Many New York City beekeepers keep their hives safely hidden on roof-tops or tucked in out of the way places, perhaps a vestige of those not too long ago days when bee-keeping was branded an illegal activity. Not so for Rania Abu-Eid, who for the past 16 months has been tending a single hive down the street from where she lives at the St. Marks Avenue/Prospect Heights Community Garden.
While the gardening community was well ahead of the curve in supporting Rania and her buzzing friends—many gardeners were excited to learn about beekeeping—she is still very much relieved that her new hobby is no longer illegal.
Last year Rania produced a small bounty for a newbie beekeeper. First year beekeepers do not usually produce much honey but she was lucky and harvested about 10 pounds (a good harvest for a single hive is normally 30-50 lbs). She jarred the honey to give to friends and family. If her bees are more productive this year she would love to sell the extra honey.
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On a typical day, Rania likes to work her bees in the morning, keeping the disruption to no more than 10-15 minutes. She puts on her bee gear, smokes the hive to calm the bees down, and opens up the hive to inspect the frames and see what’s going on. She looks to see how much honey has been produced, that the queen is laying her eggs properly, and makes sure there are no indications of diseases or signs that the bees may be preparing to swarm. Most of the work is seasonal, beginning in the Spring and ending with the Fall harvest. In winter she takes a bit of a break but still makes sure the hive is protected from the extreme cold, sometimes by covering it.
While apiarists are commonly viewed as solitary monks working alone in their apiaries, this is not the case. Rania frequently tends her bees in the company of another beekeeper who also has a hive in the garden. She also associates with the broader community of urban bee-keepers through her membership with the New York City Beekeeping Association (NYCBA) and the New York City Beekeeping Meetup Group.
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In fact, for Rania, the best part of being a beekeeper is that it has opened up a whole new community for her in her own neighborhood.
Rania, who was as hard to catch as a bee, finally replied via email. She stated, “I feel very lucky to be part of such a wonderful community garden, and I feel like I need to thank Patti Hagan and my plot mate Casey Court for being so supportive! How could I also deny the experience of tasting my very own unprocessed honey! It was magical and a dream come true.”
Of course, it is not all milk and honey all the time. Rania also concedes that her worst experience was watching her bees swarming this past spring.
