Leaderboard

Hi everyone Newly validated member and incredibly pleased to be here As an icebreaker i thought I'd do trade/giveaway.. I've just recently acquired my green thumb I don't have any botanics to offer, however, I do make funky little polymer clay creations that some of you may have seen in the SAB forum gallery thingy... They take a fair amount of time and patience to make and as I've got uni exams coming up so the few on offer won't be quite as intricate but still very awesome.. Anyway! To give away (first in best dressed I guess) - A single glow shroom in a small corked glass vial To trade: - 2 × Single plain glow shrooms in corked vials - 1 x Single coloured glow shroom in corked vial - 2 × Plain glow corked vials - A small daisy incense burner - A small mushroom cluster incense burner It will take me a little time to make them, probably about 2 weeks.. Anyway its lovely to meet you all and I look forward to learning from and being part of this community

Here we go, hopefully this works ^ daisy incense burner ^ some shroom incense burners ^ plain glow shroom vial (shitty photo sorry) ^ coloured glow shroom vials will look like single mushrooms similar to these ^ like these only not so shitty looking, they dont photo well, i think the epoxy distorts them from some angles if that makes sense...they look much better in real life Hope that helps give a rough idea of what's on offer

G'day I found these two snippets in a book I have called "The Heirloom Tobacco Garden" by Timothy A James. I thought they might be relevant to the discussion. "...., the Camayura natives in South America harvests tobacco leaves and hang them on cleft sticks to air dry in the shade. When semi dry, they cut the leaves into narrow strips and cure the tobacco in small baskets. (Wilbert 1987:106)" "The Caraja Indians along the middle course of the Araguaia River in South America harvest their tobacco when the leaves start drooping. The leaves are hung up in the house to dry. When the leaves are 'half-dry' they are rubbed between the hands until they turn black and are then hung on a pole or a special sloping rack until almost dry. The tobacco cures in oblong baskets and then is twisted or braided into ropes for use." Like the OP suggested I reckon fermenting and aging tobacco is fairly modern method developed for the western palate. Not sure the Native Americans stored great quantities of tobacco to age for years like modern practices. Cheers Twist

hey what do you know, it opened a few minutes later!

That doesn't strike me as a particularly helpful or supportive thing to say subbo. I don't mean to invalidate or discount your experience or to have a dig or start an argument, just saying that it might not really be what somebody in Olive's position needs to hear is all. Time, healthy habits and sobriety can work wonders, and human brains are pretty resilient and good at bouncing back to equilibrium when given the chance and the right conditions. Hope you're okay Olive, keep up the work you need to get better, seeing doctors, eating right, getting sunlight, socialising and exercising. A couple of books that I've personally found helpful in terms of supporting my brain's health through lifestyle factors (which can be used in addition to - not as a replacement for - proper medical care) are: The Brain Diet (by Alan Logan), The Depression Cure (by Stephen Illardi, written about depression but I suspect would be beneficial for overall mental health) and Spark (by John Ratey). You might find those useful - if you don't want to read the whole books and would like my limited notes on them instead shoot me a PM. Be well mate

Cuzco.

Per the 2015 Seed giveaway - if you PM'd me your address and did not put a full name with the address please PM me again with a full name. It is amazing to me how many people didn't put a name, or just put a first name, or initials etc.. Think about it for a second - which type of people don't put their full name on their mail? Shady people with stuff to hide, that's who! "Normal" people put their name on their mail - and the post office people know this. Not putting your name on your mail is basically just like writing "Hey post office, I'm super paranoid and have something to hide!!" So, please PM me forthwith a full name I can use - otherwise I'm just going to make one up for you - because the post office people know me, and I don't want them wondering why all these recipients I'm sending stuff to are super paranoid about using their full name. Thanks!

roll on DS

Deadstar, Have been reading your posts and and have been meaning for sometime to offer some encouragement from a fellow sufferer. My backs fucked. I am 43, had my first back surgery for exactly your issues at 23 and last October I had my second lot of surgery on the same discs. I still lead a pretty active life, ride dirtbikes most weekends, have a big garden I suffer for regularly etc. I know how debilitating physically and mentally these injuries are. I was living in NZ at the time my back gave up and had 3 years off work while they tried every type of treatment. Back then back surgery on a young person was last resort though clearly what was needed. My marriage fell apart and a whole host of other shit went sideways due to my inability to cope with being immobolised when I had been such an active person. I really feel and understand your despair. The constant pain is draining to say the least. Surgery improved my life no end to the point I almost forgot my limitations and last year blew it again. Pregabalin helped immensely last year. I worked up till the day of my surgery on that shit so if you can take it, do it. Back is now 60%. I still ride all the time. Good days, bad days but once you accept this is how it is you just get on with it. I still live in a degree of constant pain of which there is no point complaining about, it is what it is, but at this point i'm still doing all the things I want but am much more conscious of my limitations. No offence to any previous posters but for fucks sake stay a million miles away from the weights! Walking, swimming are great. Swimming especially for your core strength. Anyway the surgery will be a godsend though not a cure and if you are careful you will have many many years of post surgery relief. I hope it all goes well for you mate. Getafix

