ERE Adventuring

[ertyu]

I could probably try to simulate a 3-day mini-FI every week.

I tried to do the same exercise in my head, and my experience was exactly the opposite -- namely, that you cannot simulate a 3-day FI
(or at least I couldn't). This is because FI isn't about the activities themselves. That money doesn't need to be a motivational factor changes my inner disposition towards the activities when I do them. I experience the same activity, and I experience myself-doing-the-activity, completely differently. Did you have anything similar?

[NuncFluens]

For the last few weeks I really tried to force FI as hard as I could, so money had way more impact on my decisions back then. With work easing up and my mindset changing, this has lessend to a degree where I definitely feel more like doing things for their own sake. So in a way, this last weekend felt exactly like simulating FI, although I did it very poorly. But everything I did, I did for its own sake instead of money, and it definitely felt differently somehow.

[Alphaville]

*Rereading this, I'm getting the idea that maybe I just want to be praised as a "leader"/"expert" to feel good about myself :p

hahaha! one of the reasons i enjoy your diary is because the high level of self-awareness and sense of humor about yourself.

anyway the way i see it, if you don’t aspire to continue being employed, it’s okay to have a double life, and give that future life room to grow so that it may eventually take over.

a lot of people feel “empty” when they retire and have nothing to do.

but if you have something you want to do separate from work it’s like many indie artists who have a day job and in the weekend they play at gigs with their band, go on tour during vacation, or paint, etc.. their job is not their life, it’s just the way they make a living.

you’re superlucky to have only a 32h workweek where other countries/economies demand 40, 50, 80 hour workweeks of their employees, or at least round-the-clock availability for 30-hour schedules with no health benefits. you’ve already won the lottery in a way.

you also spoke of bringing that down to 20, and maybe you can do that down the road as your ere-life grows.

but to be able to switch horses mid-race they need to be both running parallel to each other. no?

maybe it’s a bad metaphor that does not apply, or maybe there’s a different way to do things, but looks to me that your schedule lets you start developing your future today. which is a huge boon from the universe.

then again if you love your job and your job is your hobby, like wynton marsalis, you can just work work work.

see: https://youtu.be/he_cxeFXC1s?t=1195

[NuncFluens]

you also spoke of bringing that down to 20, and maybe you can do that down the road as your ere-life grows.

but to be able to switch horses mid-race they need to be both running parallel to each other. no?

maybe it’s a bad metaphor that does not apply, or maybe there’s a different way to do things, but looks to me that your schedule lets you start developing your future today. which is a huge boon from the universe.

This is one big point that I didn't start to get until june this year. I'm still having trouble with that at times, as my mind doesn't work well on 2 separate tracks at the same time. Even when I took hiking super seriously last year I split it up into super-long working days and super-long hiking days, so balance (at least on a smaller scale) is not really something that comes naturally. But I think I've already made some progress there, mostly by focusing on one overarching web of goals, so things don't seem as separate anymore.

then again if you love your job and your job is your hobby, like wynton marsalis, you can just work work work.

see: https://youtu.be/he_cxeFXC1s?t=1195

On the one hand, I'm definitely the kind of person to go for one thing with full steam. It's draining at times, because I can't just pick mushrooms for fun but also have to study mycology on the side for some reason. But once it clicks it definitely feels worth it to put in 10 hours every day. On the other hand it has very rarely been sustainable for long stretches of time, so I tend to switch from one thing to the next in a burst-like fashion. I've gotten better at this with shifting my focus while switchting to some kind of "maintenance mode" on the other things. So I'm not quite sure I can "hold down" a passion over the long term yet, but I've still got a few years to figure it out, I guess

[NuncFluens]

The working week is coming to an end, so I'll do a little update.

Work
The presentation-slides thing has reached a whole new level after I conferred with our marketing people today. We've started a whole new circle of reworking the slides after we abandoned the initial concept pretty much in its entirety. There is also talk of doing a few different versions for a few different occassions, so I'm assuming we're looking at a few weeks' work (on the side) minimum.

