I often think of them as coming from another world and I’m not
far wrong in thinking that. For most of their lives exist underground in the
dark, secretive, cracks and crevices totally unknown to most of us. It’s only
on those rare occasions, when conditions are perfectly matched to their
individual specifications, that they burst forth into the world that we know and
their time there and in that form is extremely brief.
In this part of the world, wandering about the woods, especially
during the damper parts of the year, we are bound to come across them. Fungi,
in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes, pop up seemingly overnight from the
forest floor, moldering leaf piles, or rotting tree stumps.
Unlike green
plants, fungi do not need sunlight and are unable to make their own food,
drawing nutrients instead from other rotting vegetation. What we see of them
belies what we cannot see—a vast, complicated underground support
system responsible for their colonization and reproduction.
In the case of a
mushroom, tiny seed-like spores are carried by wind and water to the soil,
where they burrow in and grow into long, multi-celled strands. Different types
of these strands are produced, and the exact right ones need to meet and
combine to form longer entwined strands that carry the full component of genes
necessary for that specific type of mushroom.
These strands gradually form a
small, tight ball of cells which grow upward and finally emerge into the air,
taking on the shape of a mature mushroom. This adult fungus then forms spores
and the entire cycle repeats itself.
The underground system of a fungus is truly amazing. Before logging roads cut through it, a
2,400-acre site in eastern Oregon had a contiguous growth estimated at 1,665
football fields in size and 2,200 years old. This one fungus has killed the
forest above it several times over, and in so doing has built deeper soil layers
that allow the growth of ever-larger stands of trees. Mushroom-forming forest
fungi such as this are unique in that their underground growth can achieve such
massive proportions.
Human support systems might be compared to this. So much
of what we do with and for others is not obvious; myriad small acts of
assistance, kindness, and compassion combine with others, branch out and
spread, often far from the original source. Surfacing and becoming apparent
occasionally, this support system really is the life blood of any community.
Behind every successful grown child, there are years of effort from caring
adults; behind every recovering addict, there are miles of accompanying
encouragement and intervention; behind every healing of a body, mind, or
spirit, there are thousands of helping hands, loving hearts, and prayers.
But we are only the vessels, for beneath all this and
deeper than any of us can fathom, lies a force greater than the combined efforts
of all. We are each a small link in a vast system which surpasses all
understanding. We need only trust and act. Yes, and celebrate the end results
as they emerge out of the detritus of life. For this is the ultimate love.
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