November 19, 2008
NYC Rooftop Bee Keeper
“When I first came to the green market here in New York City, I thought to myself, there are lots of buildings down here, and lots of flowers, but no black bears! I just needed permission to put a hive on someone’s roof and I’d be able to produce some extremely local honey. At first I got permission to put a hive on the Greenmarket’s office building on 16th Street, and from there I started getting more rooftops.
“The way you obtain bees is in a package through the US Mail; it’s a three pound package with one queen and about 13,000 bees. So what I did was, I took one of these packages of bees and put a little sign on it, ‘We’re very gentle and we’d like to share our New York City honey if you have a rooftop we could live on,’ and I would stick it on my greenmarket stand at Union Square and before you know it, people would say, ‘Oh, I’d love to have a hive on my roof, I’d love to teach my children about agriculture right here in the city!’ That’s how I got locations on the Upper West Side, Lower East Side, Brooklyn Heights, The Bronx, and Harlem.
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There is hope for the pygmy Brooklyn roof goat! I will wear a sign strapped to my head with wire and feathers in showgirl style, offering goat cheese and petting access in exchange for native habitat! There is much for roof owners to learn about agriculture here in New York city.
I am still waiting for the mini-horse craze. They are cheaper than most pure breds.
I mean, wouldn’t it be ridiculously awesome to see Paris Hilton with a mini-horse under her arm?
They are only friends, no matter what the pictures seem to insinuate.
I think we saw some of these guys in Prospect Park the other day. East side of the park, a little stables with little horses. Maybe you would be interested in checking them out on your visit to the hood.