Beez in the trap?

Buzzing bee­hives started to appear across the city once the decade-long ban on keep­ing com­mon hon­ey­bees was lifted in New York City in 2010. Fol­low­ing world­wide trends in inno­v­a­tive urban agri­cul­ture, NYC now boasts hun­dreds of inde­pen­dently main­tained bee­hives. Years of work may be pay­ing off, as this year’s busy swarm sea­son could be a sign that hon­ey­bees are mak­ing a come­back after years of declin­ing pop­u­la­tions around the world.

 

 

 

There are plenty of ways to sup­port urban bee­keep­ing in New York City:

  • Check out a com­pi­la­tion of the city’s hives and the peo­ple who love ‘em. The New York Times is cur­rently col­lect­ing pho­tos and infor­ma­tion about bee­hives around the city. Send in a photo in, or just stayed tuned for a pub­li­ca­tion of the best entries.
  • The next meet­ing of the New York City Bee­keep­ers Asso­ci­a­tion is sched­uled for August 7th and will fea­ture bee­keeper and author Tammy Horn. This orga­ni­za­tion is an impor­tant resource if you’re con­sid­er­ing start­ing your own hive. In fact, reg­is­tra­tion of hives with the NYC Depart­ment of Health is mandatory!
  • Not sure if the bee­keep­ing life is for you? Learn more before you take the leap with an organic bee­keep­ing class in Brooklyn.
  • If you care about bees but don’t have the time or money to start your own hive, you might con­sider sign­ing up to vol­un­teer as a Bee Watcher with the Great Pol­li­na­tor Project. The Project is look­ing for vol­un­teers to track the pres­ence of dif­fer­ent bees through­out the city, as well as strong pol­li­na­tor plants.
  • If you’re not quite ready for an up close and per­sonal expe­ri­ence, con­sider an upcom­ing event or lec­ture. On Mon­day, June 25, Kim Flot­tum will present “The Buzz about Bees and the Future of Food” at 6 pm at The Arse­nal in Cen­tral Park.
  • Finally, if the laissez-faire approach is more your thing, con­sider buy­ing local honey, avail­able at many green­mar­kets through­out the city. Debates con­tinue about whether or not local honey is help­ful in curb­ing sea­sonal aller­gies, but one thing’s for sure: sup­port­ing local hives helps keep the world’s bees buzzing!

Pho­tos (top and cen­ter): The New York Times

Photo (bot­tom): Great Pol­li­na­tor Project