(orchestral music) >> Announcer: This week on "Friends & Neighbors."

>> It started with a bear, that's why we have this beautiful bear statue here.

So we have everything from a small little parakeet here, all the way up to, your African lions, Bengal tigers, our zebras.

So a lot of larger species, from little bitty species to great big ones.

>> We're very fortunate here that we have continued that tradition.

Staffed with the right people that know what they're doing and know how to help us be better farmers and continue to produce a quality product that's good, not just for our neighbors and friends, but for all around the country.

>> It fills up my heart to know that we'll never be the church that judges people when they walk in the doors, and we welcome them and just really want people to see their potential and to reach that, whatever it takes.

>> You really focus on mixology here.

So talk to me about what it is that makes your spirits and your distillery unique.

>> We're shooting for flavors.

Our rye whiskey is a hundred proof.

That's where the flavor is.

That's where the richness comes from.

That's where you get the wow factor on your tongue.

>> Doing as much as you can, as quickly as you can is important to me.

Life is short, and the earlier we get started helping our community, the better off our community will be.

>> I have a very strong connection to other students.

Everyone makes an effort to help each other.

I'll remember the feeling of being here.

The feeling that I was a part of a family.

>> Shopping for fruits and vegetables in the Strack and Van Til produce department is a feast for the senses, with produce picked at the peak of freshness.

From apples and avocados to pineapples and peppers, treat yourself to the best quality fruits and vegetables.

Find them at your local Strack and Van Til store.

(music playing) - Support for programming at Lakeshore PBS comes in part from a generous bequest of the estate of Marjorie A.

Mills, whose remarkable contribution will help us keep viewers like you informed, inspired, and entertained for years to come.

(mellow music playing) (upbeat music) (whistling) >> Washington park zoo is a smaller scale zoo located in Michigan city, Indiana.

We started back in 1928, so we're gettin' close to that hundred year mark.

It started with a bear.

That's why we have this beautiful bear statue here, named Jack.

And he started the exhibit up here and then slowly animals built to it.

So we have everything from a small little parakeet here all the way up to your African lions, Bengal tigers, our zebras.

So a lot of larger species from little bitty species to great big ones.

We're a great place for families to come and learn about animals or even if you've got the day off a great day to come and take a walk up here, it's a beautiful park.

We're right here on the lake front, it's just a really great place to get to see animals up close, kind of make that real personal connection to get to really understand nature and to get to actually see something that many people wouldn't get a chance to see, if it's from another country that they might not travel to, like an African lion or a zebra.

I mean, it's an experience that anybody from a toddler all the way up to somebody that's a hundred years old can come and get that interaction and get that feeling.

(playful music) >> Basically when you wanna become a zookeeper, experience is really important.

A lot of us go and get degrees into an animal related field.

And then we do a lot of onsite experience training just to kind of get used to the animals you work with.

I started as a seasonal keeper and then I moved into the full-time keeper and that was directly or immediately entered the primates.

So I kind of jumped into that without having a lot of primate experience.

I worked with them here and there, but they definitely keep me on my toes.

They're really fun to work with.

They're also a lot of work, but we try really hard to give them what they need and then provide the enrichment, things that they would naturally need in the wild, stuff like that.

A lot of what we do is like a close contact.

So there are certain primates that I have, I would say, closer relationship in regards to being able to be around them and feed them, and be close to them in order to provide what they need.

For example, I have an animal that needs medication, so I can actually easily be near him and hand feed him and make sure he gets what he's needing.

And that way there's no surprise on whether or not he received his meds.

That's really important for us just because things happen.

And every once in a while, they need help.

If you haven't been here, check it out.

I mean, a lot of people don't even know we're here.

We get a lot of compliments that it's a nice small zoo, you can get through it really quick and enjoy your day.

And really all we try to do is educate the public as best as we can as to why we're here.

What we're doing for the animals here that is really great for them.

Obviously, taking animals from the wild is not something that zoos do anymore.

It was something in the past, but we all try to rectify certain situations.

