Mushrooms Don't Wait.

Mushrooms don't wait for you to pick them. They have their own schedule. When they have met their seasonal biological needs for self preservation, they lose everything above ground and retire to the network of mycelium they are constantly building underground. As long as the proper nutrients they need are available, the Mushroom in the ground will just get bigger and healthier.

The batch of Psilocybin mushrooms near the septic tank looked beautiful yesterday. Today, they looked like their moment in the Sun was over. The gills must have dropped all their spores. They looked so bad, I picked the ones that were left.

Now I have set up a jury rigged dryer in the basement and I'm hoping to dry them for storing. If it works, great. We will see.

The other thing I am planning is to set up a grow environment for the batch I picked a short while ago. I have barely a clue how to do it; call it just a sniff of a hint. But it is either toss the rooting material that came up with the Shrooms I yanked or give it a try to see if I can grow them. It would be a major triumph if I was able to make that happen.

Apparently the Shrooms I have in the yard love wood chips. When the septic guy filled over the new leach field, he hauled in a a few dozen railroad cars of chips, so I have wood chips. ....... Uh, okay, okay; it wasn't railroad carloads, it just seems like it.

I also have some wonderful leftover high end soil from my days of growing pot. I will mix it with some wood chips and plant the mycelium (the root system of mushrooms) that was stuck to the Shrooms I yanked.

Some follow up - Good and Not so Good

• My jury rigged hydrator worked beautifully. The first batch I put in took 4 hours, but it is bone dry and ready to store.
• I decided to pick the rest of the Shrooms out in the yard because of the condition of the ones I picked this morning. One batch had been hit by a critter. Only stems and a few buttons left. I took them. Then I cleaned out the remaining batch.
• Apparently, the best time to pick them is when you see them. Don't dawdle.

So there it is; another installment in Mike's learning curve regarding Psilocybin Mushrooms. I have a long way to go. I have a lot to learn. I have many mistakes to make. This is what Life is all about, pushing new limits, failing and trying again.

My next task is to create the mushroom growing environment. I have an idea of what I am going to do. I will keep you posted.


Keep it 'tween the ditches ....................................

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All this recent focus on mushrooms leaves me no choice but to play a song I have been avoiding. Why was I avoiding it? I guess it was because the choice is too logical, too convenient. It's the first song many of my Boomer contemporaries would pick if they were writing about consuming Magic Mushrooms. ........ I have resisted long enough.

But which version should I pick? The original I danced to at Teen Club back when acne was my biggest problem? Or a newer version, a cover by talented musicians in a completely different genre.

I decided that, though there are many fine covers of "White Rabbit" originally released by in 1967, no band performs it better than they did. Grace Slick was in her prime and she could belt out some tunes. Enjoy.