Well known urban beekeeper Andrew Cote and his wife Yuliana spent an afternoon with us while they were on tour in Ireland. Andrew is the founder of two non-profit organizations, Bees Without
Borders and the New York City Beekeepers Association (NYCBA). They came to see our Irish Black Bees, we gave them a honey tasting session and we shared beekeeping experiences – different in some ways but similar in many!
Andrew Cote is a fourth-generation beekeeper and polyglot who sells a
gorgeous array of local honey varietals at Greenmarkets year-round. He was born
into a beekeeping family in Connecticut and is (at least) the 4th generation to
carry on this ancient art. Andrew runs Silvermine Apiary, home of Andrew’s
Taste-Bud Bursting Local Wildflower Honey. Although tending to his many hives
in Connecticut and New York City is a full-time job, Andrew’s passions and
occupations are diverse.
The beekeeper dubbed by New York Times food journalist Mark Bittman as “one of
the industry’s legends” and by Bon Appetit as “hot temperedâ€, is a
Fulbright scholar and full-time professor as well as beekeeper extraordinaire.
Andrew is also the founder of two non-profit organizations, Bees Without
Borders and the New York City Beekeepers Association (NYCBA).
Through Bees Without Borders, Andrew teaches beekeeping as a method of
poverty alleviation for under-served communities from the local (East New York,
Brooklyn) to the far-flung (Iraq, Uganda, Nigeria, Haiti, and Ecuador, to name
a few).