One of my new discoveries of the magic our world has to offer is this new friend of mine "Psilocybe Cyanescens" (cyan-type of blue, escens- essence) who's spirit I found in the high peaking parks of San Francisco. Or like others say "the mushroom founds you".
Luckily a mushroom guru friend of mine had given me a tour and explained me all the safe basics needed to know in hunting, finding and harvesting a REAL Psilocybe Cyanescens mushroom fresh from San Francisco! My new love and hobby is to go on daily mushroom hunts and to revisit my gardens to pick more mushrooms every couple days. Further I am obsessed of learning more upon all the different kinds we find in California and also recipes and the purest extractions for scientific research.
I went for three days this week on a 1-4 hour hike to several different parks and found on average anywhere from 1/4 to 2 ounces of fresh mushrooms. Here is a photo from day 2 harvest:
Here are some necessary tips if you are looking to find some magic mushrooms in your environment:
Where to look and find P. Cyanescens:
You can find it anytime from December through March/April in moist, foggy, wet areas. Wood chips, wood logs are a great place to look, on the edges where grass grow. Sometimes you notice many other kind of mushrooms near by, that is always a good sign for finding them. You will find many at a time too but they are small and you need a good eye because the caramel colored cap looks wet and blends in very with it's surroundings. Usually I try to "communicate" with the mushroom spirit while I am searching for it and often it's been the case that the spirit has revealed itself to me, in times when I least expected it or as I was close to giving up, but one good tip is to keep looking and trusting and not giving up after the first park. Even slightly urban areas work well, it can be a park where there is lots of foot and paw traffic, sometimes on the side of the road. San Francisco is considered a hot spot for those particular mushrooms as they like to live near pacific coastal vegetation.
How to pick:Once you discovered your first little garden, be careful that you don't step on them! That is a good rule for searching for mushrooms, many of them are so small and blend in that you really need to watch your step. Once spotted, make sure you are conscious upon which ones you take. A key rule to all mushrooms hunters is to not take all of the mushrooms! That way you can harvest much more and the spores will continue to spread and will keep the mushroom alive in the area spotted. It
would be completely disrespectful to take all of them. Leave a view small ones and definitely take all the big ones as they are getting old either way, also take the ones that broke off or are pulled out of the soil. I usually take a fork and a fabric type grocery bag with me and dig the fork into the soil and pull out the entire mushroom family. I handle the mushrooms with care, like little babies. Best would be if you have a waxed paper and to wrap them in waxed paper. Don't put them in a plastic zip lock bag and close it because that will make the mushrooms soggy.
How to recognize Psilocybe Cyanescens:
Look at many different images on the web as the look can vary depending on the stage of the mushroom (upturned cap/pileus with age for instance) or location but in my opinion a few things are key and easy to spot:
*the cap is caramel colored and it looks very shiny almost wet looking
*the stem is always white and very sturdy with blue mold looking prints on it called bruising
(you can also find this blue-grayish print on the rim of the cap sometimes)
* small baby mushrooms will have a very vivid "spider web" like material between the stem and the cap
*also, check the gills that they look like they should
So, once you are sure you found what you were looking for and have a bag full of fresh P. Cyanescens take them home and clean them with your fingers and a knife of blade carefully to scrape off dirt from the stem also wash them with water not too hot or cold water. They dry very well on news paper. But until you actually confirmed you spotted out the right garden stash, make sure you take a spore print before consuming. A spore print is taken over night by placing the fresh mushroom either on a glass surface or white piece of paper. Softly bend the stem or give it a small cut so you can press the cap onto the piece of paper and leave it over night on the surface. The next day the mushroom will leave a visible spore print on the piece of paper varying with color. Make sure you have a purple brown color once you take the mushroom away from the surface the next day. If it's orange or rustic brown then beware that this one is most likely poisonous and it's the only similar kind to watch out for!
This kind is called Galerina and looks pretty much very similar only that it will always have a ring (sorry don't know the scientific name for it) around the stem close to the cap. Here is an example of the Galerina, the one you don't want to harvest ;) But I think the difference is easy to see.
Anyhow, I would love to exchange information and experiences with people that share the same love or also if you would like to join a hunt please contact me.
Further, please do you own research and don't use this blog as reference. If you would like to found a magic mushroom society please contact me! :)
Get your magic shroom on! Now is the time :)
