LET IT GLOW
Denver’s indie skincare brand
THE WILD AZZIE
Foraging in the mushroom mecca
SNEAK PEAKS
Read this before you hit the slopes
C O LO R A D O DECEMBER 2020
IT’S A WRAP! Our exclusive gift guide
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Thank You! TO OUR INCREDIBLE FAMILY & COMMUNITY
FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO! TO OUR CUSTOMERS
I want to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU. I appreciate your support during these uncertain times while we work to keep our stores safe, clean, shelves stocked, and open. The Maggie’s Family has been humbled by the kindness you continue to show us, and more importantly, to each other.
TO OUR ASSOCIATES
I am astonished with your operational excellence and grateful for you, you are the real heroes in this story! Your commitment to Maggie’s Farm and our communities is absolutely inspiring. From our Support Staff to our Farmers and all of our Retail Associates working on the front lines, we couldn’t do what we do without you, THANK YOU. After 10 great years in business, we know we can get through any challenge together. Bill Conkling & Your Maggie’s Farm Family
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FEATURES
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It’s a Wrap!
Stumped this season? Crack open our exclusive gift guide and break off some holiday cheer for you and yours.
60 Foraging for Magic
Stalking the wild Azzie in the mushroom-hunting capital of the Pacific Northwest
DEPARTMENTS
11 EDITOR’S NOTE 18 THE LIFE Contributing to your health and happiness 12 THE BUZZ JUST GLOW WITH IT News, tips, and tidbits to keep you in the loop BORED AT HOME? Meow Wolf’s got you covered. FLY-THRU New app brings airport to-go right to you. LIGHT WAY UP Take in the Mile High Tree this holiday season. APOCALYPSE NOW The haunting history of DIA’s artwork FRIENDLY FURS Vegan fur coats offer comfort and compassion. THE GIFT OF ART Support the Museum of Contemporary Art with your gift shopping.
Denver’s newest indie skin-care brand RECIPES Cannabisinfused pie crust HOROSCOPE What the stars hold for you
70 THE SCENE Hot happenings and hip hangouts around town MOUNTAIN UPDATES
What to know before you head for the ski hills LOCAL SPOTLIGHT Lion’s Mane in RiNo keeps mushrooms weird. TRAVEL There’s hope for traveling again in 2021.
ON THE COVER
Start your wish list off right with Sensi’s exclusive gift guide. PHOTO BY EVRYMMNT, ADOBE STOCK PHOTO EDITS BY JOSH CLARK
96 THE END The end of 2020, that is.
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EXECUTIVE
Ron Kolb Founder + CEO ron@sensimag.com Mike Mansbridge President Fran Heitkamp Chief Operating Officer Lou Ferris VP of Global Revenue Chris Foltz VP of Global Reach Jade Kolb Director of Project Management BRAND DEVELOPMENT
Richard Guerra Deputy Director of Global Reach Tuva Hank Music Director, Sensi Presents Neil Willis Production Director ADVERTISING
Nancy Reid Director, Team Building, Sensi East Joel Bergeson Director, Team Building, Sensi West EDITORIAL
Stephanie Wilson Co-Founder + Editor in Chief stephanie.wilson@sensimag.com Doug Schnitzspahn Executive Editor doug.schnitzspahn@sensimag.com Robyn Griggs Lawrence Editor at Large John Lehndorff Dining Editor Helen Olsson Copy Chief Mona Van Joseph Contributing Writer MANAGING EDITORS
Tracy Ross Michigan Debbie Hall Nevada Emilie-Noelle Provost New England Jenny Willden Northern California Dawn Garcia Southern California
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COLORADO Liana Cameris Market Director, Colorado liana.cameris@sensimag.com Amanda Patrizi Media Sales Executive amanda.patrizi@sensimag.com Nicholas Sheppard Media Sales Executive nicholas.sheppard@sensimag.com Tyler Tarr Media Sales Executive tyler.tarr@sensimag.com SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Rob Ball Market Director Angelique Kiss Market Director NEVADA Abi Wright Market Director NEW ENGLAND Richard Guerra Market Director Jenna Scandone Media Sales Executive MICHIGAN Jamie Cooper Market Director Ernie Butcher Media Sales Executive Chelsea Carter Media Sales Executive Kile Miller Media Sales Executive Leah Stephens Media Sales Executive Constance Taylor Media Sales Executive NORTHERN CALIFORNIA Nancy Birnbaum Market Director Toni Malvesta Media Sales Executive Sam De La Paz Media Sales Executive
MEDIA PARTNERS
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Happy Holidays
TERRAPINCARESTATION.COM
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EDITOR’S NOTE
Magazine published monthly by Sensi Media Group LLC.
© 2020 Sensi Media Group. All rights reserved.
Let’s skip the whole
“holy f—, what a year!” thing.
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I N S TAG R A M Pretty things, pretty places, pretty awesome people: find it all on @sensimagazine
You get it, I get it, we all get it because we’re all still living through it. Instead, let’s make like my official 2020 anthem (as so declared in my “2020 Wrapped” report from Spotify) and get on to the next one, on to the next. Let’s get pumped for what’s to come while we celebrate where we are. Never heard the track by Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz? There’s no time like the present. I can wait—it’s not like I have anywhere to go, somewhere else I should be. When you return, ready to take on whatever’s next (because you’re all about progression, obviously, and me? same), I’ll be here. I’ll be present. The theme of this issue is “present”—as in a mindfulness practice and as in a gift you give for the holidays. I thought the dual meaning made it a clever choice when we came up with the 2020 editorial calendar last fall, never anticipating that by December 2020, we’d be yearning for what’s next and sick of living in the now after spending nine months hunkered down in our homes. So, instead of articles on the importance of staying present, we’ve got an article about why planning future experiences is a stimulating present you can gift your mind right now, because your mind is hungry for some fun. Speaking of fun, I had a ton of it picking out the great presents featured in Sensi’s first official Holiday Gift Guide. Taking a page from Oprah, I filled the guide with some of my favorite things—items I love and think you and the people on your list will love too. And should you not find something for a particular someone on these pages, we’ve still got you covered. On sensimag.com, we’ve got a ton of recommendations for unexpected gifts for everyone on your list, no matter the budget, and we’ll be updating it constantly. The gift guide is just one small part of Sensi’s new digital universe, where I’ll be heading up our editorial efforts moving forward. It’s an exciting progression, and as my anthem declares, progression is what it is all about.
Instead of articles on the importance of staying present, we’ve got an article about why planning future experiences is a stimulating present you can gift your mind right now, because your mind is hungry for some fun.
Happy holidays,
Stephanie Wilson @stephwilll
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SENSI FANS: SHOW US YOUR ART! We’re launching a new series spotlighting work made by the talented people in our creative community. Because we know that you, like us, are not merely sheltering in place. We’re Artists in Residence. Share your creative projects and tag us on Instagram, @sensimagazine, for a chance to be spotlighted in an upcoming edition or on sensimag.com.
