Our "brain" on mushrooms

Pat Macpherson, Xochitl, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Los Angeles Mycological Society

Giant puffball "brain" mushroom found in Angeles Nat'l Forest, March 30, 2014 (WQ)

 

Some mushrooms are entheogenic magic

Recently, we went hiking in the rugged mountains behind Los Angeles, in the chaparral of the Angeles National Forest behind one of the largest cities in the world.

Plant wisdom

And our Indian guide made a startling find: a giant puffball mushroom that could only be described as a "brain." It is white, with two hemispheres, cortical ridges, a brainstem fixed deep in the clay and sand soil, and an apparent gunshot exit wound out of which, had Mr. Lincoln been sporting this thinking-cap, all his memories would have oozed.

• Calendar of Events (LAMS)
• List of Natural Entheogens

Puffball skulls, UK (Nathan Lee)

The first question we had was, "Is it poisonous?" We followed that closely with, "Can we eat it?"

Like any good guide, we were taught the first rule for those who choose to snooze during survival training. As for eating wild mushrooms, "When in doubt, throw it out." This comes right out of the LAMS' playbook.

Identification

Cooking With Native Foods (Tim Martinez)

(LAMS) The fact is that there are many excellent edible wild mushrooms [and a few sacred entheogenic ones] almost anyone can learn to identify. And there are deadly poisonous species that every collector should be familiar with as well. 

Sadly, there are no simple rules to reliably tell which mushrooms are poisonous or edible. The only way to safely forage for wild mushrooms is to be familiar with the characteristics of the species one sets out to collect. Learn these characteristics by collecting with experts who can teach them those characteristics.

Haul of desert mushrooms reaching 8.5" and brain puffball (Xochitl/Wisdom Quarterly)

 

LAMS hosts several mushroom forays every season where beginners can start. Why use an expert; why not just go by trial-and-error? There is a more famous saying among mushroomers (mycologists, those who study mushrooms), and it runs: 

"There are daring wild mushroom eaters.
And there are old wild mushroom eaters.
But there are no daring-old wild mushroom eaters."

LA awash in pot as shops file to renew

These delicate fruits of the soil can be deadly. The Buddha was possibly lead out by death caps (Amanita phalloides) fed to him by a blacksmith mistaking them for a supple pigs' feast like truffles.

Beginners ought never rely solely on identifications based on a field guide -- particularly those that provide only pictures and brief descriptions

 

Find some mushrooms in need of identification? See the L.A. Mycological Society contact page. Also check the recommended reading page for Websites, books, and journals to learn to identify mushrooms in the wild.

• VIDEO: Making an Indian teepee from a tarp
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• Inside the "Electronic Omnivore": new leaks show NSA spying on U.N., Climate Summit, text messaging
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• Supreme Court loosens limits on political contributions (Now we'll have the "best democracy money can buy")
• LA County on health care plan for undocumented
• LA Heat exhibition celebrates Angelenos' love of hot sauce 
• LA hasn't had positive job growth in 23 years, report says (Wendy Lee) The UCLA Anderson Forecast says L.A. needs to improve education and make the area more business-friendly in order to increase jobs.

LA rain: showers, hail, thunder, wind, road closures Wed. (Maya Sugarman/KPCC)

Nature is cheaper than therapy: Walkabout!

Xochitl, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Tim Martinez, Arroyo Seco Foundation (facebook)

"NATURE. CHEAPER THAN THERAPY." (Sun Gazing/facebook.com)

The shores of Hahamongna "Lake" along JPL and Watershed Park, Pasadena

How the native inhabitants, the Tongva, saw Hahamonga at the head of the LA River

  

Go with the flow. If nature is cheaper than therapy, what could be more therapeutic than a walkabout in spring?

Wisdom Quarterly will join the Dry Riverbed preservationists of the Arroyo Seco Foundation to talk about Tongva culture, engage in environmental activism to save and restore the sacred site, and enjoy what Douglas Adams coined "sand, surf, and suffering" (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).

The sun will be up, sand underfoot, surf lapping on the eastern edge of the park (thanks to the recent rains that came mysteriously out of nowhere), and "suffering" is ever present to remind us that enlightenment, nirvana, and freedom beckon.

• Hahamonga Walkabout 2014
• Watershed Park, Pasadena (lower lot)
• March 22, 9:00 am to noon

A Tongva Native American Garden (and Tibet)

Xochitl, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Pitzer Arboretum; Hendon Harris

When the world was a garden: Los Angeles' original inhabitants the Tongva tribe

Pitzer College has a hidden treasure: a Native Tongva Garden (pitzer.edu)

 

Native American Tongva, Chumash, Anasazi (Hopi, Puebloan peoples), and in fact all indigenous people made use of all of the plants at hand.

Berries were abundant, particularly a local favorite [alongside elderberry], the manzanita (Spanish "little apple") a.k.a. madrone. Sobochesh, as it was known to the Tongva, was useful to eat, drink, and use as natural medicine.
 

