Dear all,

There is something you most likely don’t know about me: I am a very keen forager. Finding a perfect penny bun, securing a chanterelle patch or stumbling upon some wild strawberries are among the greatest joys for me! I will also go to ridiculous lengths to pick a berry or a mushroom once I have spotted them; having to climb a steep bank or cross a stream won’t stop me. My latest ambition is to find some cloudberries, which apparently do grow in some secret places in Northumberland known to a select few.

With the Harvest season coming up, we will soon be singing ‘We plough the fields and scatter’ and giving thanks for the food we can grow – with God’s help. Celebrating our ability to grow and make food is not only seasonal but also Biblical, because throughout the Bible we find images of food made by human hands: even our daily bread still has to be baked. Psalm 104, which praises God as Creator and Provider, emphasises in verse 14 that the plants God gives us are yet to be cultivated and the food has to be brought forth from the earth. Verse 15 goes on to list wine, oil and bread as the key components of human wellbeing, all made by people but caused by God.

At the same time, we do have an instruction in Genesis 1.29 to eat of anything that yields seed and grows naturally, created by God and not cultivated by us. There is, sadly, not a word about mushrooms in the Bible, which apparently has caused a debate whether eating mushrooms is acceptable both for Jews and Christians and whether mushrooms in fact do appear in the book of Exodus in disguise. While I would strongly discourage you from picking anything unless you are absolutely certain it is ok to eat, I would like to invite us all to wonder at the riches of nature that are quite literally under our feet.

As we prepare to give thanks for the generosity of our farms, let us also celebrate the gifts of our forests, rivers and fields that we can enjoy without putting any effort into growing them. One thing that is required of us is not to destroy the environment; everything else is provided by God, completely free of charge.

Ana