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Carrot Leaves Pesto

We love that Monisha from Mon's Flavours uses all kinds of vegetable scrapes in meals!  Not only does it keep meals under budget but also there's no wastage, which we are passionate about....

Sustainable Me Challenge - September

This month's 'Sustainable Me' challenge is to reduce the harsh chemical cleaners in our homes with natural alternatives. It's the time of year we give our houses a spring clean from top to bottom.  It's a good opportunity to use more natural cleaners that are better for our houses, our families and the aquatic life that are exposed to it once it's washed down the drain.  There are lots of natural alternatives out there now and available in the supermarkets or you might like t...

Bee Aware Month

September is 'Bee Aware Month' and this year ApiCulture NZ is encouraging Kiwis to ‘Bee Curious' by learning more about bees and what we can do the care for them.   ...

Sustainable Me Challenge - August

This month's 'Sustainable Me' challenge is to reduce our water use.  You would think in clean, green New Zealand that we wouldn't need to worry about this but our fresh water resources are becoming more and more under pressure.  OSOF (Our Seas Our Future) says that pollution from agriculture, runoff from increasing urbanization and antiquated sewer systems has created un-swimmable rivers. And the looming uncertainties of climate change bring further concern for this vita...

Plastic Free July: Plastic Free Shopping

Here are some tips for limiting plastic when you are shopping this Plastic Free July. ...

Plastic Free July: Reducing Packaging

Plastic Free July is all about reducing our plastic wastage and to avoid scenes like the photo below.  Plastic bottles, bags and takeaway containers that we use just for a few minutes use a material that is designed to last forever.  They break up rather than break down (becoming permanent pollution), and they are either unrecyclable or down-cycled (made into low-grade products for just one more use).  When sent to the landfill they can escape from bins and trucks to end up in our...

Plastic Free July: Limiting Plastic Bag Use

This month is Plastic Free July.  We're going to give you some tips on how to be plastic-free.  It's great that plastic bags are banned at the counter now but there is still plenty of plastic we can avoid when shopping....

Plastic Free July: Plastic Free Meals on the Go

Here are some tips for limiting plastic when you are eating and drinking on the go this Plastic Free July...

World Environment & Arbor Day - 5th June

Today is 'World Environment Day' and 'Arbor Day'!  It's a great reason to get out there and do something to help our environment, whether it's planting trees, tidying up trees, picking up rubbish on a bush track, beach, park or along the road; every little bit helps!  ...

OSOF Sustainable Me Challenge - June

This month's challenge is an interesting one, it's to reduce non-recyclable paper tissue waste!  I've never really worried about paper tissue waste, I've never thought about what happens to it after it's used.  I didn't realise that is wasn't recycled somehow.  And did you know that it's normally made from virgin pulp directly from trees?  Because it can't be recycled that paper only has one single use and then ends up in the landfill!  It's sad to think a huge...

Plastic Free July

It's Plastic Free July!! It's a great time to think about how much plastic we use. Plastic bottles, bags and takeaway containers that we use just for a few minutes use a material that is designed to last forever.  They break up rather than break down (becoming permanent pollution), and they are either unrecyclable or down-cycled (made into low-grade products for just one more use).  When sent to the landfill they can escape from bins and trucks to end up in our waterways and the ocean....

We've Won Silver & Bronze!

We entered two honeys in The Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards this year and we're pleased to say we've won two awards! Silver for our Kirikiriroa honeyJudges comments were: A delightful orange blossom honey. Very nice colour and attractive. Bronze for our Ohinewai honeyJudges comments were: Earthy aroma. A rich honey with a good mouthfeel. Moderately strong flavour profile.  Sustainability Comments from Judges:Very impressive all-round commitment to sustainability - shows what a small b...

Nothing Goes to Waste!

We've had a few changes around our place, with a couple of big wind events this year and the unfortunate need to fell some trees we have had quite a few trees down over the last few months.  But we made sure there was no wastage.  The poplar trunks were sent off to Kinleith Pulp & Paper and their branches were mulched and are being used under the native tree planting we are doing this autumn.   The redwood trees bark has been taken off in the traditional Maaori way and are being u...

Sweetree HaBEEtat

We've been very busy here getting ready for our next big native tree planting season. As you may know our family are long time lovers of native trees and have done extensive tree planting over the years, on own property and community projects.  Over the years we have transformed a boggy paddock into a beautiful pond surrounded by native grasses, flax and native trees. With trapping in place it's now a haven for lots of wildlife. We've got a lot of planting lined up, once we get some more ra...

