Our Native Bees is the result of Paige Embry's yearlong quest to learn more about the forgotten, yet fundamental, native bees of North America.

Honey bees get all the press, but the story of North America's native bees-- an endangered species essential to our ecosystems and food supplies-- is just as crucial. Embry explores the importance of native bees and focuses on why they play a key role in gardening and agriculture. She goes on a bee hunt with the world expert on the likely extinct Franklin's bumble bee; raises blue orchard bees in her refrigerator, and learns about an organization that turns the out-of-play areas in golf courses into pollinator habitats. -- adapted from jacket.