Last year 300,000 square feet of green roofs popped up in our city, more than any other in America. Often perched within those urban building-top oases are microfarms with thousands of workers creating one of the world’s most sought-after—and some say most endangered—agricultural product: honey.

Rooftop bees’ global star has risen nearly as quickly as the Beatles. Urban beekeeping is the rage from Melbourne to Paris to London, where anxiety bubbled that there weren’t enough plants to satisfy the sudden influx of bees’ need for nectar. Momentarily setting aside the $500 Williams-Sonoma Backyard Beehive & Starter Kit (bees not included) it’s no longer just for serious beekeepers and elite foodies with time on their hands and dreams of bottling personal-label