There's a definite shortage honey bees this Summer...all across North Carolina, and in many other parts of the country as well. Honey bees are, of course, vital to many types of pollination...and are critical to everything from food to flowers to cattle.

One cattle farmer in the Mills River community said he's seen only a few honey bees this Summer, and they were fluttering around in his vegetable garden. Most local flower gardeners say they're seeing almost NO honey bees around their Summer flowers.

An absence of honey bees could have a devastating effect on the whole environment, say many experts. The shortage of honey bees is being blamed on everything from climate change, to glodal warming, to parasite. Our local honey bee population was severely damaged last year by the last Spring freeze...that killed their food source in some early blooming trees.

The honey bee, by the way, is the "official" STATE INSECT of North Carolina.