CSI in the News - CSI Today

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Thursday, June 24, 2010
By Joy Y. Wang
Bees in a hive
"[The swarm] actually kind of looked like shwarma on a turning spit. You know to have this hanging cluster of 30,000
bees is really interesting because the cluster is moving and it's alive."
— Ava Chin, Urban Forager
Illegal or not, bee and honey enthusiasts have been tending apiaries in the city for years. This March, however,
they got their moment in the spotlight when the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene lifted the ban on
beekeeping in the city. These newly legal kept-bees spent the short spring months gathering nectar. So now is
the time to enjoy the fruits of their labors — spring honey.
Annie Novak, who runs Eagle Street Rooftop Farm and founded Growing Chefs, is one of the rogue
beekeepers who maintained hives even before it became legal. Novak (pictured below) recently told WNYC's
Amy Eddings that forging ahead despite the ban wasn't a problem, since it was "one of those wonderful laws
that didn't make sense."
Honey bees, in particular the Italian variety that are legal to keep in the city, are not aggressive. That's what
Ava Chin, the Urban Forager columnist for The New York Times' City Room blog, discovered this spring, when
she came across a swarm of bees on The College of Staten Island's campus. "[The swarm] actually kind of
looked like shwarma on a turning spit," Chin said. "You know to have this hanging cluster of 30,000 bees is
really interesting because the cluster is moving and it's alive."
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