The Sacred Harbor sustains a supply of fresh medicine and assures future supplies without diminishing wild habitats. Communing with living peyote cacti is an integral part of our religious and spiritual relationships with this plant. Interference of this process will be considered an infringement of our religious freedoms.
In this premier article I will briefly summarize how I became editor of the Sacred Harbor, Chief Curator at the Peyote Foundation and review what has been happening on grounds to date. In future editions I will be answering questions and dealing with specific cultivation'topics, so please write to PAJ, Attn., the Sacred Harbor, with your questions, comments and tips.
I've been on the peyote road for eight years now, the last three have been very busy ones developing cultivation techniques and relationships with live peyote plants. My introductory article "Perpetual Peyote", (High Times, Mar. 96 as W.K.) clearly defines my efforts and intentions to preserve this sacred plant species.
Fortunately, I have gained enough knowledge and experience harboring the sacrament to be invited on board as Chief Curator of the Peyote
Foundation's greenhouses, overseeing all cultivation and related experiments. This is a life long goal that has finally materialized. I am honored to take on this responsibility.
During the first week on Foundation grounds (May 4th - 1lth), I was able to build and stock a 20' X 10' hooped shadehouse out of an old pig pen and some basic materials, such as PVC tubing, shade cloth, and graftstock, all of which were donated by Sister, GB., and Mike E. respectively. 468 of the Mercados' peyotes were placed with 350 of my own plants (of various ages) in the new structure.
After only three weeks I've acclimated all of the plants to the same conditions and started grafting damaged peyotes and some smaller side shoots. We are having very good results. The plants have been flowering, setting seeds and producing off-shoots and all of the grafts took. Now it's just a matter of time until they pump up and start to grow. I would like to raise the humidity to duplicate conditions that promote seed germination and growth, similar to springtime monsoon weather.
By May 28th, 90% of the 468 "hostage" peyotes showed excellent signs of recovery. The other 10% were marginal and are in the process of being grafted. As it stands now (June 8th) about 20% of the "hostage" plants are in flower and I will refer to them as the "stock" plants from now on. The graft project is currently having a 96% success rate, all of which are growing very rapidly. We could really use donated rolls of 50% shade cloth, UV resistant greenhouse poly and more subscriptions.
An over-all break down of the Mercados' confiscated and returned plants is as Follows: 944 seized plants were returned, 726 were alive and replantable, 218 were d.o.a., 148 of which were rotten and 70 of which were dried but usable. Of the 726 that are alive, 86 remain in the Mercados' personal care, 640 were placed outside, eventually I came to care take 468 of them, which were placed in the shadehouse. Of the 172 remaining peyotes, approximately 125 died due to complications from being held as evidence, and the remainder were either used for vision quests or given away to start new gardens. Total losses due to improper storage by law enforcement officials rises to over 40%.
For those of you who are immediately interested in grafting peyote, please refer to the previously mentioned article or stay tuned to PAJ and the Sacred Harbor. There are plenty of resources already available on any peyote topic so long as you are a relentless researcher. Remember, to become familiar with peyote cultivation you must first become acquainted with all cacti, so go out and buy some that interest you.
In closing I would just like to mention that here at the Peyote Foundation we cannot yet offer anyone peyote, alive or dried, seeds, roots or flowers, nothing. We wish we could, but we just cannot do it. Thank you for understanding. We can however, legally accept donations of seeds, buttons, or live plants. I look forward to working in the service of peyote, the Peyote Foundation, and you, the readers of PAJ.
Sincerely DKW. [an error occurred while processing this directive]