Foxfire
5 Oct
I got a birthday package in the mail last week that had an old copy of Foxfire 4 and a box of Douglas Fir tea inside. Damn fine gift. Foxfire Magazine (The term “foxfire” is a name commonly applied to several species of bioluminescent fungi that grow on rotting wood in damp forests) was started in 1966 by a teacher named Eliot Wiggington and his students. Wiggington asked his students what would make them interested in English and they decided to write a magazine containing stories and interviews gathered from elders in their rural southern Appalachian community. It’s still in production, still written entirely by high schoolers and the articles can focus on a specific person’s life or stories, the lore of a specific town or community, details or how-to information on traditional crafts and skills, or any number of other things. The Foxfire books (there are 12 in total) are collections of the magazine’s articles. The volume that was sent to me, Foxfire 4, has articles on fiddle making, springhouses, horse trading, sassafras tea, berry buckets, knife making, wood carving, logging, cheese making, and gardening.
Thanks Heidi.
‘Foxfire’ books were always my favorite books in my grandparents’ basement in Walton, Kentucky. My mother had an internship administering on-site health care to families in the mountains of rural Kentucky as part of her RN training, and I was always fascinated reading in ‘Foxfire’ how those people lived.