never been asked to write an 'intro essay' before joining a forum... i'll keep this brief.
i'm an engineer from california who has had some psychedelic experienes in the past and who has also picked up a bit of a green thumb from growing a fairly common flowering recreational plant (along with other garden items), and also brew beer (which has led me to grow hops). I'm a pretty hands on guy and like hobbies like this, so the idea of growing something and recovering some long lost high school/college chemistry knowledge to extract it seemed like a fun way to spend an afternoon (or several).
Hopefully that was acceptable given the rules stipulated. And I think thats pretty much it.
Cheers!
B