P.J. O'Malley and I met at a kegger in the middle of the desert—on the outskirts of Tempe / Chandler—in the early 1990s. We would cross paths at high school house parties and often end up sitting around the pool talking about philosophy and writers. Occasionally, we would share short stories of our own.
He was the black sheep middle brother—imagine a full-color hippie philosopher inserted into the black-and-white "Leave it to Beaver" household. At least, that is how it seemed to me, looking outside in. I also have a bit of ultra-color vision myself. He collected seeds from all the marijuana plants he came across and organized them like a librarian with the world's most precious books.
Back in the day, he read Emerson. After college, he told me he was off to live life instead of reading about it. If there is one thing I am certain of, his dad never mustered the courage to do just that—take off and find himself, destination unknown. PJ did just that. He thought of a thing and then did a thing. He found himself out of the desert and on the road.
He got lost for a few years in the Emerald Triangle of California— or did he get found? He came out the other side smiling more often than before—back in the desert. Now, he has stories of interactions with some of the most famous living artists of the 21st century. He was present at the first—and every—Psychedelic Olympics. He even cooked a perfect omelette for Alex Grey and his "weird-ass" wife.
Later, he made the Grand Canyon his home, living a good stretch at Phantom Ranch. This might have been where he started his wanderings into "The Bison Way." The Bison Way isn’t his own term; he will tell you it was emergent. The story goes like this: unlike other creatures, bison face the storm. They also know the fastest way to make a storm pass is to charge head-on with all their passion and instincts—going through it.
It’s partly The Bison Way that FOREST FLOOR is creating life-making machines. We saw problems and are charging forward with solutions to bring our products to life—literally through the storm of the mental health crisis. PJ has a degree in Psychology. He’s helped shape the moral and karma-based standards critical to the success we envision for the acceptance of natural medicines nationwide.
He was there from day one, on June 4th, 2023, when the idea of the machine was downloaded from the creative ether of the Collective Unconscious. He was the first person I proposed the idea of the machine to. He validated, from a conceptual perspective that $500 was a reasonable target price for the device.
Exactly a year later, on June 4, 2024, a sacred white buffalo calf, named Wakan Gli ("Return Sacred") was born in Yellowstone National Park. The Three-Eyed Bison icon used in FOREST FLOOR iconography represents all of these stories of the buffalo and more. And of course, the Bison always face the storm.
One thing I am certain of: spending years at the bottom of the Grand Canyon Imaginarium—where millions of years of history and stories are compressed under the immense pressure of geologic time—changed PJ profoundly. That place, that intense pressure of exposed history, has a weight—physically and emotionally—that drains and fills you at the same time. It changed PJ.
Here is one of his poems:
“Many have come to Grand Canyon to heal. And what a place to heal! Vast expanse of rock, exposing almost 2,000,000,000 years worth of the earth’s history, making you feel like the grain of sand that you truly are. Yet, when you climb out of its depths, you feel as big as a mountain. It’s a place that’s constantly changing with each passing cloud and the movement of the sun across the sky. A harsh landscape with a beauty all its own. It also has an indescribable quality that can bring people of all nations, races, religions, socioeconomic statuses, and ages together to watch a sunset each night of the year. There is magic here.”
— PJ O’Malley, 8/11/07
During his travels, he crossed paths with the members of Greensky Bluegrass, just before their debut—winning the Battle of the Bands at the 2006 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition.
Fast forward two decades... On January 22, 2025, each member of the band stood on stage at the Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff, Arizona, and declared, "I am PJ O'Malley." I believe they, too, have spent time around some sort of circle—likely around fire or water—and spoken at length about what matters and what doesn’t—not just in subject, but in authenticity and presence.
We here at FOREST FLOOR are happy to announce that PJ will be a guest writer. We figured it's been 35 years...I am PJ O'Malley; it's time to share some stories.