Our Mission

Hello,

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Thank you for visiting, my name is Storm Peschel.

 

My interest in Mushrooms begins as many others does with the psychoactive species, Psilocybe Cubensis. in 2009 Long before any form of safe, accessible experiences were available or mainstream. like many, I was exposed to "Mushrooms" from my peers. Too long for this note is the story of how I found relief from my rare medical condition using Cannabis for medical purposes. But switching from taking opiates daily as a young man, to being clear minded using natural substances I was hesitant to regard the hysteria and propaganda taught to us in popular society about these substances. As any young person around this time with internet access, I quickly educated myself on "mushrooms" and it did not take long for me to come to the conclusion that I wanted to experience it for myself. 

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Often growing up I was told that I would not live to become an adult, or my quality of life would be very low due to my medical condition. at least, that's what the experts told me. Understandably this played on me. A lot. But that changed when I had my first experience with Psilocybin. That negative perception of myself caused by feelings of despair changed, I realized I was enough, no matter what I was told, the effects of my condition, the pain I live with.  And having grown up in a church going family my distress was often directed at God, but the mushrooms helped me understand that what I was going through is not gods fault, not my own fault, and not anybodys fault. The nature of the experience is truly ineffable, and hard to understand, but in the deepest parts of It I was overcome by a intense feeling of the love that permeates the universe and how everything is interconnected. To put it simply it was awe inspiring and I came away from it a changed man.  It might sound absurd to some reading this but my outlook on life changed entirely, I was cured of my anxiety and depression surrounding my medical condition. And today, you would be hard pressed to know I have one without me telling you.

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Stemming from this experience I gained a intense desire to experience nature, I took up hiking and camping, prior to this my only experience in "nature" was spending time at my parents cottage as a child and the rare outings with my father and the cub scouts of Canada. This is where the story takes a definate turn to the world of mushrooms at large. I set out on a hiking trail in central Ontario called The LaCloche Trail, in Killarney Provincial Park, a 107 something Kilometre hiking trail through what are the only mountian-esque  trails in Ontario. It was mid Autumn.I was not very far into the hike when I stumbled upon a fairy tale landscape with hundreds of mushrooms, which I now know as Laccaria Species, Cantharellus Species, Boletus Species and Slime Molds just to name a few. at certain points on my journey I was walking down moss banked trails with hundreds of toadstools beside me. There  was one thing on my mind, "what are these". When I returned home my first endeavour was to go online and use photographs I took to try and identify the species that I encountered, which was a rabbit hole I am still exploring to this day!

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During my first foray into identifying mushrooms I came across a Toronto based Not for Profit Society that  focused on public education and awareness of mushrooms, founded by some people from the University of Toronto in the 70's. they held frequent outings called "Forays" where a group of people would explore the local parks surrounding the Greater Toronto Area. I Attended the next one on the schedule. And shortly after I was on the board of directors where