Q: There are black bees chasing me away from my fig tree. It is loaded with figs but I can’t pick them!

A: I picked figs for two weeks this summer with wasps, bees and yellowjackets buzzing happily around me. I’ve found that when food is involved, insects don’t have the attack response they do when defending their colony. When picking figs, I shake nearby branches and the insects fly away to another sweet treat nearby. I’m not saying that you’ll never get stung, only that I never have. I don’t know of a way to deter the insects otherwise.