A Marauding Menace is Munching My Raspberries
A banner harvest has been besieged by vicious Yellowjackets — a telltale sign that gardening season will soon be over and football season is ramping up
ANKENY, Iowa — I’ve deployed traps. I’ve covered the bountiful canes in fine-meshed fabric. I’ve been stung multiple times while carefully trying to avoid the bane of my fall garden: Surly gangs of black-and-gold-bodied Yellowjackets.
On one hand, I despise them. On the other hand, I’m intrigued by their habits. And Yellowjackets — nasty and brutish as they are — are extremely beneficial insects. They prey on many types of pests and are pollinators before they become crazed by a murderous lust for fructose. My raspberry patch bears heavily on borrowed time as the seasons change, and tinges of yellow, orange, and red pock the leaves of our Oaks, Lindens and Maples. Then, they come.
So I simply surrender and observe. Most seasons, I can continue plucking berries even as they infest the plants. This season, they arrived late in what can only be described as an all-out invasion. They even turn on each other. Their appetite is insatiable. Resistance is futile, so I reluctantly late go and devise my defense for next season.
I know I’ll never beat them. I wouldn’t want them to go hungry. It’s an exercise in damage control and give and take. The winner (sometimes) takes all.
But I’ve had my fun and now it’s their turn. My strawberry patch needs to be renovated and I’m awfully busy covering the No. 18-ranked Iowa State football team, which has been Yellowjacket-like while surging to a 3-0 mark this season. The Cyclones aren’t mean, but they have been unyielding (outside of a mistake-plagued first half at Iowa) as they seek the program’s first 4-0 start in 24 years.
Unlike battling wasps, I generally enjoy following ISU. Every season’s different. Unique challenges crop up. Sometimes they’re met, and sometimes they’re left wanting. The one constant: Head coach Matt Campbell’s steady hand at the controls, which extends to his staff, and in turn, his players.
Big 12 foes — beginning this Saturday night at underdog Houston — will deploy traps. They’ll try to blanket the Cyclones’ top receivers Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins in coverage. They’ll likely sting ISU repeatedly, too, but the Cyclones won’t surrender, and I’ll observe and report. It’s shaping up to be a special season and the only thing I’ll be struggling with is aptly describing the evolving storylines.
I welcome that challenge — and must forget about the Yellowjackets.
P.S. Our son was sick today and I had to tend to him a bit, so I missed the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative “office lounge.” Sorry about that, but it’s a great perk for paid subscribers because …
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