Peter Borst

Peter Loring Borst was born in Boston and grew up in San Diego. In 1974, he decided to become a professional beekeeper, and was hired on to an outfit which comprised over 2000 bee hives. Over the following years, he worked for several commercial outfits and did a 5-year stint in a beekeeping supply factory.

In 1991 he moved to upstate New York where he worked as senior apiarist at Cornell’s Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies. Peter served for many years as president and apiary manager of the Finger Lakes Beekeepers Club. He has been a regular contributor to the American Bee Journal, and also published in Bee Culture, Bee World and others.

Now in his 70’s, he lives in a house in the woods outside of Ithaca, NY with his wife, a dozen beehives, and a profusion of wildlife including possums, raccoons, and bears. This year, Peter finished his book “The Golden Age of Beekeeping,” published by Northern Bee Books. It starts with the settling of the “New World” by Europeans but is focused on the period from the 1850s up to about 1920.