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The Apiary at City Natives

Boston Natural Areas Network maintains a small Apiary in the southeast corner of the City Natives campus. The Apiary was installed as a pilot project in 2004. We wanted to demonstrate the process of keeping honeybees within green space properties in urban areas. With an encouraging winter survival rate, and many pounds of harvested honey, the Apiary model proved to be a great success over the first three seasons. A valuable community resource, the Apiary is now a permanent feature of City Natives.

The Apiary is maintained by local beekeeper Mike Graney and staff members from Victory Program’s ReVision Urban Farm. Mike oversees the two BNAN hives and three to five of his own while providing support to the staff of ReVision for their hives. The Apiary is used for education and programming, hosting two workshops annually as part of the Seed, Sow & Grow series. Discussion style workshops cover hive setup, seasonal maintenance, honeybee biology and honey harvest.

Honey is periodically harvested from the BNAN hives beginning in mid summer. We bottle the honey and provide it for purchase September through December. The honey comes in eight ounce and sixteen ounce jars with a decorative, illustrated label. Please contact the office to purchase bottled honey. Additionally, Mike Graney sells honey and other bee products at BNAN events and in select stores in Boston.