In a Noe Valley backyard, on a sunny September day amid flowering bushes, a tall man with friendly eyes reaches into a box full of bees. He pulls out a section of ripe combs dripping with fresh honey while hundreds of honeybees dart and swirl around him. The man, Philip Gerrie, is a San Francisco apiarist with four towering stacks of buzzing honeybee hives just feet from his backdoor. Gerrie is part of the growing community of urban beekeepers across the nation.

The rise in city honeybee farms over the past few years is a happy development for many. It means more local honey, sweeter city fruits, and for some, an enjoyable pastime. But the trend comes at the expense of a recent honeybee crisis.

In 2007, the large-scale commercial bee business took a hit. A disease effecting honeybees known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) was to blame; an ailment that leaves bees susceptible to varroa mites and causes them to abandon their hives.

"Bees will never [naturally] leave their babies or food behind," says San Francisco bee expert Tim Muhrlin. "When they do, you know something isn't right."

Researchers believe causes of CCD to be any number of man-induced stressors such as pesticides, feeding them sugar water, or long strenuous trips packed into boxes.

As a result of developing hardships for bees, "over the last three years, more than one in three honey bee colonies have died nationwide, posing a serious risk to our natural food supply," according to the American Beekeeping Federation.

"CCD is the worst, and best, thing to happen to beekeeping in the last fifty years," says local beekeeper, and president of the San Francisco Beekeeping Association (SFBA), Karen Peteros.

The 'worst' part is that mistreatment endured by honeybees is further testament to human's negative effect on the environment; and without bees- we have no produce.

The 'best' part is that the widespread reportage jumpstarted a community of environmentally-conscious urban beekeepers who have the insect's best interest at heart.

Peteros attributes the rise in small-scale urban beekeepers to the media buzz about bee troubles that started three years ago. "Before the coverage in 2007, you only really saw bees in [large-scale] agricultural setting," says Peteros. Now there are 192 members of the SFBA and several beekeeping organizations functioning in the Bay Area.

"Overall, honeybees in small-scale beekeeping are much healthier," says Peteros.

When she first installed hives in her Glen Park backyard, Peteros didn't mention anything to her neighbors. Soon, she says, people living nearby noticed their fruit trees were blossoming like never before. They also did not mind the free honey.

But other locals may not vibe so well with the honeybees. During the months of March to June honeybees travel in swarms looking for a place to call home. Sometimes they mistake houses for trees or get lost amid city obstacles. Someone might find a swarm of honeybees gathered on a car, or on a street post and feel threatened.

Although it is illegal in many other cities, there are no laws in San Francisco against beekeeping. The San Francisco health and safety code excludes them from their list of dangerous, illegal animals.

"They won't sting unless you distress them. If you try to take their honey, they'll get cranky, otherwise, they don't mean any harm," says Muhrlin.

Even if honeybees are docile creatures, swarms can be bothersome. The more beekeepers there are in the city, the more swarms are likely to emerge. This may lead to more restrictive regulations on beekeeping in the future.

People aren't the only ones who might have issue with the honeybee.

There are many different species of bee living in California that are native. The honeybee isn't one of them; European settlers introduced the honeybee to North America as an agricultural tool.

If honeybees are bred at excessive rates, they may encroach on the food supply of indigenous bees.

"They are like cows; it's animal husbandry. Yes, we do want to keep healthy populations [of honeybees], but there should be areas where we let native bees have their preserve," says Gretchen LeBuhn, an SF State biology professor.

With concerns over harsher regulation, the well-being of commercially-farmed colonies, and a potential indigenous versus honeybee predicament, beekeepers have a lot to worry about. But as long as people care for their honeybees and value native ones- bees can continue to provide us with a third of the food we consume- and make the food we already have a little bit tastier.