klip247

I had something similar on mine, black spots which were lumpy, they just went away after some time. No idea what it was.

Inspired by the tale of that mysterious Victorian B.edulis find I decided to go far out East where the habitat is just as suitable, during the hunt there were many of the usual; Lactarius, amanita, slippery Jack but no sign of B.edulis. Although I was dissapointed in not finding at least one specimen, it was still enjoyable yet tiring to get out there and forage through those enchanting pine groves. I did leave with some after-thoughts; is it possible that local wild-life have discovered this delicacy? There were obvious signs of disturbed patches in the needle stacks, most likely wombats or even deer. It's possible that the mycellium or spores never made it to these areas. In 60 years you would expect some sign of its existence. I suppose one would need to survey the whole area (which could take days) to really be sure. It could also be too early or late in the season.

Yeah that would be spectacular. I'm surprised that they were found towards Macedon in this cold weather, in Europe they emerge in summer, this is actually quite strange, unless I'm missing something?

Haven't seen any yet around the local spots in Vic. I'm thinking they will start popping up in May around here, what would you guys say is the prime month for these down here? Btw nice specimens you have there, as Berengar mentioned frying the caps on a pan make for a nice meal, I'd remove the stem completely. I've seen a recipe where u add minced garlic, chives, salt and butter or oil to them while frying, haven't tried it yet but sounds tasty.

Actually, chulen is a type of herbal mixture that is ingested by the Buddhist practitioner during long meditation sessions, in isolation. Its eaten so Chulen is not a technique or a practice, but rather it is a herbal supplement. They take it as a source of subtle energy which aids their meditations. I believe normal food which has a greater density than these herbs can interfere and cause disturbances during their practice. A lot of Buddhist monks are vegetarian, one reason for this is because meat will cause an overload of wild uncontrollable energy. This massive spike of energy would clash with their sedentary, meditative lifestyle. The Dalai Lama eats small portions of meat, it makes sense for him to do this because he needs that extra energy while travelling and teaching around the world. I think a lot of this has to do with energy management, we expend a lot of energy, daily, from physical to emotional and intellectual. For example; a burst of negative emotion such as anger consumes an enormous amount of energy, thats why we feel tired after getting really angry. Most of us ordinary people have no idea about how to conserve and utilize energy efficiently, we don't even know how to properly manage our diets. There are levels to this that we have no idea about.

That is a possibility, when I first got interested in mushroom spotting (at least 5 or 6 years ago) a friend showed us some magical specimens that looked completely different to the common subs, they were verified by others to be active. From memory they looked very similar to panaeolus and bruised blue. They were apparently picked around the Eastern to South Eastern meadow country.

Nice Java, I had about three or four which I decided to plant out.... they didn't make it. I will have to try again, but this time I will be more careful where I place them.

Personally, I don't think that the zodiac rules ones whole personality in an exclusive manner, instead, our zodiacal heritage probably accentuates specific traits at different levels in each person. Some like to say that one sign is better than the other and so on, but really, each one has something unique to offer with their own "pros" and "cons" so its fair to say that each one is essentially equal yet in a different way So I don't think Cancer is any better than the others, they are all interesting, and who knows, maybe we were born under different zodiacs in previous births CANCER 21st of June – 22nd of July Cancer is the house of the Moon. Its metal is silver, its stone, the pearl, and white, its color. The natives of Cancer are peaceful, but too wrathful at times. They have an aptitude for manual arts, are very sensible and their character changes with the lunar phases. Things go well for them on long journeys. They are very romantic, amorous and very tenacious. The natives of Cancer have a character that is as variable as the phases of the Moon. The natives of Cancer are peaceful by nature, but they are terrible when they become angry. The natives of Cancer have a disposition for the manual arts, practical arts. The natives of Cancer have a vivid Imagination, but they should be careful of Fantasy. Conscious Imagination is advisable. The mechanical imagination called fantasy is absurd. In Cancer we sometimes find some individuals who are too passive, slack, lazy. The natives of Cancer are very fond of novels, movies, etc. "Practical Astrology" – Samael Aun Weor

Just the thread I was looking for, anyone else get past the two weeks? I have two sacra's that are doing quite well, a few of my other ones are starting to wilt and dry up, this might possibly be a humidity issue, the germination rate isn't great, but I've had worse with other types:

This one might be a type of nettle, dwarf nettle or some other.

