Mother’s day traditionally marks the beginning of the gardening season, even when the gardening has already been going on for a while, and most years Mom and I spend Mother’s day morning at a gardening store, filling up the trunk of the car with all of the plants and seeds and mulch and tools she might need, at least for the next week or two. But for Mother’s day breakfast this year, my brother and his eldest son came to visit, with bagels and cream cheese and lox, to celebrate Mom. My brother brought a bouquet of colorful yarn, and my nephew brought a big box of mushroom starters: three huge white blocks, one for Blue Oyster mushrooms, one for Lion’s Mane, and one for something called Piopino, each in their own bags, with a special instruction booklet.
When my brother’s kids were younger we used to go for nature walks all the time, with Mom in the lead, and then the kids, and then me. We’d walk down by the river near their house, and the kids would climb trees, and collect rocks and leaves and whatever else they could find, unless Grandma warned them off of something yucky or poisonous. And when it was too cold to be outside, she taught them how to make little boats out of empty walnut shells and float them in a bowl of water; just because. As a result, my oldest nephew has his own vegetable and herb garden, with birds who call it their home, and for Mother’s day, he thought the best gift he could give his Grandma would be the chance to watch mushrooms grow, and he was right.
And after breakfast, my nephew and his Dad braved the woods behind our building, and the uncertain ground under a huge fallen tree trunk, to pluck two giant mushrooms, still connected to each other, just so Mom could see them up close and then put them in her garden, to inspire the other plants to grow big and strong.
My Mom’s love of gardening came from her father, whose yard was filled with flowers, and birds, and dastardly squirrels, and contraptions to keep the squirrels away from the bird feeders. But she didn’t do much gardening at the house I grew up in, partly because she was busy working and doing other creative things, but also because it just didn’t feel like a place where good things would blossom. Almost as soon as she divorced my father, and we moved to a new home, she started to garden. She planted her father’s lilies, and then strawberries and tomatoes and marigolds, and one year she planted pumpkins that took over the whole yard. And now she gardens all year long, planting seeds indoors and seedlings outdoors, and if she’s not planting, she’s weeding or preparing the ground for more planting later on. And she loves it! And Cricket loves it! And Ellie and I sit on the bench and watch them, and listen to the birds, and shrug, happy for them, though mostly bewildered.
Within days of the Mother’s day visit, the new mushrooms were sprouting, magically, from those plain white blocks, and our neighbor was deep cleaning her bird bath to accommodate all of the birds returning to the yard, and there were pink and orange tulips, and magenta rhododendrons, and purple irises, and red azaleas, and green everywhere, including on the pawpaw tree.
We are now in pawpaw counting season. First the red flowers had to appear on the tree, and darken to crimson and then to a reddish dark brown, and then, as the flowers died and fell away, the baby pawpaws appeared from the wreckage. So now starts the long summer of watching the pawpaws grow, and worrying that they will be eaten by passing birds, or squirrels, or that they’ll fall off in the rain, or die off for lack of nutrition. The counting becomes even more difficult as the leaves grow to their full size and obscure the growing pawpaw fruit, but I try to accept it, because the leaves are doing their best to protect those baby pawpaw fruits from disaster.
It’s funny, just as Mom spends her summers tending her garden, I kind of do the same with my writing. We plant our seeds and nurture them and weed out the overgrowth and anything that’s getting in the way, and hope that something comes of all of the worry and the work. And each year we overplan, and barely get through half of what we hoped to accomplish. I can’t make the summer expand to give me the time and patience to do everything I want to do, just like Mom can’t use the whole yard, and then some, to plant all of the flowers and vegetables she dreams of harvesting in the fall. But we do what we can do.
