NEW YORK—At the Union Square Greenmarket on any given Sunday, the fresh produce and various fresh food products almost all come from somewhere, usually a farm, outside of New York City limits—David Graves' New York City Rooftop Honey is a different story. As its name suggests, Graves' raw honey is made from beehives kept on 12 New York City rooftops, from the Bronx to the Upper East Side to Lower Manhattan to Brooklyn.
"The bees are very docile, they are not dangerous," assures Graves, who has been putting beehives on New York City rooftops since 1997. "The only person they might sting is the beekeeper."
Using their tenacious natural instincts, the bees are able to find and gather pollen amidst the urban jungle. According to Graves they typically resort to certain types of City trees, rooftop gardens, parks, botanical gardens and community gardens.
"They send scouts out to find sources of nectar. They find a source, and then they communicate with the other bees by doing a series of dances that tell the other bees how far away it is and in what direction," says Graves.
According to a study done last year by the French Beekeepers' Association, bees raised in cities are actually healthier and more productive than those raised in rural areas. Researchers believe the reason for the difference is because in cities there are fewer pesticides, higher temperatures and a wider variety of plants for pollination.
Having the hives in the city also makes it easy for Graves to check them since he tends his booth at the Greenmarkets four days a week, while his home is in Beckett, Massachusetts, where his main product, jam, is made by his wife and daughter. Graves comes all the way to New York City instead of Boston because Boston doesn't have year-round markets like New York City.
Graves also says that rooftops are safer than ground level. "[There are] no bears. If you put a hive at ground level in Massachusetts you can kiss it goodbye."
Taking bee pollen has been cited as a way to fight off allergies and hay fever, and some researchers believe eating local raw honey that contains bee pollen is a good way to fight off local allergens.
"People want local honey. That is initially why I put hives on rooftops, so that they can build up immunities to pollen allergies. If you take a tea spoon a day you can build up your immunity to pollen allergies," says Graves.
While environmentalists have dreamed about setting up large rooftop gardens to produce local fresh food on New York City's copious rooftops, the solo Graves has already started to make it a reality.
"Every time I get on a roof, I look at the landscape up there and it's empty roof after empty roof, there's just nothing there. What is done is done on a small scale, it could be a lot more," says Graves, who upon request provides tours of his rooftop hives to school children and curious New Yorkers.
Graves set up his first rooftop beehive at his father's Chevrolet dealership in 1985. When he went away for a week, the bees became exceptionally productive and honey began to leek through the roof of the dealership.
"It ran down the metal roof and went all over a couple cars," Graves recalls and laughs. "Needless to say I was told to remove the hive."
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