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If you’re anything like us, you’ve been daydreaming about the first time you’ll romp around the trippy immersive art installations that Meow Wolf, an arts and entertainment collective, is creating in Denver. The group has been constructing a brand-new 90,000-square-foot maximalist playground that’ll house the brand’s signature style of multimedia experiences. (If you’re not familiar with Meow Wolf’s work, it’s like a jungle gym, a haunted house, and a children’s museum got together and hosted a rave.) The new space is right next to Mile High Stadium in Denver, where it popped up like outta nowhere in the tight space just a few feet south of the Colfax Ave. overpass of I-25. You haven’t noticed it yet? Weird. It’s impossible to miss now that it’s all lit up at night; you should really get out more. Kidding! Kidding! You need to stay home just like the rest of us until the people in charge say it’s safe to go out. What’s that? You’re really sick of staying home? You’ve run out of ways to entertain yourself, and you really need some creative inspiration and D EC E M B E R 2 02 0
outlets? Gotchu covered. Or rather Meow Wolf does. While its team is hard at work filling that shiny new interior with interactive art from more than 110 creatives—painters, architects, sculptors, performers, writers, all the wonder-makers from near and far, oh, my!—the art community also found the time to dream up Meow Wolf at Home, a place to discover family-friendly art projects and creative inspiration. At meowwolf.com/at-home, you’ll find creative resources, projects and prompts (how to make a mandala with things around the house; how to turn egg cartons into wall-worthy flowers), fun and games, and (this is the part we think you’ll dig most) a free downloadable coloring book. Heed the artists’ advice and feel free to ignore the lines as you saturate the pages with a multitude of hues. And as you do, imagine what it’ll be like to emerge from your home and immerse yourself in Meow Wolf when it does open on a yet-to-be-determined future date. Whenever that is, we’ll for sure see you there.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MEOWWOLF.COM
What to Do Meow
BY THE NUMBERS
ALL SORTS OF LIT
8,089 VOTES
PHOTOS (FROM LEFT) COURTESY OF DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT / VISIT DENVER
Gateway Meals A new 12-month pilot program at Denver International brings food straight to travelers wherever they are at the airport. With Eats Delivered powered by the At Your Gate app (available in the App Store; coming soon to Google Play), you can skip the lines and any unnecessary contact that could come with it without skipping the chance to fuel up before or after your flight. Order from any of the seven participating restaurants—including Denver Central Market and Root Down— pay on the app, and your tasty snacks will come to you thanks to the wonders of GPS location services—delivered right to you at your gate, your baggage claim, or anywhere else in the airport you may be, all within 30 minutes or less. Prices are the same as restaurants’ grab-and-go menus, plus a $5 delivery fee. It’s a small price to pay to have Root Down’s almond buttermilk pancakes with muesli granola and strawberry jam in your belly before takeoff, no matter which terminal you’re departing from.
Ballots cast last month by Coloradans hoping for President Kanye West
-50
DEGREES Brutal wind chills AdAmAn mountaineers may endure on their annual New Year’s Eve climb to the 14,110-foot summit of Pikes Peak to ignite a glorious fireworks display at the stroke of midnight
$206.4 MILLION Total Colorado cannabis sales in September 2020— down 5% from August but up 33% from September 2019
Get out and take in the spectacle of Denver’s latest holiday attraction: the Mile High Tree. Following its sparkling debut last year, the bright landmark returns to its perch on the 16th Street Mall at Welton Street. The largest installation of its kind in North America, the tree was created by ILMEX Illumination, a globally renowned decorative lighting production company in Spain. Madrid-based Brut Deluxe handled the lighting design using pixel-mapping technology. During open times, visitors to the tree are treated to festive and holiday songs timed to the tree’s light displays. When it’s not open (and who knows if it’ll actually be open as originally planned, because we don’t have to tell you, you’re aware, you’re living through it, too), it’s still something pretty to see, thanks to its entertaining light show. In case the soundtrack isn’t playing, bring some headphones for the whole fam and launch Spotify’s new “Listen Together” feature so you can listen to your fave holiday tunes together. We recommend Bruce Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” because, damn, the Boss gets so excited about the jolly old man’s seasonal visit that it sounds like he’s breaking down in tears, and that level of excitement is the good kind of contagious we all could use right now.
IF YOU’RE COMING TO SKI AREAS FOR LATE-NIGHT PARTIES AND BARS, THIS IS NOT THE SKI SEASON FOR YOU ... IT’S A MATTER OF WHAT FOLKS DO AT THE END OF THE SKI DAY TO STAY SAFE.” —Governor Jared Polis during a virtual interview for the Washington Post Live series last month
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THE BUZZ
Friendly Furs
PETA advocates won’t be tossing paint on these vegan coats.
APOCALYPSE NOW?
PHOTOS (FROM TOP) COURTESY OF DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT / DEVOHOME
The new public artwork at Denver International Airport has one notorious doppelgänger.
Hemp fur is an innovative new material created by DevoHome, a hemp textile producer founded in 2008. A replacement for both real and synthetic fur, this sustainable plantbased material is made with a mix of hemp fiber and viscose—naturally hypoallergenic and purely organic. It’s also potentially super stylish, as the new range of coats show. The line includes a winter coat that’s double-breasted with a comfortable hood, as well as double-sided: one side is a water-repellent cotton fabric; the other is faux fur made of hemp fiber. The coats are available in a range of colors and lengths, and though they generally come in one size, they can be produced to specific measurements.
The Denver International Airport’s is a place of international intrigue; its infamous artworks a source of lore. Nefarious conspiracy theories about DIA abound, with conjecture that the airport is a secret meeting lair for the New World Order and the Free Masons, replete with hidden tunnels. Other rumors suggest it’s the Illuminati headquarters, where bunkers will serve as a safe devohome.com space for the world’s elite, who will follow clues coded in the airport’s public art collection about how to survive during the apocalypse. Unfortunately, we can’t ask Luis Jiménez, the artist behind the most controversial work in the airport’s collection—the giant Blue Mustang sculpture with glowing demonic red eyes guarding the airport’s entrance and exit—to decipher the apocalyptic clues. Alas the horse known as “Bluecifer” killed him. Literally. While Jiménez was working to complete the sculpture, the head came loose and fell on him, severing an artery in his leg. He bled to death. So, yeah, Bluecifer is a nod to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, obviously. Elsewhere at DIA, glaring gargoyle sculptures in the terminals, the 28-footwide murals depicting bodies in coffins, dead animals, and crying children fleeing a scene of burning trees and billowing smoke add fuel to the conspiracy fires. And now there’s Luminous Wind fanning the flames. In November, DIA’s public art collection gained a new sculpture at Peña Station—and it undeniably looks like the very virus that has made 2020 look a whole lot like an apocalypse. Created by artists Laura Haddad and Thomas Drugan, the sculpture is made from “environmentally activated materials”—952 clear prismatic rods that reflect and refract light radiating out from a sphere. The $350,000 sculpture is said to be “inspired by grasses of the windswept plains landscape,” but as 9News anchor Kyle Clark tweeted when it was unveiled, “Umm, this looks like the Rona.” (Coronavirus, that is.) Internet conspiracy theorists everywhere agreed. What apocalyptic clues the new Luminous Wind sculpture contains, however, is under discussion and up for interpretation. If you stop to check it out (it’s located at 61st and Peña at Peña Station), wear a mask, OK? DIA artwork has a reputation of being deadly.
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THE BUZZ
BILITIES BY STEPHANIE WILSON, EDITOR IN CHIEF
1 THE MORE THE MERRIER One in three Americans now lives in a state where recreational cannabis is legal, thanks to voters in New Jersey, Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota supporting measures to legalize the plant for adult use. 2 MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTH IS Supporters of marijuana legalization in Arizona outraised and outspent opponents 10 to one leading up to Election Day. In New Jersey, that number was 99 to one.
3 THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION According to a new Gallup Poll released in November, 68 percent of Americans support cannabis legalization. That’s 5.5 times more support than five decades ago in 1969. If you’re a young adult American male with a college degree earning more than $100k, there’s at least a 74 percent chance you support legalization, according to the poll. If you’re Republican or attend religious services weekly, there’s a 52 percent chance you don’t.
4 MAGIC MONEY David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps wrote checks totaling more than $6.4 million toward drug-war reform campaigns this year, thanks in part to COVID-19, which has the soap business booming.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
5 TRIPPING OVER NOTHING Psychedelic mushrooms send the fewest people to the emergency room of any drug on the market, according to a massive report by the Global Drug Survey. Related: there are more than 100 varieties of psilocybin-producing mushrooms, aka “magic mushrooms,” aka the kind Oregon voters legalized in November’s election.
Artistic Statement While Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art closed to the public on November 20 in compliance with Governor Polis’s public health order, the cultural institution continues to infuse our lives with a little bit of enlightenment. Free virtual programming weekly and an ever-expanding roster of digital offerings allows the artistic mainstay to continue to fulfill its purpose, which an email to the community announcing its temporary pandemic-induced closure assured us remains the same: “to be Denver’s creative center of gravity, sparking connections and curiosity through contemporary art and culture.” If you want to support MCA’s continuing efforts to feed our intellect, browse the museum’s online shop to find unique gifts for the people on your holiday list. You’ll find home goods, notebooks and notecards, self-care bath products and candles, craft chocolates, and other great goodies. Personally, we’d love love love unwrapping these statement Arch Studs by favorite maker and artist TaylorNikole. Made by hand exclusively for MCA Denver, the one-of-a-kind polymer clay earrings ($45) are works of art that can elevate any outfit. Find them and more at store.mcadenver.org.
