As a New York green roof installer I have a special affection for my own green roof. Check it out after all these summer rains. It is bursting with life. I threw a couple handfuls of Native North East wildflower seeds a couple years ago and now the roof overflows with sunflowers both big and […]
Brooklyn Green Roof Blooming Read More »
This is taken from Avaaz.org. Worth reading and acting on. Silently, billions of bees are dying off and our entire food chain is in danger. Bees don’t just make honey, they are a giant, humble workforce, pollinating 90% of the plants we grow. Scientists increasingly blame one group of toxic pesticides for their rapid demise,
This summer all the bee hives around Red Hook had really red honey. Our hives in Carroll Gardens are just a stone’s throw away and also glowed with red. Here is an example: Work on the street was that the bees had found a maraschino cherry factory. And it turns out the word was true,
Red Honey and the Perils of Urban Farming Read More »
Here is an interesting PDF giving key facts about green roofs. The most interesting thing is a study they did comparing an R18 insulated roof with a non-insulated green roof. The green roof was a lot cooler in the summer. They also give costs and life assessment numbers. Very interesting. Read the green Roof PDF here
Green Roof Benefits and Facts Read More »
We checked on some of our hives today a week after putting them into new hives. They were doing great. In their productive enthusiasm they had built comb in a place where it would cause spacing problems so we had to take it out. Both hives had excess comb we had to remove. One was
Brooklyn Bee Maintenance Read More »
When NYC legalized bees a little while ago the one stipulation they asked was that bee keepers register their bees. There is no way I’m doing that! I have 40,000 bees. Do you have any idea how long it would take me to register them?! 🙂 But I might register my hives. Or I might
Register Your Brooklyn Bees Read More »
We just got our bees for the Brooklyn Green Show House! They arrived late at night and we put them in their hives (hived them) at the crack of dawn. We put the hives on the green roof so the bees can help pollinate our strawberries! First we put the stands made of salvaged wood: Then we
A Bee (or two) Lands in Brooklyn Read More »
Now that beekeeping is legal in NYC we are going to have a lot more bees! And that is a good thing. Here is a list of plants that bees like. If you ask me the list has pretty much all the plants in the world, but I didn’t make the list (USDA did) and
Plants Attractive to Native Bees Read More »
Beekeeping has just been legalized in New York. This is great news and the result of hard work from the beekeeping community. Let there bee light! Sweet! More here
Beekeeping in NY is Legal! Read More »
