0:00:01.3 April Pride: Hello. Hey, welcome to The High Guide. I’m your host, April Pride, and I’m excited for this episode because, well, I’m pressed for time, but not like every other week, I write, record and edit. Can you tell I’ve been doing the auto-editing? Recently, these episodes this week and for like a while, your girl is gonna be super pressed, the show is gonna have to adapt while I bring three new babies or projects into the world, specifically my world here in Seattle, North America’s largest decriminalized city. Today, as I said, I’m pressed for time, so I am recording this on my cell phone and it will be published without music. That does not mean that the information that it has to offer isn’t something that you should listen to, so stick with me. And thanks for letting me be flexible a week I really, really need it. So as I said, Seattle is North America’s largest decriminalized city and we’ll get into, later in the episode, more on these new babies at the end of today’s show, just after our trip tips to enjoy magic mushrooms as a mom. So if you forgot, this Sunday is Mother’s Day. Flowers count and cannabis flower counts as well.
0:01:23.7 AP: Or here’s an idea, if you live in Seattle, I’m hosting a Q&A, The High Guide To Psilocybin, starting this Tuesday, May 16th, and every other Tuesday through May and June. Pick a day and bring your mom. I’m probably your mom’s age, so you should tell her that if she feels like she needs a shared connection. And I’ll be joined by expert guests who can answer questions on microdosing, women’s health, condition-based protocols and we’ll discuss magic mushrooms themselves such as specific strains like Ecuador, which we’re gonna touch on in this episode. Be sure to check out the show notes for a link to RSVP to these free yet ticketed evenings. Now, let’s dive into Ecuador after I take a sip of my drink. It’s almost like it’s [0:02:14.3] ____ live. The Ecuador strain is believed to have originated in the Andean region of Ecuador, and is known for its distinctive appearance. With a short and stubby stem, broad bell-shaped cap. The strain is considered to be a classic strain of psilocybin mushrooms and is highly sought after by those looking for a potent psychedelic experience. So here, let me tell you what I’ve learned researching shroom strains. Most write-ups illuminate the fact that this strain is on the more potent end of the spectrum.
0:02:47.8 AP: So I’m just gonna assume that… [chuckle] let’s just say that psilocybin mushrooms are potent, and sometimes your brain chemistry and all of the factors surrounding how potent it’s going to actually feel is different, right? So just take what we share here, that’s not a personal trip report, with a grain of salt. I truly believe that. I’ve shared personally on this show, that… On earlier episodes of this show that I consumed psilocybin at doses of two to three and a half grams to facilitate healing after my divorce in the last couple of years. And every time I did, I ugly cried, every single time. At the beginning of April of this year, 2023, I consumed about the same amount of this Ecuador strain, and there was only bliss, truly serene minus the saline. And so, how did I consume it? I chose to consume it as a tea. And it was about 1.75 grams, about 45 minutes into the experience, I realized that the reflections on my ceiling, they were dancing and my body was heavier and lighter at once, if that makes sense. I was very much aware that I was in my body, yet I wasn’t trapped with the feeling of being too weighted down, like sometimes perhaps you can be if you’ve had an Indica categorized strain of cannabis.
0:04:17.4 AP: The other thing is that my breaths, I was able to take deeper breaths, they were slower, I wasn’t… I was tripping, but I wasn’t capital T tripping. And for any listeners who’ve experienced DMT, it was like a very mild DMT hallucination, more so than other psilocybin experiences I’ve had in recent memory. And since the tea, I’ve nibbled on caps and stems, whole fruit bodies, before heading out to get my steps. I have a one-hour loop that I do in my neighborhood in Seattle, and about halfway in, you start to sense that you’re slightly altered. The geometry found in nature seems to pop out like those posters in the mall in the ’80s, late ’80s. Colors are truly brighter and my mind’s inevitable wandering moves in the direction of wonder at what’s all around me in that moment, rather than, “I wonder why I’m like this, or he’s like that. And why do we do this?”
0:05:14.3 AP: And [chuckle] all I can say is “lifted” describes the state of being for me, when I take a small amount, meaning under a half a gram of Ecuador and go out for a walk in nature. So let’s go back, I used a term that I want to explain, and that is… Because you may be asking yourself, what are whole fruit bodies? So the term, whole fruit body is typically used in the context of mushrooms or fungi and is often used in reference to certain types of medicinal mushrooms like Reishi or Chaga, Cordyceps. In Mycology, the fruit body is above ground and it’s typically harvested and consumed as a food or used in medical preparations. Whole fruit bodies refer to the complete fruiting structures of the fungi, which includes the cap, stem, gills and spores.
