reshroomED

11years? You young whippersnapper:wink: Just redid my maths and it's very close to thirty (first experienced when about 14yo and I turn 44 in a few months). Comin' camping this year? That's been my theory too, but would like some confirmation. Makes plenty of sense, the NE and E suburbs have always been far more expensive land/house-wise, so would attract people who'd be more likely to landscape etc. Plus their distance from forests is far less than in the W. ed

Aaaaw shucks, what a *lovely* thing to say, although it's far from deserved. I'm all embarrassed now. The feelings are definitely reciprocated. YM, fancy heading out for an 'arvo a week or so before to get some wood? I can manage the cutting, but could do with a hand loading/unloading it. We can stash it in the scrub nearby (I've tons of poly-tarps to keep it dry) and pick up the following weekend. It gets very cold down in those valleys, and a fire is near essential. No thanks needed, hearing that is far more than enough. I love to hear of her effectiveness as a medicinal vs 'wow, I got smashed'. If anyone is stuck transport-wise, I can pick you up and return you to Colac train station. Stll got three empty seats and more room for gear than three people could carry, so pm me if this suits (but please only ask if you're definite about arriving). Sorrry to harp-on about the 'definite' bit, but last few trips people have all bailed at the last moment, leaving me to juggle who needs a lift and who doesn't. There are a couple of stands of fruit and nut trees in the in the general area that I visit each year in early May, plus that's milk-cap time. So will be doing a few trips in the coming weeks and will post condition updates in this thread. cheers ed

I'd sugest that you need more 'real-life' experiences, no offense. In all practicality, the jacks are the people that will confront you for refusing to be part of the system (and most have a very poor understanding of the law at best). In my experience, aggravating cops is a silly move. Please explain how you can interact with society in general (and the cop who wants to stop you for a random license check, whilst not complying to Law). Refusal to play their game is punishable, regardless of right/wrong or good/bad. And if you haven't a shit-load of ready cash, you're obliged to play their game. My point was that, regardless of technical legalities, police will be the people who you'll officially have to confront. Stating that you have no obligation etc to the current goverment is not going to mollify them, the reverse in fact. ed

Are you people joking? Try it out youselves before encouraging others. If you've a lazy $500K, you've got a shoe-in. Get a cranky judge on the day and it's gone plus legal fees. In my youth I was charged and bashed on many occasions, once to the point of laying in the shower for three days, sporadically hitting the taps to get rid of my piss, spew, and blood FWIW, my last crime was being asleep in a sleeping-bag in the back seat in possession of my car keys, which copped me a driver's license cancellation for eighteen months. I think that telling a copper that you are 'above the law' wouldd't work (unless you were a masochist). ed

All are welcome, but you'll need to sort/plan between youselves. As per my initiating post, I'm not interested in being the organiser. If you people get something happening, I'll be there. If not, I'll be there anyways, but in a far more remote spot than can be accessed by your average family car (or stock 4WD for that matter) so that I don't have to sit around all day minding gear and waiting for some-one to arrive. And it's looking like after the 14th for me as I (now) have prior commitments, so end of May, start of June. Which is probably for the best as I suspect things might start happening a bit later than usual this year. Apart from that I have no time/date restrictions, so whatever suits the general concensus. YM - You want me to pick you up, take you there and back, and cook - and five courses at that? You'd wanna be a bloody good root:bootyshake: or have large quantities of various substances to bribe me with (preferrably the latter, but then you probably wouldn't eat my cooking then). Only joking, the passenger seat is now booked. And Korky's advice re volume consumed is worth heeding. I occasionally make a reference to shroom potency, but am rarely taken seriously (and not interested in discussions about my mushies are stronger than yours so never press the point). But every time I've had guests that have had prior experience with subs, at least one prson has 'overdone' it by taking their regular dose, and spent hours holding up a tree etc. BM has theories regarding beech-wood substrates that warrant further investigation, but there are at least three distint sub-types here that I've noticed (from a purely macro view). So bottom line is: You people sort who's coming and I'll supply directions and modify my camping spot to suit Here's a panoramic pic of one of the three the most likely camp-spots (a Californian Redwood plantation), but it's a summer pic, so expect more water and greenery. http://archive.bigben.id.au/victoria/virtual/vr/aire.html Also, there are several small waterfalls well worth a look within 1/2hrs drive, and one in walkable disrtance More info/pics can be gained by a search for "Otway" in these fora. cheers, ed

I ask this question most years around this time but am yet to receive a reply. When I first discovered P. subaeruginosa (nearly thirty years ago) I was living in Melbourne's Western suburbs, and had to travel to the Vic high country, the Otway ranges, Mt Macedon, or some paddocks out Donnybrook way. It's hard to believe that they were growing rampantly in suburbia, yet I was missing them. On this basis I'd suggest theat the migration was from forest to garden, and has occurred in the last twenty years or so. Anyone else picking subs 20+ years ago and finding them in inner-city garden-beds? ed

