In Search Of: Morel Mushrooms

May 20, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

Ask a fisherman around here where he pulled in the latest big catch he’s been bragging about, and he’ll quickly turn vague on you. “At an area lake,” he might reply, with a twinkle in his eye.

Ask the neighbor lady where she found the wild blueberries in that luscious pie that fetched $75 dollars at a local pie auction charity, and she’d reply with a smile, “Oh, just around, you know.”

Favorite fishing holes and wild berry patches can be pretty closely guarded secrets in our neck of the woods. But I don’t think I’ve ever encountered secret-ism as great as those of mushroom pickers. If someone really likes you they might offer a few tips on the kind of habitat to look for, but that’s about it. If you want to go hunting for wild mushrooms, it’s a commonly accepted fact that you’re mostly on your own.The thing is—they’re not exactly easy to find, even if you’re fortunate enough to happen upon the right spot. Check out the photo above, taken from a very short distance away. Now imagine standing up and stepping back several feet, add in a generous tangle of thick forest, brush, foliage and sticks, and you might begin to understand what I’m talking about. It takes patience and practice to learn how to spot them, and a lot of time spent crouching low, scanning the forest floor. They don’t grow in rows or clumps (the pair above is unusual) but pop up from the forest floor at complete random. Sometimes you’ll only find one, sometimes you’ll find a lot. You never know.

But—it’s so worth it.

Morels are a delicacy in the world of mushrooms, and not just because they’re elusive to harvest. They are also the most delicious mushrooms I’ve ever tasted. Granted, this statement is coming from a mushroom lover. But I’ve even known firmly avowed mushroom haters to go back for seconds of morels.

Recently we spent the good part of a rainy afternoon crawling around the woods with some fellow mushroom lovers and empty ice cream buckets—and came home with these beauties: bowl of morels mushrooms / rejoicing hills We rolled them in a simple breading of flour, salt and pepper, with just a hint of parsley and cayenne, and sauteed them in butter. The members of our mushroom picking expedition gathered around the platter with forks and you should’ve heard the exclamations of satisfaction as we savored the reward of our labors! They were gone in no time, and plans were already being made to go in search of more.Some things in life are worth every bit of time, energy—and, yes, even the scratched ankles, sore backs and wood ticks—required to secure them.

Kind of like the Kingdom of Heaven.

Of course, morel mushrooms don’t even hold a candle to the kingdom of heaven in terms of value. But as I scrambled over fallen trees, listened to the periodic triumphant cries of “Found one!” echoing from various parts of the woods, and scanned the forest floor with such intense scrutiny that my eyes hurt by the time the day was over, something occurred to me. What if I put this much time, energy, enthusiasm, and even sacrifice into seeking the kingdom of God? This man did:

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44)

We’d do well to take a lesson from him. Maybe you wouldn’t consider wild mushrooms worth your time; if not, fill in the blank with anything you’d give a great deal to find or secure. The bottom line is, earthly treasure, of any sort, is temporal and fleeting; heavenly treasure is of infinite, eternal value.

Jesus said: “And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom…Provide yourselves…with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Luke 12:34)

What kind of treasure are you seeking?

Springtime In An Unlikely Place

May 11, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 1 Comment

I’ve been seeing these little clouds of flowering white trees popping out all over the woods this week, and I’d been planning a hike out to where they’re blooming far across the field near our home—but then I spotted this lovely vignette of white tree trunks and blossoms while I was out driving, just exactly what I was looking for, and I swung in to snap some pictures. At the dump.

It’s ironic, isn’t it? I thought I would take my photos of gorgeous pure white blossoms out along the edge of a beautiful wide open field, to the gentle music of the creek flowing past nearby. Instead I stood behind the peeling paint of a sign that detailed accepted and unaccepted waste for this facility, only a few feet from mountains of filthy garbage, listening to a different creak—that of the metal entrance gate in the wind.

There’s a little picture of something really big here, you know.

We’d all like to imagine our selves and our lives as idyllic and pristine as that pastoral scene I had in mind. Lovely. Serene. Peaceful. Picturesque. In reality, though, we’re all a lot more like that dirty garbage dump. Stinking, ugly sinners with messed up hearts and lives. Not pretty at all.

