krazykungfu

Just sitting here downing a bowl of the good stuff wondering who else does? None of this "yeah I tried it drunk in Fiji one night blah blah blah"... Anyone else enjoy (or at least tolerate) the unique taste and drink it regularly? It's underrated if you ask me - my theory is the majority of people from Ozzie culture are so used to alcohol and it's easily noticeable effects that they write kava off first for the taste and then for the subtlety... Anyway that's just a rant....who drinks it?

It's the start of the weekend, there's nothing else to do and just for the fun of it I thought I'd put up some thought provoking brain food about the interactions between ourselves and the rest of nature - beacuse we're seperate from it right? Here's a little clip to start: And check this out... Human-Nature Interactions This was created by yours truly last year sometime but it's what we all get into here so I thought I'd share.

ha ha - yep! Hindsight is a wonderful thing - 'twas a relaxed Friday evening as a big bowl of kava had just disappeared and the post was placed in the wrong spot. I don't think I can move it but if anyone else can go for you life. (or if I can move it and someone knows how please do tell) Cheers

Bugger! Just noticed the website wasn't working myself... Here it is - it is a "basket" filled with examples from the media of varied interactions between man and nature: This we know... the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to earth. All things are connected, like blood whihc (sic) connects one family. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life - he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. -- Chief Seattle, 1854 "Gegen dumheit kempfen selbst die Goetter vergebens". Translated: Against stupidity, even the Gods are powerless. -- Goete, German Philospher Man is a strange animal, he doesn't like to read the handwriting on the wall until his back is up against it. -- Adlai Stevenson If it had been the purpose of human activity to bring the planet to the edge of ruin, no more efficient mechanism could have been invented than the market economy. -- Jeremy Seabrook. Who are we? Embera Tribe - Panama When analysing the way in which cultural texts and practices affect the way “we” conceive nature and how nature affects “our” everyday life, it must first be established as to who “we” are. The clarification of this concept is ideally required to occur both on an individual level in the definition of the self, and additionally within which segment of society this self resides. The need for this finer scope of analysis, as opposed to defining human-nature interactions within a singular global culture stems from the fact that any such attempt would be an over simplification. As a collective, at this point in history we a closer to being a homogenous community than ever before, propelled to this point by drastic improvements in communications mediums and the ability to travel extensive distances with ease. Despite this, the breadth of difference between human groupings remains vast, and the complexities within human society at present are reinforced and maintained by the globes 6.7 billion people (World Bank, 2010) and 6912 living languages (Vistawide, 2010) which span across seven continents and include at least 200 “biologically distinct terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecoregions” (World Wildlife Federation, 2010). From this diverse yet simultaneously predominantly anthropocentric world, where the human-centred mindset is “deeply embedded in our culture and consciousness” (Ferrer Montano, 2006) the most refreshing items to uncover are the interactions that occur with ecology taking the driver’s seat, where plants from local ecosystems shape and influence human interactions both with the ecosystems themselves and within the human communities surrounding them. The recognition within these communities of the utility of surrounding natural resources can shift community consciousness to the antipodal position of anthropocentrism, being ecocentrism, “which considers nature to have inherent value regardless of its usefulness to humans” (Merchant, 1980; Purser, Park, and Montuori, 1995; Shrivastava, 1995 as cited in Kilbourne & Polonsky, 2005). This shift in turn allows the process of “bonding with other life forms and the nurturance of the nonhuman” to occur. Any such changes arise as a direct consequence of the self being “formed in the social matrix of local culture and ecology” (Jagtenberg & McKie, 1997). Further, these intimate interactions with nature can either create and reinforce one’s sense of self, or destroy the notion completely – if only for a limited time. The destruction of the self has been seen by many as a universal therapy and avenue for personal empowerment and the “self has been widely described as an obstacle to be overcome, worked through, or transcended” (Krishnamurti, 1969; Metzner, 1971; Suzuki; 1956, Watts, 1973 as cited in Jagtenberg & McKie, 1997). It has also been labelled “a personal indulgence from which we need to escape to find history and some kind of truth” (Jagtenberg & McKie, 1997). Plants are seen by many as a way of achieving these means, who also note the potential for significant and beneficial cultural change. Engaging 'Items' in the Ecological Basket Trichocereus Pachanoi in flower... Recognising the fact that the defining of the self amongst significant global diversity is an infinitely complex process, the selected texts have had a sense of familiarity and comfort attempted to be attached to them. The chosen texts range from being purely descriptive to interactive events that actively engage the community, yet uniformly express unfamiliar ideas that highlight interactions between man and nature. Although these interactions originate in exotic and refreshing locations and cultures, they are viewed from the comforting lens of Australian perspectives, media, and events. This leads us to the first item to be placed in the Ecology Basket - a lecture given at EGA 2010 Psychedelic Symposium – 4th and 5th December 2010 at The University of Melbourne - ‘Psychedelics, Social Change, and Cultural Evolution’. This event is self-described as “an internationally respected symposium that brings together leading academics, medical professionals, psychologists, anthropologists and other experts to debate the latest research on the cultural, medical and religious significance of entheogens” (Entheogenesis Australis, 2010). Simply the presence of this event reflects an evolution of society’s views regarding the use of catalysts for social change, tools which originate predominantly from nature. The continual development of such relationships with nature has the potential to significantly change the current anthropocentric paradigm and unleash the “deeper value(s) running through the sub-consciences (sic) of at least some biologists” mentioned by Greer (2007). The gradual re-adoption of such theories into modern culture is highlighted by the fact that there “are now more psychedelic research studies taking place than at any time in the last 40 