Mushrooms....

Mushrooms....

When I was a child, kindergarten through third grade, we lived on a ranch next the foothills of Central California.   It was always hot in the summer, with very little rain, but lots of sunshine to enjoy while playing over summer break...we always had a large garden, next to the livestock corrals and chicken runs...my mother always loved flowers and made every hone we ever lived in a beautiful floral arrangement, vegetables on the side...an idilic childhood...I thought...

But, that first rain in the early fall was a treat, not only for the much need moisture, it meant that the grass would sprout up quickly and that button mushrooms  would pop out the ground like white Easter eggs all over the green hills...that meant we would gather our containers and scramble here and there on the rangeland, gathering as many mushrooms as we could...they only came once!!!   

My mother would slice them to eat raw, sauté them with homemade butter and add them to various dishes, From scrambled eggs to soups to meats...what a treat...an abundant free gift...

Now we can purchase these mushrooms year around as well as so many other types...

I was reminded of this long forgotten special rainfall as I was driving across Oregon recently and then taking a walk with my youngest grandson...there along the road,  in the barely green grass were those button mushrooms, making their appearance after the first warm fall rain...I picked a couple in honor of those bygone days...in the "remember whens"... I even looked toward heaven, and showed my parents...they would smile and say,,,"what fun and simple things"....

Thank YOU for the little things, the fall rains, the simple mushrooms that spring up in profusion...You provide ....

Psalm 65:5-9, 11-13 You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,God our Savior,the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power,having armed yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas,the roaring of their waves,and the turmoil of the nations.

 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;where morning dawns, where evening fades,you call forth songs of joy. 

You care for the land and water it;you enrich it abundantly.

The streams of God are filled with waterto provide the people with grain,for so you have ordained it. 

You crown the year with your bounty,and your carts overflow with abundance. 

The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocksand the valleys are mantled with grain;they shout for joy and sing. 

Deuteronomy 32:2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. 

Psalm 68:9 You gave abundant showers, O God;you refreshed your weary inheritance.