“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” —Anne Bradstreet, 17th-century poet
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CAN’T GET ENOUGH?
Read the unabridged version of this story at sensimag.com
Get Glowing
PHOTO COURTESY OF EOSSI BEAUTY
A new indie beauty brand in Denver is powered by cannabis connections. TEXT STEPHANIE WILSON
Whether you’re scrolling your digital feed or strolling into an analog convenience store (or into a department store, grocery store, beauty store—almost any store these days), you’re likely to see the three-letter combo denoting the “It” cannabinoid with staying power: C-B-D. Everybody knows about it, everybody’s heard about all the things it can do, everybody wants a taste. And once they get one, they tell their friends, who get with their friends, and suddenly all the friends are doing it every weekend—and weekdays too. Hey, it’s not like it gets you high. It just does your body good. But … in what way? And how? How much does it take to do good things? How often do you need to take it to do said body the aforementioned good? How much CBD is in a product you’re trying, how much
in the recommended dose? Is that enough? Too much? What else is in it? Does it come from hemp, is it locally grown, did the growers use pesticides? Where was it made? How was it made? Has it been tested by a third-party lab? Do those tests look for the presence of heavy metals and pesticides or just CBD potency? Are the test results available for review? “These are important questions but people don’t know to ask them,” says Shannon Kaygi, a CU Boulder alum who radiates all sorts of good energy. She’s a hemp and CBD entrepreneur who knows a thing or two about how, why, and where to go for high-quality info and higher-quality hemp-derived CBD—and she wants to share that with the world. “I see new CBD brands coming to market every day. I stare at their bot-
tles and their websites, and it’s not always clear to me what amount of CBD is in the products,” Kaygi tells me during a recent video interview for this article. “But even if it is clear, the bigger question is do you as a consumer know or understand what it means?” In the other corner of my screen, Kaygi’s business partner, Rochelle Sanchez, is smiling and nodding her perfectly styled blond head in agreement. There’s a lot of vibes of love and support bouncing around my screen, which is fitting. Sanchez and Kaygi are the co-founders of the hot boutique CBD beauty brand Eossi— pronounced ee-oh-see, a made-up verb that means, according to the company’s website, “to release your inner goddess.” The site also says that “every day, our founders Sanchez and
SNAKE OIL: BUYER BEWARE Trying to make a buck on the CBD trail in the Green Rush, disingenuous brands tout CBD in their marketing—some even in the product names—when they don’t actually contain a single molecule of CBD. Many of them are made with hemp seed oil, which is a super common carrier oil ingredient that doesn’t contain any cannabinoids.
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THE LIFE
Kaygi are living the Eossi Beauty ethos: create your own dynamic energy, cultivate love, and let your beauty shine.” “CBD is a thing of beauty,” Sanchez says. “Beauty lovers deserve products that they can believe in, products they can trust. And despite CBD’s raging popularity, there was a need not just for luxury plant-based products that people can afford, but for information. People are hungry for education about CBD, and they demand transparency about the products they use.”
Sanchez and Kaygi are hoping those beautiful people will give Eossi’s signature line a try—and then they’ll be hooked. Eossi dropped its first product in July, and the reviews for the new facial oil are … glowing, as are the co-founders’ dewy faces. Maybe they’re born with it, or maybe it’s Eossi. The aptly named Facial Glow Oil #8 was created with an organic Moroccan argan oil base and paired with other skin-loving oils like grapeseed, vitamin E, rosehip, and CBD com-
“CBD is a thing of beauty. Beauty lovers deserve products they can believe in, products they can trust.” —Rochelle Sanchez, Chief Glow Officer, Eossi Beauty
mingled with frankincense, myrrh, and jasmine in a formula that absorbs into the skin without residue. That means the hydrating #8 won’t leave your forehead shining like a disco ball over an oil slick. The beneficial combo of natural ingredients, which includes a whopping 1,000mg of broad-spectrum CBD in each 50ml bottle, packs a potent beauty punch—and all for just $50 a bottle. An affordable luxe product made from sustainably sourced and thoroughly vetted clean
PHOTO COURTESY OF EOSSI BEAUTY
LEFT: Shannon Kaygi (left) and Rochelle Sanchez of Eossi Beauty
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PHOTO COURTESY OF EOSSI BEAUTY
THE LIFE
pure botanicals from a local company founded by two women? Check, check, and check go all the conscientious-consumer boxes. Along with the Facial Glow Oil, Eossi has a full line of plant-based products in the works, with Sanchez supporting the development as well as brand marketing initiatives and Kaygi playing a central role in it all. A gregarious networker by nature, Kaygi is a lifelong Coloradan and a well-known and pretty universally adored figure in the state’s cannabis industry. She worked on the business development, cannabis compliance, and technology services side of things before founding a hemp wholesale network in 2018. In less than a year, she had turned it into a million-dollar business. At Eossi, Kaygi’s wears the cheeky title of chief brilliance officer (Sanchez is her chief glow officer counterpart), guiding product development and overseeing the rollout (and coming expansion) of Eossi’s product line. Simultaneously laid-back yet totally focused and driven, she’s got a whole vibe that draws people in. At least that’s how Sanchez sees it, and she should know: she’s got a
Glow About Your Day Each bottle of Eossi’s Facial Glow Oil #8 is packed with 1,000mg of CBD and goodfor-you ingredients like argan oil, rosehip oil, vitamin E, frankincense—pure, natural, and sustainably sourced powerhouses commingled to soothe your skin with a light-yet-effective dose of smoothing hydration suitable for all skin types. Visit sensimag.com to learn more.
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THE LIFE
MORE INFO
PHOTOS COURTESY OF EOSSI BEAUTY
Eossi Facial Glow Oil #8 $50 for a 50ml bottle eossibeauty.com
vibe of her own—she’s a 10-step-sometimes-morebeauty-routine type of woman to Kaygi’s “sometimes I put on mascara if I’m feeling fancy,” a dressed-to-the-nines-atall-times type who feels her best when she looks her best to her co-founder fashionably casual style. She’s polished. Like a badass banker, which she
“We all deserve to feel as good as we look, naturally.” —Shannon Kaygi, Chief Brilliance Officer, Eossi Beauty
er legally tie myself to another person again,” Sanchez says. “Then one day I met this spunky blond with a black eye from a pole in a hemp facility she had walked into and strong opinions on all sorts of subjects. [Kaygi] was—is—passionate about cannabis and the industry, and she wanted to share that passion with people. She told me a little about her dream of creating a cannabis lifestyle brand that would bring joy to people’s lives, that would educate people about how incredible cannabis is and how to bring it into their lives. To make luxury attainable through amazing products. As she spoke, I knew I had met someone special—someone who shared my same dreams.” It took Sanchez a little while to work up the courage to ask Kaygi to be a part of the lifestyle brand she had in development, “to help her grow the dream, to stand beside her as we offered is. She brings more than a decade of experience in something that we created to the world, and to banking finance manbe her business partner.” aging high-risk liquidity assets for the burgeoning Kaygi proved to be more than receptive, and the hemp industry to her Eossi role—plus a lifetime duo joined forces driven of passion about all things by one purpose: to make related to health, wellness, life brighter—because, as they both said during and beauty. “When I went through our convo, “we all deserve to feel as good as my divorce four years ago, I swore I would nev- we look, naturally.”
LEFT: For Sanchez (left) and Kaygi, it’s always glow time.
