Bees in NYC 01
Andrew Coté, 38 years old, from 4 generations of beekeepers, in the apiary in the new organic farm set up on a roof by Ben Flanner in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, just across from Manhattan. http://rooftopfarms.org With 300m2 of garden, the farm is counting on rapidly expanding to 1200m2; henhouses are being considered.
Andrew is the founder of the New York City Beekeepers’ Association, created in December 2008, which is rapidly growing, bringing together experienced and beginner beekeepers and also all bee lovers. Surfing the “green” wave of the Obama administration, the beekeepers’ association of New York hopes to obtain the legalization of beekeeping in the Big Apple.
Bees in NYC 02
Andrew Coté, 38 years old, from 4 generations of beekeepers, in the apiary in the new organic farm set up on a roof by Ben Flanner in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, just across from Manhattan. http://rooftopfarms.org With 300m2 of garden, the farm is counting on rapidly expanding to 1200m2; henhouses are being considered.
Andrew is the founder of the New York City Beekeepers’ Association, created in December 2008, which is rapidly growing, bringing together experienced and beginner beekeepers and also all bee lovers. Surfing the “green” wave of the Obama administration, the beekeepers’ association of New York hopes to obtain the legalization of beekeeping in the Big Apple.
Bees in NYC 03
The beekeepers ball organized by the organization Justfood.org took place on Monday evening, June 22, 2009 at the Water Taxi Beach on the South Street Seaport, opening Pollination Week in New York. All bee lovers, beekeepers, wannabe beekeepers and New York farming families got together for a costume ball. On the program: petitions and different samplings of honey-based products. This symbolic action, given media coverage by the New York Times, comes into the association’s public relations campaign.
Bees in NYC 04
The beekeepers ball organized by the organization Justfood.org took place on Monday evening, June 22, 2009 at the Water Taxi Beach on the South Street Seaport, opening Pollination Week in New York. All bee lovers, beekeepers, wannabe beekeepers and New York farming families got together for a costume ball. On the program: petitions and different samplings of honey-based products. This symbolic action, given media coverage by the New York Times, comes into the association’s public relations campaign.
Bees in NYC 05
The beekeepers ball organized by the organization Justfood.org took place on Monday evening, June 22, 2009 at the Water Taxi Beach on the South Street Seaport, opening Pollination Week in New York. All bee lovers, beekeepers, wannabe beekeepers and New York farming families got together for a costume ball. On the program: petitions and different samplings of honey-based products. This symbolic action, given media coverage by the New York Times, comes into the association’s public relations campaign.
Bees in NYC 06
The beekeepers ball organized by the organization Justfood.org took place on Monday evening, June 22, 2009 at the Water Taxi Beach on the South Street Seaport, opening Pollination Week in New York. All bee lovers, beekeepers, wannabe beekeepers and New York farming families got together for a costume ball. On the program: petitions and different samplings of honey-based products. This symbolic action, given media coverage by the New York Times, comes into the association’s public relations campaign.
Bees in NYC 07
The beekeepers ball organized by the organization Justfood.org took place on Monday evening, June 22, 2009 at the Water Taxi Beach on the South Street Seaport, opening Pollination Week in New York. All bee lovers, beekeepers, wannabe beekeepers and New York farming families got together for a costume ball. On the program: petitions and different samplings of honey-based products. This symbolic action, given media coverage by the New York Times, comes into the association’s public relations campaign.
Bees in NYC 08
Andrew Coté, 38 years old, beekeeper and English teacher in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Adam Johnson, 35 years old, associate lawyer in a New York law firm, inspect two hives in an aerial garden of a building on 4th Ave and 13th Street in the East Village of Manhattan. Adam Johnson grew up near Los Angeles in a house with a family garden. Alive to nature since childhood, he is looking to meet other beekeepers in New York and was initiated into apiculture a year ago with Andrew.
Bees in NYC 09
Andrew Coté, beekeeper, Adam Johnson, a beginner and Troy Seidman, a curious friend, with their beekeeping material in front of a building with an apiary in the East Village. Adam says, “It was an old desire, from childhood, but when CCD started in the United States, I really wanted to have beehives and start beekeeping. I have one hive and I take care of 4 others with Andrew in a community garden in the East Village.”
Bees in NYC 10
Andrew Coté, beekeeper, founder of the New York City Beekeepers’ Association, Adam Johnson, a novice, and Troy Seidman, a curious friend, go on foot to inspect the hives in the apiaries in East Village in New York.
Bees in NYC 11
Portraits of young beekeepers with their materials in New York. Andrew Coté, beekeeper, Adam Johnson, a novice, and Troy Seidman, a curious friend. “Inspecting the hives is difficult in New York, for parking your car, carrying the material… And on top of that, urban beekeeping requires a more serious monitoring of the colonies because of swarming. I have 20 hives in NYC; everything goes all right because the members of the association help each other to monitor the hives. But a few days ago, there was a swarm right in the heart of Manhattan, with its train of police officers, safety zones…”
Bees in NYC 12
Andrew Coté sets up in the green and organic markets in the city of New York at Union Square and in Tompkins Square Park to sell his New York bees’ production and also the honey from his 220 hives in Connecticut.
