Really impressive: The comfortable trains of the Swiss Federal
Railways, which took me from Basel via Zurich to Winterthur.
|
Really impressive: The comfortable trains of the Swiss Federal Railways, which took me from Basel via Zurich to Winterthur. |
September 21st, 2004 I fortunately had the opportunity to travel by train from Freiburg to Elgg near Winterthur in Switzerland, the location of the Bähler family's snail farm. This visit made it possible to have a look at a snail farm and to discuss with some competent colleagues the way, in which the Nersingen method of snail raising had been realised here.
In this context I would like to remark, that a snail farm is also a very interesting place for a school class. Children of different ages may learn much from an interesting insight into the biology of snails, the economy of raising them, even about historical and geographical connections in snail trade. Even modern concepts of interdisciplinary instruction can be realised, when subjects of biology, geography, history and even languages such as French or Italian, are linked.
To do so, I explicitly recommend a visit in a snail farm such as Mrs Merkle's enterprise in Nersingen, Bavaria, based on whose model of snail raising the latest snail farms in Germany and Switzerland, soon also in Austria, have been constructed:
Nersingen
Snail Farm near Neu-Ulm (Germany) (also the German Institute of Heliciculture).
 Reception – Nobody likes studies on empty belly… |
 'S Schnäggähüsli (the snail house) was used for service, too. |
|
 Visitors have a look at one display allotment. According to Mr Bähler a snail farm was supposed to spread over an overall area of 1 ha. |
 The weather was snail-friendly, which is why the snails were quite active. |
|
 Further three enclosures could be visited, each of which is 40 metres long and 3 metres wide. |
 A special snail fence stops the snails from running away. |
|
 In the allotments different types of green food are grown, so there is usually always fresh food for the snails. However, there must also be a certain amount of wilted food. |
 The cultivated snails (Helix pomatia) – 15,000 of these snails live in the Bähler snail farm's enclosures! |
|
 There were also visitors with more legs, like this spider. |
 As mentioned before – the weather was snail-friendly and the snails were very motivated… |
|
 ... the visitors are breathless with astonishment … |
 Even the children are very interested in touching the snails, which makes it much easier to understand things. |