"}vermicomposting and growing my own mushrooms have made me finally realise that the thing i\u2019ve always thought of as one whole \u201crainy northern forest\u201d smell is like, 1/3 that freshly shed worm castings smell, 1/3 that living mushroom smell, 1/3 everything else. in mushroom growing forums/tutorials you often get told\u00a0\u201cyou\u2019ll know it\u2019s healthy mycelium when you smell it, it smells like the most intensely alive mushroomy smell you\u2019ve ever smelled\u201d and people go\u00a0\u201chow the hell am i meant to know what\u00a0\u2018alive mushroom\u2019 smells like, that\u2019s such a weird description\u201d but then they get some growing well, and sniff it, and they go\u00a0\u2018oh!\u2019 because we have all smelled it before, just never so intensely and in isolation. it\u2019s so immediately reminiscent of a freshly rinsed summer forest, and you realise that you\u2019ve actually been casually aware of how full of mycelium the world is this whole time, even before you read anything about it, just unable to isolate and put a label on that information. anyway, i guess that\u2019s why \u201cforest scented\u201d beard balms never smell even a tiny bit like forest, even if they make a really good effort at all the pine needle and sap smells. Lacks Mushroom