Hi friends!
I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season. I know we sure did. We celebrated the Solstice on the 21st and had a little family Christmas gathering on the 25th. We are now ready to settle in and hibernate for the winter. We are awaiting the newest addition of our family, our baby girl Freya Rose is coming any day now.
I wanted to share a couple announcements followed by some wisdom from a hemlock tree.
First off, we are doing back-to-back collaborative giveaways on Instagram with some other medicine makers!
We have one per week lined up for the next two months, each of our giveaways will be a combined total value of over $500-$600! The first one started today, Monday (12/29/25)
The giveaways are simple, just follow the rules for one entry, and then you have the option for additional entries. Don't have an instagram? You can make one pretty simply, even just to enter for the giveaway.
I like doing joint giveaways with other creators around winter time as a way to give back to our communities, to cross-pollinate followers and give people a chance to try new products.
Some of the collaborators I am working with: VibeMedX, Performance Fungi, Fruiting Bodies Lab/Optimal Alchemy, Mindful Mycology, and Hamilton's Mushrooms!
Pantherina caps are back!
After some frequent out-of-stocks, the Grade A Amanita pantherina caps are back in stock.
We had an outage, and then sold out immediately again just filling back orders! I had a message on discord asking why our caps were so cheap? Well we want to pass the savings on to you! They have become one of our most popular products this year.
What is different about pantherina vs. muscaria?
Amanita muscaria and pantherina have similar alkaloids but the pantherina have 3-5x more muscimol and ibotenic acid than muscaria. The pantherina are a smaller brown capped mushroom, it typically doesn't have as long of a growing season, and it doesn't grow as prolifically.
What is the experience like?
Well I can tell you from personal experience that “panthers don't play.”
The energy of pantherina is a bit more tricksy than muscaria. This isn't just from my experience, I have heard this from others as well. Most accidental high dose experiences occur with pantherina, I can also tell you that from experience.
Caution and respect is always important when working with plant medicines, but especially with ones that snatch your ego up with the difference of a gram or two.
It's always best to homogenize your mixture into powder, or into a tea, start with incremental amounts and work your way up with the SAME batch, so you can achieve consistent results and proceed cautiously. 
(photo by Maria)
Hemlock tree wisdom
This past weekend I had some anxieties. I couldn't put a finger on it, but I felt restless. The winter times are hard when I stay inside, I love being outside in the cold, but it's not as easy when you have a baby that you have to care for, or fight them to dress them in winter clothes.
My amazing fiance Maria gave me a Quest and sent me off outside. Part of that quest was to find a Hemlock tree that was both wise and humble, to sit with my back against it and ask it for it's wisdom.
So I went off to search for said hemlock, keep in mind we probably have over 1000 hemlock trees on our 16 acre forested property. I thought maybe it needed to be old and large, but that wasn't true.
I thought to myself “If I were a tree, to be wise, I'd plant myself in an opening to get the most light.... but if I were humble I'd have some friends nearby.” And there I saw it, a hemlock tree with branches reach the heavens (wisdom) and touching the ground too (humility). I ask if I could lean against him, he was hesitant, because I cut down some of his friends. I said only ones that were necessary. “I won't hurt you, and I have a gift!” I pulled a charged quartz stone from my pocket and placed it at the base of the tree in the soil. This was a quartz stone I had charge with intentions over a full moon cycle. The intentions that were charged in this stone were: divine stewardship of our land, conscious community events, and protection of our family. The rest of the stones I charged and planted in a grid all around our home, our ceremonial area (similar to a Celtic Nemeton), and our entire property perimeter.
I sat with my back against the tree and I emptied my mind. What came to me was the wisdom of the tree:
The evergreen does not fear the change of the season
It's ancient wisdom has seen many ages. It has courage in the face of Winter. It shines in the depths of snow, an emerald in the white backdrop. It's green branches unyielding. Soft still, it bends and sways with the wind, and the weight of snow and ice. It is unbothered by the change of the seasons of life... and with this wisdom so will I.
May you take this wisdom and be inspired by the Hemlock as I was.
I encourage you to go seek with your heart, a being in nature, something that catches your eye, that pulls you in... go to that being because they have medicine for you. Even if it's only once a week, it will be so good for you. I know this was a reminder for me, and I hope it has inspired you.
Thank you, and BE BLESSED!
-Michael
Harmony Acres
