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Monday, August 6, 2012

The Launch of LBS.

About: Lettuce Bee Sustainable

This the offical lawnching of the LBS, store at the BlueJay site.  I hope you enjoy it as I do, but first a little about how all this came to be.  LBS, is located on an urban homestead in the heart of New York City. This has become my pet project and a work in progress, it came into existence about two years ago at the hight of the economic collapse. I remember watching a newscast one evening as a reporter told the story of a man who traveled throughout the United States in search of employment within the state he happen to be
located at the moment.  I was amazed by the way he managed to find employment at a time when everyone around me was losing their jobs and their homes.  I was fascinated and inspired by his journey.  Being a family man, I can imaginethe hardships of packing everything up and traveling from state to state in
search of employment. I don't think I've could have done what he did.  Nevertheless, I had to find away to become my every own economic stimulus package and maybe inspire someone as well. Therefore, I embarked on a journey of self sustainability. I own a small property here on staten Island, it became the
first piece towards my steps towards sustainably.  I made some radical changes that year, in choosing to live a less toxic life style, I chose to grow home grown fruits and vegetables, raise chickens for organic eggs, and kept a few beehives for local honey, all this within residential neighborhood.  I want to know how much produce the average Joe, such as myself,  could grow.  We in an era were multitasking is a necessity. Where the act of reinventing ourselves is becoming the norm. I've transitioned from a city dweller into an Urban Farmer. Not only do we as individuals, need to work hard, efficiently and sustainably, so do the very homes we live in.  These were extremely big changes which I made, however, it was enough, in order to maintain this little patch of green earth, enabling me to transform a 100 year old victorian house in to a self sustaining
parcel of land, I also decided to make and sell urban inspired soaps and candles to keep this project going. 

This was the birth of Lettuce Bee Sustainable, it is my story, my journey into sustainability. The  soaps and candles are handcrafted on premise. Each batch of soap is made from natural ingredients and saponified plant oils. No animal products are ever used in the making of soaps. Nor are they test on animals. Furthermore, no artificial dyes, or colors are use.  Scented soaps are made with phthalate free fragrance oils.  The handmade candles are made from 100% bee's wax collected from my hives and other local
beekeepers, then hand poured on site. Packaging is also done by hand, made from 100% recycled materials made in the USA or a sustainable source from a round the world. The goal here is to be sustainable and eco friendly. The mission is to keep it green, while lifting spirits and touching lives with my urban rustic
nostalgic crafts.

Thank you for supporting my cause and for keeping it green. This project is
still in it's infancy, but their will be much more to come. Thanks again and I
look forward to servicing you.

sincerely

F.M



Sunday, June 17, 2012

Staten Island BeeKeepers

This has been the busiest spring I believe I  have ever had, and it seems this summer will be just as busy.  I have been working on creating our LBS Soap Brand and promoting beekeeping here on Staten Island.

However, congratulation are in order and kudos to  Ms. Debra Butera the organizer of the Staten Island beekeepers in New York for bringing our hobby to the forefront on our little island.  She's promoting and educating the public about honey bees in the hopes removing the stigma associated with them.  She was given the opportunity to be  interview by a reporter of the Staten Island Advance in regards to beekeeping in an urban setting.

I have added the link where Ms. Butera discusses Beekeeping in Staten island in the Staten Island Advance.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

The Sustainable Journey Continues.

It been a while since I posted something about our little patch of green earth. Making the transition into an urban homesteader is not as easy as I thought it would be. Now that spring is about a month way, I am preparing my seed starts for this years veggie patch. However, I don't think I can grow everything I need to sustain ourselves. I will have to make my way to the local farmers' market for fruits and veggies to supplement that which I did not have time to grow or crop failure. This urban homestead project is still a work in progress. Grow beds still need to be built, a new batch of chicks need to be hatched in order replace the older hens. Bee hives need to be inspected and painted. If I find that our bees aren't going make it through this winter, I will have to place an order for a new nuc, or capture a feral swarm. Now imagine doing all of this while you are employed full time. Coming home to take care of my urban livestock after long day at work may seem like madness to you. However, when I decided to live a less toxic life style, this all became part of the package. Add to this the fact that I am still renovating my home while developing this urban farm yard. Nevertheless, I still believe this can be done, incorporating new Eco friendly technology into a 100 year old home, the integration of the new with the old, and so the journey coninues.

The chickens are still doing their thing and hopefully the bee's will make it till spring.
However, we have been quiet busy this winter. Despite the strange weather we had this winter. We managed to collect enough beeswax from the hive to make a few beeswax candles. Hopefully this up coming 2012 season will bring us more of that sweet honey and candle making wax.

This season God willing, I will have a better growing season and more inspiring writing material to motivate you to cultivate your own little patch of green earth.  Anyone interested in one of our beeswax candles just
CLICK HERE.