Auckland Made: Lovenotes and Waiheke Honey

Saturday afternoon was my second Auckland Made event hosted by Yelp Auckland – an awesome opportunity to hear more about Lovenotes – a sustainable stationery business, meet Richard from organic honey company, Waiheke Honey Company and indulge in an afternoon tea feast at Scarecrow on High Street.

Scarecrow on High Street's temporary location

Scarecrow on High Street’s temporary relocation with its open kitchen, florist and grocer shop layout works a treat. Ben, the head chef’s philosophy is to eat with the seasons and use local produce where possible. With a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influence our afternoon tea tantalised the tastebuds and included: pilchard with sweet onions, beetroot and blue cheese, kawhai ceviche and pumpkin balls with romesco sauce, accompanied by Forage and Bloom teas.

Pilchard on sweet onions

Beetroot and blue cheese toasts

Amanda from Lovenotes shared the delightful story of Lovenotes sustainable stationery – turning office waste into beautiful stationery and seed cards before we had the opportunity to make handmade seed paper ourselves.  Given the drying time is 6 hours, Lovenotes provided basil or wildflower impregnated cards for us to letterpress the old-fashioned way with a special Auckland Made design. Fingers crossed the card I brought home grows into edible basil – apparently it loves water so vigilance is required.

Amanda from Lovenotes

Trying my hand at seed card making

Lovenotes basil impregnated seed card

Richard has been producing organic honey from his hives on Waiheke Island since 2007. The honey is as natural as you will ever get: raw, unpasterised, unfiltered, unblended and extracted from a single hive. With all natural controls there is a 5-10% loss of hives per annum and with each hive requiring 20-40 hours manpower per year between August to March, having time off over summer is a rarity. In addition to honey, Waiheke Honey Company makes lip balms and candles too.

Waiheke organic honey

If you’re interested in coming along to the next Auckland Made event then sign up to Yelp Auckland so you don’t miss out when tickets are made available – places are limited with events often oversubscribed.  It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet the business owners face-to-face and hear their stories.

Enjoying afternoon tea

For more on an earlier Auckland Made event – Bonnie Goods at The Cheese Room click here Oatcakes, Wine and Cheese

Enjoy your week.

Michelle