permaculture

[Elfpermacl@aol.com]

Milo:

Well, I hope that the snail devas are more cooperative than the slug devas.
 They seem mentally, well..., slugish.  I've never gotten cooperation from
them.  Spinders are share fellows, however, and quickly come around to
strategies of mutual benefit. I delt with both these manifestations of Mother
Earth in a shelter in Mexico some years ago.
        
I wouldn't trouble the list with these matters, however.  Without analaysis
to the contrary, I'd have to suggest that the snail shells are poor sources
of minerals other than CaCO3.  The snail bodies (meat) themselves may be
better sources.  I'm not familiar with the snail digestive system.  Do they
have gizzards?  I kind of thought that they just chewed up plants, absorbed
what they want, and squished out the rest.  In that case, they would be
concentrated versions of the minerals in the plants, though I suppose that
they may accumulate some.  I've inferred, for example, that fish sequester
potassium in aquaculture tanks, which is why plants grown in the water routine
ly look like garbage without supplements.  (Genuine aquatic plants doubtless
do better.)  A gizzard implies that the snail would pick up mineral matter to
help grind up food for digestion, like earthworms, skinks, and turkey
vultures do, to name a non-representative sampling.  My informal impression
is that they have rasps for mouths that grind stuff up pretty well on the way
in.  Any slimeologists in the group who can provide more precise and accurate
info on this matter?

Dan

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and now correspondence
permaculture training by email. Copyright, 1996, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O.
Box 2052, Ocala FL 34478 USA  YankeePerm@aol.com  

We don't have time to rush.