years” (Doblin as cited in Entheogenesis Australis, n.d.), all taking place in reputable institutions worldwide which are published for public scrutiny. It has been stated that “one barometer of success for social change movements is whether their struggles, spanning decades or longer, are taken for granted by new generations” (Doblin as cited in Multidisciplinary Association For Psychedelic Studies, 2010), and this item reflects that this may well be the case. The field is heading toward greater levels of cultural acceptance away from the social stigma status it has attracted in western/Christian cultures since 396AD (Doblin as cited in Entheogenesis Australis, n.d.). Other recent examples of cultural texts which engage their respective communities in ecologically relevant ways include: X Culture|Futures Launch Symposium and Workshop – an event which took place in Copenhagen on 7 – 9 December, 2010, which recognises “that cultural agents (such as artists, musicians, filmmakers, media, architects, designers, practitioners of sports, hobbies, games, educators, as well as of different faith and beliefs and many more) have a responsibility in relation to humanity’s ecological challenges". X The Catalyst Magazine – a monthly online publication which advocates "ecological, social, and economic awareness". As is standard industry practice it has a presence on multiple social communications platforms including facebook and twitter. Descriptive 'Items' in the Ecological Basket Catha Edulis (red variety). The next recent media item to be placed in the eco basket sits predominantly within the confines of being a descriptive piece, revealing in detail how a product originating from the surrounding natural habitat of a community can heavily influence their cultural practices. Furthermore, despite its descriptive nature it could be seen to have the potential to influence how any “self” exposed to it may perceive nature. However, this feature applies to any item included within the ever expanding globalised electronic communications network - the expansion of such communications mediums has been stated to be of vital importance in the creation of identity, as by direct proportion to the degree of access to such information the territorial scope of how one is able to define one’s self increases (Jagtenberg & McKie, 1997). The item in question was broadcast on ABC Radio National on 30/10/2010 within a program entitled All in the Mind: Cultural Chemistry. The ecological interaction at the centre of the discussion was one with a plant known to botanists as Catha Edulis, or 'khat,' 'chat' to the communities who use it, and 'African salad' and 'Abyssinian tea’ more broadly. The plants significance stems from the fact it happens to be “a mighty popular social lubricant for millions from the African continent” yet this “happy-making little shrub has triggered robust argument and an international scientific collaboration” (All In The Mind, 2010) and has been regulated in many countries worldwide, including some Australian states. This example further highlights the immense power nature holds in defining and shaping human-human and human-nature interactions. This instance is particularly significant as it brings attention to this impact on multiple levels, being the direct impact such human-nature interactions cause that can be observed within local communities, and potentially more importantly the recognition of the power the exposure to such practices through expanded global communication has on international perceptions and regulations regarding such issues. Conclusion In summary, the selected texts highlight how todays “selves” are heavily influenced by both their immediate environment, and by the way in which distant environments are communicated to them. Therefore it is vitally important to maintain these communications as impartial, unbiased sources of information allowing individuals to draw their own conclusions. This in turn would allow the wider population to exercise some form of control over their human-nature interactions, the significance of which cannot be overstated “since relations between humans and non-human worlds are at the heart of things” (Head, 2010). Further, the expansion of this relationship between the human and non-human world could potentially assist in expanding society's sense of self and level of consciousness, with the cumulative effect ideally creating a cultural shift away from the current anthropocentric paradigm. These lessons are already available for the willing, being slowly transformed into reality by their presence within the global communications framework. If the words of an influential previous “self” are any motivation… “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it” – Albert Einstein (Great-Quotes, 2010). References: All In The Mind. (2010). Cultural Chemistry: Khat. Accessed Dec 12, 2010 from: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2010/3048481.htm Catalyst Magazine. (2010). Healthy Living, Healthy Planet. Accessed Dec 12, 2010 from: http://www.catalystmagazine.net/ Culture|Futures. (2010). An ecological age by 2050. Accessed Dec 12, 2010 from: http://www.culturefutures.org/ Entheogenesis Australis. (n.d.). Accessed Dec 12, 2010 from: http://www.entheogenesis.org/bio_RDoblin/ Ferrer Montano, O. J. (2006). "Ecology for Whom?: Deep Ecology and the death of anthropocentrism. Opción. 22(50). 181-197. Great-Quotes. (2010). Albert Einstein Quotes. Accessed Dec 12, 2010 from: http://www.great-quotes.com/quote/855741 Greer, A. (2007) ‘Conservation has to be our nature’, The Australian, 24 October 2007, p. 33. Head, L. (2010). ‘Cultural ecology: The problematic and the terms of engagement’, Progress in Human Geography, 31(6), 837–846. Jagtenberg, T. & McKie, D. (1997). ‘Living in the Biosphere: Eco-Selves and Decentred Identities’, Eco-Impacts and the Greening of Postmodernity. Thousand Oaks, USA. Kilbourne, W. E. & Polonsky, M. J. (2005) Environmental Attitudes and their Relation to the Dominant Social Paradigm Among University Students In New Zealand and Australia. Australasian Marketing Journal 13(2), 37 – 48. Multidisciplinary Association For Psychedelic Studies. (2010). MAPS Research Update. MAPS Bulletin. 20(2). The World Bank. (2010). World Development Indicators. Accessed Dec 11, 2010 from: http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators?cid=GPD_WDI Vistawide. (2010). World Languages & Cultures. Accessed Dec 11, 2010 from: http://www.vistawide.com/languages/language_statistics.htm World Wildlife Federation. (2010). Ecoregions. Accessed Dec 11, 2010 from: http://www.worldwildlife.org/science/ecoregions/item1847.html ............................................................................................................................. There we go... not quite as pretty but that's the guts of it. I thought I'd put it out there to see if others think the plants they use / co-habitate with influence the way they define themselves - or even if exposure to a website like this or other "media" items do the same... For anyone who pushed through this far thanks for reading!