And what we try to do best is to care for animals that have been given to us.

Sometimes we get a lot of animals that people will take as pets.

And unfortunately, there are just certain animals that don't make good pets.

So down the line, they get re-homed and sometimes they come here, and we do our best to just provide the best life we can.

There are certain animals we have that we actually can only have them because they're injured, like the birds of prey, for example.

So that's kind of what we try to get across to people without drilling too much information into 'em just because people just don't really know and that's fine, but it's our job to inform them.

And if they choose to make a difference from there, then that's great.

>> When you can teach someone about a species, like a corn snake or something and help break that misunderstanding, it means a lot to me.

So people aren't so afraid or totally just ignoring, if they can, if I can get people to even walk in, 'cause some people don't even want to go in and look at one, so to help break that fear, I really like doing that, I like just educating people to get an understanding about the animals and to hopefully maybe make an impact where they're gonna care about animals or their environment and just want to want to stop and think, oh, that was cool.

And maybe inspire the next generation.

I think that's really great that it can evolve and be here for the public to educate.

To let them get to see these animals and build the connection with them.

(upbeat music) >> As someone from the region, I'm proud of 18th street brewery for their top notch beer, not to mention their outstanding menu.

Wow.

I am really into that burger.

Anyway, they recently launched 18th street distillery, bringing the cachet of their brand to quality spirits and the craft of making cocktails.

>> I'm gonna get another one.

The awesome thing is that they also do special events here.

The cool thing is that sometimes you get to drink drinks out of these fun little glasses.

These are cool.

We're gonna show you how to make a drink mixed in something just like this.

Do you care if I start juggling like Tom Cruise in Cocktail?

>> Woo!

Not bad!

>> I need glasses, that's what I need.

I need to be like.

>> Maybe we should practice with empty bottles first.

>> That's probably a good idea.

(cocktail shaker shaking) This is Raven.

She's one of the mixologists here.

She's kind enough to put up with me and show me how to make a fun Tiki themed cocktail.

So Raven, you're kind of a booze expert here, right?

>> Yeah, I think so.

>> But you're not just a booze expert.

You're one of the distillers.

>> Yep.

And you come up with the recipes here.

>> M-hm.

So what are we making today?

>> This is one of our bestselling cocktails, kind of amped up to be highlighted for our Tiki nights.

So this is called Radiant Summer.

>> Radiant Summer?

>> Radiant Summer, yes.

>> Ooh!

>> Will you show me how to make it?

>> For sure.

>> Okay.

>> Going into our shaker here, no ice in it that dilutes your cocktails.

We don't like that.

>> Really?

>> So if you are shaking, you are gonna have a lot more contact with your liquor, with the ice.

>> Okay.

So it's watering it down a little bit.

If you are stirring, you're kind of just lightly introducing the aspect of water to it.

>> So James Bond is drinking less potent alcohol.

If he's shaking it and not stirring it.

>> Yes.

>> Interesting.

>> Yes.

>> I did not know that.

>> You learn something new every day.

>> Okay.

So let's go back to this.

So we are, we're not, we're not diluting with ice yet.

>> M-hm.

we just put two ounces of our white rum in .

>> Okay.

>> Next we're gonna go in with some citrus.

So we're gonna do a half ounce of fresh squeezed lime juice, .5 of lemon juice also, After that, I'm gonna ask you to scoop just a little bit of ice in there and you get to shake this up for me >> All right.

Tiny scoop.

Done.

>> Perfect.

>> All right.

Do I get to shake it?

>> Yeah.

So you're going to (hand smacking) close that up.

>> Okay.

>> This is a boozy cocktail.

You're going to want your ice to go - there you go, back and forth completely - >> It's like a Shake Weight >> Yep.

>> Ooh, this is gettin' cold down here.

>> Yeah.

So that's how you know, the outside of your shaker is actually gonna start to get a little bit icy.

>> Ooh!

It is.

>> That's how you know you're doing a good job.

>> Okay.

So what's next?

