(funky music) - Mother's Cupboard, you know, most people would think it's a wellness shop, health store, but to us it's more than that.

I feel like Mother's Cupboard is, like, a hub for this community to come together, share, you know, experiences, education.

It is, you know, predominantly health focused.

We do have custom teas that we make in house, juice, smoothie bowls, salads, soups, power balls.

Did I say juice?

Yeah.

So, you know, I don't know.

It's constantly changing and evolving to what it actually is.

It's not a cafe.

It's not a restaurant.

It's not, you know, just a market.

We call it a remedy bar, so it's kind of a place where anybody can come and not feel intimidated to come and bring concerns they may have about their health.

We made a bar behind us so people could feel like, oh, I'm just, like, rolling up to the bar, you know, psychologically just kind of giving people that relaxation.

(water gushes) One and a half and a half.

Got it.

We make this juice every week and I still have to look at the recipe every time.

(Lauren chuckles) I don't know why.

(uplifting music) This is Celtic salt, gray sea salt, supposed to be called oeillet, great for electrolytes, bringing hydration into the cells, into the body.

This one is our Barbie girl.

It's our most popular juice.

We sell so much of it, 'cause most people love watermelon, pineapple, lemon and lime, mint.

It's a classic, classic flavor blast, and then we added a little bit of dragon fruit powder there and some sea salt and, yeah, nature's Gatorade pretty much.

It's like we constantly have to refill it, at three to four, and then we're stirring again, because you just don't want that to settle.

All right, dude, let's try.

Let's try it.

Nailed it.

It's the little wins.

It's the little wins.

It's, like, your modern day apothecary.

You know, when I moved back to town four years ago, I knew I wanted to have, like, a little shop, a little apothecary.

You know, I can't think of what the specific word is other than serendipitous.

Everything just came together so easily and in life I feel like, when it happens, like, you gotta do it, right?

It's so exciting.

You know why?

'Cause nobody's asking us to do it.

We're just doing it 'cause we want to, and then we try to sell it to people and it tastes good so they buy it.

- We do it 'cause we want to eat it.

- Exactly.

Everything we make is because we want it.

You know, this week it's like, we had beets.

Beets are in season.

We're gonna make a nice beet salad.

We've got quinoa left over, so we're like, all right, let's look up a quinoa beet salad and that's what we're making this week.

I mean, there's no, like, rhyme or reason other than my family gets together on Sundays and we decide, okay, what are we making this week?

Is Sarah done with that?

My mom is, yeah, one of the biggest inspirations and why we're doing this.

You know, my whole life, my mom, anytime I went to her, you know, this is happening, this is happening, she'd always say, go to my cupboard and grab this.

You know, so it was that idea that you have all these remedies at home that somebody can administer.

Not everything is this we need to go to the emergency room.

- I haven't drank any water today.

I should probably do that.

- I know that mother knows best.

That should be our tagline.

Mother knows best.

- Oh.

- Oh my god.

I just came up with that.

- So I asked my mom if she wanted to be a part of it.

Both my mom and my sister are trained RNs, so they've been in this field for a long time.

My mom has gotten her degree in everything from reflexology, reiki, you name it.

Like, she had her own wellness center, when I was gone in college, and you know, for me, I wasn't into this stuff, even though I grew up with a mother who was like, had all her stuff in the cupboard, you know.

I would be, the first thing I'd come home, I'm sick, I'm this, and she was like, you need to come in, you need to do an ion cleanse, and I'm like, no, I'm just gonna go take some Sudafed and I'll be fine, you know, eating Taco Bell, smoking Marlboro Lights.

But you know, it just changes.

Life changes and you have to learn it all for yourself so you can apply it to, you know, your own journey.

My mom could tell me 'til she's blue in the face everything probably that I could have avoided all the pain and suffering, but that isn't life.

You have to experience it to get to where you are today.

- It's all right, if you wanna try the sample tea.

We have it in the sample pack and you don't have to commit.

- Yeah, no, I like these.

These look good.

- Huh?

- These look good.

- Yeah.

- There's a lot of intention behind the products that we bring together and somebody, if they're struggling mentally, physically, like, to come in here to just kind of, like, get that, like, mom hug, you know.

Not everybody is lucky enough and fortunate enough to grow up with a mom like that, but I think a lot of us are and we have that nostalgia to that, so that's kind of the atmosphere we're trying to create here is just really amazing, high frequency, you know, products that can make you feel your best and give you the, you know, great energy.

I want anybody that walks into this door to leave, you know, feeling better with more energy than not.

- But everything that we make is also made with intention to improve health, support health, restore and repair, and so a lot of people don't want to eat 15 pounds of spinach, but they will drink a juice.

Does that make sense?

So we're trying to make everything taste good, but it's also fueling your body.

- I've just been floating around pretty much all of my twenties, which I love and I think I could probably live the rest of my life that way, but I don't know.

There's something about this business that feels important, and so it's worth showing up and I don't know where it's gonna end, but I'm excited for the journey of where that is going.

(uplifting music) (uplifting music) - [Announcer] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota, on the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

A better future starts now.

West Central Initiative empowers communities with resources, funding, and support for a thriving region, more at wcif.org.

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