NYC Rooftop Bee Hives

Amidst the concrete and skyscrapers, there is a vibrant local food scene in New York City. David Graves of Berkshire Berries is a prime example. David lives on his farm in Becket, Massachusetts but can be found around the city on a regular basis at NYC Greenmarkets, including Union Square on Mondays and Saturdays, selling a variety of jams, jellies, and honey.

David has been a bit of a local food celebrity for his NYC Rooftop Honey which he harvests from 15 hives around the city. Urban Beekeeping is strangely illegal in NYC and beekeepers have to work with some amount of discretion – although I’ve yet to hear of any beekeeping crackdowns. Hopefully NYC will eventually adopt an attitude similar to Chicago, where urban beekeeping is not only legal, but practiced on City Hall. All those garden plot tomatoes and flowers won’t grow without some pollination! Tomatoes are clearly in the best interest of any city. It’s unfortunate that an irrational fear of honeybees – which rarely sting! – is keeping more beekeeping out of the city.

I work with David at Union Square Greenmarket and was lucky to be invited to visit one of his hives in lower Manhattan to install a new queen a few weeks ago. I brought my camera along to take some pictures to share, but of course, I forgot to check the batteries before I left the house and was only able to get 1 photo before the battery died. Greenmarket’s Krissa Nichols was there as well and came to rescue by graciously sharing her pictures. See pictures after the jump.

A rooftoop beehive

Getting the smoker ready

A look inside the hive

Taking out the honey comb — tasty!

Check out that comb!