Hey all, Does anyone have any Scop seeds to sell? If so please pm - I wanna sow some at the same time as some pachanoi's and sit back and watch the show... Cheers

How many are you after? You're not planning on starting a plantation are you? I can send you 5 or so ripe red coffee berries (2 seeds in each) if that's enough... I've got plenty more that have gone beyond that stage and are now looking weathered and black - still on the tree - I'm sure they'd still be viable cause that's how nature does it right? ;) Anyways PM if you want some... EDIT: edit for random un-googled fact of the day - I once heard from a Balinese coffee grower that Coffee Arabica is best to grow if you live high above sea level, and if not grow Robusta... don't know whether that statement has any validity elsewhere but they sure know they're coffee in Bali!

Looks like cacti can get on with anyone/anything... Even cats' mortal enemies, or snacks - Yummmmm

I was walking down the street the other day and in the front window of Target there was a 5.8L electric pressure cooker reduced down to $39.88 - so I promptly aquired it knowing nothing at all about mycology exepct for the fact that a pressure cooker is generally required (according to the wife I bought it to cook curries in a hurry ;) .... The thing is it only cooks at between 40 - 70 kpa (6 - 10 psi) so getting that formula would be very handy indeed otherwise I really will only be cooking curries

Random question to anyone who's had experience with these plants: Firstly a bit of background info - after reading this thread from cover to cover, lotus was said to have a synergistic relationship with MJ and/or alcohol. So off someone went and tried 15g of dried lotus made into a tea after consuming some MJ (probably too much but this person couldn't yet wind back time to balance things out) - not too much happened - something was going on, and they felt unusually tired the next day, but nothing in your face and this person is not yet ready to write this plant off.... So that leaves alcohol but the thing is this someone is not a fan of that man made poison stuff (yeah, they really don't like it ;) ) but they were going to push past their grievances anyway so they soaked another 15g in vodka. After a week their better judgement took over and they evaporated off all the vodka and were left with an extract... In short has anyone had experience with a similar extract and is just munching the result all down in one go a good idea? Because that's the plan at the moment....