What's the availability of chop-chop in the NE NSW (ie Grafton) area? Most of your el-cheapo tobacco-shops (wouldn't go anywhere near calling them tobacconists), plenty of milk-bars, and even stalls in weekend markets sell it under the counter here (VIC). Getting close to relocating and this is a major expense. Or id it time to quit? ed

Perhaps not as good as it may sound. Shit, if you know what sub's look like, they're everywhere here in winter. You don't need a 'spot' as such, just a look around in the bush should see it sorted. I was driving back from Lorne to Melbourne (Deans Marsh Rd) years back and at 100km/hr+ I was seeing them as we drove past. Got the driver to stop and they were literally everywhere on the side of the road. Personally, I prefer lookin' in-amongst-it for the little buggers, but as said above, any rest-area, picnic spot etc should have plenty. Ta for the kudos though dworx. ed

I've lost seven close friends over the years (OD) due to smack, vs two which *possibly* could be attributed to alcohol (car/bike crashes) so as far as empirical proofs go....... But that's not what I was getting at. My point was that the cravings induced by lack of supply are hardly comparable when it comes to heroin vs alcohol. The government giving away free smack won't change this one iota, only lessen the occurrence, and the degree of difficulty when wanting to stop will probably remain constant too. Perhaps if the government gave away free livers, alcohol's down-sides would disappear? If anyone can't see a link between violence and smack addiction, I'd suggest they've spent zero time around junkies. I've seen some pretty sick shit over the years, but by far the sickest and most depraved acts have mostly had a junkie perpetrating them. And worth paying heed to, is the fact that I'm talking about "junkies". Not the one-in-a-hundred person that can actually manage a habit along with a productive life, but the poor bastards that can't. The flip-side being that I've never seen a piss-head steal for their next hit (and I knew a bloke once who would freeze his beer cans to extract the alcohol). Whereas your average junkie would sell their parents' life-savings for a belt. A close-to-home example would be Conan Troutman's recent debacle. That bastard ripped-off his friends, and if that's as far as he sinks, he'll be doing well, 'cause that's usually the first big down-hill step (from my experience). I'm in no way defending alcohol as a drug, or calling horse the worst thing ever, just think grog's the lesser evil of the two (if a substance can have such attributes). I know there are a few ex-users here (and a few who still dabble) so would be interested to hear their take on this. Anyway it's not just the piss and smack you've gotta worry about: ed

Mate, wasn't speaking of government policies, only replying to your statement. Not propounding alcohol at all, but would definitely prefer a child of mine to have an alcohol habit rather than smack. Obviously 'no habit' would be the goal. ed

You've got to be kidding. I grew up with alcaholics, was one myself (and still am I suppose, just drink little due to health issues - perhaps I'm biased), and had an amphetamine addiction for nigh on ten years. Never have I seen anyone sink so low as your average horse-fiend, when they're hanging-out for a belt. Whilst mild drugs relieve social inhibitions (hence the idea that they only exascerbate an underlying condition) some hard drugs re-model the brain for a while. Apples and oranges. ed

Dunno....... Most posts sound like they're written by someone of that age or younger. Pd, your work is quite good. What's the hourly rate (pm me if youd prefer)? ed

The Alaskan Bootlegger's Bible By Leon W. Kania Publisher: Happy Mountain Publications 2000 198 Pages ISBN: 0967452406 File type: 56MB .pdf Book Description How to make beer, wine, liqueurs, cider and moonshine whiskey. The author dusts off over 30 years of experience to tell you how it's done. He not only tells how to make darned near any kind of beer, wine, liqueur and whiskey you can imagine, he also tells you how to make the equipment to do it with. Ever wondered how a still is made? There are 8 types illustrated in this book and though it's illegal to build or possess a still, the illustrations are so complete, you could easily do it! This book includes plans and operating instructions from underground moonshiner manuals used in Mid East oil fields. Some are built with components found in most home kitchens. From moonshine, homebrew, wine and liqueur recipes, to stills, make your own cappers, kegs, scales and even a malt factory from an old freezer, it's all here! Easy to read and humorous, this book entertains you with Alaskan tales and bootlegger's lore while you learn to make everything from beer and blossom wines, to horse turd whiskey and bathtub gin. If you could buy only one make your own book for the rest of your life, this is it. It's like getting a whole shelf of books for the price of one! About the Author Never nominated for sainthood, the author has spent his life in the most gawdawful places with some of the most interesting people imaginable. Making your own often meant using local ingredients and improvising your equipment. This thirst induced ingenuity produced some amazing and sometimes hilarious results. The characters, recipes, plans and instructions in this book are real, only the names have been changed to protect the guilty. The war stories are all true and growing daily. An ex-Green Beret, Leon came to Alaska in 1973. Assigned to the U.S. Army Northern Warfare Training Center at Ft. Greely where he met his wife Scottie. The crew now includes a son, Leon Jr. studying for a degree in Computer Science and an incorrigible little green bird named Jessie who punctuated almost every page of the draft book. The aim of this book is to explain how to make all types of alcoholic beverages in an easy to understand and entertaining manner. It stresses the arts, not the science, steers you toward using wholesome natural ingredients, rather than chemicals and shows you how to make, rather than buy most of your equipment. It has an Alaskan Bush flavor by virtue of many of its tales and recipes, but the how-to information is universal and applies anywhere in the world. http://depositfiles.com/files/q2ov1xrok http://sharingmatrix.com/file/1656321/TABB.rar http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OP929NZO ed

