Cultivating mushrooms

Cultivating mushrooms can be very troublesome. Every species of mushroom has a certain climate they like so some mushrooms are considered almost impossible to cultivate indoors, while some are simply impossible. Some easy mushrooms to start cultivating  are oysters (Pleurotus ostreatus) by using colonized plugs in logs. Before getting into ways of cultivation, here are some crucial tools required for the process.

- Pressure cooker/canner
- Sterile inoculation box
- Flame or oil lamp
- Sterile environment clean as possible
- Sanitizing wipes
- Spore syringes

Some of these tools can cost a lot of money but make the process much more effective in the end. It's important to have a clean environment through every step to avoid contamination.

This means all counters and floors in the room you sterilize jars in the pressure cooker, and also inoculating jars. After letting jars cool in the cooker, you should immediately move them to your inoculation box. Sterilize your syringe or syringes by wiping the outside completely and also heating the tip until it gets red hot to kill any bacteria. After the whole syringe is sterile out it in with the jars and use your sterile gloves to inoculate your jars. Later you must place your jars in a dark area at a temperature appropriate to your species. Days later, you should see colonization and after 100% you must dunk in cool water and transfer to substrate of choice. This is when people use a myriad of ideas to make either bulk amounts, or do a small grow for lesser amounts but takes less space.

Magic Mushroom habitat

There are a few distinct areas that are perfect mushroom habitats, that also goes the same with magic mushrooms as well. A few very notable areas for magic mushrooms include but not limited to; landscaped areas, clear cuts, riparian zones, farm land, dune grasses. Every single psilocybe mushroom has a different habitat except the woodlovers which can be found side-by-side. Before you head out in search of magic mushrooms, you should study what things to look for in a habitat. That way you don't waste time looking in every single area possible. You'll be able to dial in on mushroom hotspots over time and a quick glance could lead to your next jackpot. The very first area I went to was landscaped areas. Man-made destruction at its finest, everything changed to a cookie cutter image of what it "should" be like. Woodchip paved paths and salal recapturing logged areas are really good spots to check.

Psilocybe cyanescens, a video

I found these all growing downhill and had to take a video. Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button if you liked it. :)



These were found near the edge of a conifer line in an extremely public park. This season, the patch has been going since November and I've still been finding a few every week I go. Psilocybe mushrooms; especially cyanescens, really like public and lots of traffic. I've noticed with this patch in certain there was always deer poop and some of the woodchips moved away which makes me think either squirrels or deer are the reason they have spread to this location. Sometimes the busiest areas host them and nobody bothers, meanwhile others will rip them up at first glance.

Psilocybe pelliculosa

Psilocybe pelliculosa are saprophytic found mostly on decaying alder woods near clear cut areas. These "magic" fungi do not mind frost as much as many other mushrooms do, making them more relevant in higher and lower elevations near end of fall. Often these are found in large groups or clusters rarely cepitose, but possible. Alike Psilocybe semilanceata, pelliculosa also have a separable pellicle.

cepitose - singular; or stand-alone
separable pellicle - transparent tissue overlayed on cap

How I first got interested in mushrooms

When I was young, I never thought of going "mushroom hunting". I would notice the occasional fungus while playing baseball, or while hiking. But I never knew there were people that actually took trips to the wild in search of certain mushrooms. Well that was until I was about 16 years old when one of my friends called me up in excitement that he had found someone with mushrooms. I wasn't into psychedelics as a young adult, I already thought weed was the devils drug when I was a kid; and shrooms seemed absolutely horrible; but at the same time I wasn't against people who chose to. So I laughed and asked him a few questions about them. Turns out, the provider had picked these mushrooms themselves. I don't know about you, but that interested the deepest part of my mind. What else is out there? Drugs grow right out of the ground? How can this be real... So I set out to find every bit of information on wild mushrooms in my state. At the age of 16, me and my friend both found our first wild magic mushrooms. They were nestled back in a public park right off the Puget sound. One...two...three mushrooms were found. We giggled in excitement as we realized we had just found one of the most sought after species of mushrooms. This was just the beginning though, as that friendship was lost because of something as simple as drugs. In my mind, mushrooms themselves meant more to me than revealing where I had found my next patches; even if it meant losing friends.

Nowadays I go mushroom hunting as a way to get fresh air and cleanse my mind of all that society has put in it. I can do what I want in the forest, its my domain, my clean slate, my one and only hobby that I can teach myself and be taught by the mushrooms at the same time. Nobody else can tell me "how" to mushroom hunt, there's no certain way of "how" to, it's just instinct and pure luck mixed with educated guesses based on habitats and indicators. Mushrooms have a way of speaking by nature. And nature is serene.

Updates in progress... Under construction...

So as you can tell, this blog is just now starting up recently. I strive to photograph all of the mushrooms that I can possibly find. Each mushroom has some beauty in it, but not every mushroom is edible. I'll be doing more work here soon and sharing many pictures that I have taken throughout the last few years. Here's just a sample of what is to come.

Above: Psilocybe cyanescens; very potent psychedelic

Below: Gymnopilus luteofolius; mildly psychedelic

As I mentioned above, not all mushrooms are edible. As this mushroom below is considered toxic. For years people believed Paxillus involutus was edible if cooked thouroughly, but folk were wrong as some had allergic reactions and fell very ill. Sometimes dying. Although mushrooms can be poisonous, its quite easy to become aware with the bad as you study further into mycology. Mushroom books create a safe haven for identification along with various websites that host forums for identification, (I.E. Shroomery.org).

Above: Paxillus involutus; poisonous, can be fatal

Below: Galerina Autumnalis; very deadly