This week I managed to convince a few friends that it would be a great idea to go with me to the lake and help collect sufficient snails to keep my garden pond clean. Sometimes we have a fairly mild winter and the snails winter over in the bottom of the pond, among the decayed leaves. Sometimes we have a very harsh winter. The past winter proved to be the latter.
And in case anyone's worried, I checked the Wisconsin DNR website to determine which snails could not be collected. None of the forbidden snails reside in the lakes in our area, so armed with a bucket for snails and fortified with a lunch from a local restaurant, the four of us trekked along to the lake.
Intrepid Snail-Collecting Assistants
At first, it seemed to be pretty slim pickins, but when we ventured to another spot, we found several snails just begging to be noticed. Without soliciting help, we also gained a good number of snails from a group of kids who wondered what on earth we were doing - and then joined in the exciting hunt with us.
'Pick me! Pick me!'
Kate's lovely hand adorned with happy snail
Snails in bucket
along with some sand and a reflection of the trees overhead
The snaily shoreline
And actually, they were in slightly deeper water this year.
New Home Away From Home
Our garden pond, where the snails will enjoy keeping the algae off the rubber liner
Thank you to my friends for accompanying me to the lake. I don't know about them, but I had a great time - and our pond will be very happy and healthy because of their efforts. A few pond plants and some snails keep our pond clean all summer and fall.
Now I just need to get a few fish.
P.S. If you're interested in building your own garden pond, here's the post I wrote on the making of our garden pond.
Snail Haiku:
Living in the lake
Woke up in a big bucket
Mom and dad you there?
C'mon, you know you want to add your own Snail Haiku! Feel free to put it in a comment below. :-)
(I never claimed to be good at this.)
(I never claimed to be good at this.)
***
'Patchouli Incense'
All-Natural, Handcrafted Vegan Soap
with essential oils
with essential oils
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