Origins of a Fly Farmer Pt.1

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!!!