Crowded for space from the git-go, a few years ago I inadvertently planted a terscheckii too close to a pasacana and several other plants. Naturally I let it get waaay too big to move (roughly 90 cm) before deciding to move it, which I tackled today. I only wanted to move it 5 feet, but the plant and root ball were far to heavy to lift, even with the non existent help. With access to only one side of the plant, I began to dig a hole next to what would become the root ball. I worked the shovel sideways in between the terscheckii & surrounding plants, cutting a narrow groove as far back around as I could access.... I then dug a trench out towards its new location to be.... As work progressed I wedged a 2x4 between some nearby trichs to stabilize the terscheckii & prevent it from falling forward.... Then I dug underneath the root ball as much as I dared & around each side as much as I could reach... Then I had a fantastic idea, that i would use a tarp to assist in moving the whole mass of plant & root ball. Tucking the tarp as far under the root ball as I could..... I then took the shovel to the mostly inaccessible back side and reaching over some trichs, I used the shovel to cut thru the top soil between the two side cuts..... The root ball & terscheckii fell a few inches down onto the tarp, completely free.... Then I lashed the plant & root ball to a short 2x4 to stabilize them both and assist in moving the whole mass forward..... this was accomplished by pulling on the tarp and guiding the 2x4 to the plants new location.... Then it was just a matter of backfilling and a major watering down... Radiantly beautiful in its new home.....

Are you sure?, it's not simaler to my cuzco...

And then of course some grafts too...

A couple A. fissuratus were the first Ariocarpus plants in my collection to flower this year at the end of September, retusus were the last to start flowering. Lots of plants still producing flowers this season though, and none of the lloydii's have opened up yet. Got a new camera and took some pics...still getting used to the new format These are all own-roots plants for the likes of Spanishfly...

showed them to my oxygen nurse who thought they were really pretty : 3 and adored some seedling time enough to try to photograph a whole prop' of twosies (2" pots)

I have to extend a big thanks to Zelly for being very hospitable a few days ago. I had a wonderful time. Also to Nitrogen for popping in for a chat for a while. It was absolutely fantastic to be able to meet you both. If either of you are to come to Australia I will very happily show you some spots and open my house to you. And to Highdesertcacti for providing some guest passes for me and Zelly to go to the Huntington. Wonderful place it is too. Could have spent longer there but they're only open for 4.5 hours on a weekday. I have LOTS of cool cactus pics to share with you all. And I will, but most likely not for a week or so until I'm back home and can spend some time resizing and uploading them. I am seriously behind on my SAB-ing so will get back into it as soon as I can. I will also be creating a mushroom thread to document the first 2 weeks of my trip when I spent much time in forests and had some great and exciting finds. Including a Boletus edulis, (porcini), on Vancouver island. I'm in Scottsdale at the moment, (near Phoenix). And am heading down to Saguaro national park and probably one of either the Phoenix desert botanical gardens of the desert botanical gardens at Tucson. We shall see how early I get up and get on with the day as I have a bunch of dricing to get done to complete my mission..... How's this for a pic from the kitchen window of the place I'm staying at? (excuse the overexposed pic - trust me, the view from the kitchen is amazing, multiple saguaros out each window, and every other window of the house!) And the Cac-Stang has been treating me well. Thought I'd get one of these as all the Americans drive them, (and by that I mean all the tourists rent them....)

No seriously, I laughed, I cried, for a moment I thought my head was actually going to explode...Beautiful, eloquent, pure fucking gold!!!

Who is this mysterious Pat Uri and why are his posts so awesome???

Psycho0 X Cuzcoensis. 1.6 meters and 30 cm circumference in 2.5 years. Breaks my heart, but I'm going to cut it into ~5 pieces to propagate it. Could have even flowered in a year or two if left alone, but I'd rather have many of them sooner. Scopulicola X puquiensis

I've started walking each afternoon for about 1hr. Im a bit slow and i hobble a bit but it feels good to be out and about again.

My favorite TPMXN1

Here's a big TPQC x TPM. It grows so much different on a big stock. You can see the old growth with tons of spines and growth points, but the new growth on the big stock is just one huge crest. I called this one TPQC x TPM "Broccoli" Here is a TPM x N1 Here's a different clone of TPQC x TPM. The entire crest's growth point died and turned black randomly, but it healed and started growing again with the tiny pieces of the crest that weren't dead and new pups. Not sure what this one is. I lost the label. I think it was TPC x something or other. Then here are my nitrogen's seedlings on their own roots.

Some long overdue pics.. The meagre quantities of warmth and sunlight these have received mean that growth has been slow, showing the pitfalls of growing in a not so ideal climate. But at least they are tough! Here's my favourite crest, just cause it is the cutest little plant I have ever laid eyes on TPQC x TPM SS01 x TPM (from the 2011 batch but I may as well include here) Unsure of this one's identity...sadly I thought I would remember well enough not to need labels..fail. Psych0o x TPM TPC x Multi TPQC x TPM TPM x N1

also I was very fortunate indeed to aquire this sexy heifer .. most gratefully indeed too, I'm told it's a mutt but hey, it's beautiful and possibly also my fave specimen of the whole lot too : ]