EOSSI’S SEASONAL SKIN-CARE TIPS To help you keep your skin glowing and healthy this winter, Chief Glow Officer Rochelle Sanchez (above) has simple advice: • Use a gentle cleanser • Get rid of any alcohol-based products • Wear sunscreen every day • Drink water (please)
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D I S COV E R T H E P RO FO U N D T RU T H : M O R E I S D I S COV E R T H E P RO FO U N D T RU T H : M O R E I S D E F I N I T E LY M O R E . R E A C H Y O U R P E R S O N A L D E F I N I T E LY M O R E . R E A C H Y O U R P E R S O N A L P E A K W I T H I N C R E D I B L E P O T E N C Y. AND P E A K W I T H I N C R E D I B L E P O T E N C Y. AND I N C R E D I B L E C O N S I S T E N C Y. H I G H I N T E N S I T Y I N C R E D I B L E C O N S I S T E N C Y. H I G H I N T E N S I T Y CANNABINOIDS ENHANCED AND DEEPENED CANNABINOIDS ENHANCED AND DEEPENED BY T H E I D E A L L E V E L S O F T E R P E N E S . E V E N BY T H E I D E A L L E V E L S O F T E R P E N E S . E V E N O U R C U T T I N G A G E N T S A R E C R E AT E D O U T O U R C U T T I N G A G E N T S A R E C R E AT E D O U T OF CANNABIS, SO THE EXPERIENCE IS 100% OF CANNABIS, SO THE EXPERIENCE IS 100% ADDITIVE FREE. WHICH MEANS THERE’S ADDITIVE FREE. WHICH MEANS THERE’S N O T H I N G S TA N D I N G B E T W E E N Y O U A N D N O T H I N G S TA N D I N G B E T W E E N Y O U A N D THE P RO FO U N D MOMENTS YO U SEEK. THE P RO FO U N D MOMENTS YO U SEEK.
E C
THE LIFE
PHOTO BY BRENT HOFACKER, ADOBE STOCK
RECIPE
Pie in the Sky This infused pie crust recipe will elevate your dessert game.
According to the experts at San Diego’s March and Ash cannabis dispensary, cannabis is an extremely versatile plant, and one easy way to unlock its powerful effects is through baking with cannabutter. Butter that has been infused with cannabis flower, also called “cannabutter,” is a simple do-it-yourself way to prepare edibles at home. Cannabutter has many uses in cooking, including cookies, sandwiches, desserts, and pasta. Flip the page for a recipe to make your own cannabutter, which can then be incorporated into a pie crust recipe for the holidays … or really any time that’s appropriate for pie, which is the same as saying any time at all. D EC E M B E R 2020
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THE LIFE RECIPE
POTENCY The exact potency of made-at-home cannabutter will depend on many factors. No two batches will be exactly the same. You may want to test your final product by spreading ¼ teaspoon on some toast and wait two to three hours to see how that batch affects you. Use that as a dosage barometer and increase or decrease the amount used in each recipe as desired.
Cannabutter Makes about 16 servings / Recipe from March and Ash / marchandash.com
PHOTO BY ALONA, ADOBE STOCK
INGREDIENTS
10 grams flower 1 cup unsalted butter
INSTRUCTIONS
• Preheat the oven to 245°F. • Place 10 grams of flower on a parchment-lined oven tray. Bake for 40 minutes. Rake the flower after 15 minutes to ensure even heating.
• Coarsely grind baked bud into a slow cooker set to low (under 200°F). Add 1 cup of unsalted butter, stirring the mixture every 15 minutes. Cook for 3 hours on low.
• Allow to cool for a few minutes, and strain into jar or container using cheesecloth and funnel. Refrigerate until ready to use in recipe.
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THE LIFE RECIPE
Pie Crust Makes 1 pie crust
PHOTO BY 2GREENEYES. ADOBE STOCK
INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 2⁄3 cup cannabutter (see recipe on page 35) 5–7 tablespoons cold water Egg white
INSTRUCTIONS wrap and store in the • Combine flour and fridge for up to 24 hours. cannabutter into a mixing • If ready to make your bowl. Use a knife to cut pie, roll out dough on a the cannabutter into the flat surface, between two flour. pieces of lightly floured • Add salt and water, mixing parchment paper. until a dough forms. If not • Shape into a 9-inch pie using immediately, wrap pan, leaving a half inch of the dough tightly in plastic dough overhanging. Pinch
overhang around edge of the pan and brush the dough with the egg white. Let chill in the freezer for 30 minutes. • Fill your pie with your favorite filling: pumpkin, apple, pecan, or even a refreshing fruit blend— baker’s choice.
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TRINIDAD PUEBLO ACCEPTING NEW MEDICAL PATIENTS ONLY AT PUEBLO NORTH & COLORADO SPRINGS
THE LIFE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mona Van Joseph has been an intuitive since 2002. She is an author, columnist, and host of Psychic View Radio. She created dicewisdom.com, which also has a smartphone app. mona.vegas
HOROSCOPE
DECEMBER HOROSCOPE What do the stars hold for you? TEXT MONA VAN JOSEPH
and see the bigger picture. SAGITTARIUS People are turning to you for Each month, your cards the light and discipline of present a new adventure, your goals, which will ultiand this one will be connect- mately also benefit them. You ed with how you earn mon- are the beacon of your circle. ey. Someone is about to invite you in a new direction. FEB. 19–MAR. 20 It is totally worth exploring. PISCES Something planned will be deDEC. 22–JAN. 19 layed this month; don’t fight it. CAPRICORN The delay will ultimately work You’ve been working hard, in your favor. Pay attention to spiritually and emotionalthe things you can resolve and ly. You are doing your best to find a creative distraction. keep your balance, while the influences around you seem MAR. 21–APR. 19 oblivious to kindness, ethics, ARIES and morality. Remember, you Do you live so well in your can only manage yourself— spiritual understanding that and you are being tested. you could explain your perspective to another? This is JAN. 20–FEB. 18 the month to fill your heart AQUARIUS with light and blessings. Your biggest gift right now is Your example of living may your ability to stay focused heal or help someone. NOV. 22–DEC. 21
APR. 20–MAY 20
TAURUS
Though it may not feel this way, the power of all things is available to you right now. You have a network of enlightened people and spirits around you who are willing to help you get what you want. It’s okay to ask. MAY 21–JUNE 20
GEMINI
Things will happen very quickly this month, and you will react quickly. Karma will address someone who has wronged you. Opportunity and/or focus are about to cross your radar. JUNE 21–JULY 22
CANCER
Pay a little extra attention to the people you interact with. You will find common ground
SAGITTARIUS, SOMEONE IS ABOUT TO INVITE YOU IN A NEW DIRECTION. IT IS TOTALLY WORTH EXPLORING.
and coincidental connections. It will also allow you a bonding opportunity for creating your network.
barrel. Now that your mojo is back, it’s time to sing their praises and maybe do your own version of Secret Santa.
JULY 23–AUG. 22
SEPT. 23–OCT. 22
It’s time to acknowledge and further develop your natural intuitive ability. It’s time to learn a simple way to focus on those who have doubted this ability. Clear your mind, imagine that all the flow of the universe is within you, and see what presents itself.
Recent events have placed you in a position of emotional conflict and imbalance. It’s the perfect foundation to determine what’s most important. You’ve found out where your heart is, so stay there.
LEO
LIBRA
OCT. 23–NOV. 21
SCORPIO
You are finally released from VIRGO what was working against Think of the people you you—and those “habits” would slay dragons for and around how you’ve regardeveryone who covered your ed situations or people. You butt when you were emoare still in the same position, tionally at the bottom of your but you have a clearer view. AUG. 23–SEPT. 22
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Tetra Sunrise to Dusk Ashtray Handmade by Robbie Frankel of Balefire Glass $96 / shop-tetra.com Spark up any room with this art piece of an ashtray.
Jonathan Adler Druggist Weed Canister
Bruce Charles Designs Schulte Tops and Teak Wood Spin Base
$228 / jonathanadler.com $30 and up / brucecharlesdesigns.com
Neenineen Grenadine Bubbler
GRAV Clear Menorah $400 / grav.com
$120 / neenineen.com
Fringe Studio Ru Vive le FĂŠminisme Ceramic Mug $17 / fringestudio.com
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Primark Kimball Bar (Bong) Cart
FLYKR LYTR Fidget Spinner Case
$150 / primark.com
$10 / flkrlytr.com
My Bud Vase Stardust Water Pipe $200 / mybudvase.com The bong is long gone, replaced by beautifully crafted art pieces that combine fashion (it looks lovely in the most elegant of living rooms) and function (it’s still one effective cannabis delivery device). And, of course, when you are not using it, the pipe pulls double duty as a vase.
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Fear of God x Ermenegildo Zegna Joggers $620 / zenga.com
Grrrl Clothing Activewear $19 and up / grrrl.com
Vintage Redeux Mary Jane Smoking Robe $120 / vintageredeux.com
Patagonia Furry Friends Fleece Hoodie $55 / patagonia.com
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The perfect body is every body. Grrl Clothing celebrates all bodies with styles and fits for all shapes and definitions of beautiful. This high-performance activewear will not only enhance your workout, but also make you proud of that body.
