permaculture

[Mikal Jakubal <mjakubal@asis.com>]

>Hi, does anybody have any information about snail farming...

University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Communication
Services publishes a good little pamphlet on the subject. I can't find my
copy right now and don't remember the actual title. I think it costs about
$1.50 or so. Their address is 6701 San Pablo Ave., Oakland, CA 94608-1239.
Or check directory assistance for the phone #. They have a great catalog
full of stuff of interest to small farmers and pc-types. I have material
from them on how to home-process olives, smoke fish, process snails, grow
pomegranates and grow pistachios, as a few examples.

I've wondered about the commercial possibilities of processing snails for
sale, especially Certified Organic ones. There might be some high-end
yuppie niche market just waiting to be filled! I have a friend who lived in
town for a while and every morning would go out and pick 100+ snails out of
her garden. That's what got me thinking... At my place, though, I've only
found a handful of the European snails--which I immediately crushed. In
fact, I think I may have brought them there on plants from the same
friend's place in town. 

Instead of "raising" them, the thing to do would be to go collect them from
where they already are. Maybe even get land owners to pay you some small
amount to do so. 

Funny snail story: This friend of mine who collected all those snails daily
(many thousands in total) didn't want to kill them. Instead she kept them
in big jars and every other day or so would stop by this vacant property on
the way out to my place (where she had a few garden beds) and let them out.
I advised against introducing them to a place where they may not already be
as it would just create a problem for anyone in the future who might want
to live there and try to garden. Well, this spring, the place came up for
sale...and she ended up buying it. But, in another quirky twist, she's not
seen a single snail! The land is pretty wild, and maybe the snails couldn't
stand up to natural predators not present in sheltered town gardens.

Mikal