ANT FARMHER?

I got a call from the neighbor.  Shari said that they had just taken new aerials of the valley.

So I pulled up the farm on the Internet and after looking at my ground from high above, I decided I wasn't and organic vegetable farmHer after all.

I have an 80 acre ANT FARM!

I have always known I had a lot of ants, but there are about a kazillion ant hills spread out through the pasture.  Took these photos last summer.(the ants don't come out until the ground is sufficiently warm, about Junish.)

 

You don't want to find one of these little guys a crawlin' on ya.  Their bite is like fire.  I keep a jar of
pine gum salve 

handy at all times to take away the pain and swelling of their fiery bite.

They strip the vegetation for a good 6 or 7 feet around their hill

The hills are about 4 feet in diameter

Ant Hills as far as the eyes can see

I find them fascinating.  They can carry 100's of times their weight.  They have a unique way of working as a deadly team, if an insect gets to close to their hill.  I will often feed them greens picked from the green house just trying to keep them out of the gardens.  Someone told me to get rid of them, pour a 2 liter soda drink down the mound, I am going to give that a try .  I have also read somewhere that they bring a high price as feed for zoo animals or some such thing.  HUMM.........maybe I will be an ant farmHer after all.