As a beekeeper and instructor, it is my long-term goal to get as many people into urban beekeeping as each city can support. I've developed a hard sell that I have taken to pitching at anyone who seems even remotely interested in hearing it. While having your own brand of...

Warning: Images may be upsetting to some readers

As a fairly frequent meat-eater, I had always hoped to someday try my hand at humanely slaughtering and processing my own chicken. When I started raising egg-laying hens in my backyard in Brooklyn, I considered the possibility that these birds might come...

I accepted a long time ago that I am likely a homeowners worst nightmare. I'm a backyard "farmer". I keep a functional, but not-at-all-very-beautiful vegetable garden behind my apartment. I compost my kitchen scraps in a covered bin next to my raised beds. I raise a small flock of egg...

I consider myself part of a community of food-obsessed maniacs. Pretty much everything I do is in some way directly related to the act of creating food or consuming it. It's no surprise then, that the one major social event I participate in is based entirely around comestibles....

Ask any hobbyist beekeeper, "Why keep bees?" and just about all of them will say, "Because I love honey!", "Because they pollinate my garden!" or "Bees are fascinating!" All of those reasons are true for me, but I wasn't thinking in such a reductive fashion when I decided to venture...