Picking mushrooms is one of the nicest activities ever! If you guys ever have the chance, dont miss it
There are a few tricks and tips for it, and since SWIM went this weekend picking and took pictures, I thought it would be nice to share the pics with you guys and talk a bit about it, and also if anybody has any experience with this, all input is very welcome.
The place:
This mountainous area is located in the south east of Dreamland. The mushrooms are Psilocybe cubensis. They are also available in many other parts of the world.
The ideal time to go is when its hot and humid. It had been raining for two weeks, and the day before SWIM arrived there, it was alternating between strong sun (30 degrees) and occasional rain, so it was just perfect. The 'dormant' mycelium inside the cow pies becomes active in this type of weather, and the mushrooms appear.
If its too wet and not enough sun, then one needs to look for fields with shorter grass and less accumulation of humidity. If its too hot and/or drier, then the mushrooms will generally be hidden in little mounts of grass where they are protected and where some humidity is maintained.
For the first time, the ideal is to go pick with an experienced person, to learn exactly what are the active mushrooms. If in doubt, DONT PICK.. Better safe than sorry
Here's some of the mushrooms SWIM found:
There are not many similar look-alikes around the area where SWIM goes. In any case, a few tips to recognize: They generally have golden cap, with the center a bit darker. If two mushrooms are together, and one is just under the other, the one under may be totally black on top due to the spores of the top mushroom falling on it.
They have a ring in the 'stem' where the cap opened up. The under part of the cap, where the spores are, can be dark/black, brownish but also light and whitish. The cap can be convex or concave, depending on how old it is, and on the amount of sun.
When removing the shrooms from the cow pies, pull the whole thing out, and then break out the part that was touching the shit, and throw it away (for sanitary reasons). Try not to leave part of it inside the cow pie or it might get rotten and infect that cow pie with competing fungus.
When one goes picking mushrooms, the ideal is to take a basket (or at least a paper bag with flat bottom). Dont use plastic bag! It makes a world of difference! With plastic bag, the mushrooms get all mushed up, the humidity accumulates and they start getting rotten and disgusting even before you get out of the field. A basket keeps them perfect, already begins drying them, plus it just feels right!
Here's the result of one of the picking days of this weekend for SWIM, which weighed about 500 grams:
Then the ideal way to keep them, if they are not going to be consumed straight away, is to dry them. First pre-dry with a fan. SWIM left it in front of the fan for 36 hours.
Then put them open in the fridge overnight (or more), and they should get cracker dry. Keep the ones you are not gonna take in a vacuum sealed plastic bag (if you dont have a vacuum sealer, just use a good hard plastic, fold the opened top and pass it over a candle carefully, pressing the plastic, and it should seal perfectly.
They weighed 50g dry.. SWIM left a couple of doses out and ate them.. Now its time to take a shower, light some candles, sit down smoking a joint and tripping, enjoying the view and the end of the day
SWIM also took some DMT there, and smoked towards the end of the trip.. Was the most beautiful trip ever