A lotion made of leaves is an excellent treatment for treating exposure to poison oak, or they can be simmered into a tea to cure diarrhea, urinary infections, and headaches, a poultice for skin sores... The blossoms are also useful.

Arroyo Seco Foundation (facebook), March 22

While berries are wonderful, every plant is useful, from yucca to sagebrush to wild buckwheat to black sage and, of course, sacred white sage... Pitzer College, at the eastern extreme of modern Los Angeles County, at the base of massive Mount Baldy, has prepared a hidden treasury of plant uses and folk cures.

Other Tongva Indians will be on hand along with Wisdom Quarterly this Saturday for the Fourth Annual Hahamongna Walkabout in JPL's front yard in Pasadena.

Native American (Tibetan) Buddhism

Native Wm Leclair with Buddhist brothers (BP)

What is the Buddhist connection? Not only are the similarities between the "Indians" of India, Ladakh, Tibet, and the mountainous parts of Asia -- the Karen, for example, and other tribes in Burma, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal -- and the "Indians" of America patently obvious to anyone who looks, there is a historical reason for it.

Gomari, Tibet/China (Rietje)

Hendon Harris (Chinese Discover America) helps us understand, and Rick Fields laid it out in How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in [Ancient] America. But as early as 1885, American historian Edward P. Vining knew that a group of Buddhist monks from Afghanistan had come to the New World, that is, long before Columbus, they "discovered" America and brought the Dharma to the Native Americans. See An Inglorious Columbus about the Buddhist discovery of America.

QUESTION

Native dance, Hemis Gompa (Stella Peters)

Harris, responding to Native American Buddhism and Tibet, writes in to ask: In Wisdom Quarterly's opinion is the Native American "Ghost Dance" revival movement, which started in approximately 1880 and ended violently at Wounded Knee in South Dakota in December 1890, directly related or religiously or culturally linked to the Tibetan "Ghost Dance" tradition celebrated to this very day? Please explain the reasons for your opinion.

ANSWER: Hendon, we only know it's possible, and we wouldn't be the first to notice. We will have to consult with our non-resident expert, H.M. Harris, to see if it is probable. (We hope he reads this and sends us the answer soon).

• Native American Walkabout 2014 (March 22)
• Early Chumash and Tongva cultures (PDF)
• Native American Buddhism and Tibet
• The Tibet-Pueblo [American Indian] Connection
• Buddhism among the Pueblo Indians, USA
• Native American Ethnographic Study: Ventura
• A Sneak Peek into Santa Monica's "Tongva Park"
• Pitzer College (Claremont) John R. Rodman Arboretum

Native American Walkabout 2014 (March 22)

Xochitl, Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; ArroyoSeco.org (Facebook)

If the Buddha -- a wanderer -- went on a walkabout, what would he be doing? "May peace and balance be restored to Mother Earth and all who walk upon her" (Eco_Bela/flickr.com)

Buddha Mind, Buddha Body: Walking Toward Enlightenment (Thich Nhat Hanh)

Tim Martinez led hikers to Hahamongna (JPL/Devil's Gate Dam), where they learned about its rich Native American heritage and how to protect it. Comments on the Devil's Gate sediment removal draft EIR were due on Jan. 21, 2014. (See here for more information).

View of flood control basin as it fills from atop Devils Gate Dam with JPL in distance

 

Old Los Angeles (tongvapeople.org)

What better way to celebrate the equinox and welcome spring than to set off on an aboriginal walkabout?

The original inhabitants of Los Angeles were the Tongva, who considered the Hahamongna watershed "sacred" land. The rain that falls in the forest rushes down the mountains and percolates through springs rising before flooding down into the Los Angeles Basin into the Pacific Ocean.

The Foundation

One of the most spectacular accomplishments of the Arroyo Seco Foundation (ASF) is reestablishing the Arroyo chub, a native fish in this major tributary of the Los Angeles River.

 

The ASF mission is to preserve and enhance the Arroyo Seco (dry gulch) from the San Gabriel Mountains down to the Los Angeles River, reforest the region, and promote environmental and cultural (Tongva/Gabrielino and Chumash) awareness of one of Southern California’s greatest natural resources. More

• The Original People of Los Angeles
• A Brief History of the Tongva People
• Our Rain Dance (Wisdom Quarterly)

Hahamongna Watershed Park, next to dam and its usually dry basin (PasadenaWeekly.com)

Hiking to Native American Los Angeles

Xochitl, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Arroyo Seco Foundation; SaveHahamongna.org

Which "devil"? Hungry Sasquatch, angry watershed floods, silly rock formation? (ASF)

Pasadena opposes what LA proposes: future site after removal of all life and silt (ASF)

  

L.A. watershed (savehahamongna.org)

HAHAMONGNA, Arroyo Seco - "Learn to identify local native plants on this hike through the Arroyo, along with the various food, medicinal, spiritual, and practical uses that this rich habitat provided to the area's original inhabitants" screamed the poster.

