The smallest livestock you can raise, even in an apartment or smaller space
Comments
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@blevinandwomba no, you are not the only one. I like snails. I admit, I ate them, but I prefer watching them and do not mind taking snails into my hands. I would like to see those giant ones.
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Maybe I mis-spoke, slugs prey on snails, not the other way around. Snails do fine in cold climates, because they go dormant in winter. Just collect them after the first frost, put them in a mesh bag and hang it in a dry, shady place.
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I have never tried snail, but I'm loving this idea. I'm going to have to do some research and read all the links posted. I always find myself wishing I could raise more of our protein. Obviously, step one will be to see if my family will eat it.
The idea of a TGN weekend project in the academy sounds great!
I have never seen snails in nature. Where is the best habit to look for them? Is it likely to find them in Michigan?
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I'm wondering about the best way to find the snails too. I find an empty shell very occasionally, so I know there must be at least a few around here, but I don't think I have ever seen a live one. I suppose they must be nocturnal? I wonder if there is a way to trap them without harming them?
As to eating them, I'll bet they generally take on the flavor of whatever you cook them with? I tried snails once in a restaurant in France, and they just seemed like chewy garlic butter.
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@Michelle D and @MaryRowe The ways I usually find them are super easy. First, if you see any snail damage in the garden, go out with a flashlight at night and look for them. You can make a snail trap by putting a container with some lettuce or radish, etc leaves in the garden, upside down. The snails will craw under it and eat the leaves at night. They will stay there all day if it provides shade. I can usually find a couple under a flower pot or animal's water dish outside, on the ground. The real, usually no fail way I do it though, is to look in the little underground boxes for plumbing - like where the shut off valve for water coming into the house is, or a water meter in town. Anything that gives them shade, protection from birds and some dampness is sure become a habitat for any snails in the area.
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Sorry, it was I who did not speak clearly. I was thinking that since we have so many slugs, and they can survive, that maybe the snails could too. I was afraid they would freeze to death with our extreme cold. We regularly get -20 to -30 and can stay that way for weeks at a time. Have never seen a snail or even empty shells here. May have to set up some snail traps with small containers of water and moss for them to have the moisture and veggie scraps to eat and see what happens.
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Oh, okay - gotcha!
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Will have fun trying to find the snails here though. I know you mentioned going out to look after dark. We have a problem with that here. This is after midnight
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I certainly learned something today!
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I'm sorry...while an interesting topic...no thank you!
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This is pretty interesting to me as well, but I think my climate is a little to warm and dry for land snails. I do have them in my fish tank and I often pull them out of the filter and toss them back into the tank for the fish to eat or out to the chickens. I have only used them on a rare occasional treat, like when I happen to be cleaning one of the tanks.
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This actually seems cool. I don't want to eat them, but I think it would be a fun homeschool project! Thank you for posting!
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@MaryRowe @jowitt.europe @judsoncarroll4 The downside to finding them cute is it's harder to eat them.
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We have banana slugs here in Washington state. They are being annihilated by the invasive brown and black European slugs. I love finding a banana slug because then I know that that particular area is clean and fairly pristine. They don't endanger gardens the way the invasive slugs do.
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Beautiful, @vickeym ! That may be bad for finding the snails, but it is still amazing. And probably crazy for gardening, too.
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@blevinandwomba that is very true, but we end up eating so many cute animals, fish and birds. And many of them run in our own garden... This is definitely my problem. When I eat an animal, I prefer anonymous meat from the animal I have not seen.
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@gardneto76 "I think my climate is a little to warm and dry for land snails."
Warm is not a problem. There are tropical snails that live on South Pacific islands.
There are even snails that live in the desert. They are surprisingly adapatable.
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OMG!!!! that snail is HUGE
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don't forget QUIET.
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Cute is not a problem for us. I can love the animal and still eat it. Partially because I grew up on a farm but also because I know we gave the animal the best life we possible could first. I like knowing what goes into the food we are eating as much as I can. I also like knowing I have food security (at least to a point) in these uncertain times.
Here in Alaska we can have our supply line cut off with no warning in many different ways. Anything from a trucking strike, shortages, lack of workers for the processing plants, or the factories where the containers (cans, bottles, etc.) are made in the lower 48 to an earthquake, snow storm, avalanche or whatever here in Alaska.
Plus I live over a hundred miles from the next "large" town (Anchorage.) There is one road that can get this far out. Once you turn off the main road onto the road that leads to our village after a mile or so that road becomes the only road into our village. Even a fire or car accident can leave the road closed for hours or days.
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I'm still working on my snail project--haven't caught any yet--but did just come across this good article about how to cook them when I do....Hadn't thought of snails as "just specialized clams that moved from water to land"--that makes raising and eating them easier. Also worth noting is his advice that while slugs are edible too, best to keep them and feed them for several days before cooking, given their tendency to eat toxic mushrooms.
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Hey lookie here! The folks who do Grit's newsletter have finally caught up with the trendsetters on TGN!😁
This was in today's newsletter. Pretty good article too.....
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Wonders never cease!
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We certainly have invasive snails in our area, the ones with the pretty yellow shells. Not sure I can get my head around the thought of eating them. A mollusk has to live in salt water for me to enjoy eating it! Anyway, we do have freezing weather in the winter and yet the snails will be popping up and devastating my garden again.
Wonder what else one could use to purge the snails since I can't eat corn. Maybe almond meal...
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If you feed them on radishes and onions, they will be purged and pre-seasoned!
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@judsoncarroll4 Oh my--this posting brought a lot of opinions---love it!
While reading postings, I would say, "Yes, I am going to try this" and then I'd read another one and think, Maybe not! lol
But, I know I will at least try to have a small snail farm and will see how far it goes!
Thanks for a thought provoking posting!
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@judsoncarroll4 Yum, and since they are already eating my radishes, win. Although I have never noticed snails on my onions or garlic.
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