crop and be the first to know when tickets go on sale. wafarmlandtrust.org/the-crop
22 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com Puffs of steam pour out of an evaporator, through several chrome columns and into the cold winter air as I enter the sugar barn, where Neil McLeod is hunched over a vat of boiling tree sap. This barn is where the magic happens: the team at Neil’s Bigleaf Maple Syrup collects and cooks down this year’s harvest of Washington-grown maple syrup. Yes, you heard that right. The journey to uncover this local treasure led me to Acme, a small town of only a few hundred residents, tucked in the picturesque countryside of Whatcom County. The McLeod farm spans 200 acres, but it’s a select 10 acres where old-growth maple trees flourish near a gently flowing creek that draws me. These aren’t just maple trees: they are Acer macrophyllum, the magnificent bigleaf maple, a species that was thought unsuitable for syrup production for years. Neil McLeod is proving conventional wisdom wrong, one delicious bottle at a time. From pastime to production As Neil stirs the bubbling liquid, ensuring it doesn’t foam over, I ask him how he became interested in tapping maple syrup. “I needed something to add to my coffee,” he admits, a little sheepishly. It was a humble beginning, born from a simple desire. McLeod explained he originally kept bees for their honey but lost his hives one winter. He had heard about tapping trees for syrup and decided to give it a try, and what began as a hobby quickly blossomed. McLeod’s wife, Delight McLeod, sits nearby bottling finished syrup as we talk. “He used to come home with jugs of sap and boil it down on a propane burner,” she says. This initial method yielded around 40–50 bottles yearly, a precious stash shared with friends and family. But it was their son, Devin McLeod, who truly sparked the transformation. Now the business’s frontman, he shared a few bottles with friends working in local restaurants, most notably at Seattle’s renowned Canlis. The response was immediate and enthusiastic. FROM SAP TO SYRUP Tap into the magic of Acme’s bigleaf maple groves WORDS BY MARYROSE DENTON Neil McLeod walks through the maple woods. Bigleaf maples prefer growing along stream beds, and their roots stabilize the soil, reducing erosion. Image courtesy of Neil’s Bigleaf Maple Syrup
edible seattle | Summer 2025 23 Devin recalls that the Canlis kitchen asked, “How much can you get?” Around 2015, the hobby transitioned into a small-batch business. Neil traded his propane burner for a commercial evaporator and invested in a reverse osmosis machine—a crucial piece of equipment that streamlines the sap concentration process by separating water molecules from sugars, vitamins and minerals. The machine leaves less water that needs to be boiled out of the final syrup. The team of three began to get serious about the science of sap collection, refining their techniques, deepening their understanding of the bigleaf maple and obtaining a commercial license. In the trees Leaving Neil to his work, Devin and I venture into a quintessential dripping day of the Pacific Northwest. Just a week prior, snow blanketed these fields, but now, the temperatures climbed into the low 40s. This is perfect weather to the McLeods’, since a good freeze followed by thawing temperatures translates into one thing: a bountiful sap run. With its expansive canopy, the bigleaf maple is native to the West Coast, thriving from San Diego to Vancouver Island. For years, the prevailing belief was that these trees weren’t a reasonable choice for sap production, since the sap has a lower sugar content than the sugar maples (Acer saccharum) popular in the Northeast. Unlike the East Coast, where the syrup season hinges on a single freeze-thaw cycle, the West Coast’s more variable climate allows for multiple runs throughout the season. Devin estimates they might get seven or eight runs, starting early in November and continuing through March. Devin toured me through a grove of maples, where we met with a network of bluish tubing, a complex system that crisscrosses from tree to tree. These tap lines feed into an extractor, eventually leading to large vats awaiting Neil’s ministrations. The trees surrounding us, standing sentinel along the marshy banks of the Nooksack River’s southern tributary, are truly magnificent. Some are old-growth giants, their trunks reaching 3 to 4 feet in diameter. The McLeods, mindful of the trees’ health, typically tap once per foot of circumference, meaning some of these ancient trees might have three or four lines drawing sap. Tapping maple trees for syrup is a sustainable, noninvasive practice that does not harm the trees if done mindfully. The McLeods are deeply aware of this symbiotic relationship, treating their trees respectfully and ensuring their longevity for future generations. The transformation from sap to syrup feels alchemical. To produce just one gallon of finished syrup to the optimal 66.5 percent sugar content, Neil must cook down an astonishing 60 to 100 gallons of tree sap. It’s a labor-intensive process that demands patience and a keen understanding of the trees. A bottle of Neil’s Bigleaf Maple Syrup. Since sap flows after a freeze-thaw cycle, the quality of the sap will change with the overall conditions: lighter earlier in the season, darker later on. Image courtesy of Neil’s Bigleaf Maple Syrup
24 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com Neil’s Bigleaf Maple Syrup has become a coveted ingredient in the kitchens of discerning chefs, including those at Canlis, and a treasured treat for anyone fortunate enough to taste it. Lucky for me, we returned to the sugar barn for a taste test. Early in a run, the sap produces a lighter syrup full of vanilla notes, perfect to pour over a pile of pancakes. As the run continues, the syrup becomes darker and thicker, tasting like molasses with a rich caramel flavor. Many bakers covet this thicker concoction, including it as an essential ingredient in their pastries. The business side of syrup Devin manages their extensive and growing online presence, while Delight produces a newsletter that reaches over 6,000 eager fans. When word goes out that a new batch is ready, it sells out within days. Currently, placing an order online is the only way to secure a bottle, but trust me, come breakfast time, your pancakes never tasted better. Beyond the alchemy of syrup, Neil McLeod is deeply fascinated with the bigleaf maple itself. He’s passionate about promoting its cultivation and encouraging others to enter the syrup-making business. “More people making syrup is good for the environment,” he says. Maple trees, he explains, are an investment in the future. They sequester carbon from the atmosphere and aid in restoring soil and creek beds, effectively reducing erosion. With this in mind, their commitment to their trees goes beyond the syrup they harvest. The next chapter for the McLeods looks to the future with sustainable farming practices and reforestation programs. Hanging out in the sugar barn for an afternoon showed me that Neil’s Bigleaf Maple Syrup is more than just a sweetener, in this barn there is a unique story, as well as the quintessential terroir of the Pacific Northwest. Syrup bottles in hand, I leave the steaming, sugarsmelling barn looking at bigleaf maples with a new appreciation, and a hunger for something sweet. MaryRose Denton is a freelance travel writer who grew up in Seattle and now calls Anacortes her home. She enjoys writing about local culture, history and the area’s rich agriculture along with sustainability and wellness adventures. She is published in Sea le Re ned, State of Washington Tourism, NW Travel & Life, Irish Independent, Wander With Wonder and on her blog, MerakiTravels.org. Top: Neil sets lines for sap collection. Unlike sugar maples, bigleaf maples can have multiple sap runs a season, from November through March, depending on the weather. Right: The evaporator in the McLeods’ sugar barn. To produce just one gallon of bigleaf maple syrup, Neil and his family must boil down 60–100 gallons of sap. An evaporator makes a huge difference! Image courtesy of Neil’s Bigleaf Maple Syrup Image by MaryRose Denton
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