Sanctuary Yoga’s wish to open a smoothie shop inside the studio is about to be one we can taste. It’s about damn time Pullman experiences a miracle like this.

We can all give thanks to Destiny Sternod, Sanctuary Yoga manager and recent WSU alumna, for blessing our taste buds and our bodies with her willingness to bring this food-insecure town and county something we can proudly consume.

“I’m most excited to bring fresh food to Pullman,” Sternod said. “I’ve been vegan for over 10 years and moving here from the west side six years ago was, I don’t want to say sad, but I thought there would be better access to food.”

Growing up, Sternod gained a fiery passion for nutrition. She comes from a family of successful small business owners and when she put the two together, Main Street Squeeze Juice and Smoothie was born.

The soon-to-be-shop’s name came about accidentally when her husband was joking around, talking about how the shop could be named “Main Squeeze,” because the shop will be located on Main Street.

“He came up with the name even though he was really embarrassed about that, because he was totally joking,” Sternod said, “and then I went with it.”

Her former job at the co-op opened her eyes to the great abundance of farmers who inhabit the Palouse, and she plans to utilize them.

The freshest, juiciest produce, inexpensive travel cost, cheaper drinks and happy farmers. What’s not to like about this?

Sternod has done two “pop-ups” where she set up a stand in Sanctuary Yoga and offers free smoothies to sample from a choice of three. She tries new ones each time to get a feel for what the community likes.

“A lot of people think smoothies and juice are going to be gross,” Sternod said. “I love food and I love food to taste good, so I would like to be able to share that with people.”

You might call your partner main squeeze, like the name of the shop, so the names of the drinks follow this nick name pattern, Sternod said. At her last pop-up event, she had drinks called Cutie Patootie, Sweet Cheeks and Pudding Pop.

In honor of her grandma, she created the Tutti Fruity drink. When she was younger, they drank milkshakes together at a local ice cream parlor.

“As she got older, she had health issues, I started to become more health conscious in what I was eating,” Sternod said, “I really tried to make a drink that we would both still really like that tasted like a strawberry milk shake and was dairy-free.”

Sternod continues to shape the shop by entwining pieces of her heart into it.

“I hope that it will be able to offer a place for people to go where they can feel good about what they’re purchasing on all different sides of things,” Sternod said, “from the producers we get our supplies from to the products that we use in preparing the food, and then ultimately the final product.”

Sternod has more goals for her shop to benefit the community and more pop-ups to come until the shop officially opens in mid-summer.

“There’s a lot of shame in the food we consume, especially for women,” Sternod said. “It’s really important to me to not put pressure on people to feel like you always have to fit this consumer model of being the perfect purchaser.”