((PKG)) CITY BEES
((Banner: City Bees))
((Reporter/Camera: Yuan Ye))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: New York City, New York))
((NATS))
((ANDREW COTE, URBAN BEEKEEPER))
Keeping bees in New York City might sound a little odd, but people have been keeping bees in New York city and in other cities in the world for a very long time.
((ANDREW COTE, URBAN BEEKEEPER))
My name is Andrew Cote. I’m a beekeeper in New York City.
Here, we’re on top of the New York Hilton Midtown, and we’ve got six beehives, and they have a very short flight to 1,000 acres (400 ha) of beautiful flora in Central Park. As far as beekeeping businesses go, we are modest and small in size, but what we lack in number of beehives we make up for in spectacular locations.
((NATS))
((ANDREW COTE, URBAN BEEKEEPER))
Generally, mass produced honey or mass produced bread or mass produced anything is not of the same high quality of a small craft brand, be that bread or beer or certainly honey. One of the biggest difficulties with urban beekeeping is just the element of dealing with people and the opportunity to educate them about bees and honeybees and their gentle nature is a nice challenge, but a challenge.
((NATS))
((ANDREW COTE, URBAN BEEKEEPER))
Most people, when they think of honeybees, they think of honey, and that’s understandable because that’s the product that they can taste and feel and see. But really, when we talk about honeybees, we are talking about pollination. One third to one half of all of the food on our plates is grown, thanks to the labor of the honeybee.
((NATS))
((ANDREW COTE, URBAN BEEKEEPER))
I help run a charity called Bees Without Borders, and via that charity, we travel all over the world, and recently we visited China. When I met the local beekeepers in the Hangzhou area, I was very impressed to see their methods of pollen collection, and their methods of queen rearing, and we looked at their methods and compared them to our methods, and found that they’re more alike than different, but still I think we have something that we could learn from one another, so I look forward to returning and spending more time and getting to know them better.
((NATS))
((ANDREW COTE, URBAN BEEKEEPER))
Actually, this is my only job. I’m probably the only full-time beekeeper in New York City. Or, if there’s another I’d love to hire that person for a little help.
((NATS))
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