This wouldn't even be that bad if I wasn't the single remaining developer (and now marketer) of one of our core systems. On the one hand I enjoy the possibility to "get out there" and learn new things, especially if this results in public speaking, which is a real weak spot of mine. On the other hand I'm spread very thin now, so I'll need to make extra sure to stand my ground and not work overtime to compensate.

Apart from that, I received my new laptop for working from home. It's an Asus TUF Gaming laptop complete with color-changing keyboard and the loudest cooling fan ever. I assume those were the only laptops that were available at the time, as it just doesn't make sense for us to have these. Overall it is very disappointing, though. The battery lasts about one hour, if I'm very lucky. It also died on me twice today when I tried to open Zoom and Powerpoint at the same time *gasp*. If I didn't need it for Powerpoint (which is horrible on my Linux machine) I'd give it back in a second.

Work-Life Balance
I've stuck to my 4-day work week this week, so my weekend starts tomorrow. Seeing how last weekend was a bit crazed, I'll have to try to relax a bit more this time around. Overall I really like the clear separation between work and free time, though, as I can just not give a hoot for the next 3 days.

As for next week, I'll have to attend a meeting on friday so I'll try to take off wednesday. I'm not sure how adamant I can be here, as technically I'm employed on a 5-day schedule and would (technically) need to be there. If it doesn't work out, I'll take 2 days off the week after that, though.

Mycology
I've buckled down on my plan to hunt for mushrooms this weekend and identified 3 target mushrooms (oysters, enoki, chaga). I've also made sure to know about all the poisonous look-alikes and how to identify those, so I should be pretty save. Having never ever eaten a wild mushroom I'm still concerned, although I'll keep my new mushroom-compendium handy to make extra sure.

I also looked around on the internet and found the Bavarian Mycology Association, which has an outpost near me (90min by train). Apparently, they not only provide guided trips, but also scientific seminars including a possibility for certification. Seeing how the curriculum is quite extensive and builds on real-world-knowledge, however, I'm not seeing myself taking the test anytime soon. But it's nice to have a perspective for where I could go if I keep up with this hobby.

[NuncFluens]

Mycology
I planned to visit two small forested areas near my home today (round trip ~15km) to see if I could find mushrooms there. I also managed to find an alternative approach route to the first area along a river, which was not only much nicer than going through the city, but I even found about 10 species of mushrooms along the way. Most of those were inedible polypores, but I also found what I identified as Butterfly Trametes and what I think might be Turkey Tail:



As they are not edible I didn't really care, so I might be wrong here. If anyone can clarify, I'd appreciate it though, should I ever plan on making mushroom tea.

The first area I planned on visiting was quite disappointing, however, as the majority of trees were conifers. As far as I can tell, my target mushrooms (Oysters, Enoki) don't really grow on conifers, so maybe it wasn't entirely my fault for not finding anything there. I was a bit disappointed by this, and decided to move on as it was already getting late.

The second area was only a short way away, although it was also mostly conifers. I searched around for a bit and found some pretty coral mushrooms, but nothing edible for a long time. About 5 minutes before I went home, however, I noticed this huge chunk of what looked like oyster mushrooms. So naturally I lost my shit and didn't photograph the tree for later reference, but I assume it was a beech tree. I did get one real bad photo of the mushrooms before I dropped everything, though:



After having my moment there, I sat down and studied my mushroom guide on a tree stump nearby and decided that those are indeed oyster mushrooms, so I went back and took a sample. The taste test (with spitting it out afterwards, of course) was quite okay, so I decided to fill the little cardboard box* I brought to the brim. Overall, the whole bushel might have been about 1kg, but I only took half of that.

*I've had this habit of overinvesting in new hobbies, so I'm taking it slow. The oysters were also half frozen, so I took a calculated risk there.

