Hyphal

Beautiful pictures!

Fantastic list! I was also going to add that metho is a good substitute for sanitizing and alcohol lamps, works a treat. Oh - and for liquid cultures, 50% clear honey and 50% pure maple syrup is fantastic, then you also get to eat pure maple syrup on your ice cream when you get the munchies - everyone's a winner. Thanks for compiling this!

I'll see how the agar works out in open air before I use one, if agar contaminates on me then that will be the turning point, but yeah - I can imagine how working like that would suck. Building a small flow hood seems to be the best option albeit a bit fiddly.

I'd love to own a flow hood too, but its a luxury for this very reason - I have never used a glove box and never have a had a jar contaminate during the innoculation process, with liquid culture. Ive only ever had 2 failed liquid culture from multi spore innoculation... I close the windows, wait for the dust to settle, sanitize the work bench with metho and wear gloves, also sprayed with metho. Hold breath and move gently but deliberately, picture yourself as a spore. I have hoever only done one agar transfer in the open air but this has also been a success.. I would love to work more with agar and will give it a try open air, though I feel the chance of contamination is imminent...

Nice pics mate! Are the Macrolepiotas edible??

Your prints should be viable, but they won't be clean. They will need to be started on agar so you can spot any contaminants and transfer the clean mycelium out. Its certainly possible to get lucky and not get any contaminants, but it sounds like your chances are less given that they were stored in open air. Probably better to start a new thread in future to ask questions. Back on topic -

Think of the spores as really really tiny mushrooms seeds.

No that was a perfect example I get your drift, it is what I was answering when I said I think its a bit of both. I think that there is no doubt that wild specimens would have a larger diversity of nutrients, but I dont think that by eating a cultivated specimen that you are missing ALL of it's 'life force' that would be derived from growing it in the wild - but certainly some. Its not as black and white as that I dont think. To explain how I feel - it would be like drinking old water thats been sitting in a plastic bottle in the sun if you are dehydrated - it's not nice, but it has got to be better than drinking no water (and obviously this is a severe example, eating a cultivated mushroom isn't going to be as bad as drinking old plastic tasting water...). Fascinating - this has already been discussed? Have you got any links?

I think there would have to be some merit, but like everything in life it would be a little from both sides. There would probably be more good stuff in a wild specimen, but that definitely doesn't mean there would be no good stuff in a cultivated specimen. The transfer of energy is so complex we can't fathom it and who's to say that our care and positive attention wouldn't transfer any positive energy or 'life force' either? I was thinking about a similar th8ing just the other day so Im glad you brought it up... Would a simialr theory apply to something like the container you use to grow in? My example is a plastic petri dish compared to a glass one... Now a spore is so small we can't fathom what life is like from its' perspective, but perhaps being introduced to life in a plastic container would affect the the organisms view as it's initially introduced to the world, compared with something more organic like a glass petri? I know, pretty far out....

I shouldnt have called them the same country, but habit and geographically speaking they are.

Magic, thansk for sharing! Fantastic, indonesia is copelandia heaven....

Nice pictures, where were they found?

Second that! Good vibes to you, thanks heaps.

Any cow paddock you drive past. No one will tell you their specific patch though, so I wouldn't bother asking...

Hey all just wanted to share some pics of an amazing cactus garden we visited on our recent trip through Asia. It's called 'PINEVIEW Nursery' (LINK) and is located in a town called Kalimpong which is in the hills in the north east of India, not far from the famous town of Darjeeling. It has some spectacular views of the Himalayas off in the distance and does some great food, and you can even stay there for peanuts. I snapped off some pics while we were there thinking of you guys, and there are also heaps more on their site. Enjoy! Firstly here is the owner - very lovely lady as you can imagine (just unfortunate that it looks like she's having a scratch) One of about 7 or 8 (from memory?) greenhouses - She called these 'mother in law's cushion'! - And the rest of the random shots we took - Grafting stock? Lophs! Flowers - Some grafted lophs - More grafting - Other random cacti - A friendly staff member - Her Kitchen!! Some great curries coming out of here.... The view from the greenhouses (too hazy to see the himalayas that day) - And we found this growing from the road on the walk home - India

That doesn't mean that those cultures are ten years old though? A fresh print can be taken at any time and used to grow a fresh culture...

Agreed a great interview, awesome stuff.

Everyone loves a chai!! Good to hear some ideas! My recipe consists of: - 4 cups of water - Half a cinnamon quill - 1-2 Star Anise - 4 or 5 cloves - 10 or more cardomom pods, bruised (split open) - 5-6 slices fresh ginger - A few small chunks of dried orange peel, maybe 4 or 5 (completely changes the dynamic, awesome addition) - Pinch of cracked black pepper corns - Tea Bags - Good quality honey, or raw sugar. - Milk or Soy Optional - - Pinch of chilli flakes (great when tripping!) Method: First Simmer all spices for 15 - 20 minutes. Secondly Bring to rolling boil for a few seconds (this is to get the water to the desired temp for brewing the tea). Turn off heat, and then add 2 or 3 Tea Bags. Brew to desired strength, but no longer than 6 or so minutes (tea goes bitter). Remove tea bags. Strain into cups. Add milk/soy and sugar/honey to desired taste. NOTE!! It is very important to keep the spices, you can re-use them for another brew!! I reckon the 2nd and 3rd brew's are even better than the first, I keep them in a small sealed container in the fridge and do up to 5 or 6 brews with the same lot of spices. You can add small amounts of the original spices to a used spice mix to extend its life even further, eg a few extra slices of ginger and a couple of cardomon pods etc etc.... Lastly! To be able to re-use the spices, can cannot mix loose leaf tea with them when cooking, as the tea goes very bitter the second time you use it. If using loose leaf tea, put it in a bag or a little tea strainer thingy. Good with ginger nuts!

Isn't the presenter a Rave DJ in the UK? Very cool

I reckon thats a good option for sure. Maybe someone should send this idea to Ray if they know how to contact him? I reckon that bringing justice to the plant helpers was probably the original focus that inspired the business, and perhaps this focus is being lost in the unfolding drama of western culture's de-evolution.

I watched the news tonight but the story didn't air in WA...

I have to admit though, as much as I hate sensationalised media and believe that combined with greed are the roots of all evil, HHH have got a few things to answer for. To start with, a lot of the things they sell are not herbal or herbs whatsoever. Secondly, on various occasions when quizzed on the contents of some of their 'Herbal High pills' they didn't know what they contained whatsoever and were only able to give a vague sales pitch style explanation of their effects. I think this is false advertising and while I don't blame the as I know they want the best for their customers, they need to be trained on what they are selling, be it herbal, or the latest legal chemical to come out of china.

Thanks for the update.

I gather that was a typo - you wouldn't want to do that in your house!! Ka-boooooom.

Just a shout out to say congratulations to Naja on the big day... http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24865&st=25 A gracius character with a big heart, and a nurturing spirit, good luck on the journey!