Prada Mini Bag Combat Boot $1,350 / prada.com Upgrade your strut and be prepared for anything with this combo hautecouture stomper and mini-purse that can handle serious urban use and ensure you won’t have to worry about checking or losing a bag with your valuables.
Nike Killshot 2 Leather Hunter Boots Original Golden Goose Men’s Shoe High Gloss Waterproof Superstar Sneaker
Ugg Scuffette Cosmos Slipper
Treasure & Bond Kids’ Faux Fur Slipper
$90 / nike.com
$99 / ugg.com
$25 / nordstrom.com
$150 / hunterboots.com
$560 / goldengoose.com
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Click & Grow The Smart Garden 3
Modern Sprout Smart Hydroplanter
$100 / clickandgrow.com
$160 / modsprout.com
Cult Furniture Hanging Lamp with Plant Pot $95 / cultfurniture.com
Gromeo Living Wall System $265 and up / habitathorticulture.com Simplify your living space and bring more lush green to those dull walls with these ingenious planters.
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NewMade LA Triangle Wall Planter
Modern Sprout Garden Jars
$38 / newmadela.com
$20 / modsprout.com
A Pot for Pot Marijuana Growing Kit $40 and up / apotforpot.com The ultimate DIY kit makes it simple to grow everyone’s favorite plant anywhere in your home.
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Larq Movement Self-Cleaning Water Bottle $78 / livelarq.com
Lexon Oblio Wireless Charger and UV Sanitizer $80 / lexon-design.com
Haute Diggity Dog Woof Clicquot RosĂŠ Dog Toy $16 / hautediggitydog.com
Medipop Portable UV LED Light Sterilizer $60 / medipop.us
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W&P Design The Margarita Virtual Happy Hour Cocktail Kit $24 / wandpdesign.com Bartender skills a bit iffy? Even the biggest bumbler can shake out a stiff drink like a pro with these nifty premade kits. Includes everything but the booze.
Art of Burning Man By NK Guy $60 / taschen.com The Black Rock Desert may have been empty this year, but you can relive the ephemeral beauty of the burn with this gorgeous coffee table book.
Astrology
The Rihanna Book
By Andrea Richards Volume 2 of the Library of Esoterica series $40 / taschen.com
By Rihanna $150 / phaidon.com
The Cannabis Apothecary By Laurie Wolf with Mary Wolf $35 / blackdogandleventhal.com
Food and Beverage Magazine’s Guide to Restaurant Success By Michael Politz $30 / wiley.com
Matcha: A Lifestyle Guide By Jessica Flint and Anna Kavaliunas $25 / goop.com
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CEO’S CHOICE
PuffCo Peak Pro $400 / puffco.com Welcome to sophisticated inhalation. This high-tech vaporizer elevated the art of dabbing, providing pure concentrate with each inhalation. It heats up in just 20 seconds and four heat modes help you dial in the right intensity for your mood.
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Saucey Tectonic9 Auto Dispensing Grinder $60 / sauceyextracts.com Simplify the all-to-often messy grinding process with this collab between Tectonic9 and Saucey Farms & Extracts that delivers perfect grinds in style.
Theragun Elite Percussive Therapy Device
Sony Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones
$399 / theragun.com
$300 / sony.com
Sonos Move Wireless Dyson Airwrap and Bluetooth Speaker Styler Complete $399 / sonos.com
$550 / dyson.com
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Impala Quad Skate Rollerskates
Crosley Mockingbird Bluetooth Radio
SMEG 50s Retro-Style Electric Kettle
Swan Retro Espresso Maker
Verve Culture Artisan Citrus Juicer
$95 / impalarollerskates.com
$97 / crosleyradio.com
$160 / smegusa.com
$135 / swan-brand.co.uk
$90 / verveculture.com
Lomo’Instant Automat Glass Assemble Configure Edition $189 / lomography.com Featuring work by UK artist Laura Slater, this instant camera has a 35mm f/4.5 wide-angle lens for shots that take in the whole scene.
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MyJane SheSurvival Box Hedger Humor Special Edition $59 / myjane.com
Bloom Farms CBD Sport Stick $55 / getbloomfarms.com
Because 2020 sucked so bad, girl, you need to laugh your way into the new year—and feel good too. Plus, each box contains a bracelet handcrafted by a survivor of human trafficking and proceeds support the cause of International Sanctuary in empowering women survivors in recovery.
Mello Bottoms CBD Suppositories
Goodekind 300mg CBG Topical Salve
MAC Viva Glam 26 Matte Lipstick
$60 for 2 / mellodaily.com
$35 / goodekind.com
$19 / maccosmetics.com
Dr. Barbara Sturm Repair Food Dietary Supplement
Beboe Therapies High-Potency CBD Sheet Masks
$70 / olivela.com
$78 for set of 5 / beboetherapies.com
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Ripple Pure QuickSticks $18-$25 / stillwater.life Open a packet and pour it over your tongue for an instant, blueberry-flavored dose of 10mg of THC anywhere, anytime.
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Coda Signature Symphony Bath Bombs $36 for three / codasignature.com
PHYX Dragonfruit Microdosed THC Sparkling Water $6 / wearespherex.com
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WECO
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ELEVATED PAYROLL ELEVATED PAYROLL EMPLOYEE SERVICES
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Stalking the wild Azzie in the mushroomhunting capital of the Pacific Northwest TEXT ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE PHOTOS LEAH D’AMBROSIO
FORAGING FOR
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T
he wind was blowing about 20 knots, pelting us with needles of mist, as we trudged through the dune grass with our eyes peeled. We weren’t focused, as you would expect, on the stunning shoreline and churning gray waves of Willapa Bay in our vista, but on the ground. We were looking for mushrooms—Psilocybe azurescens, to be exact. I couldn’t believe my luck when Chef Sebastian Carosi, one of the first and finest farmto-fork pioneers and a virtuoso cannabis chef, offered to teach me how to stalk the wild Azzie. “There really is no better experience with anything psilocybin-related than picking your own,” he told me when we met at the Everything Edibles virtual conference in October. “You can actually go find your own psilocybin in the wild, beyond a government-sanctioned organic label, and that in itself is part of the therapeutic effect.” Carosi describes himself this way: “Imagine James Beard and Salvador Dali have a ’70s baby … raised by Alice Waters and Jack Kerouac … babysat by Jack Herer and Julia Child,” a chef who makes “organic, plant-heavy American truck-stop cuisine served on white tablecloths.” He’s a master forager and a heck of a lot of fun to hang out with, and the opportunity to learn the art of the hunt from him in the mushroom capital of the Pacific North-
west was far too good to pass up. He didn’t have to ask twice. On Election Day 2020, I wrapped myself in layers of North Face, laced up my Sorels, and joined Carosi; his wife, Carla Asquith; and my friend Leah D’Ambrosio (who organized the Everything Edibles conference)—along with dozens of other hunters who descend on Long Beach, Washington, every fall in cold, wet pursuit of the shroom. (In Long Beach, they say, first come the rains, then the Azzies, then the Winnebagos). Long Beach is a 28-mile-long peninsula along the southwest coast of Washington where the
Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. Warm and wet, it’s a forager’s paradise. The shores are rich with clams, oysters, and crab; wild berry bushes and dense mycelial mats cling to the sandy soil. James Beard made a home and restaurant here, and mycology guru Paul Stamets lives just up the road. Fungi is plentiful, from beefy King Boletes, otherwise known as porcini—which you’ll pay a fortune for at the market, if you can find them—to crunchy, tasty Lactarius deliciosus. Amanita muscaria, or Fly Agaric, with its iconic red cap and white spots, makes for great pics but shouldn’t be eaten.
