If you had told me a few years ago that I would be co-hosting a Snail Party on the farm this weekend, I would have suggested you get some help.

One of the things I love most about my life is that I am almost constantly doing things I have never done, and I can’t think of a better way to grow and be healthy.

Maria has fallen in love with the snails in our tank and has become a snail scholar. She watches them, photographs them, does videos of them.

She decided to have a Snail Party, inviting friends who are interested in spending a couple of hours watching snails in a tank.

Snails are interesting, but they are not especially exciting. Maria can talk about them for hours and will undoubtedly have a lot to say at her party.

Once upon a time, Maria was shy. But that was a long time ago.

I am the co-host, I’ve been assigned the task of preparing what she calls “finger food,” in my case a pizza (with prosciutto, cheese and fig sauce) cut into squares and some small quiches.

I’ll do the cooking and food and hopefully sit in the ring of chairs around the fish tank to talk about snails, something I managed to never do in my previous decades on the planet.

Maria is excited, and I have to say so am I. This week, we have added a couple of bottom-feeding fish to the tank, three mystery snails and two shrimp to help keep the tank clean.

Snails are slow and deliberate, but they are surprising in the way they move, eat and help the eco-system of a fish tank. I can’t quite believe I’m writing this, but it’s true.

We had no trouble rounding up five or six people who are dying to talk about snails, I see it as kind of  Snail Salon.

I’m excited to be doing the finger food, too. I can’t wait to take a photo of this party.

(Photo by Maria Wulf)