Richard W. Brown 
it. You cut them off with a knife, cleaning 
as you go, filling the bags to bursting. 
Boletus comes in a growing moon in July, 
August, and September, up until the first 
hard frost. Some years there are more 
than you can deal with. You pick them 
really until you’re almost sick of them. 
Some years they don’t grow at all; those 
are really bad years. 
Mushrooms are either frozen or 
dried. In the cellar at Lucille’s house 
there is a gas range and, above it, 
a frame suspended from the ceiling 
that holds tiers of large screens. 
Lucille’s parents, children, and grand- 
children all work together at tables 
spread with mushrooms, first slicing 
them and then laying them out on 
the screens to be hung above the stove. 
All night long the mushrooms need 
tending. As those on the bottom 
screens dry, they are taken off, the 
top screens are lowered, and new 
mushrooms are put on the empty 
screens. Lucille and Sil often sleep 
in a bed in the cellar while this en- 
terprise is going on. Ten pounds of 
wet mushrooms make one pound of 
dry. Some years, after all family mem- 
bers have taken off all the dry mush- 
rooms they want, there will be seventy- 
five pounds left over to send down 
to the cousin in New Jersey who sells 
them in his delicatessen. 
The family is together more in the 
summer. Twenty-two people sit down 
to Sunday dinner at Lucille’s; the ta- 
bles are laid end to end and chairs 
are brought from every room in the 
house. Everyone helps out, but Lucille 
organizes the dinner. There is more 
to the task than just minding the food. 
In a complex four-generation family, 
the food is often the least of anyone’s 
worries. There are differences in ages 
and in-laws, and a raft of children un- 
der foot. “There’s not much that hap- 
pens in the family that can be kept 
private,” Lucille says emphatically, 
and some people find that tough to live 
with. We don’t; it’s second nature. Almost 
every day, if I don’t see her, I talk to 
Left: A garden provides fresh food 
for the family table and for canning 
or freezing. Below: Early and late 
summer are times for haying. Before 
baling became popular, the hay was 
stacked with a pitchfork. 
78 
Nathan Benn, Woodfin Camp 
