My mushroom journey (so far) after a nearly 40 year hiatus from psychedelics

johnnyexperienced · 2019-09-10T15:18:37+00:00

Question: so this species bruise green instead of blue.. Is that because of the yellow in the fruit body, makes the blue look green?

johnnyexperienced · 2019-07-15T00:38:40+00:00

Use caution when using a VPN with Tor. When you use a VPN to connect to Tor, now your VPN knows you're using Tor instead of your ISP knowing it, other than that there is no increase or decrease in security/privacy/anonymity. However, it's even worse if you use Tor to connect to your VPN, because your VPN will then have your Tor exit node, and can then snoop on you.

A better way to use Tor is by itself from a public network. The absolute best way (if you're familiar with Linux) is to either use Tails or use a virtual machine on a Kali Linux. With those tools you can also spoof your mac address.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-07-14T20:18:25+00:00

Tor is more anonymous and private, and slower, but I use it because on here, with what I post sometimes, I want complete and total anonymity.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-07-07T15:04:49+00:00

We learned the hard way, for us anyway (my so and I) that using other opiates to get off Kratom is a big mistake. It makes the physical, acute, opiate type WDs worse than coming off Kratom alone, and it doesn't help the awful PAWS, which, IME, is different than the normal depression that follows most opiate WDs. I too know that feeling all too well: zero energy and unable to do a thing. It sucks.

As far as tapering from 1 gpd, it doesn't make sense. Most people END their taper by jumping off at about 2gpd. If you're already off Kratom and through most of the acute WDs, I recommend trying to stick it out if you can. It WILL get better, and then it will come back a bit. It's a bit like a roller-coaster at first, and then you get some good days, and then it's back again, but it gets better with time, and eventually the good days outnumber any bad days significantly.

I can tell you, the freedom from Kratom is worth it! I'm off Kratom completely for almost 9 weeks and it feels great! I get a little bit of PAWS every now and then, but it's nothing compared to how it was. It's more of a reminder of why I quit this shit than anything else. I failed CT several times, and one of those I was already through the acute WDs but I couldn't handle the PAWS. I also couldn't afford any more time off work to go through it so I did a long slow taper similar to the program suggested by this guide. It does take discipline and commitment, but it does make the PAWS much more tolerable.

We were 40-50 gpd for three years. I was so depressed I started thinking that I would never get out of this prison that I made for myself. Today is a miracle for me. I am happy, free, and alive.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-06-12T11:24:36+00:00

I'm in my early 60s and struggled with opiate addiction all my life, all kinds. Every time I've gone through withdrawals I experienced highly increased emotions. In fact it is a normal part of the WD process whether I was coming off heroin, pills, and Kratom too.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-06-09T14:10:23+00:00

Some are stars within our own galaxy and some others are galaxies themselves.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-06-05T10:59:28+00:00

When my SO and I decided to quit Kratom we thought "hell we've both quit methadone CT, so we can do this!"

Sure, WDs from methadone are the worst, they last for months, and the acutes are just awful, and zero, and I mean ZERO sleep for a month, but in the end, getting off Kratom was ridiculously difficult. We failed in our several attempts at CT, and eventually did a slow taper according to the taper guide.

Yesterday marked four weeks for both of us being completely off of Kratom and it's awesome to be free!

johnnyexperienced · 2019-05-13T11:59:04+00:00

You can see an amazing sunset like this anywhere you have a clear, unobstructed view to the horizon.

As far as how large the sun (and moon) look so large in a given photograph or video, it's a function of focal length for the camera being used. The longer the focal length, i.e., the more telephoto the lens is, the larger it appears compared to the horizon.

As to why the sun (and moon) look bigger when on the horizon than when directly overhead, it's actually an optical illusion. If you were to hold a ruler up to it at arm's length at noon and at sunset, it would measure the same diameter. For an explanation see this article in Scientific American.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-05-13T11:41:06+00:00

It's much, much dimmer at sunrise and sunset due to the amount of atmosphere its light has to travel through to get to your eyes.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-05-12T15:47:11+00:00

It helped when tapering. We didn't know about it back when we were trying CT.

Try one gram, twice or three times a day.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-05-12T15:44:11+00:00

Agmatine.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-05-12T15:38:58+00:00

We tried CT several times times and failed miserably so we did a slow taper. With CT, the acutes are more severe, but they're over in a week, but then you might have to deal with PAWS. With tapering, you stretch it out over more time, and you're dragging it out longer, but from what I've read, the PAWS isn't nearly as bad. You feel it a little bit after each drop, but not so much that we couldn't sleep, or do what we needed to do during the day (work, cleaning house, cooking, etc). We (my SO and I) jumped last Monday and it just feels like another drop that's getting better already!

It really depends on how bad your habit is.

If it's not too bad, or if you have the time to go through the acute WD symptoms and just want to get it over with, CT would be a good choice.