I've also noticed very slow growth from a metel chlorantha that's been growing for over a few months now, it's in the ground and gets full sun, although recently i've had to treat her with some insecticide due to a spidermite invasion. Here she is with the first flower:

There is an issue when editing a blog post, the pictures revert back to their url links which means they have to be set as images individually every time, is this due to the upgrade?

Ah.. that's what I forgot to add, fixed, looks like Qualia got the gist of it

BBC - The Life of Buddha http://youtu.be/YsEksMEE2Eg Unmistaken Child Full Documentary: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDo4TmCLikk&playnext=1&list=PL22C170D809606280&feature=results_main

If you know of any Buddhist/Spiritual related videos, links and so on that you find interesting please post them up! Although I am not a Buddhist, I do find their approach fascinating and interesting, just thought id share some of these videos that I've had bookmarked in case anybody else finds them useful... I will let the videos speak for themselves Nechung State Oracle of Tibet Buddhist Meditation - Samdhong Rinpoche

The trick is to get drowsy first, then the rest is easy... if your body is just too energized or feels uncomfortable then you might want to do some sort of activity before getting into the bed, so that your body feels more relaxed when you lie down, then by allowing the drowsiness to engulf you, sleep will come naturally. Although a while back I took some melatonin pills and from the experience it brought on that same drowsiness sensation, afterwards sleep was easy.

It's good to know that you had success with your experiment! It really does seems to grow quite rapidly, I'm thinking of just incorporating some wood mulch once the mycelium takes over the cardboard then transferring the inoculated mulch into the garden.

Well I ended up sourcing some Shimeji mushrooms from the local grocery store, they are the beige/grey capped ones (buna-shimeji?), I ended up chopping about an inch from the bottom to use for spawning, the rest is in transit, the destination... my stomach. So it's been three days and I'm already noticing growth, there are white patches spreading along the cardboard! I would like to grow morels and boletus edulis but since these are mycorrhizal is it possible to grow on mulch/soil with any success?

Taking your advice I looked it up and found a tek for creating spawn using cardboard pieces, it looks fairly simple and straightforward, I'm thinking of giving this a go, did you get any mushrooms in the end?

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I thought this would be a question suitable to post here, is it at all possible to use the store bought Shimeji mushroom myc? I was thinking of planting or 'seeding' some woodchips/soil with it, would this work out or would it just rot away?

Lucerne (Alfalfa) hay is used as a mulch, this material is supposed to add nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil as it breaks down (like most mulches), this is a good mulch to keep moisture levels in the soil up during the hot summer period and improving the soil quality in the long run, although one thing to keep in mind is that lucerne breaks down a lot quicker than woodchip mulch, I'm not exactly sure how long it takes to break down completely but from what I have read it can take months. In conclusion; lucerne, grass, sugar cane and other types of hay are good for adding nutrients and retaining moisture but they break down a lot quicker than other types of mulch. Woodchip though, is great all round, it looks good in most gardens and lasts a fairly long time, some say that it absorbs the nitrogen out of the soil, if you think this will be an issue, adding a layer of manure or some other type of fertilizer underneath the mulch might be a good way to combat this problem.

The S100 is made in Japan, but it would not be too strange to find vendors selling it from China, if the ebay vendor has mostly positive feedback and offers warranty on the device (as should be the case with a brand new camera) then I do not see much of a problem, just be aware of the scammers as raketemensch has clear testimony of.

Recently planted Coleus Blumei seeds from two different sources, I've separated them by made-up strain names, Aztec and Mutant. Germination was quick taking a few days to pop up, lighting is indirect so some colour loss is expected. A couple of weeks in and they are already showing their differences in pattern and colour, the Aztec strain developed it almost immediately after the first true set of leaves appeared, whereas the mutant strain took a fair while longer. Snapshots will be taken at approximately 2 weeks apart, Aztec Strain, Coleus Blumei Mutant Strain, Coleus Blumei