Heaven’s Gate is closed

I perpetuated the same generation of penis envy mushrooms for over a year from a single spawn jar through a system of grain to grain transfers and cloning, but now after a change in weather and contaminations that finally caught up to me, that line has come to an end. Every trip I’ve taken over the past year or anything I’ve passed out had been from that one generation and I’m grateful for it.

I had noticed that the species had somewhat changed it’s form during that time, longer/skinnier stems and smaller caps (probably through “mutations” and it’s own evolution) so I had decided that it was time to brand it it’s own strain, calling it “Heaven’s Gate.” The name was kind of a joke, naming it after the Heaven’s Gate cult but also it felt apt as that’s the way it made you feel on deep trips, as if you had entered through Heaven’s gate (I had conceived of the name on such a trip).

Although I’m saddened that the strain has ended, I’m actually more grateful and proud of what I had accomplished with humble diy means, a little know how, and a lot of perseverance. So many lessons I had learned in doing so, what to do, what not to do, what works, what doesn’t, and most importantly how to apply those lessons moving forward. I learned and more or less mastered the monotub, how to take live culture samples from fresh mushrooms, grow them on agar plates in Petri dishes, noticed how much stronger culture samples are as apposed to grain transfers, learned how to optimize humidity and temperature conditions to keep mushrooms growing year round, and so much more. Mostly what I learned though is not to be too attached if something goes wrong, cause inevitably, things do, and that’s just another part of the process, it’s acceptance, learning, and moving on.

So what does this mean, that I’m done? No, far from it, I’m still just getting started. I learned a lot but there’s still more to know and be improved on, in fact, I already have something in the works, a new technique I’m eager to master, other strains I want to grow/experiment with, and this time I’ll know what to look out for. I’ll be seasoned and better prepared for it. Reaching that year+ mark is a huge milestone. I’ve been growing just over 2 years now and had less failures and restarts then the previous year. I hope to get to the point that I’ll always have a steady stock offhand and my own liquid cultures full of spores on the ready for whatever happens, so I never have to start from scratch again (liquid cultures and spore prints actually allow you to store spores for years).

Heaven’s gate may be closed, but perhaps only temporarily. Maybe it’s just under construction, so please pardon the dust.