Here's the beauty: Or is this another Nymphaea or such? There were orange ones too...

Cheers PH - those photo's took patience, my camera doesn't like close up shots! The other ones looked a golden colour heading toward orange in the light I was in - I shall have a better look next time and maybe grab one .... Both colours were open at the time I was there as well Definitely going back to study these things a little more ;) EDIT: does anyone know how long the flowers hang around? i.e. do I have to get back there quickly or have I got time on my side? Cheers

Cheers Tripsis VVVVVVV gets some naga (don't know which one), thai birdseye, and some unknown round chilli's (will hopefully edit with the name in a few hours - still searching....)VVVVVVVVVVVVV

damn scales were out of batteries! But I highly doubt it was 30g... It feels like a gram or so dry but now with the frozen factor I don't know how I'll go about accurately proving that - guess I'll just have to find some more!

Hey guys, Found this today - I wanna know whether to make a spore print or throw it in a salad Any help would be greatly appreciated Cheers

Yeah, that was the only one there. And thanks DarkSpark many helpful pieces of advice! This one is a question I'v had for ages - the first one was are there any local cube impostors, which obviously there is, and secondly are any of them harmful? Not that it would matter because you'd have to be eating these things for that to be a problem And the little beauty was drying in front of a fan through a period of heavy rain with lots of moisture in the air so I didn't like my chances of completely drying it out. So once it was as dry as I could get it in the conditions it went into an airtight container into the freezer, which I've heard won't effect anything too much if a gnome broke into the house, rummaged through my freezer and promptly ate everything in there with no delay...

Congratulations! If I could add my 2 cents... These wonderful little "germinations" we create and spend many hours appropriately applying the required levels of sunlight, water and nutrients provide an immeasurable amount of joy and laughs! But be warned - occasionally they can turn into vicious pests that can destroy in seconds all other germinations in the garden that have taken many hours of labour - leaving a trail of bare rooted little seedlings in their path.... This phase however is easily controlled by the application of rum into their nutrients - or just wait until they're a little over 2 years old and they usually move onto a bunch of other destructive habits - however the plants are usually then left alone... But I swear if it happens again I'll have a 2 year old for sale shortly joking!!! As if I'd sell my daughter by herself - I'll chuck her brother in for free

Can I put some mature Pachanoi from the shade into at stinky hot and pretty humid greenhouse? (without killing them!) Should you cut out the woody core when you remove pups from the mother cactus? If you don't does this hinder new pup growth? Can't remember the last one! There was 3 questions....bummer

Cheers guys There's now 4 people officially smarter than Google! Totally understand the sunburn factor now... so say they were introduced slowly to prevent that - how well do they handle high(er) humidity?

I found a patch of specimens very close to where I live, and I was hoping that someone much smarter than me could tell me what they were so I can start getting to know what grows in my local area... Any help would be greatly appreciated Cheers

sticking out of some cow poo in the Gold Coast hinterland... lovely view up there

@icognito - I just spent 15 minutes of my life busting open 2 small Tulsi Krishna dried flowers to get maybe 30 or so seeds? Moral of the story is I have proven to myself there is seed in there and that I'm also too lazy to keep doing this....! so I can send you a heap more dried flowers with seed inside if you still want - just PM your details

Cheers - definitely new to hunting here - didn't really know what to do with it so it's drying in front of a fan right now and what's all this drug talk!?!!? if that's the case I better not put it in my salad then...

Hey guys, Found this today - I wanna know whether to make a spore print or throw it in a salad Any help would be greatly appreciated Cheers

That was the plan except they all set seed too soon - if you wanted to drink daily you'd need a fair few plant (of Rama and Krishna at least, Vana can grow over your head I've been told) - so I'm left with teabags but I'd prefer that than nothing - they're about $6 a box and each teabag's got about 2g of dried herb comprised of all 3 varieties... I just collected seed of the old dry Rama - there was a bit there but not enough to share round but they'll be planted straight away and if all they do is grow a bit and then set seed again there's some headin your way for nothin cause if it wasn't for this thread I wouldn't have even tried!

I literally drink litres of the stuff a week - good gear it is! Challenge accepted - my first seed collecting mission has begun! Anyone know what makes basil set seed - the light cycle, temp etc? Basically should they be re-planted at this time of year? And edit to previous statement - I've got Vana and Krishna setting seed - Rama already has set seed and is very brown and dead looking but I shall see what I can get PS really stoopid question I goota ask - WTF are ario's?