Bringing Seltzer Back

Anyone who knows me knows that I am pretty obsessed with recycling. I can pinpoint exactly where this obsession came from. When I was in 7th grade, my friends and I were part of the Environmental club and the club made a school initiative to put out paper recycling bins in every classroom and we would collect the bins after school once a week for recycling. At the end of the year, we had collected thousands of pounds of paper. What would normally be in the dumpster, was now collected by a recycling facility. That club really made me value how important it is for every one of us to do our part as little as it may seem, to help the environment. Because every little bit helps.

One of my other obsessions in life is making the best Egg Cream. If you've never had an egg cream, you must try one. It's like a chocolate milk soda. The name is pretty strange because there are no eggs or cream in the drink at all. Egg creams are made with just 3 ingredients. Chocolate syrup (preferably U-Bet, made in Brooklyn), milk (preferably whole milk), and seltzer. I've discovered however that I had many issues with bottled seltzer that you buy from the supermarket. Like any carbonated drink, once you open the bottle, it starts to lose it's carbonated bubbles. So even though you can make an excellent egg cream the first time you use the seltzer bottle, the next drink you make with the same bottle falls flat. Literally.

For many years, I've had one of these old vintage glass seltzer bottles, so one day we thought, what if we could refill one of these?

That led us to search online for those old time glass seltzer bottles. The ones that keep the carbonation because there is a lever you press to let out just the exact amount of seltzer that you need for your drinks.  Since you don't open the bottle, it never loses it's carbonation.  To our surprise and luck, we found a local family run company that delivers seltzer in those vintage seltzer bottles called the Brooklyn Seltzer Boys. The fact that there is a company that reuses these bottles and puts them back in use, and is right here in Brooklyn, NY is outstanding! On their website, they don't actually call it recycling, they calling it "reusing" because the same bottle gets reused over and over again. Even better than recycling!!

The way it works is that you order by the case. A delivery comes with 10 seltzer bottles and costs only $35. That's just $3.50 for each bottle of seltzer. Which for us, is about the cost of a seltzer from the supermarket here.  Two years ago on this blog, I challenged myself to live a little "greener" and this definitely falls into that category. There is no wasted plastic bottle, and we put these beautiful "antiques" back in use!  I love supporting local environmentally conscious businesses. Total win!

U-bet syrup, cold milk, and this seltzer. BEST EGG CREAM EVER!! Next time, I'll have to buy the milk from Ronnybrook farms, which will make this entire drink all locally sourced ingredients within 100 miles. Pretty sweet!

Brand New Beehives!

This was a busy week for us. We received our delivery from Mann Lake of our two new beehives. We bought the apiary kit from them, which includes the basics that you need to start a new hive. A bottom board with an entrance reducer, a telescoping cover, an inner cover, and we went with the 4 medium boxes with wooden frames. I prefer medium boxes over deeps as the brood box because I find that it's easier for me to lift when the box is full of wax, brood, and honey. With the addition of these two hives, we now are the proud owners of five hives in total. Two years ago, when I started this beekeeping adventure, I didn't think my passion for raising honeybees would grow to this level. I think any devoted beekeeper would tell you that it's something you can't quite explain until you try it. Maintaining your own hives is an amazing experience. One that I learn from constantly and a hobby I know I will maintain for many years to come.

Emily, one of our beehive hosts wanted the hive to be sky blue. Since neither Paul or I have backyards to keep our hives, we use her backyard as the host location. She picked out the paint and we spent last Saturday afternoon painting the hive. We use an exterior paint to paint the hives to protect the boxes from the elements of being outside. It rains and snows a lot here, so a good exterior paint helps a lot with the inclement weather.

Paul had a great idea to hang the freshly painted boxes on tree limbs in hopes that they would dry faster. I really thought this looked pretty funny. It reminded me of an art installation.

 

Hanging them on tree limbs allowed the sun and wind to hit every angle of the box. The neighbors must have thought we were weird.

We temporarily assembled the hive on top of cinderblock. This hive will get a bee nucleus which is due to arrive in late May. I really love how the color came out.

And here is a view of all three hives in Emily's backyard. I think it looks pretty awesome!

After we finished painting and installing, next we went over to our other beehive host located a few blocks away. When we arrived, Oscar the kitty was there to greet us right away! Oscar lives here and watches us beekeep every Saturday. If you look closely, you can see his "girlfriend" neighborhood kitty in the background. We don't know who owns the girlfriend but she follows Oscar everywhere! He's not very fond of that.

Here's Oscar inspecting my beesuit.

We installed the new hive temporarily next to the older one. Can you tell it's new? LOL. So shiny! We're calling this new hive Oscar's Honeywell.

I did an inspection to see how well the new Queen is laying. We installed this package this spring, so we are keeping a watchful eye on her.

The Queen in the Carlton Reserve hive is laying perfect brood. She has just about filled this entire frame of brood. This is the pattern you want to see in the hive, because it means she is laying in practically ever cell. Pretty awesome!!

DIY Plant Containers

This past Saturday in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, after I finished beekeeping, I was walking towards the subway when I saw a store in the neighborhood that was displaying these cute succulents in these DIY concrete plant containers. Aren't these adorable? I have seen many examples of this on Pinterest and online, but this is the first time I saw it in person. I love the fact that they do not have "perfect" edges and look "homemade". It gives it character.

I'll have to try to make these one day! I think they are super cute! Have you made these before? Any tips for a newbie?

Springtime Display

One of my favorite things of all time is Springtime in New York City. A few blocks from my apartment building, this gorgeous display of spring flowers was in bloom. Isn't it spectacular? Seeing this pop of color really makes you feel like the grey winter is finally behind us. Ah, Spring! You are definitely my favorite season!