Lessons from Yellow Jackets

Yes, it hurt when they stung me, but I was intent on taking the large mullein plant out of the garden to compost it. I had not realized that I had also disturbed the yellow jacket nest, drawing their anger and their violence toward me. I got stung twice, and it hurt, but I was working in the garden and having a wonderful time, so I ignored the stings.

Over the next 24 hours a couple of things happened. First off, the stings got very red and swollen, and if they didn’t hurt, they itched like crazy! It’s now 48 hours later, and the swelling has lessened, and they now itch quite a bit, like a fairly new mosquito bite. My arm is no longer looking monstrous. I am grateful.

The other thing that happened was my research on yellow jackets. I had originally thought they were ground bees, but now I understand them better. Ground bees don’t come after you, and they rarely sting; basically you would have to step on them. They are not aggressive. Yellow jackets, on the other hand, are violently aggressive when they feel wronged. They will go after the threat, and if they smell your fear, they send pheromones out to their buddies, and they will swarm the threat, stinging repeatedly.

It was a good thing that I was not afraid of them. It reminded me of a few times when yellow jackets had attacked. Once as a kid, I was riding my pony. We must have disturbed their ground nest, and they came after me. I ran back to the house, abandoning Stoney, while getting stung on the cheek and back. I became extremely scared of bees and even had some awful nightmares about them. As I got older, I learned how to control my fear by looking at bees – mostly harmless and definitely not yellow jackets – while slowing my breathing. That work paid off!

Another memory was of a boy Andrew who, along with my son Chris, were attacked by swarms of yellow jackets. They were stung many times before they got back to the house. Although Chris was upset and hurting, it was Andrew who needed help, as he was going into anaphylactic shock. 911 and his father was called, and he is okay. He had never had a reaction before.

After reading that yellow jackets can swarm, and seeing how my arm swelled in the two places where I was stung, I realized how dangerous it is for humans to be working – gardening – around a ground nest. What to do?

A few things to know about me. I am an interspiritual minister (all faiths including None), and a lover of Creation. I am a new enthusiastic herbalist who believes that using herbs for traditional remedies not only helps us humans, but also works to heal all of Mother Earth and her environments. Many of my sermons relate humans to their entire world, showing love to us from all the elements, and expressing love from humans back to the world, creating Oneness.

So what to do about these yellow jackets? The first solution from a search on the internet is of course pesticides. However, based on what I wrote about who I am and how I roll, you probably guessed that I use all natural means to grow my garden. You are right. No chemicals in my garden, thank you!

The next solution was to wait until night when the yellow jackets are all tucked safely in their nest, then pour scalding hot water down the hole. Sorry, I am one of those who traps the spider in a cup to take it outside instead of killing it. So, not only was scalding them not going to happen, neither was shop-vac-ing them all up over night, then letting them bake a few days. Or trapping them in cans or bottles to die.

Another thing to know about me is that I don’t fight hate with hate. I don’t support killing the killers. I believe in the quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” So, how can I apply love to this situation, so I can get back to gardening?

I got it! I have to approach the yellow jackets with love. Yesterday I called a friend and asked her to pray with me, since prayer is much more powerful when done with others. I first had us bring light and love and healing into our own bodies. I then had us send light and love and healing to each other. This way, our energy, our vibration, was higher. Then we prayed, sending love to the yellow jackets (and ticks while we were at it). We spoke to them and visualized them. I begged for forgiveness for disturbing their nest, explaining that it was not on purpose, and I had not meant to hurt them or disturb them. We asked them to leave this situation, which was not harmonious to any of us. We suggested that they fly as an entire swarm to the northwest, into the woods, to a place where no one would bother them, and where they might find an abundance of food. We told them that we understand that they have a valuable place in our ecosystem (as pollinators), but that they would be happier, and we gardeners would be happier, if we were at least a mile apart. With gratitude for them and all of life, we ended the prayer.

This morning I told the story to a group of friends. Although we don’t talk spiritually much, I asked if they would also pray with me, so in a circle we joined hands and prayed similarly to yesterday.

Once done, one of the women told a story about how she had visited a monastery this past April in Europe. Outside there was a beautiful ring of delicate roses. The docent told of how recently they were being consumed by Japanese beetles, so the monks prayed for the beetles to move away from these bushes. My friend was then shown a rose bush off to the edge, away from the circle, where the beetles had feasted and ate the bush down to almost nothing.

Lessons from Yellow jackets: The power of love. The power of prayer.

So, I will be going back to the garden tomorrow. It sits behind a little barn on land we share with others, a budding community garden. Will the hornets still be there? Will they attack? God only knows!