The moment has finally arrived! Your bee yard is set up and your hive bodies are ready. A gleaming white bee suit is awaiting its first use. You have picked up a package of bees from your local bee shop or beekeeper's club, nervously glancing at the backseat on the ride home, making sure none have escaped. There it is, sitting on your lawn, or in your garden, or on your roof. 10,000 worker bees and a queen. Now what? More

Not to be confused with your, er, private parts, the cleverly named BuBees is a limited collection of top bar beehives made in Malibu by designer Steve Steere. More

Like many other hobbies and pastimes, the start-up costs to get kitted out in beekeeping are a bit steep. But once you have the gear, much of it will last a lifetime, and only certain parts need occasional replacement and repair. The real danger is beekeeping's addictive nature. It starts with one hive, and then a few more. Before you know it you have a couple dozen hives in three locations and a very sticky pickup truck. If that happens to you, know that you are in good company. But for anyone looking to start with just one hive, here are the basic pieces of equipment. More

Last week, I showed how you can make natural pesticides for your plants. While these sprays pose less risk than the toxic ones, they also rid your plant of beneficial insects like the ladybug. Unlike most pesky bugs that you want to purge from your garden, ladybugs live up to their cute little name. They pose no harm and are actually beneficial to your plants by feasting on a few of your plant's nemeses such as aphids, mealybugs, leaf hoppers, scales and mites. More

Garden pests are one of the few things I find frustrating about gardening. Whether it's the snails taking over your lettuce or the aphids sucking on your roses — it's definitely annoying — but not a reason to fret and reach for harmful, toxic sprays. They might eliminate the pesky culprits, but they are harmful to you and the environment. Instead, try whipping up one of these simple recipes with ingredients you most likely have on hand. More

Specialty: Supplies for the Urban Farmer
Price Range: ($) Budget – ($$) Mid-Range

Hayseed's Big City Farm Supply is a pop-up shop located in Brooklyn, dedicated to urban farming and open now through June. You can find what you need to start a garden, as well as other homesteading sundries, like chicken and rabbit feed and beekeeping supplies. They also offer weekend workshops on subjects like Beekeeping, Backyard Livestock, Vermicomposting, and Garden Planning. More

The Hen's Dream is a durable, functional, and completely recyclable aluminum flat-packed chicken coop. Built to order in a range of colors and finishes, it's just the thing for the style conscious urban chicken owner. More

Perennial Plate's latest video visits three different farmers—Annie Novak from Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint, Abu Talib from Taqwa Community Farm in the Bronx, and Jack Algiere from the Stone Barns Center—who make real food happen around New York City. If you're a local, this is definitely worth a watch! More

This year at Dutch Deign Week, Philips unveiled an intriguing prototype that allows apartment dwellers to have a beehive in the home. The concept of the Urban Beehive was submitted as a part of their Microbial Home Design project, a "domestic ecosystem that challenges conventional design solutions to energy, cleaning, food preservation, lighting and human waste." More

Julia Rothman's new book is both informative and coffee table worthy. She created 224 paintings for the book, and all of the titles are hand drawn type. More