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Cogito
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Registered: 10/22/12
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In my situation, what precautions to take
#17129063 - 10/30/12 06:46 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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So I am currently slowly collecting the equipment I need to start growing magic mushrooms. I already have some spores, which is what I thought would be the trickiest thing for me to get. No problem.
My circumstances are a bit unusual in that I am protected from any kind of search, seizure, or arrest by local authorities. Warrant or no warrant, they can't enter my residence or detain me. We'll leave it at that.
That said, I could still get in trouble with my employer if they were to find out. So I am taking every precaution to prevent them from finding out. I will never tell anyone that I am growing magic mushrooms.
However, I am married and I have young children. I have no intention of telling them I am growing magic mushrooms either, but even though they won't have a key to the room in which I do the grows, they are going to know I am up to something and I want to have a decent cover story. You have to understand my wife is from a different culture and isn't sophisticated when it comes to knowing about things like mushrooms. She basically knows there are some you can eat and some you can't. I have a microscope and she knows I am into "science stuff" but has zero interest in it.
I actually am interested in the science of mycology and intend to delve deep into it as well, but I am also thinking about growing edibles as well. I don't want to tell my wife, "babe, I am growing mushrooms but you can't tell ANYBODY". That would just get her asking question she would never ask in the first place. But there is always the possibility she might mention it to a friend in passing. And all of our friends are in one way or another connected to my employer.
So I am considering NOT being secretive about growing edibles. I certainly won't brag about it or ever bring it up, but I want to have that alibi if I ever need it. The search feature here has been very handy and it seems I can grow portobellos using the same PF tek so I am leaning toward growing those. I am also going to get a copy of "Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms", marking the Portobello sections, and leaving it in the room with my grow...just in case. The people who do the maintenance on my residence work for my employer and technically don't need my permission to enter, though they always ask anyway. That room will still be locked, but I just want to be extra careful. I even have a good reason to keep the room locked: I have young children and I dont want them in the room where I keep my cigars, expensive chess set, and my edible mushroom grow.
Let's see, what else? I can also label my spores with the names of more mundane species.
Any other tips or pointers? Thanks!
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ch1ck3n.s0up
Troubled Loner



Registered: 10/03/08
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Re: In my situation, what precautions to take [Re: Cogito]
#17133079 - 10/30/12 08:12 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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I would NOT use growing edibles as a cover, or any form of mycology for that matter.
In my experience, regardless of the legality of your activities, any mention of mycology in any form to the average Joe always seems to raise an eyebrow. Whether it be growing edibles, hunting wild fungi, or basically expressing any interest in mushrooms beyond grabbing a package of A.bisporus off the shelf for $2.99 and tossing it into your cart, most people will start making assumptions and jumping to conclusions.
The minute you breathe a word about growing edible mushrooms, they'll move you into the "this guy is a little weird and/or eccentric" category. You will conjure images of the "Mario mushroom," arouse suspicion, and people will wonder if you're a closet psilocybin junkie growing your own. If you talk about it enough it will get back to the powers at be that you're "growing mushrooms." People are not very educated about fungi, especially in the United States, and for many there is an aura of death, hallucination, and fear surrounding them. If you don't believe me just mention the idea of growing your own Shitakes to a more conservative friend. Talk about the details for thirty seconds or so, and watch how they look at you.
I don't grow, and so I have more freedom to talk about my mycology hobby than someone with jars stashed in their attic. This answer is based on the responses that I've received through the years. It just happened to me again this past weekend. About three months ago I was outside with some friends, and happened upon a Bicolor. It was a nice one, and so I plucked it to have with my steak that night. For the hell of it showed them how it bruised blue (which is always fascinating to the uninitiated). I was at their place for dinner on Saturday, and out of nowhere they started quizzing me about my mushroom hobby, giving me sideways looks, and asked about a "white mushroom with blood red spots" had popped up near their shed a couple years back, and what did I think that it was.
On several occasions people have called the police on me when all I was doing was hunting mushrooms (admittedly, I sometimes risk hunting on private property without permission, and a mushroom hunter looks awfully creepy). Once I was confronted by three police officers about what I was doing, and I told them how I was looking at mushrooms. I always keep a copy of Lincoff's book on me when I hunt, and showed them what I'd found. They bluntly asked, "Do you ever find any magic mushrooms around here?" To which I responded, "Nope... those only grow in Florida." (Little did they know that a nice cluster of Gyms had bloomed on the stump down the road about a month ago... what they don't know won't hurt them ). After 21 years as an amateur mycologist, I could go on and on with stories...
In response to Facebook posts of mushrooms I've been bluntly confronted with, "What the fuck is up with you and the mushrooms?" Just posting pics of a Laetiporus sulpheurus has gotten me excluded from some dinner parties. As a hobby I make spore print art--printing on canvases--and it absolutely blows peoples minds when I show it to them. After showing a good friend he looked me right in the eye and said, "have you been smokin', man?" Occasionally the excitement of a good find overwhelms me, and I mention it in passing conversation. This often greeted with the response, "Oh, yes, the mushrooms...[insert uncomfortable silence here]." This, in turn, brings me here to the Shroomery where I can brag about a good find to people who will understand. 
Anyway, I can't recommend what _is_ a good cover, but I can say with almost 100% certainty that growing edibles _is_not_ a good cover. Maybe check in the Mushroom Cultivation sub-forum.
Love, Chicken
Edited by ch1ck3n.s0up (10/30/12 09:08 PM)
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist

