This from "You Bet Your Garden" "Bees" Nesting in the Ground? Wasp OutÂÂthey might be Yellowjackets! Q. Mike: We have vegetables growing in an above ground garden made of logs. About six inches from one of the plants is the entrance to an underground bee's nest. Is there something I could just pour in there, like vinegar, that would get the bees without poisoning the soil? Thanks,          ---Gary Herrmann; Bala Cynwyd, PA I have a yellowjacket nest under a decorative boulder in my front garden. One nailed me above the kneecap last Saturday. It felt like a 4-penny nail was stuck in there. I am against killing any bugs just for convenience sake, but I need to get rid of these pests. They are too darn dangerous. Any suggestions for an organic way to drive them away? Keeping it green...          ---Rich Beaumont; Haycock Twp, Bucks County, PA Mike: We have wasp-like insects (about 2" long with striped abdomens) living in perfectly round holes in the ground in our front flowerbeds. They make these piles of dirt that look like sawdust when they dig out their holes. They havenÂt tried to sting us, but they are right around the front door, and I'd love to get rid of them. They have been visiting us every summer for 3-4 years now. I try to fill in the holes in the fall, but no luck so far. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you,          ---Cindy Lefkowitz; Havertown, PA  A. We get a lot of calls this time of year from anxious homeowners about "ground nesting bees". There are two insects with stingers you might notice emerging from holes in your lawn or flowerbed right now, but neither are bees. (The only bees that nest in the ground are gentle pollinators that are only active in the Spring.) If, like Cindy, the black and yellow insects you see are around two inches long, relax; those are the famous cicada-killing wasps and they have no interest in stinging you. The males donÂt have stingers, and the rarely-seen females often wonÂt even sting when provoked! And besides, their season of dragging giant cicadas into those holes for their young to feed upon is almost done. To prevent their harmless presence NEXT year, keep your ground covered with plants or mulch; they only make their solitary nests in bare soil. If those insects are under an inch long, however, do NOT relax. Those are yellowjackets, a type of highly aggressive wasp, not a bee. Although technically beneficial because they eat pest insects, yellowjackets are responsible for almost all of the so-called Âbee sting deaths in the United States. They like to sting people, each insect can sting repeatedly, they generally attack in large numbers, and they can bite ya too. They are especially dangerous this time of year. Their nests have gotten HUGE, and the workers are on a constant prowl for food.  To keep individual wasps out of your outdoor areas, donÂt leave pet food or human food outside, and keep trash sealed tight. Oh and take it from meÂalways give opened cans of soda a little shake before drinking. Talk about ouch! And if youÂve got a nest in a frequently-used area, it must be destroyed. InsecticidesÂnatural or organicÂarenÂt recommended this late in the season; the nests are so big and intricate that the sprays canÂt reach the inner layers. The best way IÂve found to destroy a nest is to smother it. Fill a wheelbarrow with a big load of ice (like from a motel ice machineÂits just the right size) and quickly dump it over the hole on a cool evening after the scouts have gone inside for the night. The cold will prevent their attacking you. Then cover the hole and the area around it with a heavy tarp weighted down with bricks, a piece of sheet metal, a big wooden board or other heavy object. Then cover that with soil or wood chips. Or cover the hole with a thick piece of clear plastic, seal the edges tight to the ground, and the nest will cook in the sun once the ice melts. Be sure and pick a cool night when these dangerous wasps will be unable to respond quicklyÂand Âbee carefulÂ! Traps are the most effective way to capture yellowjackets trying to muscle in on a picnic or other outdoor eventÂand they can also be used to cut the numbers in an underground nest. You can buy ready-made traps at any hardware store or make you own: Just remove the cap from a glass or plastic container, drive a single hole into it with a Phillips-head screwdriver, put a bit of bait in the container, and put the cap back on. To keep the pests away from your picnic, place the traps on the outskirts of your outdoor area. To reduce the numbers in a nest, place lots of traps near the nest in the cool of the eveningÂwhen the wasps wonÂt be active. Try two different kinds of baitÂput some spoiled ham or smelly pet food in half the traps and some apple juice or a piece of rotting peach in the rest. Some times the pests want sugar, sometimes meat. Either way, theyÂll fly in for the food, but they wonÂt be able to fly out. Last year, an inventive YBYG listener told us that they had used one of those backyard bug zappers to destroy a nest. The listener simply set the zapper right near the entrance to the nestÂagain, always do this on a cool eveningÂand then turned it on. The aggressive wasps kept flying out trying to sting the zapper and were eventually all electrocuted. FinallyÂa good use for those otherwise useless zappers! And just this year, weÂve heard from two different YBYG listeners-- Phil Getty from New Hope, PA and Jim Lauther of Pine Hill, New JerseyÂwho used shop vacs to capture the pests as they flew out of their underground nests. Both attached their longest extension poles to the end of their vacuum hoses, positioned the poles close to the openings, turned the machines on and let them run. Both reported great success. (This is much the same solution the pros use when the pests build a nest in the wall of a house.) If youÂd like to try it, position the hose of your shop vac right near the opening of the nest on a cool evening and then turn it on the next day. Be sure to leave the vac on for a LONG time; there could be five thousand yellowjackets in a nest this time of year. Be sure to plug the hose right away when youÂre done so they donÂt fly back out and take revenge. Then leave the vac sit in the sun for a few days to kill the occupants. [Note: I sent an advance copy of this answer to our three Âquestioners and JUST got this response back from one: "Read the article you sent about using a shop vac, and decided to give it a try. I stuck it on the opening, turned it on and ran away. Let it run for about an hour, then hit some wood near the nest with a hammer to make sure no more bees were in there, and none came out. Two days later, I opened up the shop vac and it was full of former bees. Very coolÂand no poisons near the garden. Thanks very much for the advice; Gary Herrmann." Thank YOU for the report, Gar!] Sensational First Aid for ANY Sting! Get a jar of AdolphÂs meat tenderizer and keep it nearby whenever youÂre outdoors. That way, if you DO get stung by one of these aggressive wasps, you can cure it instantly! Just wet the area, shake some of the AdolphÂs (or any papain/papaya-based meat tenderizer) onto the sting, cover it with a damp napkin or cloth and the same enzymes that break down tough cuts of meat will denature the protein-based venom. ItÂll be like you were never stung! Of course, if youÂre allergic to Âbee stingsÂ, donÂt go anywhere without your emergency injector this time of year. You Bet Your Garden  ©2004 Mike McGrath