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But, let’s be honest, it’s the Azzies that draw the crowds. Long Beach is legendary for its bounty of the little shrooms, also known as flying saucers, beloved for being the most psilocybin-dense mushrooms on the planet. “Discovered” in 1979 by Boy Scouts camping near the mouth of the Columbia River, just over the bridge in Oregon, Azzies were formally named Psilocybe azurescens by none other than Stamets, whose son is named Azureus for the color of bruised psilocybin. “Simply blowing on the fibrils of the stem of this purple-brown spored mushroom causes the fibrils to turn bluish with an azure color, hence its name,” Stamets writes on Instagram. “Psilocybin dephosphorylates into psilocin, then further degrades into an associated blue compound. The more bluish bruising, the more potent this mushroom once was.” These are the mushrooms Stamets took Michael Pollan to find—likely in the very same spots we covered with Carosi—the ones Pollan wrote about tripping on in his best-selling book How to Change Your Mind. When you eat them, according to Psilopedia, a nonprofit educational center and encyclopedia, Azzies “produce intense visual hallucination, profound journeys into alternate realms of consciousness, and more rarely induce temporary paralysis.” For Carosi, Azzies are good medicine. When he was 17, he was sentenced to seven years for a cannabis charge, and the mushrooms cut through his prison PTSD like nothing else. That he could return to prison for gath-
“PSYCHEDELICS ARE ILLEGAL NOT BECAUSE A LOVING GOVERNMENT IS CONCERNED THAT YOU MAY JUMP OUT OF A THIRD-STORY WINDOW [BUT] BECAUSE THEY DISSOLVE OPINION STRUCTURES AND CULTURALLY LAIDDOWN MODELS OF BEHAVIOR…. THEY OPEN YOU UP TO THE POSSIBILITY THAT EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG.” —Terence McKenna, ethnobotanist
ering his medicine was not lost on any of us as we searched for it during an Election Day he could not participate in. Picking Azzies is a Class A felony in the United States and the state of Washington. Under the 1971 US Controlled Substances Act, psilocybin and psilocin are listed alongside heroin as Schedule I drugs with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. It’s hard to get my mind around this. In Denver, we voted to decriminalize psilocybin in 2019, and it seems like everyone’s casually doing mushrooms, in micro and macro doses. On the very day we went picking, voters in Oregon—a stone’s throw from Long Beach—opted to legalize therapeutic access to mushrooms and decriminalize all drugs. Mushrooms show extraordinary promise for many of the mental health issues that have intensified during the pandemic—particularly depression—and they’re losing their stigma under the gaze of celebrities like Pollan and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who donated $500,000 to Oregon’s decriminalization effort. Still, we had to be aware. Rangers looking to harass dune-pickers patrol the state parks ringing Long Beach, and I couldn’t stop checking the horizon for them when I should have been scouring the thick wet grass for little caramel-colored, nippled caps with purple spores. That might be why we weren’t all that successful. Again and again, D’Ambrosio and I called out that we’d found a patch of Azzies, only to be told they were galerinas, poisonous mushrooms that look like Azzies
MUSHROOM MAGIC When you eat magic mushrooms, your body turns the psilocybin in them into psilocin, which binds with serotonin receptors in the brain that regulate cognition, memory, mood, and perception. Psilocin stimulates the visual cortex while muting the region of the brain responsible for our sense of self, or ego.
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but have rust brown spores and appear to be far more prevalent. I’m not sure I ever got my “mushroom eyes,” and fear of arrest didn’t help my flow. We—or really, Asquith—found a mere handful of Azzies. Late in the day, as the rain started coming down in relentless sheets, I was kneeling under a clump of shore pines when Asquith told me to look to my left. Two little brown mushrooms and a couple of pins (babies) were nestled together in a cluster in the grass. When I picked them—gently, so I wouldn’t damage the mycelium below—the white stems immediately turned blue in the palm of my hand. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough. We had an Instagram moment with the mushrooms. If we could have seen the sun, it would have been low in the sky. The rain had penetrated all our layers, even the waterproof ones. We called it a day, a successful one, and headed back to town for much-needed cups of hot tea and bowls of clam chowder. Carosi surmised we may have been about five days too early for the best pickings, and that was fine. We experienced the thrill of finding our own medicine—just enough of a taste to make me want to try again next year. The good news is, I might not have to deal with the nagging fear of breaking a law (even one I believe is unjust and stupid) that haunted my first hunt. On November 4, the day after Oregon voters decriminalized possession of small amounts of drugs, activists launched the Treatment and Recovery Act to do the same thing in Washington in 2021.
TIPS FOR HAPPY HUNTING • WEAR SEVERAL LAYERS of warm, waterproof clothes. Good gear makes for good days. • BRING A POCKET KNIFE to get a clean cut of the mushrooms at the base (though it’s possible to pick them by hand) and a mesh bag or basket that allows the mushroom spores to fall to the ground and repopulate as you walk the dunes. • DON’T DISTURB THE UNDERGROUND ROOT SYSTEM anymore than you need to when you’re harvesting. • ALWAYS LEAVE SOME BEHIND to grow and multiply. Even if you get lucky and find a whole colony, don’t pick them all. • TAKE FIELD NOTES about the habitat, how the mushrooms are growing, and where you find mushrooms. Make sure to visit the site again because mushrooms often return to the same spots year after year. • DRY YOUR MUSHROOMS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Fresh mushrooms are 90 to 95 percent water and should be dried immediately to retain their potency. They can be air-dried for two or three days, or you can pop them in a dehydrator to speed up the process.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF ELDORA
One advantage to Eldora's parking reservation system is you'll have more space on the slopes.
is On
Despite the pandemic, ski and snowboard resorts across Colorado are open—but there are regulations you’ll have to follow if you want to visit. Here’s the lowdown on how to prepare and the best spots to shred. TEXT DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN D EC E M B E R 2020
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PHOTO COURTESY OF ASH DOUG, LOVELAND
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For now, COVID-19 has not shuttered the ski season in Colorado the way it did last March—as long as you follow precautions that keep you and others safe. That means wearing face coverings (masks or neck gaiters), not touching exposed surfaces without gloves, keeping a six-foot distance in lift lines, staying home if you feel sick, and, in general, following social-distancing regulations and any state health updates. Keeping to these rules will ensure the resorts stay open. Before you go, you’ll also need to know about new reservation systems in place at different ski resorts. Here’s
Where to Ski & Ride: In plain view of I-70, Lift 1 features one of the best steep shots for lift cheers in the state. If you’re unsure of your skills, the same lift serves up green cruisers down to the base. Local Dispensary: Rocky Mountain Cannabis in Georgetown makes for an easy stop on the way home.
cial-distancing rules and ABOVE: There's plenty of space to social distance get up here. If you want at Loveland. to rent equipment, make a reservation online in advance. Lessons will take place with smaller class sizes. Where to Ski & Ride: The newly opened Beavers area provides plenty of steep thrills and the Loveland chance to find some skiloveland.com good spots tucked away Precautions: Loveland is in the trees. If you want following the standard to up your skills, A-Basin social-distancing rules, Arapahoe Basin offers lessons, whether but, as of now, the resort arapahoebasin.com you’re just getting startclosest to downtown Precautions: Sadly, ed or looking for pro tips Denver is not requiring A-Basin’s famed tailgatfor handling steeps. reservations. It is also of- ing scene is closed down Local Dispensary: fering private ski lessons. this year (parties on The If you are headed to Buy lift tickets online Beach are not allowed). A-Basin by way of Silbefore you go; they won’t Regardless, follow the verthorne, head to High be for sale at the resort. standard ski area soCountry Healing; if you a breakdown of how to visit some of our favorite spots, where to go once you get there, and our picks for best local dispensaries (remember to follow the law at each resort, however; many are on federal land where cannabis is still illegal).
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PHOTO BY CHRIS WELLHAUSAN, ELDORA
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Eldora offers a thrilling escape from a winter of COVID-19 isolation.
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LEFT: Colorado's favorite stash—the trees on Mary Jane
are avoiding the tunnel via Loveland Pass, stop by Rocky Mountain Cannabis in Georgetown.
Eldora
PHOTO BY CHRIS WELLHAUSAN, WINTER PARK RESORT
eldora.com
Precautions: Eldora is requiring guests to register for parking in order to visit the resort. Most of the weekend reservations were quickly gobbled up, but you can still find midweek parking reservations. And the resort has plans to open up more parking if restrictions loosen or it feels able to manage more guests, so stay posted. Guests can also ride the RTD bus from Boulder, but seats
are limited. The resort is following the usual COVID-19 precautions, including face coverings and social distancing in lift lines. Guests are asked to ride the lift with the group they arrived with. The resort’s Passholder Promise ensures future-use vouchers if Eldora is forced to close. Where to Ski & Ride: The fairly new runs Alpenhorn and Wolf Tongue off the Corona lift will thrill those who like to bomb hot laps, and they are a bit more sheltered than the Corona trail. The Sundance Lift is the perfect place for kids and newbies to perfect their turns.