 

Tongva villages of the Los Angeles basin

We were in! We met up at the world-famous Rose Bowl Stadium ready to hike to the Jet Propulsion Lab site Saturday morning. Everyone gathered, eager to learn, socialize, and smell the aromatic chaparral, flowers, and berries. 

  

Volunteering to clean the Arroyo (ASF)

There are Hollywood (toyon), elder, and manzanita berries. Wild buckwheat and a variety of acorns are staple foods. Coyote bush cures poison ivy and oak rash. Mule fat wood is best for fire sticks, and mugwort gives sweet dreams and keeps embers burning. Outreach Coordinator Tim Martinez taught us well. Meanwhile, on another ridge miles to the east, the Colby fire was smoldering and only 30% contained.

Tongva/Los Angeles River, foothills, and San Gabriel Valley (Hometown-Pasadena.com)

   

Who were the Native Americans here, the First Nation people of Los Angeles? They were the Tongva (Gabrieliño, Fernandeño, Nicoleño -- Europeanized names after Spanish colonization). The name is disputed; the people are not. There were various minor tribes, and everyone fled to Mexico to save their lives from the Anglo invaders from the east coast.

WILD PLANTS: In Australia, a walkabout is a sacred rite of passage one undergoes to find oneself by being immersed in nature. In SoCal, the Hahamongna Walkabout, hosted by Tim Martinez (ASF), seeks to inspire by guided tours through this rare spot near JPL (kcet.org).

 

Healing With Medicinal Plants

Save Hahamongna from bulldozers!
HOW TO: Wilderness Survival Skills (PrimitiveWays.com)
Healing with Medicinal Plants of the West: Cultural and Scientific Basis for Their Use (by Chumash healing woman)
Medicinal Plants of the American West 

Study proposes L.A. River/Arroyo Seco confluence urban riverfront

WITS (Minn. Public Radio)

First Buddhist University, USA

Saving Native American LA: "Hahamongna"

Ashley Wells, Xochitl, Seven, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; SaveHahamongna.org; TongvaTribe.net; Andre Coleman (PasadenaWeekly.com, Jan. 2, 2014)

Mountain watershed north of Los Angeles's tangled freeways (SaveHahamongva.org

Tongva of Los Angeles, Chumash of Malibu, Acjachemem of Orange County (tongvatribe.net)

 

JPL, waterway (swartzentrover.com)

DEVIL'S GATE - In the Pasadena foothills (Los Angeles County), there is a dam placed above the world-famous Rose Bowl. 

This is sacred First Nations (the Tongva, the original inhabitants of L.A.) land known as Xaxaamonga. It was taken over by an imperial army long ago, and that military force built a jet propulsion and skunk works laboratory (JPL) affiliated with nearby Caltech University.

Chris Nyerges in Hahamongna (latimes.com)

The Hahamongna basin was once a great meeting place, a periodic city set up as the site of great gatherings of Native Americans from what is now the Los Angeles metropolitan basin, its eroding foothills, crowded coastal zone (particularly Malibu), Catalina (part of the Channel Islands), and modern Orange County.

That is all to be destroyed.

 

Angeles Nat'l Forest foothills, JPL (SH)

A new plan aims to remove the land and truck it away in the name of "sediment clean-up." At an estimated cost of $70 million, the Hahamongna Watershed Park will more or less cease to exist as a natural habitat. No tree or vegetation will be left standing. In its place concrete, dirt, and rubble will remind local hikers of what was once pre-European-invasion life in the area.

The original inhabitants, the Tongva tribe of the Los Angeles basin (tongvatribe.net)

 

Save Hahamongna!

LA County Flood Control District's EIR

Hahamongna is a rare spot in the Arroyo Seco at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains where the natural watershed meets the urban plain. Periodically, flash floods roar into this basin. Bounded on the north by the mountains and an ominous Jet Propulsion Lab, on the south by Devil's Gate Dam, Hahamongna contains five unique habitat zones that only exist in alluvial canyons near the mountains as well as wildlife (birds, hawks, lions, deer, foxes, toads, bobcats). Most sites like this in Southern California have already been destroyed. Can we afford let Hahamongna go the way of other lost environmental treasures in Southern California. LATEST NEWS

The trucks are coming: 200,000 double-bed, diesel-spewing, street-clogging machines will cause noise, dust, and air pollution, destroying precious habitat (savehahamongna.org).

 

Scraping the Bottom

André Coleman

Hahamongna trees (SH)

City officials and local residents join forces against sediment removal plans for Devil’s Gate Dam. Pasadena officials opposed to a five-year, $70-million sediment clean-up of Devil’s Gate Dam in Hahamongna Watershed Park, which they say could increase health risks and negatively impact local traffic, are making their feelings known in a letter to L.A. County officials pushing the controversial project. County Public Works Department officials want to remove up to 4-million cubic yards of sediment and build up around Devil’s Gate Dam, located in the southern portion of the park, but the excavation would also force workers to remove trees and vegetation in the area. More