Another post that is now public: I would like to make to a kind of Italian sausage (what else would a Jersey girl make) with the pork and venision -- I don't have a smoker... any suggestions? My reply: OK, start with lots of garlic, and you can even add things like rosemary, oregano, thyme, sweet peppers, onion, and even cheese. The onion and peppers I use are dried and don't add more water. The cheese I use is a high melting point cheddar that's cubed, available from one of my sources. All these are also available from the sausage making suppliers. If you like fennel seeds, add that too with a little anise seed. When I do fennel, I grind some in a small coffee grinder and use some whole as well. Also, ground black pepper and coriander are useful as is sage (easy on sage, its hot spicy). I use fresh and dried garlic and any recipe that calls for it I usually double or triple that amount. If the venison is gamey tasting, you can also add a little ground up juniper berries. They take away some gamey taste, but go easy. Italian sausages are usually all pork, no beef, but as mentioned, salami and pepperoni are OK with beef, and pork or venison, as is summer sausages. Things like hot dogs and bologna are pureed meat with cereal or soy added. For a smoky taste, I use liquid smoke. They sell small bottles of Wrights Liquid smoke in some supermarkets near steak sauces, but I usually buy a half gallon bottle from a sausage maker supplier and use maybe 2-3 tablespoons on a 10 pound batch, unless I want a lot of smoky taste. I also make a really good Canadian bacon that uses a whole boneless pork loin. I get a ham or bacon brine cure mixture and inject it into the pork. Then I place the injected pork in a big vacuum tight vessel and fill it with the brine and pull a vacuum on it for 1-2 days. THis last time, I added some maple syrup to give it a special tang. It too gets liquid hickory smoke flavor. Baked slowly at 200 degrees about 6 hours. Cooled, chilled and sliced. Then, I use a Food Saver machine to pack small amounts of it. Store cost about $6+ a pound, my cost under $2.00 a pound!! I have a decent digital scale that also weighs grams. I use Nitrites in all my sausages as they are not completely done in a refrigerated environment like they do commercially. The Nitrite amounts are tiny and that's what gives cold cuts their red color. They are tinted pink and are mixed with salt, so the ratio is easier and more accurate to measure. That's the main reason I don't use Morton Tender Quick, as you have little control if its added too much. I make pastrami out of corned beef, but simply coating them before they are slowly baked. A year ago, I made about 40 pounds of pepperoni and salami each, and the were not only baked very slowly (8 hours at under 200 degrees), but also dry cured for about a month at room temps and refrigerated. I used fibrous casings that are not edible, as I stuff these casings very tightly with the meats. Using edible collagen or fresh casings will burst if I were to use them. So, when I want to slice the salami and pepperoni I peel it first. I gave some to a kid who though it was a bit tough, until I asked him if he has peeled it beforehand.. DUH!! I have a professional meat slicer too as well as some vacuum systems I use to marinate and do a little home canning with. As mentioned, after mixing and before stuffing, cook a tiny sample and taste to see if it suits your taste buds.

Meat tenderizer is papain....an extract of papaya, it works to soften/dissolve proteins. I keep a carton of Tone's meat tenderizer on my kitchen lazy susan with the salt pepper, sugar and vinegar....in case of a bee sting. I am allergic to bee stings. Says it contains salt, sugar, cornstarch to prevent clumping and papain....hmm note salt is listed first.... Fresh pineapple juice also will tenderize meat....in fact if you marinate meat over night in pineapple juice it will get nasty mushy! Fresh pineapple also keeps jello from setting. Canned doesn't do those things, heat destroys the enzymes. When I had family at home I would buy minute steaks, sprinkle with tenderizer, dredge with flour, brown quickly in a fry pan, add a chopped onion and some mushrooms. a splash of A ! sauce, some garlic salt and a little water and simmer until the onions and mushrooms were cooked.. Shake some Tater Tots onto a pan in the oven, put some frozen green beans in a pan with a bit of butter and salt and poof.....dinner!

Please don't use bleach or DMSO on your sting. You don't need to use extreme, and possibly harmful measures for a simple wasp sting. The baking soda and water paste someone suggested should help, it's what my family has always used. The black salve Annie suggested is good and safe, but I've never used it for stings - I'll have to try that. I've heard that meat tenderizer works, but haven't tried it either. I hope your pain is subsiding by now. I'm glad you don't swell like I do when I get stung by a red wasp. It sounds like you may have been stung by a yellow jacket. A wasp sting shouldn't hurt that long.