FEED THE ANTS....TUPPENCE A BAG.....TUPPENCE...TUPPENCE...OK, EVERYONE SING ALONG!!!

FEED THE ANTS….TUPPENCE A BAG……TUPPENCE….TUPPENCE….OK, EVERYONE SING ALONG!!!!

ANTS!!! Just the word makes some people’s skin crawl. I remember watching a horror flick many years ago about ants invading a town. They ate everything in their pathway including people. On that lovely note, I don’t think we have any fear of being eaten by ants but they sure can do some major harm to your home, food cupboards, your lawn and garden.

A couple of years ago, we found out we had carpenter ants and that they were in the walls of our home. My husband found out that there was a spray that would combat the issue and it did work. However, we were gagged out for days and I was worried about our health and that of the cats as well. We also have little ants that eat through the grouting and mortar of our brick and tile in our home every year come warmer weather. What’s a person to do?! I was killing piles of ants on a daily basis and knew that there had to be a better solution.

Then one day, I was talking to a friend about it and she said to use cornmeal. Yup, simple, safe, edible cornmeal. I had some in my pantry and immediately put it in the crevices between my back door and the tile where they had eaten away the grouting. Then I put some near the brickwork on my front doorstep. Guess what?! It worked!  I did find a few ants over the next couple of weeks that were in the throes of death but that was it!! No chemicals choking us to death! At first, I felt a bit guilty about the fact that the ants were eating the cornmeal and then it would expand in their little tummies and then it would kill them. But then I remembered that the wonderful, chemical spray caused them to die in a bad way too.

One day my daughter mentioned to me that my little grand-daughter went through a fairly large nest of ants in our backyard. So out I went and looked for the nest so I could put some cornmeal in and around it. I was shocked at how many large nests I had in my backyard! I left some of the smaller ones alone and only did the area that my grand-daughter would be playing in. I left the really big ones out in our field alone as the woodpeckers like to feast on these and it’s cool to watch them.

So here’s to a chemical-free solution to ants marching two by two across your countertops. Oh, and if you get ants in your pants…….just add some cornmeal!