>> All right.

So with this one, we're gonna pour this directly into the glass that we want to serve it in.

>> Okay.

>> And then we're going to top this off (ice clinking) with some more ice because we've got a lot of room in here, still.

This is a big cocktail.

>> Before you filled that with ice though, That was probably about a third filled, correct?

>> Yep >> Okay.

>> So we're probably about right here now.

So our next step here, we're gonna add in .75 ounces of our cherry grenadine into here.

So, lastly, we're gonna introduce some juice.

So for some fun little flair, >> I was gonna say, cause this is not just a drink drink, This is something to look at too, correct?

>> Yes, yeah.

>> So to amp it up for our Tiki night, we are introducing a little bit of dry ice here.

>> Ooh!

So wait, what causes the fog?

So you have dry ice with regular ice.

What causes the fog?

>> It is the reaction with the liquids.

Would you like to try?

>> I would love to!

This is one of the coolest drinks >> (laughing) I have ever seen.

Ooh, and it's chilly, too.

>> Yes.

The dry ice is really, really, really, really cold.

>> Now this is really good, 'cause I'm not tasting a lot of the alcohol in here.

It's definitely in here, but it's got a really, really good balance.

To me, this is, it's a good summer drink.

It's a good date night kind of drink.

In here, I'm tasting some of the cherry.

There's definitely that citrus orange and lime flavor that's in here.

>> Are we doing this?

(giggles) (laughs) So then it's good?

>> That is so good.

(jazzy music playing) >> In addition to having a serious mind for business, 18th Street founder and president Drew Fox had a definite vision for the customer experience with the distillery.

>> You know, as an adult, I want an adult beverage.

I might not necessarily want to be in a brew pub where there's kids running around, or I wanted to take my wife or girlfriend out - boyfriend, whatever, and have a place where it's completely different from that.

A little bit more intimate.

You can kind of whisper in someone's ear.

And that's why we did it.

We really wanted this to be a showpiece in Northwest Indiana where people can come and get away, and really have that moment with their significant other, and say, "Hey, we love what's happening on that side of things," but we also want that date night out and come in and show - and have amazing cocktails and a good vibe.

>> The cool thing about this side to me is you walk in and it's got this really cool old school vibe to it.

You walk in, you've got the stained glass that's on the door.

You walk in here, it's the music that's in here.

It's got this Great Gatsby, almost, feel to it.

Was that intentional in the design to give it that look?

>> We didn't want to go to full upscale where it felt stuffy.

We really want it to just be really just kind of laid back.

Here, you can wear whatever you want and still have an elegant feel, and feel comfortable and not feel like, oh my God, this is too rich for my blood.

>> The thing about what I love here is that you don't have to go in Chicago to do this.

This is right here in Northwest Indiana.

You get an upper scale atmosphere, but still casual at the same time, where you don't have to travel 20 miles into the city, It's literally right in your backyard here in Hammond.

>> Right.

You know, I'd rather have the consumer who lives in Indiana spend their dollars in Indiana and keep it home so we can grow our business base, grow our staffing, et cetera.

But it's always in the forefront of our minds, when we build progress like this.

>> You really focus on mixology here.

So talk to me about what it is that makes your spirits and your distillery unique.

>> I think the big thing that makes us unique is we're shooting for flavors.

>> Oh, that's perfect.

>> Our rye whiskey is a hundred proof, rye whiskey, and most small distilleries, it's either 80 or 90 proof, and a hundred proof for us is where all the flavor is.

And we have a lot of high proof spirits here, but I think that, I don't think - I know that's where the flavor is.

That's where the richness comes from, that's where you, that's, where you get the wow factor on your tongue.

You don't even have to say wow, it's already in your cerebral cortex.

You're like, wow, that's an amazing cocktail.

>> I want to thank Drew.

I want to think of Raven here at 18th Street Brewery.

If you're looking for the perfect date night, This is where it's at.

>> Cheers.

(rock music) (acoustic guitar music) >> Garwood Orchards is a family owned and operated apple farm, mainly, was what we started with.

