Well, these took a really long time - I started mid-April - and we finally have two healthy tubs with pins. Plus I just pulled the guy above today.

Here's one of the tubs.

Things are looking good! ICYMI - the grain bags traveled to Texas, Montana, Utah, Florida, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. They were questioned by TSA twice. Both times I gave the officer a long explanation about how to grow mushrooms - the point where he thought I was a crazy gardening lady and was just all - ok fine - please go forth with your crazy hobby.

I think my last grain bags were just too old, and I didn't like the way the they were (not) colonizing. I tossed the last bag and started over today.  See, this just looks weird.

The mycelium just wasn't taking over, and there were some definite spots that it was avoiding.  The picture above looks weird too.

So today I started all new - with two fresh grain bags and PE uncut spores.

May 20th - Update! Broke up the bags. They are looking great.

June 6 - And more updates. I had to go on a trip and the bags needed a bit more time. So I brought them with me!

These bags have now traveled to Texas, Montana, Utah, Florida, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The bags look super - and I'll put them in tubs shortly!

I got these last week, along with the substrate and grain bags. It's time to grow again! More photos coming soon.

In this post: I went to Burning Man (nobody expected that situation) and last weekend I found out that my town is turning on to my shrooms

After a really long break - this year I went back to Burning Man. It wasn't the trip I expected (no one expected what happened this year) but it was definitely full of magic. I took my own medicine only once, and really smalldosesteps - only 1g. It was enough to make things sparkle a tiny bit, but that's all, in nights bookended by E. After my last super challenging trip, I'm still not ready to go in all the way. I did revist MDMA, and after a decade plus - with maturity, wisdom, and people I love - wow.

Second topic: I don't ever sell shrooms. I do give them away. And recently I found out that that the giving is helping shrooms make their way across the town I live in. People are learning about themselves, they are loving nature - and I've been a part of that voyage. This makes me incredibly happy. We're not here to get high, we're here with intention. It means so much that I can help in any way.

Generally, I think trip reports are about as interesting as hearing someone tell you about their dreams, so I'll keep it brief.

The first time I experienced the magic, I was in Amsterdam. The Smart Shop asked your weight, and how much experience you had (or wanted to have), and gave you your dose.  The shrooms were fresh from a fridge, and tasted like absolute butt. The trip came on fast - walking back to the hotel, I was on my knees following the patterns in the cobblestone streets. After a few hours, we tried to eat dinner, but it was too soon and the salad was squirming. It was the bomb.

Generally, shrooms make me laugh. So much that my stomach is sore and I run out of Kleenex from laugh/crying. At Burning Man 2003, I had fireworks inside my eyeballs when I shut my eyes. At a gothy bar, I met Quentin Tarantino on a patio and introduced him to the majestic tree I was hanging out with (to the delight of my friends) while we had a long chat about I don't know what else. It was a really long time ago. And last year, I tripped with a friend who had never tripped before. We talked about how time goes so slowly, and then so fast, and we were so snotty from laughing and crying from laughing, and then we were worried about whether the kitchen in our Airbnb was closed, or open (could we go in or not)? Completely ridiculous. But very important at the time.

So far, the magic has taught me to let go, to live more, to laugh more, and to just be in the moment. I do like it when things get a little weird. I'm still looking for a huge life lesson, but not quite ready to go for a huge dose. Going higher generally just makes me wish I wasn't as high.

Sometimes I wish this blog had comments, I'd like to know what you think. Let's talk about this when we meet. Hopefully we will sometime.

On Tuesday - I posted that the tub had pins.

Here's where we were on Tuesday.

Yesterday (Friday), we were here.

Today (Saturday), we're here.

This tub is still struggling with getting enough fresh air, so I've started fanning it (I open the lid and fan it up and down to introduce fresh air into the bin) about 3x a day. I don't know if that's why I'm not getting a nice canopy, or if it's genetics, or both.

We'll see what happens as we move into the later flushes.

How do I know the tub isn't getting enough FAE?

1. The shrooms have fuzzy feet.

2.  I'm getting a lot of aborts.

3. All that mycelium pee at the beginning was a concern. It's mostly gone now, but the first two symptoms are ongoing.

I've cranked up the fan, I'm doing actual fanning, and we'll stay tuned.

In the meantime, these beautiful guys were ready to harvest. I've put them in the fridge and plan to dry them tomorrow with some of their friends.

I had a feeling this was about to happen... after 11 days, this tub looked ready to fruit, and I looked at it today, and voila - pins. I should have moved the tub to fruiting conditions last night, but I ran out of energy and just got to it today.

The yellow you see isn't contamination - it's mycelium "pee" which means the tub isn't getting enough FAE (free air exchange), which totally makes sense as I had the tub taped up waiting for the mycelium to take over the substrate before I put it into fruiting conditions. The substrate was well colonized (see yesterday's post), so I put it into fruiting conditions today, which turned out to be late, because the tub started to fruit anyway. I keep missing this changeover point, usually because I'm not home, or just getting home, but things work out ok.

What did that move to fruiting conditions entail? I'll tell you.

1. I took off all the painter's tape and put filters on all the large holes.
2. I covered the little holes with micropore tape.
3. I took the towel off the bin and moved the bin near a window. Shrooms don't need light to grow, but the light keeps the mushrooms growing in the right direction.
4. I put a fan near the bin to ensure there's lots of fresh air circulating around the bin.

Here's what the set up looks like now.

What's next? Since we already have pins, mushrooms are next! I haven't grown this strain before - it's the OG Huautla - but it shouldn't take long.

More updates soon.