After an hour of walking home (I netted 3.5h for the whole trip), I cleaned the whole box and weighed them (526g, stalks and all). After another 20 minutes of online research I excluded 5 of 6 possible lookalikes, leaving only one edible if horribly tasting option. This is when I decided to just eat about 50g of what I foraged, as I was reasonably sure that I excluded anything poisonous. I tried a recipe for oyster mushrooms sweet-sour and it came out great, so I'm quite positive that I'll live to see tomorrow. Here's a picture of my harvest (stalks already removed), with a tea cup for scale:



Overall I'm quite happy with my find, even if I "wasted" the first 2 hours of the trip. As Oysters should regrow there every year I'll definitely mark the spot. If all goes well (i.e. I don't die tonight), I might go back and harvest the rest of the bushel on sunday.

[basuragomi]

Very cool! Did you take a spore print? Now that you have a known-good specimen, would you ever escalate to carrying around a cordless drill and inoculating dead stumps with edible species? Guerilla mycology beckons.

[Alphaville]

wowza! fun weekend!!

[NuncFluens]

Very cool! Did you take a spore print? Now that you have a known-good specimen, would you ever escalate to carrying around a cordless drill and inoculating dead stumps with edible species? Guerilla mycology beckons.

That is genius! I didn't take a spore print right away, as I assumed it's only for identification. I never thought about growing my own mycelium from them, but it's kinda obvious once you think about it. Maybe I'll try home-growing them first, but guerilla mycology sounds awesome too

[NuncFluens]

Mycology (again)
I survived the night, so yesterday's find was indeed edible. The spore print I took overnight turned out bluish-grey, which conclusively excludes the last remaining lookalikes, so all is good. I went back on my trusty bike today and got the rest of the rest of the bushel (350g this time, for a total of 850g).

As far as conserving/processing goes I tried a few things:

• Freezing: I froze one batch whole, and one in pulled-apart noodle-form. The internet tells me that this should be alright if I fry it right away without letting it thaw first. I'll try once the fresh ones run out.

• Drying: I tried drying one full mushroom which turned out alright, I think. I'll rehydrate this tomorrow or so to make sure the texture is alright. If it works out, this will probably be my go-to preservation technique.

• Cooking: The rest of the bushel will be eaten over the next 2-3 days. I've never seen oyster mushrooms for sale here, so this is the first time I'm using them ever. The sweet sour mushrooms were awesome and my masala turned out alright too. The fiance also liked it, so I'm getting some extra motivation there

I'll have to see how my knees take the bike tour today but if they comply, I have plans to scout out a few more likely hunting grounds tomorrow. I still don't have a feeling for how much I can expect to find, so I'll try not to get my hopes up. What's also really cool about this is that I'm constantly out and about. I don't know when I was hiking and biking this much the last time, but I'll take it

As for growing my own, I did some research and it seems like a bit much work right now. I think I'll just keep hunting them in the wild for now, but once that becomes a stable habit I might branch out into diy-farming at home.

[Alphaville]

Mycology (again)
I survived the night, so yesterday's find was indeed edible.

im glad you made it back and are not in the icu with liver failure, but maybe this is not the best way to learn?

i mean you could collect and photograph and classify and map and document and read books, but culinary russian roulette often leads to bad outcomes.

if you have the nearby group--maybe just wait for their assistance before eating anything? just the eating part, is what im saying. just hold off... on the eating

(i do understand the temptation though)

[NuncFluens]

I was very sure that I had the right mushroom after checking with the guidebook and the internet several times. The only "poisonous" lookalike (Angel Wings, pleurocybella porrigens) is even considered to be edible historically, although there are a handful of documented cases of deadly poisoning. However, all of those were in Japan, all victims had pre-existing kidney problems and their average age was 70, so this seems to be overblown. Angel Wings actually don't even look much like oyster mushrooms, as the cap looks kind of wavy. As my specimen were fully grown I excluded the possibility of them not having fully formed yet. So the actual danger was veeery minimal.

My worries came more from the fact that I've never eaten a wild mushroom before, and my parents are of the scaremonger-type so I'm kinda damaged in that regard. I might have waited on the spore print to make extra sure, I'll give you that much. But I guess what it comes down to is that I'll have to trust myself to know what I'm doing at some point, or never eat any wild mushroom. So after hours of research, I decided that I have reached that point with this particular mushroom.

