The Aspiring Gardener

I am an aspiring gardener.  I love to dig in the dirt and frequently have it smeared from head to toe.  My husband says I look like Pig Pen in the Charlie Brown stories. He becomes unhinged when surprise visitors catch me in that state. I really think my love of dirt embarrasses him (though he denies this). He also swears he had no idea girls could get so dirty and then smell so good one hour later. Fact is I commune with God outside.  I find healing outside.  In the cooling breeze that blows through the trees and makes the leaves dance before they fall.  In the tumbling noise of the stream that runs outside my kitchen window.  In watching a baby bird learn to fly or in getting buzzed by a hummingbird because I got too close to the feeder.  In watching twin fawns participate in jumping practice – even if they are not too good at it and knock the fence down more often than they make it over.  In witnessing a whole herd of bunnies celebrate spring as they hop willy-nilly through the meadow tumbling all over each other.  I love the colors of the flowers in my garden as they traverse the seasons from spring to fall.  I love the feel of being absolutely clean inside and out after the shower after the whole day working in the garden.

Guess what my children gave me for Christmas??  Mushroom growing kits.  So perfect!  I get to garden all winter inside.  They came up with the ultimate gift for a gardener.  I can be Pig Pen all winter long.  And my awed husband can eat what I grow and therefore cannot complain about my mess all over his bathroom. His two bathrooms I should say. The mushroom kits are living, breathing things.  They must have the right light, the right temperature and they must be misted daily.

Since I travel back and forth between our two homes, the mushrooms are now my constant companions.  They ride in the front seat on all my journeys.  The dogs are relegated to the way back.  They take up an inordinate amount of space in our bathrooms, neither of which is very large.  And they must be moved around one bathroom daily to avoid the direct sunlight provided by skylights. The other bathroom doesn’t even have a window, so artificial light must be manipulated daily.

 

But today, when I removed the humidity tent from the Shitakes to complete the second misting of the day – I spied a mushroom.  Just one is visible so far, but in the scheme of things, it’s pretty big.  Not ready for consumption big, but recognizable as a shitake big.  Still no portabellas or creminis or buttons, but a shitake!! 

I am a gardener.  Shall l save you a taste?