The Best Ways to Learn Farm Skills – FHC Q & A

Pa Mac outlines the most valuable ways he’s learned farm skills over the years; from his father’s inspiration to written memoirs, as well as the Foxfire series of books.

In 1966, a struggling English teacher at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School in Northeast Georgia asked his students what would make school more interesting. They decided to create a magazine, featuring stories gathered from their families and neighbors about the pioneer era of southern Appalachia as well as traditions still thriving in the region. The students called it “Foxfire” after the glow-in-the-dark fungus found in the local hills. This spark of an idea turned into a phenomenon of education and living history, exploring how our past contributes to who we are and what we can become.*

The Foxfire Books and series have been a rich resource of small farm and homestead skills for more than half a century.

In 1974, Foxfire used book royalties to purchase land, which eventually became an immersive museum. Today, you can experience Foxfire first-hand by walking through the outdoor museum and encountering buildings and artifacts representative of life in the mountains, from the 1820s to the 1940s. Links to the Foxfire Museum in Mountain City, Georgia:
https://www.facebook.com/foxfireorg/
https://www.foxfire.org

You can also purchase my mother’s written memoir of her life, “A Sharecropper’s Daughter”. Go here to read more about that: https://farmhandscompanion.com/product/sharecroppers-daughter/

If you’ve got a question or comment related to this or any other farm topic, just leave it in the comments section below, and who knows—your question might be answered in future episodes of the Farm Hand’s Companion Q & A show.

*taken from the Foxfire website