Rockland Honey Provides Hive to Table Honey for Rockland Residents and Beyond

September 20, 2022

West Maple Farm

By M. C. Millman

As Rockland Honey, a local artisan honey business gets ready for its busiest time of year, Zev Oster, founder of Rockland Honey and beekeeper, discusses the business of making honey. 

“I have two locations for my beehives,” Oster shares with Rockland Daily. “One in West Nyack where I have 25 hives and the other at West Maple Farm on West Maple in Monsey where I have 45 hives.”

While beekeepers further north or south can produce one hundred to two hundred pounds of honey per hive each season, Rockland Honey hives produce only thirty to forty pounds.

Bees can travel up to three miles in every direction, but for Rockland honey, there are still not enough flowering trees and plants locally for production to be much more than what it’s now. 

“We get less honey because we’re in such a residential area,” Oster explains. “Bees produce better when there is more agriculture, which we don’t have here. That amount of honey production is insufficient to run a successful honey business, and we sell out yearly, even though our honey has to be expensive in order to make things work.”

Another thing that drives up the cost of Rockland Honey is Rocklands growing bear population. 

“This year, our hives are better off,” Oster explains, “as we put electric fences around the hives. But even that isn’t totally bear proof. Bears can totally wipe out every hive if you don’t take care of it fast enough. They eat the honey, and they eat the pupae, eggs, and larvae. We’ve had trees fall on the fence or batteries that died that let the bears in. We’ve never had bears at our West Nyack location, but at West Maple, we have double electric eight-foot fencing to keep them out.

“Despite being treated annually to prevent it,” says Oster, “the varroa mites kill off nearly forty percent of our hives every winter, and it’s becoming more and more difficult as the years go by.”

So why stick around in Rockland if you’re in the honey business? 

“Because anywhere else is not local honey,” Oster explains. “People want local honey specifically because of allergies and other health reasons.”

So Rockland Honey lives up to its name and is honey made from bees who live and produce honey only in Rockland. 

People other than Rocklanders can enjoy Rockland’s pure honey, though, as it’s available at all three Evergreens as well as in Pomegranate and Breadberry in Boro Park and at The Marketplace in Passaic.

Given the limited supply, though – those interested in adding a sweet local touch to their Rosh Hashana table should shop sooner rather than later.

Link to story: https://rocklanddaily.com/news/rockland-honey-provides-hive-to-table-honey-for-rockland-residents-and-beyond

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