I don’t know what it is about the Appalachian Mountains, but this region seems to have an independent streak. For better or for worse, people have been living a different way of life here for centuries. And even today, the time-honored practices of living off the land, or of making do with what you have, are still alive and well… even if you do have to venture a little further off the beaten path to discover them. Appalachia is an absolutely fascinating part of America, and I suppose that’s why the Foxfire Project may never run out of material.
In 1966, an English teacher at Georgia’s Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School was struggling to make his class more interesting. When he solicited writing topics from his students, they suggested going out into the community to interview their families and neighbors. Their work would be self-published as the Foxfire Journal, a quarterly magazine focused on local culture and tradition. But the end result was more than just a travelogue— these budding young journalists were able to shine a spotlight on the oral history of their community, capturing stories which had never before been recorded, as well as a wealth of “how-to” knowledge for Do-It-Yourself living and handicrafts.
Their work was so well received that in 1972 these articles were collected and re-published in book form, eventually becoming a national best-seller. Over the following decades, the Foxfire series would expand into a total of 12 published volumes, as well as a number of anthologies, cookbooks, and special editions. As their small project grew into a genuine phenomenon, the students took the revenues from their book sales and created the Foxfire Fund, a non-profit organization that promotes literacy and education. They even purchased a plot of land in Mountain City, Georgia, and created a standalone museum to Appalachian culture.
If you’ve never had the opportunity to check out the Foxfire project, be sure to add their works to your reading list. No rush, though— these books have been around for quite a while, so it’s a safe bet that your local library might even have the full series on hand. These books are testimonials to the art of self-sufficiency, and even today many people consider them to be guidebooks for off-the-grid living. The Foxfire team— and the legends of Appalachia featured in their interviews— had mastered the art of DIY, way before it was cool.
I imagine that during last year’s COVID pandemic, when grocery store lines stretched out the door and many people found themselves worrying for the first time about how they were going to feed their families, those “kids” who published Foxfire so long ago were probably looking in on their pantries of canned food with a certain sense of satisfaction. But even for those of us who happily take advantage of modern conveniences like Amazon, Doordash or Instacart, it’s still easy to appreciate these tales of people who manage to get by on their own.