Hello World

[Mykologi]

Well, here goes nothing...

Greetings from Finland! Still unusually warm here but the cold winter months are fast approaching and what better way to fight seasonal depression than making new friends in a new community.

My adventure on this wonderful path started roughly 3 years ago when I came to the conclusion I couldn't continue living like I had for the past 10(ish) years. In hindsight I had been depressed for a long time, just didn't understand it until like 5 years ago. Didn't quite get as far as being suicidal but at the low point I didn't really give a crap either way. Long story short, I've always been a problem solver and a sort of "I can figure this out myself" -guy so 3 years ago I decided I'm going to try to help myself first and seek professional help if I fail. After a deep dive into the topic of treating depression I stumbled across mushrooms and psilocybin, and after some more research and some months of weird white stuff growing in shoeboxes I had more than enough to perform tests on myself. Fast forward a few months and I realized that the amount of "bad days" had gone down drastically. Years later I feel like a different person, everyone has noticed I'm a lot happier but only my girlfriend knows what the catalyst was. As a sidenote, I wouldn't recommend this route to someone who's depressed but I had my reasons and I'm glad things went like they did.

So who am I now? I'm an engineer in my 30's with a love for everything crafts-related, woodworking was my first love and once my profession but nowadays I like working with everything from metals to resins to recycled paper as a hobby. I've always been a fiend for learning new things; Basic chemistry, fermentation and macro photography being some of the latest ones. I'm not too good at any of them but I'm having a lot of fun. In the last few years I've also grown to love nature and have become interested in plants and mushrooms.

Ever since I fell into the psychedelic rabbit hole, I've been somewhat fascinated by DMT. No first hand experience, but I've read and watched enough to have a basic understanding of the substance if not the experience. Unfortunately it seems I stumbled in at an impractical time since pretty much anything usable for an extraction became illegal some time ago in Finland. But who knows, perhaps life will present an opportunity for me to peek behind the curtain of reality at some point. I'm still quite new to all this so there's a lot I don't know.

I think that's enough for now, this turned out long enough already. Feel free to hit me up for a chat about crafts, mycology, psychedelics or whatever. And fellow Finns are of course always welcome, we're a rarity in the internet but somehow we've managed to infiltrate all the communities I've been a part of Looking forward to being a part of this community too.

-Mykologi

 

[Transform]

Hello and welcome to the Nexus - it's lovely to hear that you're from Finland as well as how you've benefited from using psilocybin mushrooms as a medicine.

There's a wealth of information to be found here on the forum, and I have a feeling it will be particularly useful for a growth-oriented, practically-minded person like yourself.

For a more social kind of experience, there's also our chatroom - although many of the regular users are in other, transatlantic time zones which sometimes means the action happens at a bit of a red-eyed hour for Europeans like us.

Looking at your chosen name here, have you ever been out looking for local mushroom species? Psilocybe semilanceata is known to grow in Finland and, indeed, iirc the most potent specimens of those ever to be analysed may well have been Finnish. It makes one wonder what else may be hiding in those endless damp forests.

 

[rkba]

Tervetuola! Mita kuuluu?

I spend 9 months (around the Summer Solstice) living in Mikkeli for my study, working at the local environmental center and playing in the center's sähly team. I was 'embedded' with the locals and had a blast of a time. Lot's of sauna time! Splashing a little beer over the rocks. Swimming in the lakes, walking through the forests. Mystical experience when camping in the ancient forest high up in the north.

I love the Fins! I learned a lot from the culture and have very fond memories of the men and women. They have shaped who I am today.

When I left I was gifted a Finnish-made knife from the men and a traditional female doll from the women. To make sure I wouldn't forget them. As if ever.

And now I can curse in Finnish and nobody bats an eye

However that was many, many, many moons ago. Now I live on the other side of the big water, in the land where Mescalito lives.

Welcome!

 

[Mykologi]

Hello and welcome to the Nexus - it's lovely to hear that you're from Finland as well as how you've benefited from using psilocybin mushrooms as a medicine.

There's a wealth of information to be found here on the forum, and I have a feeling it will be particularly useful for a growth-oriented, practically-minded person like yourself.

For a more social kind of experience, there's also our chatroom - although many of the regular users are in other, transatlantic time zones which sometimes means the action happens at a bit of a red-eyed hour for Europeans like us.

Looking at your chosen name here, have you ever been out looking for local mushroom species? Psilocybe semilanceata is known to grow in Finland and, indeed, iirc the most potent specimens of those ever to be analysed may well have been Finnish. It makes one wonder what else may be hiding in those endless damp forests.

