COVD-19 Lockdown? No problem for me, I picked up a new hobby: “Heliciculture” — Snail Farming
Since Friday, 3 May 2020, my family has been on Lockdown (Mandatory Home Quarantine).
At first, nobody in my Barangay (a small section of any town in the Philippines) was not allowed off their properties.
After a couple days, “2 days/week, 4 hours/day Travel Passes” were issued to allow people to leave their homes and buy any essentials like food, drinking water, medicine, etc.
Yesterday, I was issued a Mon.- Wed.- Fri. (0700–1800) Travel Pass.
Of course, we still have to go through multiple transportation checkpoints where temperatures are taken, face masks strictly enforced, and if on a motorcycle, helmets are mandatory in order to proceed into town to shop.
I don’t mind the checkpoint procedures — EXCEPT for the chlorine-water spray wash on my brand new motorcycle’s Black Matte finish!
Unlike most, my girlfriend, daughter and I did a huge Pre-Lockdown shopping spree.
We haven’t felt any urgency to leave our property for any essentials or additional supplies. Consequently, I have been at home during the bulk of this Lockdown period.
But unlike my friends that are going stir-crazy at home, I seem to be filling up my hours and days with more activity than before the Home Quarantine was instituted.
What did I do with some of my extra hours at home during the Lockdown?
Well, in addition to all my various other hobbies…
It all began on the morning of 4 May 2020 (Saturday), one day after the Mandatory Home Quarantine started.
I noticed that three large garden snails were attempting to make a meal out of my garden veggies and mushrooms.
Kinda paranoid, I and my girlfriend decided to inspect our whole garden (front and backyard).
We found over 150 snails!
Because I have sampled escargot while working in France in the past, I was curious about these garden snails.
I did my usual OCD online research and found out that my garden snails were indeed edible.
And with more self-learning (mostly YouTube videos), I properly prepared them and made my first ever escargot dish!
The escargot was delicious!
My girlfriend and neighbors loved it and offered to help me gather more snails on my next night foraging adventure (snails are nocturnal).
I only cooked about two dozen of the snails; leaving me with a whole bunch more of them trying to escape the buckets they were currently in.
That’s when I decided to learn about heliciculture (snail farming) and setup my own home snail farm.
And with my first clutch of eggs, I can now consider myself a bona-fide heliciculturist!
Escargot anyone?
By JaiChai
About the Author
Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life — while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic.
In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he performed high altitude, free-fall parachute jumps and hazardous diving ops in deep, open ocean water.
After 24 years of active duty, he retired in Asia.
Since then, he’s been a full-time, single papa and actively pursuing his varied passions (Writing, Disruptive Technology, Computer Science and Cryptocurrency — plus more hobbies too boring or bizarre for most folk).
He lives on an island paradise with his teenage daughter, log term girlfriend and two dogs.
“My mind was a terrible thing to waste.”
Originally published at https://steemit.com on April 21, 2020.
