Show Me The Honey

A Kerkhoff hive on the roof of St. Mary's Church in the Lower East Side. The hive belongs to Andrew Cote. Cote is the only full-time beekeeper in New York City. He has over 50 hives located in parks, gardens, backyards and rooftops.

As New York City hosts Honey Week with its honey infusion workshops and apiary tours, local beekeepers say they have an added reason to celebrate this year.

Their bees have been extra busy.

"It was the best year in my last 10 years," said Andrew Cote of Andrew's Honey, a full-time beekeeper with about 50 hives in Manhattan.

Mr. Cote expects each hive to produce 100 pounds of honey this year, up from roughly 80 pounds the year before.

An abundance of the sticky stuff is a surprising turn of events since local beekeepers had reported hive losses because of the long, cold winter.

Staff at apiaries credit the uptick to a confluence of weather-related factors: snowfall and rainfall that went deep into the root systems, a high pollen count and a mild summer—neither too hot nor too cold.

Originally published in the Wall Street Journal on September, 12, 2014. Read the full article here.

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