Queens Scene

Meet Astoria

Nick Hoefly

 

 

Nick Hoefly is an emerging authority in urban beekeeping and shares his passion through classes and events dedicated to honey bees and pollinators, as well as online through several social channels. A veteran of the TV/film industry, Nick found bees when he took up beekeeping as a hobby with a friend. The hobby grew and he eventually founded Astor Apiaries with his wife, Ashley. Astor Apiaries is now one of the leading apiaries in the New York City area with Nick and his work being featured in publications such as the New York Times.

As part of his extensive work with bees, Nick has developed several beekeeping classes; hive tours, a full beginner’s course, and a year-long urban beekeeping apprentice­ship. He is a Master Beekeeper, certified by the Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies at Cornell University and the Apiary Manager for The Bee Conservancy (TBC), developing and over­seeing the beekeeping strategy at TBC Bee Sanctuaries across NYC.

Nick is also recognized by the Italian Na­tional Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey. He completed the very first and only class offered here in the US by the American Honey Tasting Society in 2019. Through his experience, Nick regularly holds honey tastings throughout the year. Further­more, he’s personally curated the unique col­lection of honey varietals sold by Astor Apiaries in addition to his NYC Raw Honey.

 

 

QS: What inspired you to become a bee­keeper?

NH: When I started beekeeping as a hobby, it was an incredible experience, but was a pretty expensive upfront cost. My second year I got more hives so I could have enough extra honey to sell to break even and enjoy the hobby for free. The more I worked the bees, the more I enjoyed learning about them and trying to be a better beekeeper. I continued to find ways to offset the costs of beekeeping and eventually did it as a side hustle. It took a few years but it became my full-time job.

QS: What are the best parts of beekeeping for you? Have a favorite beekeeping memory?

NH: The best parts of beekeeping for me are sharing the experience of a hive with others and watching how the bees work together. Even after so many years, opening a hive is an amazing experience. You never know exactly what you might find. When I bring people to a hive for the first time, I get to relive that initial excitement with them. My favorite beekeeping memory is probably the very first time I drove with a friend to go pick up my first colony. You pick up a shoe-box sized package that has 10,000 bees in it and just leave to take them home. You are now responsible for this buzzing box of bees and you don’t know ex­actly what you’re doing. I was equal parts anx­ious and excited. When we got home, installing the bees was also nerve-wracking. You basi­cally just pour them into the hive like cereal from a box and hope they don’t just fly away. Of course they don’t, but the cloud of bees buzzing around you does not put your mind at ease. Eventually they settled into their new hive and that was the beginning for me.

QS: What is a typical day like? Does it change seasonally?

NH: My days would be simpler if I was only beekeeping, but running a business around beekeeping keeps me busy and defi­nitely changes my schedule from week to week. Beekeeping is a very seasonal profes­sion. There’s lots of prep work to do in the late winter, and spring to early summer is critical for setting up the hives to produce a good crop of honey. Later in the fall I am juggling winter prep on the hives, treating sick hives, and get­ting out to events where we sell our honey. The winter is the slowest time of the year for bee­keeping as I may only visit the hives once a month to do a quick check on them. The rest of the holiday season is full of markets and keeping up with customer orders.

For me, a typical day during the active bee season might consist of getting out to a bee yard or two early in the morning to beat the heat of the day. I’ll spend 10-15 minutes in­specting each hive, log my inspections and de­termine if the hives need any special attention on my next visit. After that, I will make it out to some clients that I mentor or other clients that hire us to do full service beekeeping. My afternoons are usually spent at the computer taking care of the business of the business. It includes prepping customer orders, logistics re­garding hives and their needs, and managing some great people who help me remotely to cover some admin tasks and other areas like social media or blog posts. By the end of the work-day I will pick my kids up from after-school care and then knock out emails and some other tasks.

QS: In your spare time what are some of your favorite places and or things to do in As­toria?

NH: In my spare time – there’s not much – but my family goes out to Astoria Park. I have two small kids, so any time they can burn some energy at the playground, it’s worth it. We live down the street from Mighty Oak Roasters; so getting an iced coffee from there is always a treat. When my wife and I are able, we also love to go relax with a beer at the Bo­hemian Beer Garden.

For more on Nick follow him @astorapi­aries or astorapiaries.com/

—Melissa Mennona

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