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Yeshiva Girl is about a Jewish teenager on Long Island, named Isabel, though her father calls her Jezebel. Her father has been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior with one of his students, which he denies, but Izzy implicitly believes it’s true. As a result of his problems, her father sends her to a co-ed Orthodox yeshiva for tenth grade, out of the blue, and Izzy and her mother can’t figure out how to prevent it. At Yeshiva, though, Izzy finds that religious people are much more complicated than she had expected. Some, like her father, may use religion as a place to hide, but others search for and find comfort, and community, and even enlightenment. The question is, what will Izzy find?
rachelmankowitz 
Your mother’s motivation and energy about gardening is amazing. Also, I’ve never heard of some of these types of mushrooms. Cool.
Those mushrooms were all new to me too!
Such a lovely post, Rachel, on all regards.
Thank you!
I loved this quote from your piece: “It’s funny, just as Mom spends her summers tending her garden, I kind of do the same with my writing. We plant our seeds and nurture them and weed out the overgrowth and anything that’s getting in the way, and hope that something comes of all of the worry and the work. And each year we overplan, and barely get through half of what we hoped to accomplish.” I relate so strongly as a writer. Loved the piece, and loved the photos, especially the one with Ellie with the carrot (one of my favorite foods in the world, and I have to settle for the ones at Publix!)
I meant Cricket, not Ellie!
Thank you!!!!
I enjoyed this entire post, especially the yarn bouquet. My mom loved gardening too, so I am flooded with special memories. Treasures!
Thank you so much!
I must say that stumbling upon your website was an absolute delight! As a avid reader, I always find myself searching for meaningful and inspiring content online. I cannot wait to read every article!
Thank you so much!
Those mushrooms are on this Log…I see these in my yard too. Anita
Aren’t they amazing?!
Great thoughts.
Thank you!
I love edible mushrooms of all sorts. Great post, Rachel.
Thank you!
A great post; a very enjoyable read. 🙂
Thank you!!
I didn’t some mushrooms could bring things back to life, essentially!
The mushrooms look delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!
It’s great that your Mum is so enthusiastic about gardening. Time to find some recipes for those mushrooms.
Absolutely!
The circle of life. It’s an amazing annual journey that ends right where it began.
It’s wonderful!
I’ve never heard of that one kind of mushroom…I do know the other 2 are very nutritious and medicinal and extremely expensive to buy at the store.
Yes, I think we all plant and later reap whatever has grown from those seeds, be it vegetables or writing or anything else.
I think there will be mushrooms in dinner tonight!
Wow, what a great way to celebrate Mother’s Day. All three of those mushrooms are new to me.
Me too!
We always do gardening and plant-buying on Mother’s Day, too!
It’s a good tradition!
Lion’s Mane grow in the wild on dead or dying beech trees. You can find oyster muchrooms in the woods too. Where I live, the Aspen Oyster, Plurotis populinus, fruits on dead or dying poplar trees around the beginning of June. There are other varieties that fruit in the fall.
That’s awesome!
I had no idea one could actively cultivate mushrooms. Here I destroy them on the “better safe than sorry” warnings growing up about poisonous toadstools. The only person I knew who grew them had them inadvertently growing in the trunk of his leaking car.
Eek!
we had a big typhoon that brought down 44 big trees in our urban farm 2 years ago. my wife cried so much from that. today, a lot of the these downed trees had mushrooms sprouting! elicious ones! dunno what type, but they sure were great!
That’s awesome! Not the typhoon, but the mushrooms.
Very interesting post, Rachel. Enjoyed your photos as well. 🙂
Thank you!
I really love your yarn bouquet. The dogs napping, too, of course.
Me too!
Your writing definitely continues growing food for thought that’s healthy, nourishing, sage, and sweet and makes me root for you, your Mom, and your dogs!
Thank you so much!
“We do what we can do.” Simple, unvarnished truth—a guide for us all—and how lucky we are when some loveliness of one sort or another emerges from our efforts. Delightful piece, Rachel!
Thank you so much!
I hope your mushrooms and pawpaws grow well!
Thank you!
A lovely blog and sensational photos!
Thank you!