City Council May Legalize Urban Beekeeping

Serious Eats reports that City Council member David Yassky has introduced a bill to set up a licensing process for urban beekeepers. Currently illegal—thanks to an archaically-worded health code subsection—beekeeping in the city thrives in a “don’t ask, don’t tell” sort of way; an excellent Edible Manhattan article published last fall describes the outlaw subculture for all of its charms. Last fall, author Rowan Jacobsen told us that more rooftop buzzing in the city could “generate quite a bit of its honey needs,” not to mention a really local sweetener. In the meantime, there’s a NYC Beekeeping meetup group and a petition you can sign. There’s even a $75, twelve-hour, soup-to-nuts urban beekeeping course (going on now, with another starting next month) administrated through the New York City Beekeepers Association.