But now we grow a ton of different produce locally and regionally.

We're mainly a wholesale grower.

A lot of our produce goes all around the country, but we also focus on a retail aspect, locally with our own market and u-pick farm.

We've got 500 acres total that we farm of a variety of things from peppers - you'll see a lot of those in season, coming in now on trucks and getting stocked up in the market.

We have cucumbers, we've got sweet corn.

We have tons of different fruits as well.

Apples is our main thing, but in season too, we'll have peaches, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, a whole lot of different things that people can enjoy, to pick here.

The Garwood u-pick is unique.

We've been around since 1831.

So that's a long time to be growing produce in the same area as the same family.

It's the sixth generation of family farming the ground now, and in charge of things.

The way the u-pick works is that people can come out, they check in and get boxes, different size baskets to go out and pick their own produce.

So we grow a variety of fruits and vegetables that they can pick themselves from our farm, which is unique from a lot of farms in that we're really growing at a wholesale level of quality.

So really you're picking the best quality produce that you could possibly pick.

Probably better looking than what you see in some of the grocery stores.

(guitar music) So we've been farming the same land.

Garwoods have been farming this land right here since 1831.

So it's been passed down generation to generation and then, like a lot of people back then they had a small amount of farming.

One of the things that's remained the same as back then is that almost everyone had a small orchard on their family farm.

So that small orchard is now just a little bit bigger.

What maybe was 500 acres of grain farming back then is now mainly apple farming for us.

And then a variety of vegetables and produce.

So while things have changed, they're very much the same and that tradition of growing excellent quality produce remains.

And that's really what is powerful for us: to continue that tradition as a family.

And we're very fortunate here that we have continued that tradition, staffed with the right people that know what they're doing and know how to help us be better farmers, and continue to produce a quality product that's good, not just for our neighbors and friends, but for all around the country.

So that's, a tradition that we've stayed with and grown up on.

We have a variety of staff.

So we have everything from what you see when you come to the store.

If you come into the market, you're gonna see our retail staff; folks that are stocking shelves to running registers, and behind the scenes, a lot of those folks are doing some managerial tasks.

They're ordering things and they're making sure that schedules are done.

And that we've got plenty of bakery items, a whole bakery staff.

So you'll see that in the market side, as a retail customer.

For folks that look a little bit behind the scenes, you'll see that we're doing lots of packing.

On the other side of the market building is kind of our packing area for things that are going out for wholesale.

And then, how does it get there?

How does it get to that point?

We have a whole 'nother staff that is out here in the fields, harvesting the produce, loading it onto trucks and tractors and wagons to bring back to the market, to get packaged.

We're honored to be a family farm that's been in the community this long, and to continue that tradition of offering fresh, quality produce to - not just neighbors and friends, which is probably how this business started.

It means a lot that we can share that regionally, that people can come visit and they can go out and u-pick.

And so the fact that we continued to do that and keep it open for our neighbors in the region, it mattered to us to show people what we do and to be open and transparent about that.

And what kind of work goes into it.

(music playing) ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ (tranquil music) >> What is Road To Life?

Oh boy, that's a really good question.

It's a non-denominational church.

And we believe that Jesus - he went to seek and save the lost, and that's what we do here at the church.

And we just believe that no person's potential is ever wasted.

God didn't put anything inside of us that He can't use, no matter what you've gone through.

We are in Michigan city, Indiana, as well as we are going to be opening up our Merrillville, Indiana campus in the coming months.

(upbeat music) We always say we're the front lines when it comes to kind of creating the atmosphere for God to move in that environment and a worship team - I think a lot of people get it confused by thinking it could be just all about the production or just all about the performance aspect of it.

But it it's what happens behind the scenes.

It's what happens backstage, in the lives of each and every one of us that are up there.

Even though a lot of people use that verbiage, you're up there.

It doesn't matter if you're on guitar, if you're on keys, if you're on drums, you're leading those people that are in the church building and you're showing them, I worship because of what God has brought me through.