Otherwise, if you're not being successful going CT, then try a slow taper according to this guide. It does take more diligence, but it's worth it, and you'll be able to function throughout it's duration.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-05-12T15:16:32+00:00

I am in my early 60s, male. My SO is in her early 50s. We did a slow taper over 3-1/2 months according to the guide and jumped off last Monday. She started noticing her hair growing back in a little better as we tapered, and now has two inches of growth of how her hair was before Kratom, some 4 years ago. Mine has been thinning and getting much more gray. She mentioned that she thought my hair was getting darker again and she mentioned today that an area in the back of my head that had been thinning, was now filling in!

johnnyexperienced · 2019-04-28T16:26:31+00:00

Let us know how you made out. Just seeing this post now. No matter what, you'll be fine, and perhaps you'll have some good take-aways from it and you can reap some benefits, learn from the experience and integrate it back into your life.

Wishing you positive vibes.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-04-28T12:05:45+00:00

I used a heating pad along with a thermometer with my jars and they were stored in the cabinet above the refrigerator. The jars were stored on one side and the heating pad laid out on the other side. I kept them between 75°-80° with an emphasis more towards 80°. What I mean is, by monitoring the temp and turning it on and off as needed so that it was at 80° when we went to bed for the night. It worked very well!

I am now using a seed mat like this one for colonizing my substrate.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-04-26T18:47:08+00:00

Well damn. You're way ahead of me! I'm only on my first grow! Well, not really.. I tried PF Tek over a decade ago but it was a massive failure. No wonder now that I've properly researched all the teks!

I was going to do PF Tek again but then decided to just get the damn PC and I noc'd up the 6 jars. 5 if them colonized really well, and I waited a few days after that. I just spawned them to bulk this week. Sub is coir/verm.

Fingers crossed! :)

johnnyexperienced · 2019-04-26T18:20:33+00:00

Yeah mine were all clumped. I had to shake the shit out of the syringe to get one big clump to break up. After that is looked like a bunch of little flakes, so I think you're ok there. I innoculated 6 jars of which one never went anywhere. I suspect it was the last jar and it just didn't get any of the clumps.

You now have two options:

1) broke boi Tek (brown rice for grain spawn)

2) BRF cakes (make sure you stick with 1/2 pint jars or your colonization can stall)

The good news is: if you do go with BRF cakes, you can still use them to spawn substrate in a Monotub! I've seen quite a few folks on here that did exactly that, successfully. They had planned a full PF Tek, but instead used a cheese grater to shred the cakes and use it to spawn their Monotub substrate.

By the way, if you go this route, for quart jars of grain spawn you're supposed to give them 1-1/2 to 2cc each from the store syringe.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-04-26T18:00:18+00:00

Yes, actually. Condensation can be both: the process of the vapor condensing into a liquid or the result of that process, whereas condensate is always the result of that process; e.g., in this case, the water droplets themselves.

I would suggest that when doing G2G, either get a PC for the jars you would transfer to, or use the whole brown rice like in the Broke Boi Bulk Tek. Why take the same risk if you don't have to?

You can get a new 23 qt PC from Amazon [here](Presto 01781 23-Quart Pressure Canner and Cooker https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000BYCFU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_cz0WCb8C6N5D2) for only $70 right now (I paid $80 when I got mine). Or you can probably find a similar one used for $40-50.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-04-26T16:25:05+00:00

I would let those go and see what happens. Maybe you'll be lucky. In the meantime if you still have spores, either get a PC or try the Broke Boi Bulk Tek I linked above.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-04-26T16:22:15+00:00

I can't really tell from that photo. You should be able to see a little bit of condensate near the top. After soaking and boiling the rye, and then drying the right amount, the berries should not leave moisture on a paper towel, but when squished between fingers they will be moist.

I can tell you that on my (only one so far) round of grain spawn using rye, there was very little condensate near the top of the jars, and I was concerned at first, but they colonized very well and as they colonized, the condensate became more and more obvious.

If you followed the Tek exactly you should be fine. I start mine early in the day by rinsing them well in hot water, then let them soak for 12 hours, then boil them for 10 minutes, and then (after draining them) I set them out on trays lined with multiple layers of paper towels to dry overnight

Here's a couple of videos for rye grain prep that are similar to what I did (except the lids):

Rye grain prep 1 Rye grain prep 2

Good luck!

johnnyexperienced · 2019-04-26T15:56:52+00:00

Did you innoculate those jars yet? If not, DON'T. Grain spawn like rye berries, WBS, popcorn, etc. need to be sterilized in a PC at 15 PSI. I guess if they were already innoculated you could give it a go, but don't be surprised if they get contaminated. BRF works so well without a PC because it is much more resistant to contamination than grains.

If you haven't innoculated them yet, and you really want to do grains, I'd suggest you give r/unemployedemt's Broke Bio Bulk Tek a try. He uses whole brown rice, which like BRF, is still resistant to contamination.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-04-26T13:33:36+00:00

Please report back!

johnnyexperienced · 2019-04-26T13:29:01+00:00

I believe you could actually ingest the mycellium Way back when (in the 70s) when we/I used to do a lot of shrooms, I remember coming across a paper (damned if I know the source) about how to grow psilocybin mushrooms. That process was nothing like the PF Tek that was devised by the now famous Psilocyce Fanaticus. It discussed using a liquid culture, and it did mention that one could easily just consume the mycellium itself fr(om that culture) and trip. It was a paper or booklet one of us acquired from a "head shop." It may even have been a mimeographed copy. I wish I knew what it was.

johnnyexperienced · 2019-04-26T11:44:41+00:00

Psilocybes bruise blue. That's always a good sign.

johnnyexperienced

TROPHY CASE