Local Dispensary: Nederland is a cannabis-friendly town and Igadi, Silver Stem Fine Cannabis, and Harvest House all offer flower, edibles, and topicals.
that they ski and ride in smaller groups. In addition, the town of Winter Park is vulnerable, and visitors should be extra careful when visiting shops or seeking out food and beverages. Winter Park Where to Ski & Ride: Precautions: Winter Come on now. The Mary Park is requiring all Jane side of the mounguests to follow standard tain is the place to be. Its ski-area social distancdirt-lot parking eschews ing rules, but it’s not yet the glitz of the resort and requiring reservations harbors a community to visit for passholders vibe; there’s plenty of (including Ikon passtree skiing; and Mary holders). Day tickets, les- Jane is renowned for sons, and rentals must those long, thigh-burning all be booked in advance bump lines. Newbies will online. Winter Park is enjoy long cruisers on the asking that visitors avoid frontside of Winter Park. peak times like weekLocal Dispensary: ends and holidays and Silver Stem Fine D EC E M B E R 2020
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PHOTO BY ANDREW TAYLOR, VAIL
Cannabis, with an outpost in Fraser, has been in operation in Colorado since the medical-only days.
carts, keeping diners safe and helping to keep the local economy afloat. Where to Ski & Ride: School Marm is the quintessential green-cirKeystone cle run: it’s long, broad, Precautions: All Vail and gently sloped, a Resorts ski areas are perfect confidence following a similar safety builder for beginners plan: Wear face coverand still a fun jaunt for ings, stay home if sick, everyone else. The real and be on your best soaction at Keystone is in cial-distancing behavior. the Outback trees. You’ll In addition, you’ll have find lots of hidden lines to make a reservation that harbor stashes on in advance to visit the a powder day, far away mountain. Bonus: the from the masses. village offers the chance Local Dispensary: to grab food through High Country Healing delivery windows and in Silverthorne has been
a standby in Summit County since 2009.
Crested Butte
Precautions: Crested Butte is a small, tight mountain community vulnerable to an outbreak. So, bring what business you can to the town but be diligent in following the rules and limiting the chance of spreading the disease. The resort is sticking to Vail Resorts’ safety policies: social distancing and face coverings required. Plus, you’ll need to make a reservation in advance to visit.
Where to Ski & Ride: It’s worth the time to hump out to Teocalli 2 Bowl on the backside of the mountain. If you’re looking to carve blues, hang out on the Paradise Express lift. Local Dispensary: Aptly named Backcountry Cannabis is a favorite of local skiers and riders.
Vail
Precautions: All Vail Resorts ski areas are following a similar safety plan: Stick to face coverings, say home if sick, and social distance.
BELOW: Fewer tourists could make for more space at Vail this season.
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You’ll need to make a reservation in advance to visit Vail. When strolling through Vail Village and Lionshead, fuel up on restaurant fare with to-go orders. Where to Ski & Ride: Vail is so vast that you have to have a plan of attack. We like to start in Game Creek Bowl, then make our way to Blue Sky Basin via runs down Sun Down Bowl, Sun Up Bowl, and Tea Cup Bowl. But don’t ignore the frontside of the mountain. The Northwoods lift delivers decent snow on non-powder days, and the runs off Mountaintop Express are crowd-pleasers, especially on bluebird days. Local Dispensary: The Vail location of Native Roots delivers the service we’ve come to count on from this statewide shop.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BRECKENRIDGE
Breckenridge
Make your reservation at Breckenridge and find some space to breathe.
Precautions: All Vail Resorts ski areas are following a similar safety plan: Stick to face coverings, say home if sick, and social distance. At Breck, you’ll need a reservation in advance to visit the mountain. Remember the town of Breckenridge is at risk of big outbreaks, so practice safety and respect when you’re seeking out food and beverage options. D EC E M B E R 2020
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Where to Ski & Ride: Breck can be tricky to navigate, and you can spend a lot of time trying to get from spot to spot. We suggest you camp out on Peak 6, which serves up more action on its own than other whole resorts can muster. Breck’s a popular beginners’ mountain, too, and will be offering socially distanced lessons this season. Local Dispensary: In Breckenridge, try Green Dragon.
Purgatory
Precautions: It’s possible to roadtrip away from the Front Range if
you keep your travel safe and responsible. Located in Durango, Purgatory is only selling tickets in advance and will put a cap on daily visitation that prioritizes passholders and those staying at the resort. Be on your best social-distancing game and be extra careful when you visit town. Where to Ski & Ride: The best game plan at Purgatory is to keep heading further back on the mountain with laps along the way. Start on the Hermosa Park lift, proceed to the Grizzly Lift, and end up lapping the blacks and blues on
the Legends Express lift. There’s plenty of green terrain on the frontside and off the Twilight Lift for those just learning. Local Dispensary: The Greenery in Durango offers curbside, online, and call-ahead ordering only.
Copper Mountain
Precautions: To visit Copper this winter, you’ll need a parking reservation. A lot of weekend dates are already booked, but weekdays are still open. You’ll have to follow social-distancing norms here, as with
ABOVE: Seeking a other resorts. Dining at higher state of grace at the mountain includes Purgatory reconfigured spaces to limit contact and more grab-and-go options. Where to Ski & Ride: Copper boasts some great wide-open steeps in Copper Bowl and off the new Three Bears lift to the top of Tucker Mountain. The Resolution lift is a good spot to knock down laps and explore the trees. Beginners can find long cruisers off the American Flyer lift. Local Dispensary: Native Roots has a location in Frisco, serving Summit County visitors and locals alike.
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Keep Mushrooms Weird Lion’s Mane in RiNo is the nation’s only brick-and-mortar shop catering to fungi cultivators and mycologists. TEXT ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE
You never know who might walk through the door at Lion’s Mane in
Denver’s RiNo neighborhood on any given day—a nerd perfecting her grain
spawn or a newbie buying his first pressure sterilizer, a maker growing lobster mushrooms for red dye or a chef cultivating oyster mushrooms for pasta sauce. For Lion’s Mane co-owner Tatiana Chandee, that’s the beauty of running the nation’s only brick-and-mortar shop selling fungi cultivation and mycology supplies. “We get such a cool hodgepodge of people,” Chandee says. “When you walk into a cannabis grow store, everyone looks pretty similar. They’re wearing Carhartts; they’re slightly
dusty. With mushroom growers, you get so many different flavors of people interested in different aspects of the mushroom.” Chandee, an event planner and bartender, picked up her fascination with mushrooms from her partner and Lion’s Mane co-owner, Matt Swift. A carpenter, Swift got his taste for all things mycelial through his work with spalted wood, which is created by a blue-staining fungi that he learned how to isolate and cultivate. “Our love for mushrooms is a little bit D EC E M B E R 2020
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different,” Chandee says. “His is about being able to see them grow. My love is more of seeing all the things they’ve been able to do. There are mushroom bricks that people are building houses out of, and they’ve been shown to remediate oil spills. I just think they’re such cool specimens, like beings. My love for them definitely comes with a lot of curiosity, awe, and wonder.”