OSOF Sustainable Me Challenge for May

This month's 'Sustainable Me' challenge is to reduce our overall energy use by taking an energy break.  Did you know that our collective household energy consumption contributes 585 kilotons of carbon to the Earth's atmosphere each year?  You can just imagine the impact if we don't use energy for one day (or even half a day) each month.  We would make a small but significant impact on our collective carbon footprint.  There's lots of ways we can unplug and...

Sustainable Me April Challenge

A new month, a new challenge with 'OSOF Sustainable Me | Our Seas Our Future'. Each month this year we will be challenged to test out an environmentally friendly behaviour that in some way impacts ocean health. It gives us the challenge to try something new for the month and decide if we want to adopt it more in our lives. This month's challenge takes place in our kitchens, to preserve some fresh, local produce for the depths of winter.  What a great idea! &nbs...

Beekeeping Is In The Blood

Bees have always been part of Martin's life, his grandfather, uncle and father kept bees at their family home in Ohinewai.  Martin developed an interest for it as a teenager, eventually inheriting them. For many years Martin remained a hobbyist beekeeper until 2002 when we moved to a lifestyle block in Horsham Downs, near Hamilton.  Along with us came Martin's three beehives.  Rather than grazing our own stock, we decided it would be more fun to graze a few additional be...

National Farmers Market Week

This week is 'National Farmers Market Week'.  We've been a regular stallholder at the Hamilton Farmers Market for 15 years now and were regular stallholders at the Cambridge Farmers Market in the early days.  One of the main reasons we still go to the farmers market is keeping our connection with out local customers and meeting new customers.  It's a great chance to have a chin wag with our loyal customers and fellow stallholders. We've both been on the Waikato Farmers Market comm...

Free Jar of Sweetree Honey with Beehive Art Sold

Claudia Aalderink's art is made from pieces of beehive boxes, including Sweetree's old boxes. What an amazing way to recycle honey boxes!  We love them, in fact we have one of her first pieces. This one is called 'Mission Impossible', such a lot of work goes into cutting the pieces just right to make effective designs. You can check out her art at The Mandarin Tree store in Gordonton Village or check out the website.  For every beehive art made by Claudia sold at the Mandarin Tree you ...

Sustainable Me March Challenge

With the 'OSOF (Our Seas Our Future) Sustainable Me Challenge' each month we are challenged to test out an environmentally friendly behaviour that in some way impacts ocean health.  This month's challenge takes place in our bathrooms, to reduce our personal care product footprint. The idea it to avoid microplastic and other chemicals in personal products.  Here's What They Suggest: Beginner:Become an informed consumer. Read the back of your shampoo bottle and other personal care projec...

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Where has the time gone!  When we started this business our boys were two & four years old, now they are 17 & 19! One has just left the nest to study in Auckland, which is very exciting and sad at the same time.  Only one left at home, on his final year at high school and then he plans to head off to uni next year.   We've loved growing our family and business together, the boys have been with us every step of the way and been great helpers along the way (at the markets, labelling...

Mother Nature Hath No Fury!

How did everyone fare in the cyclone that hit over the weekend?  We've had some big trees down around our house, one too close for comfort, it just missed our bedroom and spa pool. There's a lot of mess to clean up and we have to replace at least 4 fences. The annoying thing, like most people, is we've had no power since around lunchtime yesterday.  Being rural we have no water if there's power so that's frustrating. We've borrowed a generator to keep the pollen freezer going thank goo...

Supply Water for Bees

Summer is an important time of year to ensure the bees have plenty of water to drink, even more so with the continued dry period we're having.  The trick is to create stations that are not too deep and allow the bees to drink water without falling in.  Here's some ideas: Create a shallow pond in your garden where bees can land on the edges to collect water Place pebbles or twigs in a saucer of water so bees have something to stand on and drinkFill a bucket, pail or trough with wat...

Sustainable Me February Challenge

With the 'OSOF (Our Seas Our Future) Sustainable Me Challenge' each month we are challenged to test out an environmentally friendly behaviour that in some way impacts ocean health. This month is to drive less.  This can be a difficult one to especially when you live rurally like us.  But let's try something new! Beginner: Go car-free at least one day per week. Don’t just decide to stay home once a week, either! Instead, pick a day that you would normally drive, then seek out an alter...

Sustainable Me January Challenge

In a recent post I explained 'OSOF (Our Seas Our Future) Sustainable Me Challenge'. Each month this year we will be challenged to test out an environmentally friendly behaviour that in some way impacts ocean health. It gives us the challenge to try something new for the month and decide if we want to adopt it more in our lives.  This months challenge is to stay away from one use plastic and styrofoam when eating out, try one of these: Beginner:  Stop using single-use straws and cu...