Bees in NYC 13
Portraits of young beekeepers with their materials in New York. Andrew Coté, beekeeper, Adam Johnson, a novice, and Troy Seidman, a curious friend. “Inspecting the hives is difficult in New York, for parking your car, carrying the material… And on top of that, urban beekeeping requires a more serious monitoring of the colonies because of swarming. I have 20 hives in NYC; everything goes all right because the members of the association help each other to monitor the hives. But a few days ago, there was a swarm right in the heart of Manhattan, with its train of police officers, safety zones…”
Bees in NYC 14
Ever since the city council man from Brooklyn, David Yassak, filed the project for the legalization of beekeeping in New York in January 2009, alternative organizations of organic gardens, green movements and organizations for food sufficiency like Justfood, strive, through petitions and demonstrations, to promote urban pollination of the community gardens.
Bees in NYC 15
Pollination week in New York started with a costume ball on June 22, 2009. A couple of bees out for a good time eat a hot-dog covered in honey-flavored mustard. Forbidden beekeeping is underground…but so chic…
Bees in NYC 16
Adam Johnson, 35 years old, associate lawyer in a New York law firm, looks after four hives in a neighboring community garden. “The New York City Beekeepers’ Association to which I belong thinks there are about a hundred hives in New York. But, that’s only counting our group and the known beekeepers. If you add people of Mexican and Puerto Rican origins, who have rural roots, and other groups of young people, the figures could get as high as 500 hives.”
Bees in NYC 17
In the community gardens, the associations carry out a true work of introduction to nature. “I love sharing, that’s part of neighborhood life. The gardens humanize the city, like the bees pollinate the flowers and vegetables.” Adam Johnson, 35 years old, associate lawyer in a New York law firm, looks after four hives in a neighboring community garden.
Bees in NYC 18
David Graves set up his first hive in New York in 1997 before the ban by the Giuliani administration. Today, he has 14 hives in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
At the organic market on Union Square, David doesn’t forget to bring his glassed enclosed exhibition hive for his customers and schoolchildren.
Bees in NYC 19
At the organic market on Union Square, Andrew Coté sells his honey from New York and also the honey that he produces in Connecticut to a trendy clientele. He works with Justfood.org to have a bigger base in the circle of community and educational gardens.
Bees in NYC 20
Megan Paska, 29 years old, from Brooklyn. She started beekeeping in January. “I come from Baltimore in Maryland but my family is from the country and during my childhood we had a garden. For me, who came to New York recently, it is also a way of meeting people with different interests. I am fascinated. I open my hive every week, watching the bees is for me like meditation, a way to relax. I work for a company that makes children’s clothing”.
Bees in NYC 21
Andrew Coté, 38 years old, is the founder of the New York City Beekeepers’ Association, created in December 2008 and which is rapidly growing, bringing together experienced and beginner beekeepers and also all bee lovers. Here, at an apiary in Brooklyn. “Brooklyn abounds in lindens and acacias, the flora is diverse, but it’s the first year that we have a large number of hives in NYC”.
Bees in NYC 22
The beekeepers ball organized by the organization Justfood.org took place on Monday evening, June 22, 2009 at the Water Taxi Beach on the South Street Seaport, opening Pollination Week in New York. All bee enthusiasts, beekeepers, wannabe beekeepers and New York farming families got together for a costume ball.
Bees in NYC 23
Andrew Coté, 38 years old, is the founder of the New York City Beekeepers’ Association, created in December 2008 and which is rapidly growing, bringing together experienced and beginner beekeepers and also all bee lovers. Here, at an apiary in Brooklyn. “Brooklyn abounds in lindens and acacias, the flora is diverse, but it’s the first year that we have a large number of hives in NYC”.
Bees in NYC 24
Megan Paska, 29 years old, from Brooklyn. She started beekeeping in January. “I come from Baltimore in Maryland but my family is from the country and during my childhood, we had a garden. For me, who came to New York recently, it is also a way of meeting people with different interests. I am fascinated. I open my hive every week, watching the bees is for me like meditation, a way to relax. I work for a company that makes children’s clothing”.
Bees in NYC 25
Union Square, the organic market. Organic associations are very actively committed in the United States and the customers very careful with their money.
Bees in NYC 26
Ron Breland, 64 years old, in his experimental garden opening a hive of his design with his students X and X. In 2000, after losing half his hives, Ron starting creating five-sided hives, for him closer to the natural habitat of bees. “I’m not looking to produce honey. I raise bees for the pleasure and to preserve the species which is today in danger because of the use of pesticides, monoculture and certainly also due to the beekeepers who exploit the bee in an industrial manner”.
Bees in NYC 27
Ron Breland poses in front of his experimental hives. Former publicity photographer, Ron left New York City twenty years ago. Today, he teaches organic gardening and apiculture at the private Rockland Country Day School in Congers, thirteen or so miles out of Manhattan.