So a worship team is really - we're there to support the pastor in whatever he is preaching and bringing the message to.

And that's really it.

We're the front lines.

(chuckles) We're there.

We're the first thing.

This particular team we have right now, currently, there is so much family and this unity that I've never really been a part of before.

And so this team just kind of started, we're a bunch of misfits that just kind of play and we're not professionals at it.

I think the amount of times we do it kind of could make us professionals, but we're all just growing in what we do, but we kind of came together, and trying to love each other the best we can.

At the beginning of every month, I will sit down and just kind of see, what are the songs at the house?

Our church has really been listening to - people come up to me like, "Oh, can you play this song?

Can we do that song?"

So I think of those things first.

And then I will actually schedule our whole team out a month in advance.

So then people can really hammer in that practice and make sure they know their parts really well.

And that they come in.

And those are songs that have been stirring in their hearts that whole month, so they've been listening to it, and it's so cool how God just lines stuff up in our lives.

And we can really see, man, I was struggling with this, and this week, this song was exactly what I needed to sing.

So then we come together on Wednesdays we kind of circle up, we talk about the set, what we need to do for transitions.

And then we all go to our sections and we play through those songs.

We'll stop if we need to start over and do a song again, Hey, let's not stress over it.

Let's work together as a family.

And just trust that this needs to go, and we can move on with the set.

And so it's also some of that, taking out the stuff and working through different things.

But I say Wednesday in rehearsal is the biggest thing for us.

We're not perfect at all.

We just work through stuff.

>> I'm the technical director here at Road To Life.

And basically that covers media, sound, lights, any video elements and our live stream video, everything we're doing is for God.

We want to do everything as excellent as we can, and people up front or even in the seats, as it goes on and God's actually moving in this place and you start seeing people that are really stone-faced at the beginning, start to raise their hands or start to engage in worship.

That's what really drives me.

>> The difference is a family is welcoming.

We try to love each other well and have grace.

I think the biggest thing is having grace for one another.

When you play, especially the real family part is Hey, there's grace for you.

Let me come alongside you and help you figure out this part, help you figure out this piece that you're going through.

And so that family thing is also checking up on each other throughout the week.

I mean, really like a family is really taking care of each other in the good times and the bad times and just supporting each other, no matter what you're going through.

'cause even though you're up on the platform, you're still a person you're still going through struggles.

We still go through life.

And so it's not getting it twisted or romanticizing that once you're on the platform, your life's perfect and everything's okay.

It's not hiding that stuff.

It's exposing it to people you're close to, and you can trust to help you walk through it.

To me, worship is to give adoration, to give gratitude, too, and worship is like, you lift up your hands, you see a lot of people doing that.

They worship and pour out however they feel.

If I'm a kid and I'm super excited about something, I'm going to jump up and down.

If I'm really sad about something, I'm gonna cry, I'm gonna let that out.

If I was just given a prize, I'm gonna start screaming and telling everybody, "Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!"

And to me, that's kind of what worship is.

When God does something miraculous in your life, you pour that out with a song, with a yell, with a jump.

So when some people see us doing these fast songs and we're all jumping around and headbanging and going crazy, people can be like, "What are they doing?"

And to me I'm like, "I'm celebrating!"

(upbeat music) (soothing music) >> Doing as much as you can, as quickly as you can, is important to me.

Life is short.

And the earlier we get started helping our community, the better off our community will be.

(upbeat music) >> Almost every single professor I've had, I'm on a first name basis.

By building that relationship with faculty, I was able to get involved with research.

It's one thing to read about an idea in a book, versus physically doing it and seeing the results.

(upbeat music) (piano music) >> Strack and Van Til is your wedding planning partner.

Choose handcrafted designs by the trained floral designers in our floral department, plan a memorable meal for your reception, from our delicious catering menu, and let our bakery artisans design the wedding cake of your dreams.

Visit Strack and Van Til dot com for details.

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(whistling) (orchestral music) (chiming music)