Is anyone here a member at the academic Book exchange ? http://www.abcdfree.com/ Recently upgraded my pc and lost lot of login/passes at the same time, so would greatly appreciate an invite. It's definitely one of the best rescources for tech literature that I've found, and would greatly miss being able to access their data. cheers, ed

Ta mate, quite interesting. Been racking my brain but can't recall ever seeing them amongst the beech around here (given my memory this means little), but will definitely be on-the-lookout this year. Be my last season outhere so gonna put some time in lokking this one. cheers, ed

Bridgesii' are self-infertile so won't set seed without cross-pollination. She's only flowered three times from memory. Each time as much pollen as possible was collected and distributed via this fora and the old EBA. I had no luck pollinating her, and the only success I recall was from one member who I never heard any more from than fruit were happening. For the last few years she's been pruned to about 8' tall, but I'll be relocating in the next few months (at last) so she'll be left alone for a while. As pd said, if I stop hacking into her she'll be back to her height 6years ago in a few years time. ed

Is this verified gerb ? N. cunninghami are very common here and I've noticed correlation betwen them and P. subaeruginosa but not the fly's. ed

They're symbiotic with pinus and a few other trees, so in-vitro's out. Interesting thought, though. I wonder if root-mass is an issue, ie could you grow them amongst bonsai pinesin a large planter? ed

I've found that staining (blue/green) and sap (?) exudations to be closely related to the relative humidity they've grown in, with the bruisable, seeping shrooms occurring in the wetter environment. We had a bumper year for milk-caps here a few seasons back, with most of the local pine-forests/plantations full of them, to the point that it only took me about 5mins to fill a shopping bag. it was very wet at the time and they were shocking for bruising and bleeding. The slightest pressure would cause a large green bruise and any breakage/cracking oozed. If they could have been packed for transport a fortune was there, literally for the picking. Haven't been out for a squiz yet (still pretty warm here for this time of year), but they'll be about soon if anyone would like some prints. ed

G'day mesc. Looked into that a while back and price is no comparison (chop-chop of decent quality goes for about $75/lb around here). As for quality, the taste of a tailor-made fag is (to me) full of chemicals, to the point where I won't smoke one. ed

Used to do a bit of solo back-packing in the VIC/NSW high-country in the snow and one of my favourites were ribbed women's stockings. Very comfy (they're actually excellent to stop chafing when breaking in heavy canvas pants etc as well) and *very* warm. Plus thay make ya look sexy, ed

Subs are notoriously hard to fruit in-vitro. I spent well over two years trying this to no avail (and I live in an area that they happily fruit naturally). Tried everything that I could think of, but never achieved a single fruit. FWIW, of the dozens of substrates I tried, manfern/treefern husks were by far the best. The grubs would appear to be fungus gnat larvae, and I've had them leave several hundred shrooms as small piles of powder on more than one occasion. Higher temps when drying (say over 25C) tend to kill them outright or leave them dormant - only ever had them eat my harvest when drying at ambient temp (winter so sub 20C). Good luck with your endeavours, ed

I've read of cloven-hoofed animals being deterred by laying wire-mesh on the ground (ala cattle-grid/cow-catcher), but don't know how this would go with 'roos. A dog on the premises would eliminate the problem, but possibly cause others. Noise is probably innapropriate at night. Can't think of much else off the top of my head. cheers ed edited as context was irrelevent

Just checked and found the price-tag @ $4/plantlet from Cradoc Nursery , (Cradoc Nursery, 110 Cradoc Hill Road, Cradoc, TAS 7109, Phone: 03 6266 3790, Fax: 03 6266 3890) I'm thinking there was a discount involved for purchasing a few as well - I bought five from memory and that was approx. two years back, and think it was about $20 all-up delivered to W Vic. All arrived promptly and were in good nick. cheers, ed

Do a google. About $2/ea for plantlets delivered (to VIC) from Tassie nurseries. From memory, a member here offered me some, so trade is possible Pm me if you do no good and I'll check my archives for a source. Great gear for cooking. ed