Life is the flower for which love is the honey.
~ Victor Hugo
A whole variety of vegetables, fruits, pastry, flowers, jams, cheeses, and, of course, honey can be found in Union Square on the days when it transforms into a farmers market.
“No, we did not bring the bees with us”- says a sign right next to Andrew Cotés (41) honey stand, which is covered by bees. There is a number of colored jars, pollen, whole pieces of honeycombs, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, even soap -everything is fresh and healthy.
Where can a New Yorker find real honey in NYC? One does not need to go anywhere outside the city. The honey is right there: on the rooftops of multiple buildings all around the urban area. Coté has 320 hives total in Connecticut, New York State, and best of all, five boroughs of NYC.
“Beekeeping in the city is different than in the country,” said Andrew. Among the factors that can affect the quality and quantity of the product are the weather conditions, strength and health of the queen, and resources for the bees. You also have to be aware of the diseases that bees can get: different kinds of mites, bacteria, fungi infection, viruses, etc.
For bees to get pollen, Andrew “puts bee hives where other people have flowers already.” These flowers affect the variety of honey, so in order to get buckwheat honey, he finds fields of buckwheat (but this sort of honey can be produced outside city area, where there is space for fields). Among other varieties of honey he has are: blueberry, orchard tree, clover and basswood. One of the most popular is the wildflower, which is basically honey made with pollen of all different kinds of flowers that are available for bees in the area (that are around the beehive) or what the bees can find.
Andrew does not use any chemicals in his work with bees, but he cannot guarantee his produce to be organic, because a bee can fly anywhere up to five kilometers away to get pollen: “You can’t control that. Somebody might spray the flowers, but we do the best that is possible.”
Andrew is a fourth generation beekeeper. He started helping out his family with the business when he was 10 years old. His whole family is involved into the business, “The bees are like my daughters”, -said Andrew. He calls himself the largest single beehive owner in New York City, who was also raised in NYC.
Apart from Union Square, he also sells his produce in Forest Hills, near Columbus Circle. He also took part at New York City Day at the High Line.
Andrew’s honey is well-known; he does not even need a business card or any kind of advertisement. He simply does what he can do best and lets his business speak for itself. “I rely on word of mouth,”- he said-“and I have a website (andrewshoney.com) only because one of my customers made it.”
His customers are all kinds of people: children, grown up, black white, Russian, Turkish, Chinese, in Andrews opinion, “In New York there is no particular anything”.
Natalie Porter, a salesperson (21) says that whipped honey is the most popular one. “Wildflower is also really popular just because it’s kind of a basic one”. Natalie adds that it also depends on the season and on who is buying: “Japanese tourists always buy the tiny bears, like twelve of them. Russian people always buy basswood honey, because they have it in Russia a lot. We have regular customers. They’ll have allergies and they’ll come over and over again.”
Surprisingly, Andrew does not strive to expand the business or to increase sales: “I don’t want my business to grow. I like it like this. I like what I do, I am content and happy. I am not looking to become national.” On the contrary, he says “hopefully, it will be a little smaller. I am not getting younger and I work too much. Seven days a week.” He does not see any competitors in other beekeepers: “A lot of people try to do what I do, but I haven’t noticed any impact.”
Andrew is satisfied with his life: “I can choose what I want to do and I have chosen beekeeping. I am happy to do it. I am not doing it for any other reasons.” As for the future, he is planning “to stay alive and to be a better person.”