Registered: 03/10/07
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Re: In my situation, what precautions to take [Re: Cogito]
#17134997 - 10/31/12 05:29 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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I am not sure that you will be able to get away with growing mushrooms in your situation. I think you'd be better off finding them outside. Research Psilocybe cubensis and Panaeolus cyanescens.
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ch1ck3n.s0up
Troubled Loner



Registered: 10/03/08
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Quote:
Alan Rockefeller said: I am not sure that you will be able to get away with growing mushrooms in your situation. I think you'd be better off finding them outside. Research Psilocybe cubensis and Panaeolus cyanescens.
And Gymnopilus spectabilis
-------------------- "Inspiration ~ Move me brightly ~ light the song with sense and color ~ hold away despair ~ more than this I will not ask ~ faced with mysteries dark and vast ~ statements just seem vain at last" --Jerry Garcia, Terrapin Station "Officer, I'm going to remain silent, and I would like to speak with a lawyer. I'm not resisting, but I don't consent to any searches.
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Haffenreffer
Strangererer

Registered: 09/17/12
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Re: In my situation, what precautions to take [Re: Cogito]
#17139863 - 10/31/12 11:06 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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oohh, it's a Lethal Weapon 2 type of situation, right? Cool stuff. Anyways, don't talk about any of it. Growing edibles is only a good cover if people don't know in the first place. Then, you can seem like someone with a slightly eccentric hobby.
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Cogito
Stranger
Registered: 10/22/12
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Re: In my situation, what precautions to take [Re: Haffenreffer]
#17140508 - 11/01/12 04:28 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Haffenreffer said: oohh, it's a Lethal Weapon 2 type of situation, right? Cool stuff.
Well, having a cargo container dropped on me is one of my biggest fears. 
Thanks for the advice all. I will take it to heart. I think I will wait just a bit longer until I retire. I might still grow edibles to build the knowledge base, but I will still keep it to myself. Thanks.
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pseudotsuga



Registered: 06/29/11
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Re: In my situation, what precautions to take [Re: Cogito]
#17140940 - 11/01/12 08:01 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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I would strongly encourage you to grow edibles! Being a mushroom cultivator is a bit easier for people to accept as normal, especially if you share your harvest. Try an easy way to grow like Lipas fuel pellet tek, it is just as simple as the PF tek but way better for getting started with edibles. It is a very addictive hobby and if sometime down there road if your kids move out or the wife warms up to fungi, then you will already have the skills and tools to grow actives.
Panaeolus Cinctulus is another ubiquitous active species, pretty much grows everywhere in the US. Though you may be lucky enough to live in an area with lots of actives. There is only one way to find out...
Good luck with all your fungal pursuits!
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Anonymous #1
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Re: In my situation, what precautions to take [Re: pseudotsuga]
#17141665 - 11/01/12 10:48 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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I bet you I know why you have immunity!!!!! You have a special lisence plate on your car also???? WISH I HAD WHAT YOU GOT!!!
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ch1ck3n.s0up
Troubled Loner



Registered: 10/03/08
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Re: In my situation, what precautions to take [Re: Anonymous #1]
#17143057 - 11/01/12 03:20 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Slick Willy? Is that you again?
Tell Barrack that the East wing of the white house will get more sunlight.
-------------------- "Inspiration ~ Move me brightly ~ light the song with sense and color ~ hold away despair ~ more than this I will not ask ~ faced with mysteries dark and vast ~ statements just seem vain at last" --Jerry Garcia, Terrapin Station "Officer, I'm going to remain silent, and I would like to speak with a lawyer. I'm not resisting, but I don't consent to any searches.
Edited by ch1ck3n.s0up (11/01/12 03:22 PM)
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InTiMiDaToRdInO
D1N0



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Re: In my situation, what precautions to take [Re: ch1ck3n.s0up]
#17143192 - 11/01/12 03:51 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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I would think maybe grow edibles unsecretly and totally let your wife know and she can get all the questions outta the way and maybe in a few months add some cubes and she'll think "oh just more mushrooms" but tell her she can't eat these. Keep the room locked too but show your wife the edibles till she gets bored with it.
Or this is a horrible idea idk man
-------------------- IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING.:.TRAVEL THE UNIVERSE
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TheDrake



Registered: 06/15/07
Posts: 1,720
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Re: In my situation, what precautions to take [Re: InTiMiDaToRdInO]
#17149714 - 11/02/12 06:35 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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maybe in vitro would be right for you. all you would need is a small space at room temp thats big enough for a couple jars. the mushrooms dont look pretty but they work just the same or depending on your climate you could try an outdoor grow.
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