A week and a half ago, on my bus ride back home
from Manhattan, I talked at length with a guy I’ve known forever from my parish
about what he and his family have been up to. It turned out that his younger
brother had taken up a most unusual hobby: beekeeping.
Visions of what would happen if I ever took up this pursuit quickly overcame me, all of which can
be best summed up in one word: buzzkill. I told this guy that with my lethal
combination of lack of talent and luck, I would probably end up massively stung
in about two minutes if I ever tried to emulate his brother.
My friend’s brother has evidently thought of the
same thing, because he dons a heavy-duty suit before he approaches these bad news bees. But he has devoted as
much study as care to all of this, and the result has evidently been lots of
delicious honey. (I wish I could have used a bit of that this past winter to
keep bad colds at bay.)
Our northern New Jersey suburb has been the site of
all this, but I think my friend’s brother would like the little project that
began in Bryant Park, right behind
the Central Branch of the New York Public Library, just before we spoke. Three
million—yes, count ‘em!—bees were placed in the park as part of its Apiary,
allowing residents and curious visitors like me to see bees in just about the
last place you’d expect: a concrete jungle. I took this picture right after the installation.
The easiest place for the casual viewer (like me) to
catch these bees is in the flower beds on the grounds. But for the more serious
bee enthusiast, like my longtime acquaintance, monthly beekeeping classes are
being held, free for park-goers.
No comments:
Post a Comment