Just realized the it's been fifty-six years since the publication of the first Foxfire book!
This book series started as a writing project for a high school class in the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains. Students sought ought elderly residents in the Appalachian Mtns to record their knowledge of the old ways of doing things. Most of the interviewees were born in the 19th Century and absorbed the lore passed down through ages by their families. Some even had grandparents and great-grandparents born in the 18th Century. So the books present a few centuries worth of accumulated knowledge.
This resulted in a compendium of knowledge of the folkways and folktales of the region. The series has been reprinted multiple times since the first publication. Copies of the original, and subsequent, series can be found at library sales, used books stores, and online.
My only complaint is the larger font used which results in larger books with a few great articles. I would love to see a reissue of the information in the books in a smaller font, so instead of twelve books, there would be only 2-3 maximum.
BTW, foxfire is the bioluminescence created by some species of fungi present in decaying wood. It occurs in a number of species, including Panellus stipticus, Omphalotus olearius and Omphalotus nidiformis. The bluish-green glow is attributed to luciferin, which emits light after oxidation catalyzed by the enzyme luciferase. Some believe that the light attracts insects to spread spores, or acts as a warning to hungry animals, like the bright colors exhibited by some poisonous or unpalatable animal species. Although generally very dim, in some cases foxfire is bright enough to read by.
The first time I saw foxfire was in the National Forests of the old Northwest, the Midwest of today, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. I was walking along a trail and where everyone had stepped on an ancient decaying log all day, in the night was a fiery green glow of the log itself and on both sides of it on the trail itself as particles of the tree were carried away and strewn along it. A wondrous sight to behold!!!
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