Thank you, the amount of information here seems quite immense and I'll be taking my time going through it. There's plenty of interesting stuff to find I'm sure. I'll be sure to check out the chat, I'm used to always being in the wrong timezone for online chatrooms but I've had plenty of good conversations during the "Euro-hours" in many communities so who knows.

And yes, in the past years I have been learning to identify and forage mushrooms as well as cultivating them. While I'm more adept at identifying gourmet mushrooms, I have been keeping an eye on P. Semilanceata as well whenever I find myself in a suitable environment and have indeed come across some. There are other psilocybin mushrooms to be found in the finnish nature, even if I'm not quite on the level to identify the more obscure ones confidently yet. We actually have a nice little community that helps beginners in identifying P. Semilanceata in the wild.

 

[Mykologi]

Tervetuola! Mita kuuluu?

I spend 9 months (around the Summer Solstice) living in Mikkeli for my study, working at the local environmental center and playing in the center's sähly team. I was 'embedded' with the locals and had a blast of a time. Lot's of sauna time! Splashing a little beer over the rocks. Swimming in the lakes, walking through the forests. Mystical experience when camping in the ancient forest high up in the north.

I love the Fins! I learned a lot from the culture and have very fond memories of the men and women. They have shaped who I am today.

When I left I was gifted a Finnish-made knife from the men and a traditional female doll from the women. To make sure I wouldn't forget them. As if ever.

And now I can curse in Finnish and nobody bats an eye

However that was many, many, many moons ago. Now I live on the other side of the big water, in the land where Mescalito lives.

Welcome!

Kiitos kiitos It's funny how many people seem to have some sort of connection with Finland even though we're a small country up here in the north. Sauna, swimming in lakes, wandering in the forests and even receiving a "Puukko"-knife, sounds like you got a thorough Finland-experience I've always said that Finnish is an excellent language for cursing, maybe that's why we always teach the "bad words" to all foreigners first Thanks again for the welcome!

 

[Transform]

Kiitos kiitos It's funny how many people seem to have some sort of connection with Finland even though we're a small country up here in the north. Sauna, swimming in lakes, wandering in the forests and even receiving a "Puukko"-knife, sounds like you got a thorough Finland-experience I've always said that Finnish is an excellent language for cursing, maybe that's why we always teach the "bad words" to all foreigners first Thanks again for the welcome!

Perkele, I should say You're right about the swearing. That's certainly how I felt while attempting to learn the language once upon a time, too.

My own connection to Finland was somewhat less than @rkba's, having never made it over (yet) to collect a puukko knife. Nonetheless, I was daydreaming unusually much about hopping onto one of the Finnish ferries while at the beach near Travemünde a few days ago - I had to watch Hydraulic Press Lauri blow some stuff up after that. He's Finland's official cultural ambassador, right?

 

[Mykologi]

Perkele, I should say You're right about the swearing. That's certainly how I felt while attempting to learn the language once upon a time, too.

My own connection to Finland was somewhat less than @rkba's, having never made it over (yet) to collect a puukko knife. Nonetheless, I was daydreaming unusually much about hopping onto one of the Finnish ferries while at the beach near Travemünde a few days ago - I had to watch Hydraulic Press Lauri blow some stuff up after that. He's Finland's official cultural ambassador, right?

Perkele indeed I have to say I feel bad for anyone trying to learn the language, some say it's among the toughest ones in the world and as a native I have to agree.

I think Finland is a nice place to visit at least once in your life, maybe next time you need to give in to the desire And yes, I'm surprised you knew but he is indeed our cultural ambassador on a mission to showcase traditional finnish hydraulic press culture to the world

 

[doubledog]

Welcome to the forum.
Do not forget to start your cactus garden as soon as possible, it takes some years to grow.

 

[rkba]

I have to say I feel bad for anyone trying to learn the language, some say it's among the toughest ones in the world and as a native I have to agree.

They always, jokingly, told me it was an easy language, so easy that even little children in Finland can speak it. It is true, my own children can already speak some choice words in Finnish, but I told them to not use these words around Fins, unless they are friends.

 

[Mykologi]

Welcome to the forum.
Do not forget to start your cactus garden as soon as possible, it takes some years to grow.

Well I have yet to try cactus growing so it'd be the next logical step after mushrooms and more common plants, better get to it ASAP

 

[Mykologi]

They always, jokingly, told me it was an easy language, so easy that even little children in Finland can speak it. It is true, my own children can already speak some choice words in Finnish, but I told them to not use these words around Fins, unless they are friends.

Well they're not wrong, all the little kids here speak fluent finnish I have a guess on what sort of words they know, and I think they'd get off with a weird look or a laugh from the locals here though.