Ants

Okay, this evening we had ants milling around just at the bottom of our front door. Since this is a blog about green living, I thought I'd mention what I did to get rid of them. I won't use chemicals unless it's a last resort, hopefully after trying every other organic solution first. We--and by "we" I mean humans--have to get away from the idea that the quick chemical fix is the first line of defense against pests. Pesticides, among other things, are killing our pollinators, so pesticides should not be the first thing we think of when faced with a pest problem.

With that in mind, I turned to a piece of human technology--the internet--for help. By Googling organic ant control I found a forum with many different possible solutions. Skipping the boric acid suggestions (boric acid is still a poison, after all) I settled on turmeric as a possible answer for my situation, as it's said to repel them. I squished all the ants that were already inside, and then applied a line of turmeric to the floor at the bottom of the door, right where they were all milling around and going in and out. When the last ant tried to get out through the turmeric and failed (the turmeric didn't kill the ant, but the ant couldn't seem to wade through it to get through the tiny little crack that was their access point) I figured I had a winner. So for now the ants are gone, and we'll see how things go and whether any more are able to find their way inside.