It’s not as if they’ve ever been uncommon in our yard. Or our kitchen for that matter. But it’s their impervious nature this season that has me so stressed.

They destroyed our corn. Did I mention that? Yes, with the help of their aphid butt-juice drinking habit our corn is nothing more than chicken feed and compost. And we’ve gotten all of 3 beans from our bush and pole beans. That’s right folks. The easiest thing to grow and we got nada. Right now they are working their way through our melons and into our raised beds.

But it’s the ants in the kitchen that have really killed my appetite.

Ants baited with boric acid and honey. They loved it. Wasn’t much help, though.

Justin removed our RO system when he found it leaking. A few days later he admitted the water damage would require removing the walls and bottoms of the cabinets under the kitchen sink. That’s when he found the nest in the wall. From there the ants travelled from houseplant to houseplant, burrowing their larvae into the soil of each plant. After removing every plant from the vicinity and sealing every nook and cranny possible, I THINK we may have protected our kitchen.

Now, I’m okay with ants outside. In fact, I want some ants. They aerate the soil, even pollinate some plants. And..erm..I’m sure they do more than that. My problem is they also fight off insects that threaten their turf. So although our ladybug population initially increased with the aphids, it quickly disappeared. (Again.)

We tried a few things to decrease (not eradicate) the outdoor ant population. Cornmeal, essential oils, boric acid in several mediums. I’ve even encouraged the chickens to have a go at it. Nothing has worked. And I certainly don’t want to resort to anything stronger or deadlier.

Outdoor ants baited with boric acid and yogurt. Usually works great but these ants aren’t affected. They circle around in droves, eat it all up and skip away merrily.

Permaculture principles say to allow these imbalances to correct themselves. My role should be to support a healthy ecology by adding organic amendments to unhealthy soil, establishing appropriate plants and facilitating their growth. All of this of course takes time, which is my biggest frustration.

So I suppose my mission this fall, when replanning and replanting our yard, is to find and establish plants to repel ants and/or attract insects that eat ants. Any suggestions? Please?