As well as being a landmark book by Iain Banks, the wasp factory is also a good description for what has been happening here on Salt Spring this summer. For some reason the summer conditions have produced a bumper crop…of wasps. Not exactly every food growers dream. Since August we abandoned eating outside, as the chance of popping a wasp in your mouth with the each bite of food was just too high. We used to leave the doors open for a through draft but wasps come into the house at the rate of about 1 per minute. I decided I didn't like my new job as wasp doorman – they don't respect the 'no ticket - your not coming in' rule, are not cooperative and tend to fight back. Next year I will make sure the door screens are back up and that we have some window screens.
There are so many wasps that they are eating the fruit right off the trees. Emma has been very careful picking blackberries and raspberries as there may be a wasp on any one of them. Sometimes they even sleep on the fruit We didn't get any peaches, and we have apples on our tree that have been hollowed out by the hungry little stingers! I have never seen this before – Next year things should be back to normal - I don't mind sharing my food, but there are limits…