aniMAL

creach, dont go political, unless you want to make a political point and if you do then be prepared to be public about thing because it most than likely will result in a larger sentence... i would suggest going for a spent sentence, get some nice reference letter from someone important that knows you, maybe let it be known to the magistrate that this a conviction would affect the prospects of your chosen carer, (and mycologist maybe is not what they want to hear!) and at the least appear repentant for the court... even so be prepared for a fine and crim record, but it might pan out that it goes the other way, it depends on how the magistrate is feeling on the day and i guess the policy they have specifically to sepnts and magical people like you...

I dreamt! This season was not over, so I hopped in a mates car and went and had a look and did that it was not... :D

Greetings, Long time no post! Went for a wander yesterday for scientific purposes and as a guide to see what we could see, I had never gone this late low and behold the season was still very much happening in several of my favorite places round Balli... The hill was damp, and the valley even more so and getting damper with the big rains coming through. Anyway the ecosystem was in a state that I had not seen it before, there was very few fungus species about, with by far the predominant one of the magical variety both in the hill Marri's and the pine valley... Hundreds of older decaying ones around in most my favorite spots, which indicated to me that peeps had not been frequenting of late, but also some patches of new growth over the last week, not much in the way of babies though which may well hit the surface later this week after the rain... Anyway from my personal observations this year May -> Sept every time I have gone down there I have witnessed magicness, waiting for storm front to go through and giving it a few days before heading south seems a pretty useful rule of thumb... As such I would suggest that later this week should also yeild sightings if you know where you are going... and hey watch out for the boys and girls in blue!!! :mad:

Likewise, I went down last Monday and saw less that my previous posting... Again a few older ones around the Marri's though not as good, nil around ferns up the top. In the valley the pines were still going though not as good as last time... Overall I noted things were just starting to fruit in a number locales, which I left so come Tues or Weds there would have been some fresh goodies for adventurers... Cheers MAL

mickyJ if you know where you are looking you wont have any problems, unfortunate to hear about focus's bad dream. :confused: As I said, from what I could gather the season was only a week old or so only a week ago and will only get better with time and the big rains of this week. Several of my favorate spots were then not yet fruiting, nevertheless several others were... :cool: As to the locale(s), never been a fan of exposed spaces like the valleys proper or anywhere near Jayes road for that matter, more of a hill climber... Assuming you know the pine plantation area, try areas around the marri(s) at the top of the hill work your way down through similar systems, and later in the season the fern - bracken patches up that way, alternatively, having said that some of the best spots are lower down in the pines which to most all seem the same but I would always recommend trying main valley on the SW side uphill from the large bryer patches... Anyway it took several years for this little truffle pig to understand the ecosystem and theres heaps more to explore, these days I cant much be bothered even driving south and encountering mr pod!!!

Certainly can smoke subs, nice in a cig, might even spice it up with the green or even d-m-t... In pure form gives as others have suggested a dreamy heady buzz of 30 odd minute duration...

Greetings, Went for an early season walk last week around Ballingup after hearing things had started up after the huge rains from a week or so ago and confirmed the rumors were true... :D Such an interesting ecosystem, so nice empty, before every man and his dog tramples the place and draws the fuzz... Around Marri systems subs had fruited to and become very large from the big rain in the hills, the ferns and bracken systems there were not as yet fruiting beyond the old prioneer, nor were the really grassy areas, though regular spots semi grassed were on as were proven pine locals which had started up... In the valleys only sighting in the pines without grass or semigrassed which were already proven, plenty about, evidence of several generations of fruit, lots of older more insect damaged rotting ones along with decent examples from the big rains and plenty more fresh offerings from more subsequent rains... From what I can gather word of the season is not very wide as yet, so get in early before the rush... [ 16. May 2005, 04:49: Message edited by: aniMAL ]

Yes strangebrew ferns or more like the broken down crushed decomposinf variety. Direct fruit from the ferns is not so common even in such a system but the mycelium loves the stuff bigtime... Cheers MAL

Revel, it is indeed a Marri gumnut, from what I can gather from the gnomes the photo was taken under a aged such tree in the upper part of the main valley of Ballingup... The gnomes is aware of several such mycelium colonies up that way, they do like the Marri's, apparently in the hills there only the Marri, ferns and the odd pine systems were still fruiting, the brackens had nil... Science rocks! Cheers MAL

Its been a pretty good season in WA... Despite rumors I heard from some people in Perf recently (not in this forum) that the season is over, I must state that they are full of shit, Ballingup is still fruiting... :D This is not to say that the ecosystem is not changing, it has been somewhat drier of late and the hills have been less bountiful than earlier, but the gnomes tell me that the valleys are still going just fine thankyou... The gnomes went there after a long dry ended a few days before and they say they have never seen so many perfect caps so close together, amazing what a bit of rain can bring on... Cheers MAL

G'day from WA, I the last two weeks three people I know in different scene have mentioned the use of tartaric acid in the consumption of magic mushies, in particular in make brews. Prior to this I had never heard of it use... These varying people said: -it intensifies the trip, making it a more visual journey -it tastes nice -one said he uses it to neutralise the stricnin and makes things more pleasant for the stomach Me I dont know, can people please comment on the validity of the above statements and upon their use or non use of tartaric acid with pysilcybin shroooms... Cheers MAL

I am a big fan of fresh produce... But some free range product is insect damaged sometimes to the point of yuk, as such I think this is likely ideal raw material for brewing up or leaving insitu... On the efficiency angle. How effective is drying? From what I gather it pretty good... Cheers MAL

Hiya's, Another newbie question: I am interested in how one might go about making a good sub brew of medium to hight potency... Specifically I am interested in adding other other herbs to make it nice and flavorsome... Also how long might a person be able to store such a brew and under what conditions... On a tangent, a friend has a honey pot containing subs that seems to be fermenting after he dunked some bread in it, any suggestions? Cheers MAL

A postcard from Ballingup... :D Cheers MAL

Thanks for the suggestion strangebrew, its one I will likely try soon enough... Rev and creach, I will seek out the book you have suggested, I am sure its somewhere out there... Have so far had success in getting mycelium going from stubs to grow on both pine mulch and fairly fresh chips, as well as on a couple of types of paper : newspaper and thicker tissue paper. For me the challenge is to get the little beasties to through last the heat of summer... Ummm, in growing such subs in a controlled manner, is there a chance that one could get fruit still this season or is it a bit late? How would ya do it? Would one need to cool the mycellium down (not to freezing) to get it to start to fruit??? Or would it be better to focus to get things well estabilished outdoors towards next year??? Anyway, I spose at some point I should try the whole world of agar but for the SW subs it too easy to work with what I have, I might be more interested in trying that the Thai variety... :D Cheers MAL