I can no longer get anyone to harvest the honey, they all refuse. Help! I am afraid they will starve to death.

is there any honey left in the hive?

....duh! Thanks, that was the problem. I hope it rains soon so there are more mushrooms.

There is a post about doubling the kids up on the same mushroom to get double the amount of food in the bin. It worked for me. I am trying to find it for you.

[SPOILER]
I found it. This was originally posted by Swedane (see post #156394:
Once you see a collectible;
1. Pick up a child and pause the game before dropping him/her on the item.
2. Keep the game paused and pick up a second child
3. Hold the second child over or close to the item.
4. Unpause the game and quickly drop the second child onto or near the collectible.

You can actually triple any pickup using this method. [spoiler]If you have three master farmers and a chief, by dropping them on the fire to dance you can also make it rain at any time, which will help your mushroom hunt.[/spoiler]