0:06:07.0 AP: Many people believe that the medicinal properties of mushrooms are concentrated in the fruiting body and that consuming the whole fruit body provides a wider range of beneficial compounds than taking isolated extracts or supplements, and we’ve discussed this in terms of cannabis, right? Extracting the THC, the higher potency versus consuming the entire flower. The difference between taking whole cannabis flower, lighting it on fire, combusting it, inhaling it, and how that can scorch a lot of the good cannabinoids, flavonoids, terpenes that are in the whole flower. It’s similar with mushrooms, so if you use too hot of water, I guess you can compromise the psilocybin. So, I’ll go back to my notes, you guys do not want me to free-form. [chuckle] Whole fruit body extracts are often used in traditional Chinese medicine and other natural health practices to support immune function. I’m sure… Functional mushrooms, I take them in the winter time, amazing, amazing in terms of keeping the sick at bay, reduces inflammation and they provide other health benefits. Some traditional medicinal uses of mushrooms involve grinding the entire fruit body, including the stems into a powder or extract, and you use it for teas and other preparations.
0:07:39.3 AP: It’s worth noting that consuming whole fruit bodies of mushrooms is not recommended for everyone, especially if you’re allergic to mushrooms. It is a fungus, that is different than… So, people will have sensitivities to it, right? That’s why it’s harder for us to digest the skin of the mushroom, why we can have some digestive issues when we consume them. But there are people who are allergic to mushrooms and they should steer clear of psilocybin mushrooms as well. So if you have a healthcare professional that you feel you can safely consult, that’s really the way to go, if you’re considering adding psilocybin mushrooms to your self-care or well-being regimen. A question that is asked among those seeking magic, [chuckle] “Should I eat the cap or the stem?” And what I’m really being asked, what people are really asking themselves is, “Which is more potent?” So let’s start with learning about the significance of each. In mycology, the term stems typically refers to the central part of a mushroom’s fruit body that connects the cap or pileus to the substrate or growing surface. The stem, also known as stipe or stalk of a mushroom, is an important part of the fruit body as it provides structural support and helps to position the cap for optimal spore dispersal.
0:09:02.8 AP: The stem may be smooth or have various sizes… Or sorry, various types of textures such as scales, ridges or rings, and the stem may contain various bioactive compounds that can have medicinal or other effects, and the concentration and type of the compounds can vary depending on the species and other factors. However, it is important to note that the stem of a mushroom may contain different levels of toxic compounds compared to the cap, and the cap, of course, is the rounded uppermost part of the fruit body, which may be of various shapes and sizes and colors as well. It’s often the most distinctive and recognizable feature of a fruiting body. The mushroom cap, like the stem, may be smooth or have various types of texture such as scales or… While others are slimy and have distinctive shapes and patterns. If you’re looking for ways to prepare whole fruit bodies, check out thehigh.guide, our website, and subscribe to our newsletter and receive a free download. The High Guide To Psilocybin, which offers instructions for making a tea and a tek shot. Subscribing to our newsletter, which I’ve linked to in the show notes of this episode, is the best way to keep up-to-date on details for our upcoming and real life events, including ticket sales.
0:10:21.1 AP: As I mentioned at the top of the episode, if you live in Seattle, I’m hosting a Q&A, The High Guide To Psilocybin this Tuesday, May 16th, and every other Tuesday through June at The Cloud Room. Again, that’s here in Seattle, on Capitol Hill, and it’s 5:00 to 7:00 PM. Be sure to check out the show notes because we’ve included a link to RSVP for these free events and their ticketed evenings at The Cloud Room. The Cloud Room, if you don’t know, is a really well-designed shared work space out of which I created my first cannabis brand, Van der Pop, in no small part to both the space, the inspiring space, and its founder who became an investor. And so, it’s a bit like a homecoming being on the block again. I’m very much looking forward to reconnecting with familiar faces and also seeing new transplants to Seattle. So while this takes place at a membership club, it’s again ticketed yet free-of-charge and open to the public.
0:11:19.9 AP: And I leave you with today’s trip tips to enjoy magic mushrooms as a mom. Something to do fun with your kids, take maybe like a half a gram and play charades. Something to do that’s fun without your kids is to find your best partner in all things and split an eighth. And something just for you, mom, consider our microdose protocol for three months and keep tuned to this feed for our microdosing series in the coming weeks. Happy Mother’s Day to all, especially the boy moms out there. Thank you for listening to this episode of The High Guide. I’m your host, April Pride. Please check out our website, thehigh.guide for our shroom strain reviews and guide to psilocybin. Tune in next Friday for another episode of The High Guide, a show all about women changing their lives, thanks to altered states of consciousness.
0:12:16.8 AP: So I know that’s the end of the episode, but I re-listened to it, and again, here we’re live. I never answered the question, is the cap or the stem more potent? It doesn’t matter, you can eat either one. It’s just that the stem may be more… Have more bio-hazard, essentially. So cap, stem, doesn’t matter. More blue, less blue, the debate is still out if it’s more potent if there’s more blue. These are all pressing matters we will certainly get to the bottom of here on The High Guide, sometime this year. Have a great weekend.