Chandee and Swift had been discussing opening a store for people who shared their interest in shrooms for a couple months when Denver voted in its Psilocybin Mushroom Initiative, which decriminalized possession in May 2019. “When it passed, we were like, it might be the right time,” she says. In December of that year, Lion’s Mane opened in a loft space on Blake Street featuring
everything you could possibly need to grow mushrooms—and if they don’t have it, they’ll find it. There’s a literature section with magazines, field identification guides, cultivation handbooks, cookbooks, and rare books; an equipment section with pressure cookers, sterilizers, and microscopes; a supply section with substrates, grow bags, jars, agar, and petri dishes; and a supplements
section with tinctures and medicinals. Though a good amount of the business at Lion’s Mane is from people interested in the “quote/ unquote, less legal, more gray side of things,” Chandee says, “we stand for all mushrooms. We’re not catering toward any specific type of grower.” Disclaimers with instructions on how to talk about psilocybin are posted throughout Lion’s Mane. If you indicate D EC E M B E R 2020
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that you’re buying equipment to cultivate and sell magic mushrooms or take them out of the state, for example, Lion’s Mane won’t sell to you. “We try to curate local as much as possible,” Chandee says. Since Denver “decrimmed,” mush-
room supply companies have been popping up fast, giving them a lot more to choose from. Lion’s Mane features tinctures from Arvada-based Mile High Mycology and hosts bimonthly cultivation classes through Mushroom Cult, a
Denver-based training company. The homegrown shop survived lockdown last spring by offering curbside pickup and local delivery and is now focusing on moving more of its business online and stepping up bulk and special orders. “We’re just mom and pop,” Chandee says. “For now, this is what our plans are, to service our local community.” Lion’s Mane encourages Denver’s myco-community to interact through a community board where people can post information about classes, forays, and products the shop doesn’t offer. This holiday season, Chandee is curating a mushroom-themed
gift section featuring local artisans. “Community building is important to us,” she says. Mushroom cultivators are just beginning to emerge from the underground as more and more cities and states decriminalize, and psilocybin is promising to be the next medical marijuana. Still, the community has a long way to go before it hits stadium status—and that’s just fine with Chandee. “The cannabis field right now is very capitalistic, thinking about the money,” she says. “We’re still in the lovefor-the-science phase. How do you grow mushrooms? Why are they so weird?” D EC E M B E R 2020
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Happy Plan
Americans finally have reaon to (cautiously) dream about travel again. TEXT STEPHANIE WILSON
wise quotes is this one: “A good traveler has no fi xed plans and is not intent on arriving.” Fact is, we don’t know when we’ll be able to travel freely again, but
there’s reason to be optimistic we could be catching flights (not feelings) sometime in 2021. In November, we learned that one of the candidates for
a COVID-19 vaccine, made by Pfizer and BioNTech, was more than 90 percent effective in preventing volunteers from contracting the virus—news that sparked
PHOTO BY KRISTOPHER ROLLER, UNSPLASH
If you’re wondering how to be a good traveler in the time of COVID-19, look to the words of ancient Chinese philosopher and author Lao Tzu. Among his many notable
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PHOTO BY ROBERTO NICKSON, UNSPLASH
a dim light at what we hope is the end of the very long tunnel we’ve been wandering in our masks since March. If all the wandering has stirred up some wanderlust in you, you
are not alone. And stoking the fi re of your passion for travel is so much more than just a guilty pleasure—it’s an exercise shown by science to boost your mental health and emo-
tional well-being. To which we sing, “Dream on, dream until your dreams come true.” There’s some good news for globe-trotters: Although most people have back-burnered their
leisure travel for now, trip planning doesn’t need to be canceled too. “According to researchers, looking ahead to your next adventure could benefit your mental health,” writes Erica Jackson Curran in National Geographic. “Even if you’re not sure when that adventure will be.” To back that idea up, Curran points to a 2007 study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. Researchers at University of Colorado Boulder found that people were happier during the planning stages of a vacation than they were after taking one. Put another way, we’re likely to enjoy the anticipation of a trip more than we enjoy reminiscing about it afterward, a theory that was seconded and thirded by later studies. According to findings by researcher Jeroen Nawijn published in the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life, travelers planning a vacation reported being happier than people who aren’t dreaming of their next escape. That 2010 study found that all vacationers experienced a significant boost in happiness during the planning stages of a trip. “For most,” the researchers concluded, “the enjoyment starts weeks, D EC E M B E R 2020
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even months before the States compared with last holiday actually begins.” year. Of those surveyed, We all could benefit 25 percent reported being from some more enjoy“not very happy” and six ment right now. The percent saying they are global pandemic has “not happy at all.” taken a toll on AmerIf you can relate, ican’s well-being, as now’s the time to start multiple global surveys planning your next and reports have shown. escape. A new poll conOne study revealed that ducted by the Institute Americans are experifor Applied Positive encing the lowest levels Research backed up of happiness in 50 years. earlier studies, finding And according to results that simply planning of the latest Ipsos survey a trip can help boost on global happiness happiness and alleviate released in October, the stress. According to prevalence of happiness the institute’s founder is down more than nine Michelle Gielan, “Bookpoints in the United ing a trip—even just
getting it on the calendar—might be the very thing we need to restore our emotional immune system after months of mounting uncertainty and stress.” If your bank account is laughing at the thought of booking a vacation, first applaud its sense of humor. Then reassure it that dreaming of getting away at any point in the future is not an exercise in futility: planning for life returning to normal can be a comforting activity amid all the uncertainty. Just because you couldn’t swing a trip
in the immediate future doesn’t negate the positive impact that anticipating a vacation can have on your mental health. This is a long way of suggesting you go start a Pinterest board or two to populate with photos of whatever exotic paradise catches your wandering, lusting eye. Because one day—perhaps one day soon-ish— you can be on your way to finding it. There’s no time like the present to plan your future escape. It’s all but guaranteed to bring joy to your world this holiday season. D EC E M B E R 2020
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THE END
0 2 0 2 # asons e r f o t s li ar. mplete ood) ye g ( a f An inco o l one hel n e e b N s ’ t IE WILSO why i STEPHAN
• We were scared but we take stock of what we didn’t panic; we just own, to purge what we hoarded toilet paper don’t need. for a few weeks. • We started creative • We could have been so projects. Or we thought much worse. about doing them. Or • We were all in it towe didn’t. And we cut gether, everyone in the ourselves slack every world united against a step of the way. common enemy. • We ate the food, drank • We were praised for the drinks, let our staying home; we relroots grow out, stopped ished the chance to shaving, stopped do nothing. wearing makeup, • We cut carbon emislearned how to do wing sions by monumental eyeliner, learned how amounts. to paint our own nails, • We were forced to stopped obsessing slow down and spend about every aspect of time with ourselves. our appearance. We • We got to really live stopped putting such a where we live, to spend priority on supertime in our homes, to ficial appearance, enjoy what we have, to especially the parts of 96
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•
• • •
us outside the Zoom camera frame. We learned the value of mute. We stopped avoiding our neighbors and started cultivating a connection with them—from an acceptable distance. We took the time to reconnect with old friends, to catch up with our families, to have real discussions with the people who really matter to us. We allowed ourselves space to grieve. We caught up on sleep. We got creative with our spaces, carving out offices and classrooms inside our homes and
• •
•
• • •
learned to be teachers while realizing that teachers (and grocery store clerks) are the most under-appreciated and underpaid heroes among us. We ugly cried without shame. We clapped and honked and cried for the nurses and doctors and other frontline workers of all the essential professions. We expressed our sincere gratitude, and we meant every word. We stopped commuting. We didn’t miss traffic one bit. We spent more time outdoors.
PHOTO BY KARANDAEV, ADOBE STOCK
TEXT
THE END
• We saved so much money not buying new clothes or new shoes or special occasion outfits. • We cleaned out our closets; we donated to thrift stores ... and while we were there, we found some incredible treasures that brought us joy to bring home. • We watched amazing shows and films we had been meaning to watch for years, and then we found time to watch the not-soamazing ones, too— and we loved them all, even if only for the talking points.
• We made our pups so happy their tails almost wagged right off. • We saw the. best. memes. And we shared them because we all could use a good laugh. And we all laughed when we saw the one with a photo of a “gather” sign captioned, “That’s illegal, Karen.” • We slept in, stayed up late, and reverted to our natural circadian rhythms—alarms be damned, for a little while at least. • We got in heated discussions about tigers and Carole Baskin.
• We saw the faces of our friends and family when we talked to them. We saw their homes. We got a little window into their lives. • We shared our fears, we talked about our emotions, we knew we weren’t alone—even if and when we were. • We let ourselves love. • We let ourselves dream. • We let ourselves care. • We spoke out against injustices. • We joined together and we marched.
• We voted the assholes out. • We stopped trying to control the future. • We stopped living in the past. • We got used to wearing masks. • We finally made it through this unprecedented year. • And we’re ready for whatever’s next. D EC E M B E R 2020
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DECEMBER 2020
THE WILD AZZIE
Foraging in the mushroom mecca
SNEAK PEAKS
Read this before you hit the slopes
IT’S A WRAP! Our exclusive gift guide
TASTE THE SEASON Candy cane sugar cookies just taste like Christmas
CREATING HOPE Mindful art shapes the holidays
SEE ALL THE DECEMBER EDITIONS NOW AVAILABLE!