Yeah, I know, what was I thinking? When I filled 3 smallish cardboard boxes with several hundred black walnuts last fall, I had every intention of getting them cracked somehow so we could eat them. I admit I was intimidated but was determined to do it. Several times since I have gotten the gumption to walk over to them (they've been in the yard, at the edge of a flower bed) and pick one up. And they're always full of ants - the outer hull. Even the few I had spread on a sheet of metal siding to dry more (they were going to be my experimental first ones). The box in general and the nuts in particular - ANTS! Not fire ants or anything, but lots of what I call pot ants - the little ones that get into outdoor potted plants or once in a while for unknown reasons decide to suddenly inhabit my car for a few weeks.

Are the insides of these walnuts still any good at this point? If so, the only plan I can imagine myself doing is filling a big tub of water and throwing them in there to run the ants out of them. If they're likely to float, this probably won't help much. Any advice/experience on this situation would be appreciated.

And where did I go wrong? Setting the boxes on the ground? I remember doing that because there were already too many ants to want to put the boxes in my storage shed.