[Alphaville]

oh haha ok. whew!

so did you reach out to the bavarian society or no?

i mean i read about certifications etc, but any sort of networking opportunities yet? nearby members or anything?

[NuncFluens]

so did you reach out to the bavarian society or no?

i mean i read about certifications etc, but any sort of networking opportunities yet? nearby members or anything?

The society is really more on the sciency side and not much use for the common mushroom hunter. The next few events are all in microscoping spores for medical research and emergency identification in hospitals. The first guided trip for the unwashed masses is scheduled for june, so this is a dead-end for what I need right now. I'm still planning on signing up to a mushroom-hunting forum, but have been distracted by my own field trips lately. I should probably do this ASAP, though, so I can "debug" my next harvest before eating it :p

[Alphaville]

I should probably do this ASAP, though, so I can "debug" my next harvest before eating it :p

hahaha yesssssss!

[NuncFluens]

Mycology (it never ends!)
Since I still have half a kilo of oyster mushrooms in my fridge, I decided to do more of a research trip today. I chose an area that was likely protected, so gathering anything growing there would be forbidden. I can't say for 100% sure that the area was indeed protected, as the signage is complete crap. I'm curious as to how this would be handled if I gathered something in a forbidden area because of bad signage.

Anyway, I didn't take anything but managed to find a few edible mushrooms along the way. The first was this little fella, which could be Pleurotus Cornucopiae, although I didn't bother to make sure as I can't pick it anyway:



The second one was a very edible Wood's Ear, more commonly known as Mu Err. I couldn't get the best picture because my camera is crap at long distances and I didn't want to trample my way in, but the farther off specimen were even more clearly developed:



After leaving the protected area, I managed to gather some Turkey Tail for making some tea in the next few days. I'm really curious as to how it will taste and whether I'll be able to feel any effects:



I also found a few other species that I'll have to identify from the photos later on, but nothing really interesting as far as I can tell right now. And I guess this brings my mushroom-crazy weekend to a close, so let's move on to...

Work-Life Balance
This weekend was much better than the last one, as I didn't feel as detached from "normal life" this time around. It still looks like my "balance" will be more of a black/white kinda situation, which is weirding me out. It really feels like I have 2 lives right now, where I work for 4 days allowing for some decompression in the evenings and then go on and life "my" life for 3 days every weekend.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand I enjoy my weekends much more, as I refuse to even think about work whenever my mind starts to drift in that direction. On the other hand, all the demands that work imposes are now concentrated into 4 days, with no possibility to compensate for slacking off on the weekends anymore. As a result, work feels more daunting than it did before, but it also has less power over me on my free days. I guess I'll have to see how this evolves, as my current dread might just be the irrational fear of falling behind if I don't work outside of my designated hours.

Overall I'm still planning on doing a 4-day work week over the winter, as the days are really short, so I'd rather have more free days. I'm also daydreaming about more recent day trips, however, now that my adventuring-spirit has been rekindled. For this I need daylight, though, which why this is more of a summer solution. We'll see how that goes.

[Alphaville]

sounds like a spectacular weekend. fascinating photos!

and to paraphrase an american antigovernment activist... you don't want to abolish the workweek, you just want to reduce it to the size where you can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub

[ertyu]

Great fungi. What's supposed to be the effect of turkey tail tea?

Have one that was growing on a tree in the middle of the street in my home town -- unsure of the species, would you happen to recognize it by any chance?

[NuncFluens]

I'm not out for any particular benefits of the turkey tail mushroom. It just seems to be super good for you, so I thought I'd try it and maybe some magic happens

The mushroom on your picture is not something I've seen in my area. Judging by the tree's bark and the leaf on the mushroom it should be an ash tree, though, so my best (google-aided) guess would be "Inonotus Hispidus".

[Alphaville]

whoa! i learned something new today

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/tu ... l-mushroom

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articl ... om#summary

and look: https://www.swansonvitamins.com/solaray ... 0-veg-caps

who knew? i certainly didn't...