‘Bees Without Borders’ Helps Beekeepers Around the World

Coté Spreads Beekeeping Worldwide
By Nicole Rivard, Norwalk Citizen (USA), 10/11/2008

"I haven't had this since I was a little kid," said a woman who had just tasted some whipped honey at the Andrew's Local Honey booth at the Westport Farmer's Market last Thursday. Later a passerby waved hello at Norwalk native Andrew Coté, local beekeeper, pointing to his bottles of honey and shouted, "That's the best thing I've ever tasted in the world."

Coté was all smiles, soaking it all in, obviously enjoying keeping his customers satisfied. Besides the regular and whipped honey he produces at Silvermine Apiary in Norwalk, Coté sells bee pollen, comb honey, royal jelly and propolis. In addition to Farmer's Markets in Westport and Greenwich, his local honey and related products are sold at Whole Foods in New Haven, Greenwich and Westport.

Ten percent of everything he sells goes to Bees without Borders, a non-profit organization he founded that provides beekeeper training to low-resource communities around the world. BwB brings the value of beekeeping to communities in the developing world, allowing people to increase their income while maintaining their dignity and improving the environment. Through education and training, BwB provides people with the skills they need to maintain healthy beehives and offer bee-related products to developing markets…