But—

God can take the filthiest, ugliest waste of a life, wash it whiter than petals on those blossoms, and make it burst forth into life and beauty far beyond anything that I could ever capture with my camera.

Ignore my photos—and think about the incredible beauty of that!

“Something beautiful, something good

All my confusion, He understood,

All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife,

But He made something beautiful of my life.” —Bill Gaither

Because She Loves Pink

May 10, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 6 Comments

Because my mom’s favorite color is pink, it seems only fitting to post these pictures on Mother’s Day. Even more fitting, because the pictures of this splendid china rose just bursting into bloom were taken in my husband’s grandmother’s yard—so this is really in honor of the mothers on both sides of our family. Aren’t these flowers beautiful? But certainly no more so than the beautiful spiritual heritage our mothers passed down to both my husband and I. We are so grateful!

“I greatly desire to see thee…that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and, I am persuaded, is in thee also.” (2 Timothy 1:4-5)

P.S. I took these pictures in the rain. Thank you Lord—we needed it!

Marsh Marigolds

May 7, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ Leave a comment

Well hello, pretty yellow marigolds! One day that brackish swamp was dark and empty, the next day there you were with your bright sunny faces and skirts of purple-green leaves so delicately ruffled, nodding and smiling as though it were only yesterday we saw each other last and not a whole year slipped by. I am so pleased to see you, too.

But you know what’s really lovely? It’s that you’ll only be bright and pretty along the swampy edges for a couple weeks or so, and then you’ll be gone again until another spring. No, I’m not really happy that you’ll disappear so soon. But the fact that you are so fleeting somehow makes you all the more beautiful, and you are such a sweet reminder to me that “if God so clothes the grass of the field [marigolds of the swamp], which today is, and tomorrow [next week] is cast into the oven [fades back into the murky swamp], shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30) He cares that much for me? Wow. Thank you for the reminder, lovely little flowers.

P.S. Also, thank you for kindly blooming near enough to the edge of the swamp so I could take your portrait today without getting water in my shoes. Dry shoes are nice.

In Celebration of Green

May 3, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ Leave a comment

My favorite color is green, but especially so at this time of year. Am I the only one? I kind of suspect that a lot of people have a renewed appreciation for this vibrant color of life in the spring. There’s a whole lot more of it that’s going to be happening outside really soon, but here’s a little close-up celebration of the way green is beginning to appear everywhere we look.

“And the earth brought forth grass,

and herb yielding seed after his kind,

and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind;

and God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:12)

Spring Snowstorm: The Sequel

May 1, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 1 Comment

“For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth…” (Song of Solomon 2:11-12)

And so, they weathered the snow and here they are at last!

First Flowers of Spring

April 27, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

“O Lord, how manifold are Thy works!

In wisdom hast Thou made them all;

the earth is full of Thy riches.” (Psalm 104:24)

When the hepaticas push their furry stems up between the dead leaves and pine needles and lift their exquisite, dainty faces up to the sunshine from the forest floor, it is always a certain sign that spring is here to stay. They are like tiny gems, diamond-studded circlets in settings of amethyst, so small one must stoop low and search to find them. But when you do—ah, how easy it is to catch your breath and marvel at the riches of His earth!

Pussy Willows

April 27, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 3 Comments

Is there any first sign of springtime so welcome as the pussy willows? Probably not—-unless it’s when they leave off their soft kitten grays and make happy polka dots of chartreuse all over the lowlands, ditches and swamps:Pussy willows are only the beginning; color and life is exploding everywhere we look these days. Spring is winning thousands of small and miraculous victories over winter, and the ice and snow is forgotten as all the glorious flowers and leaves burst forth. Life conquers over death, again.

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)

Spring Snowstorm

April 22, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 1 Comment

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

The hyacinths in my garden are undaunted by a sudden spring snowstorm. Actually they seem rather happy about it. While I may be impatient at the delay this cold snap puts on the coming flowers, they know that the snow brings the moisture and nutrients they need to make those flower buds swell and burst open. Brave little flowers-to-be, content with the Creator’s timing!

Stay tuned for the sequel!