These Ants are Something Else

They moved in without telling me.

I saw them in the morning, after quite a few had arrived. You'll have to pardon me for not noticing them right away - until I have my caffeine, I'm not that observant. You could probably march a zombie gang through my kitchen at 6 a.m. and I wouldn't bat an eyelid.

But these ants were something else.

One day, nothing. And the next day they were everywhere. It was like they'd gotten word that it was open season on my countertops.

Only they didn't stick to the countertops. The little buggers were running around in the sink. They were marching boldly across the floor without a care in the world. Up the baseboards and into the cupboards? All in a day's work, my friend.

I cleaned everywhere. I'm not dirty, but when that many ants come in it has to be something, right? I scrubbed till my fingers ached.

It didn't help.

I looked up natural ant-fighting solutions. My house smelled like it had been pickled after I wiped everything with vinegar. I couldn't stop sneezing and my eyes watered.

Didn't bother the ants one bit.

I mixed honey with boric acid and laid out traps. There were a few casualties, but their cousins moved in to make up for the difference.

The man at the hardware store assured me the bottle I held in my hand would kill anything that moved. I bought it with desperate hope and went to town as soon as I got home. That'd teach those little pesky ants to come into my house and crawl everywhere!

The fumes were so strong I ended up spending three days at my mother's place. When I finally came home, the ants were there to welcome me back.

How to kill bugs that just won't die without killing yourself...

For a while, I was convinced those ants were going to outlive me. I'd tried just about everything under the sun, short of using a magnifying glass to burn my whole house down. Any more poison and they could just bury me next to the ant hill.

Then I heard about a strange substance called "diatomaceous earth." It was inexpensive and supposedly all-natural, a white powder made from ancient algaes. After the chemical stink-out that drove me out of my own house, I was willing to try anything that didn't come in a spray can. Thank goodness I did!

It turns out that diatomaceous earth is just about the most potent bug killer on the planet. The secret lies in how insects are all put together:

• Bugs are filled with fluids. They don't have blood, they have juices. Even ants.
• Diatomaceous earth is made from fossilized algae. That stuff sucks up juices - 1 and ½ times its own weight in juices.
• Bugs are covered with a waxy layer. Poke through that and they leak to death.
• Diatomaceous earth looks like powder, but at the microscopic level it's all sharp edges.
• Blend sharp edges with juice-sucking ability, and it's bye-bye to any bugs who try to walk through a line of diatomaceous earth.

Seems simple enough, right? Almost too simple... I didn't think it would work. After cleaning, vinegaring, boric acid-ing, and fumigating, how could a little white powder do the trick? But at less than $10 for a bag, how could I not try it?

I put some of the diatomaceous earth down around the edges of my kitchen and all around my patio door. Just as a test, I thought. And I went to bed fully expecting to see my ant army in the morning. As usual.

But they weren't there.

Oh, there were a few still lingering on. They clearly hadn't had a decent hike through my defenses yet. But over a warm cup of caffeine, I could see the proof in the little ant bodies just past my diatomaceous earth lines. They'd tried to walk into my house like they owned the place ... but they didn't get far.

I sniffed. There was no chemical odor. There was no vinegar smell. My house smelled like my house and not a death trap. And the ants were on their way out.

It was a good, good, good day.

More than “just” a bug-killer

Since then, I've become a major cheerleader for diatomaceous earth. I've put it down all around my house and now I don't even think twice about ants. Or roaches. Or silverfish. Even spiders seem to have gotten the memo!

Of course, diatomaceous earth is useful for more than just killing bugs (although at less than $10 a bag, that's a pretty good use for it). But I've learned you can scrub out a sink with it - it's a natural super-abrasive. You can use it to deodorize your trash cans, smelly garage corners, and dank basement zones. And you can use it to keep things in storage from getting damp, like any seeds you're keeping until summer or grains you're storing long-term.

In fact, diatomaceous earth is actually a food-grade product! You can eat it if you want to and it won't hurt you. Not that you'd really want it for a snack, but you could eat it and be fine. You may have been eating it already without knowing - the food industry mixes a little diatomaceous earth into grains during transport and doesn't wash it off before it hits the shelves.

Don't be worried. You're not eating some random chemical junk. You're eating fossilized algae with 27 essential trace minerals in it that are good for your health. Not even my cereal has that many extra nutrients - and my cereal is a lot more expensive!

No better household helper

Maybe you don't have ants ... but there are so many other uses for diatomaceous earth in a well-rounded household it's never a bad idea to have some on hand. And if you do have bugs - even bedbugs - diatomaceous earth will make them a thing of the past.

I've mentioned a couple of times that diatomaceous earth isn't expensive. The brand I buy and recommend is God's Miracle Dust, available in a one pound bag for $9.97.

Think about that ... $9.97 to say good-bye to bugs forever. They'll go from biting you in the night to biting the big one in your diatomaceous earth. It's a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful feeling.

Don't let the bugs of summer crawl in and set up shop. Order your diatomaceous earth today and give it a try. For less than $10 plus shipping and handling, you can show ants - and everything else - exactly who's the boss.

Sincerely,
Jen
Team Member, Off the Grid News

P.S. One pound bags are $9.97 ... but 5 pounds worth of diatomaceous earth is only $29.97 and you get a free ebook, The Diatomaceous Earth Revolution with every 5 pound order. Why wait? Get your diatomaceous earth now.