Greetings Steemers!
My name is Max - well, my name isn't really Max, but that's what people call me... My first name is Herwald, but I think only my parents call me that these days. I actually got my name by mistake, but that's a story for another time. I'm a 29 year old fly farmer from #SouthAfrica. My mother, Theresa, is an accountant, and my father, Herward, was an #Engineer, both working from home and constantly surrounding me with #numbers.
I was an only child and like to believe that my parents skills rubbed off on me in some way or other and as such, I developed deep respect for all types of science. When I was a kid (starting at 3) my parents would sit me down to watch #CarlSagan, from which I derived much of my love of the natural world and this, in turn, motivated me to score high aptitudes for mathematics, science and art in school as my curiosity just couldn't be satisfied...
...If I had a beard as a child I'd have looked like this most of the time...
All of that changed when I arrived at University though. I studied #Humanities, majoring in #Philosophy, #Psychology and #AncientAfricanCultures. After graduating 2 year late I figured I may as well move on one day when I had to summarize an article by @Derrida (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Derrida) in which he discusses what he means when he says the word "THE". To me, that article pointed out how silly institutionalized philosophy had become, and I suddenly found myself asking...
!
...Why am I even here...?
As a kid I had always loved the art of discovery, and this was not being satisfied. I had studied philosophy in university to grow my ability to understand the natural world and "lecture hall" philosophy seemed to undermine my hunger for knowledge. I wanted more. I wanted to do something different with my life. I needed to take a break from studying and decided to go figure out what I would be happy doing for the rest of my life.
I decided to do something #hands-on with my time. I studied #gourmet #mushroom cultivation with a well known commercial producer here in #CapeTown. While this does sound like quite a jump from what I was working on in University, at its' core it was really still just the application of the same analytical thought process that underpins the #philosophicalmindset, but applied to living organisms instead of texts and conceptual problems. And, ofcourse, thanks to mushrooms' short lifecycle, results were in after hours and days, instead of months and years. I spent thousands of hours online reading and learning about #climatecontrol, #bioconversion, #integratedsystems, #logistics, #materialsciences, #mechanics, #construction and #AllTheThings to understand why nature is the way it is and how I can understand and work with it...
...I mean, how rediculously cool is this!?!?
After attending a few courses and interviewing many professionals I eventually came across a very unique mushroom called #cordyceps, which actually takes over the body of an insect and uses its' body's nutrients to produce the mushroom's fruiting body.
... like something out of a Zombie or Sci Fi Movie...
After a lengthy few weeks reading about the species I discovered that it converted insect proteins into #cordycepin, a chemical active against auto-immune diseases as well as a number of cancers. I then tracked down a #silkworm breeder in #KwaZuluNatal, #SouthAfrica, who agreed to supply me with silkworms for testing... Next was locating and contact a #mycologist based in Brazil who had posted a few threads on a popular grower's website. I reached out to him and asked if he would be willing to send me a sample, to which he agreed if it meant he could remain #anonymous...
...And a couple months later this happened...
I spent another month back in 2011 working on a business plan to produce these mushrooms at an industrial scale, and went to a bank to get a loan. I was 22 and wanted a couple #100k to grow mushrooms... And was laughed out of the bank and although it hurt like hell to have that dream crushed by a lack of finances, I totally understand their response when looking back... Dreams dashed, I decided to #growup and forget about mushrooms and insects and got a job working in a toyshop til 2013 building #Airfix kits and model #train #scenery for a year and a half until I one day got a call...
"Hi Max, how do you feel about working with flies...?"
...To which I replied...
"I think they're fucking disgusting... Why...?"
!!!Thanks for reading & please subscribe @jackoflies to read pt.2 coming soon!!!
Hey Max! Welcome to Steemit! We have hats.
That's quite a journey!
Just FIY, @capetown is a person :)
Check out #teamsouthafrica for more Capetownians. If you join Team South Africa and use the tag as one of your 5 then the guys see it and can upvote you.
I think this also deserves an @orginialworks shoutout.
Looking forward to the exciting conclusion of how you became Lord of the Flies.
Cheers
OOPS! I had no idea @capetown was a person!!!
First post and all that :P Thank you Sir :D
Welcome Jack! That was an excellent intro, you are a good writer I couldn’t stop reading I was intrigued. I am definitely looking forward to part 2! Not sure how you can grow a edible mushroom out of a fly but I am very interested to find out lol. Folllowed, upvoted and resteemed.
Thank you so much for your comment, upvote, follow, resteem, and support :)
It's greatly appreciated <3
WELCOME TO STEEMIT
I appreciate if you follow me,
Your comments are always welcome,
I will try to answer as much as possible,
Good luck with your trip in this communitas,
the best combination with all your friends is no exception,and upvote to your friends as much as possible,and the reverse.
follow me @jakir
Regards community steemit
Thank you
welcome to steemit
Hey Max, welcome on Steemit.
As I can see, you love using gifs.
This is a great opportunity for animating posts.
I wish you a successful and awesome time here on steemit!
welcome brother.
Thank you Sir :)
Those mushrooms look like nuclear explosions.
Hahaha!
Normally people say they look like penises :D
Welcome to steemit!
You managed to intrigue me enough to follow you, just to read Pt. 2...It better continues being an awesome story!^^
If you're still trying to make sense of wtf all of this here is about, here is a very good and comprehensive guide that I can really recommend.
See you around!
Thank you for the welcome and the upvote :)
Don't worry, I'm cooking up pt.2 as we speak! :D
Flies are disgusting. But you're Jackoflies so it must have been a good proposition. I'm definitely interested to find out!
welcome to the real social media platform
...welcome to steemit.i follow you and i hope you will follow me as well.thank you 😂
Dude totally cool and welcome to steemit! You may also like the #gardening and #homesteading tags as you're a farmer!! much luck and happiness! <3 @mountainjewel ... ps, following you, we grow soldier flies too in our composting toilet!
Lovely!!! I hope I don't disappoint ;)
Welcome Jack to Steemit. Nice to know you ^_^
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