Bees in NYC 28
Ron Breland, 64 years old, is a teacher at the private Rockland Country Day School of Congers, thirteen or so miles out of Manhattan. He set up the hives of his design in the school’s organic garden and teaches apiculture to children from nursery to secondary school. “It’s extraordinary, just using my type of hive and smoking them with sage, I can open a hive without any danger to the kindergarten pupils. The bees raised like that are so much gentler and we practically never have any stings.”
Bees in NYC 29
Ron Breland, 64 years old, is a teacher at the private Rockland Country Day School of Congers, thirteen or so miles out of Manhattan. He set up the hives of his design in the school’s organic garden and teaches apiculture to children from nursery to secondary school. “It’s extraordinary, just using my type of hive and smoking them with sage, I can open a hive without any danger to the kindergarten pupils. The bees raised like that are so much gentler and we practically never have any stings.”
Bees in NYC 30
Ron Breland, 64 years old, is a teacher at the private Rockland Country Day School of Congers, thirteen or so miles out of Manhattan. He set up the hives of his design in the school’s organic garden and teaches apiculture to children from nursery to secondary school. “It’s extraordinary, just using my type of hive and smoking them with sage, I can open a hive without any danger to the kindergarten pupils. The bees raised like that are so much gentler and we practically never have any stings.”
Bees in NYC 31
Valeriana, 57 years old, midwife, and Kevin Masback, 59 years old, joiner. They left New York 12 years ago to move to the suburbs in Nyack. “I came to New York as a teenager and lived there thirty years. I left New York because I wanted my children to go to a Steiner school. At that school, I was able to take beekeeping classes and since 10 years ago I take care of my hives. Now I help some young beekeepers in Brooklyn through advice. It’s wonderful what’s happening today; the young are very interested in organic farming and beekeeping also.”
Bees in NYC 32
A moment for reading, Eve Vaterlaus, artist, painter, sculptor and designer, near the hives at the Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge. This Steiner school has created a biodynamic garden, which is recognized as an avant-garde program in environmental education. The future leaders of the green revolution.
Bees in NYC 33
Andrew Coté sets up each week in the green and organic markets in the city of New York at Union Square and in Tompkins Square Park to sell his New York bees’ production and also the honey from his 220 hives in Connecticut.
Bees in NYC 34
Eddie Diaz, 31 years old, is a new beekeeper. He started in January with two hives set up on the roof of a building on Lorimer Street in Brooklyn. “We are a group of more or less 25 people that got together by chance, we must total about a hundred hives in Brooklyn. On my count, there must be nearly 1000 hives in New York at present. It’s still underground, informal. But we are taking very seriously the present revolution. Lots of young people are throwing themselves into alternative organic farming projects in the community gardens, or else the rooftop gardens. Some even plan to buy land outside New York City… People need to feel in touch with nature. I work in an organic restaurant which grows nearly half of its vegetable in terraced gardens”.
Bees in NYC 35
David Graves, 59 years old, has 14 hives in New York. For him, the law shouldn’t change because it allows for regulation of beekeeping. The risks of swarms are high and only professional beekeepers should be authorized in New York. David is a professional beekeeper even if his stock doesn’t exceed 50 hives. He and his wife make fruit jams and jellies.
Bees in NYC 36
David Graves, 59 year, with one of his hives right in Soho on the terrace garden of an apartment near Broadway and Grand Street. Urban apiculture is hard work for David. He gets about by subway and taxi and each operation with his hives is complicated. He has to bring the material, the supers, etc… Imagine a honey harvest on a roof you get to through a trap door…
Bees in NYC 37
David Graves, 59 year, with one of his hives right in Soho on the terrace garden of an apartment near Broadway and Grand Street. Urban apiculture is hard work for David. He gets about by subway and taxi and each operation with his hives is complicated. He has to bring the material, the supers, etc… Imagine a honey harvest on a roof you get to through a trap door…
Bees in NYC 38
David Graves, 59 year, with one of his hives right in Soho on the terrace garden of an apartment near Broadway and Grand Street. Urban apiculture is hard work for David. He gets about by subway and taxi and each operation with his hives is complicated. He has to bring the material, the supers, etc… Imagine a honey harvest on a roof you get to through a trap door…
Bees in NYC 39
Adam Johnson, 35 years old, associate lawyer in a New York law firm looks after four hives in a neighboring community garden. “The New York City Beekeepers’ Association to which I belong thinks there are about a hundred hives in New York. But, that’s only counting our group and the known beekeepers. If you add people of Mexican and Puerto Rican origins, who have rural roots, and other groups of young people, the figures could get as high as 500 hives.”
Bees in NYC 40
Union Square, the organic market. Organic associations are very actively committed in the United States and the customers very careful with their money.
Bees in NYC 41
Union Square, the organic market. Organic associations are very actively committed in the United States and the customers very careful with their money.