Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/191768
TheBanjoDoctor - Posted - 11/16/2010: 16:41:01
well i just ordered my own copy. its on its way from where ever its coming from lol my parents had on when i was a little kid and i had not a clue what was in it and or i didnt play at that age so i had no intrest. but after moving it got lost. no im going to have my own, cant wait to check out this banjo/ dulcimer part and the tide tanning but yeah im just exited
Doc.
mtnpckr - Posted - 11/16/2010: 16:44:43
Pluckin Mutha - Posted - 11/16/2010: 17:09:43
quote:
Originally posted by mtnpckr
quote:
Originally posted by TheBanjoDoctor
whats with the ?, ?
mtnpckr is old enough, to have been aware of the "Foxfire" series, but it was the '60's, so maybe he was involved in other things which affected his memory.
I have the originals up to "Foxfire 4" or maybe "Foxfire 5", they are fascinating chronicles of Appalachian life. The Banjo plans in "Foxfire 3" are great.
Mutha
Don Borchelt - Posted - 11/16/2010: 17:32:52
I remember when the first Foxfire compilation came out, I was in college. Along with the Whole Earth Catalog, it was the bible for the rising movement for an alternative, sustainable lifestyle. A whole bunch of middle class suburban kids started dreaming about heating with wood, raising their own vegetables, trying herbal remedies, making some of their own cloths, and even brewing their own beer. It made a huge impression, and has had a lasting, if modest, impact. Even here on the BHO, almost every day there is a thread about some sort of "back to the earth" type of activity that we first read about in Foxfire, or a similar publication decades ago. Of course, some of the folks here learned stuff like that directly from their parents or grandparents, but for many of us, Foxfire was a revelation.
Edited by - Don Borchelt on 11/16/2010 17:39:55
Pluckin Mutha - Posted - 11/16/2010: 17:40:37
quote:
Originally posted by Pluckin Mutha
quote:
Originally posted by Don Borchelt
I remember when the first Foxfire compilation came out, I was in college. Along with the Whole Earth Catalog, it was the bible for the rising movement for an alternative, sustainable lifestyle. A whole bunch of middle class suburban kids started dreaming about heating with wood, raising their own vegetables, making some of their own cloths, and even brewing their own beer. It made a huge impression, and has had a lasting, if modest, impact.
Damn! Don,
I have the "Whole Earth Catalogue" too. I'm hoping to come to Clifftop next year to meet you and compare notes. We seem to have a lot in common, but you're way out of my league musically.
Mutha
Postscript
I am heating with wood, and raising my own vegetables. never made any clothes (unless you incude a shoelace.) I made and drank way too much of my own beer (and wine).
oh yeah, my home made Banjo strap is also a shoelace.
Mutha
Edited by - Pluckin Mutha on 11/16/2010 17:49:01
Sultans of Claw - Posted - 11/16/2010: 17:43:52
quote:
Originally posted by Don Borchelt
I remember when the first Foxfire compilation came out, I was in college. Along with the Whole Earth Catalog,
wholeearth.com/about.php
mike gregory - Posted - 11/16/2010: 17:45:54
It was SPECIFICALLY the picture of the guy holding the banjo with a cookie-tin body, that inspired me to start building cookie-tin banjos.
I've been selling them at art & craPft fairs, since 1993.
Lost count of how many, after I'd sold over three hundred.
More recently, I sold one to Grich.
Jim D - Posted - 11/16/2010: 17:50:24
The Foxfire books were compiled by a high school class from Rabun Gap, Ga under the direction of their inspired and inspiring teacher, Eliot Wigginton. There were 11 volumes (The Foxfire Book plus Foxfire 2 - 11, I think) plus a number of related titles ... e,g The Foxfire book of Appalachian Toys and Games.
They are still in print, I think, but there are plenty of used copies available. For either a new or used copy try bookfinder.com . Enter just Foxfire into the title search block and Wigginton into the author search block (there are other books with the word Foxfire in the title.
Mike, I believe that "cake tin" banjo that inspired you was made by Stanley Hicks who made my mountain banjos. I have some photos of Stanley and my banjo in an album on my homepage. I'm posting one of his letters regarding making my "banjor" and another of him sitting on his porch with my "dulcimore".
Edited by - Jim D on 11/16/2010 18:05:58
RatLer - Posted - 11/16/2010: 18:47:15
I was inspired by the Foxfire books as well. Of course my folks lived it down in Kentucky but move to Ohio for work and they seemed satisfied that those were just the "good ole days" and were happy with the new suburban life. Course I would've given my eye teeth to live in the "good ole days"....
XXXris - Posted - 11/16/2010: 18:50:29
i bet it isn't the last foxfire book you pick up either.
i was lucky enough to pick up a foxfire lp a while back, with those builders playing their banjos and talking....
TheBanjoDoctor - Posted - 11/16/2010: 18:58:17
quote:
Originally posted by Jim D
The Foxfire books were compiled by a high school class from Rabun Gap, Ga under the direction of their inspired and inspiring teacher, Eliot Wigginton. There were 11 volumes (The Foxfire Book plus Foxfire 2 - 11, I think) plus a number of related titles ... e,g The Foxfire book of Appalachian Toys and Games.
They are still in print, I think, but there are plenty of used copies available. For either a new or used copy try bookfinder.com . Enter just Foxfire into the title search block and Wigginton into the author search block (there are other books with the word Foxfire in the title.
Mike, I believe that "cake tin" banjo that inspired you was made by Stanley Hicks who made my mountain banjos. I have some photos of Stanley and my banjo in an album on my homepage. I'm posting one of his letters regarding making my "banjor" and another of him sitting on his porch with my "dulcimore".
i love the letter he wrote you. sorta neat how his spelling is worse than mine
haha but very cool none the less
xnavyguy - Posted - 11/16/2010: 19:13:35
I've got the entire Foxfire series. It's one of the things my granddad Rabun told me about when I was young. It's an interesting collection and really gives one insight about life in Appalachia during the early days.
Jerry Rabun
mike gregory - Posted - 11/16/2010: 20:33:51
Jim D, I just had to go find my Foxfire 3 and look it up.
Plate 78 shows the banjo, and page 135 descibes the maker as saying why he colored moon on it with a green crayon.
While I'm sure your Mr. Hicks does a fine job, the one in plate 78 was the work of M.C. Worley.
mtnpckr - Posted - 11/16/2010: 20:55:19
I was oblivious to the Foxfire series then and now. Spent the early 60's in High school( more or less) and 65-68 in the navy mostly out of country and out of touch.
I was therefore,not into the hippie, mother earth movements of the time period.
bobduncan - Posted - 11/16/2010: 21:16:58
As a homeschooling family we have found the Foxfire series a great addition to our childrens curriculum. Our older boys ages 5-13 love scouring the pages to find "projects" to start . If you want to get your children out and busy with their hands these books are a good stimulus! Mike Gregory you have 22010 posts, that's amazing?
Edited by - bobduncan on 11/16/2010 21:19:20
Old Man - Posted - 11/17/2010: 02:18:12
I have Fox fire 3 book set,very good reading.
John Allison - Posted - 11/17/2010: 04:59:46
I have the Foxfire 3 book set also and really enjoy it reading them and rereading them. Jim, thanks for the info on the origin of these books.
mike gregory - Posted - 11/17/2010: 09:22:23
quote:
Originally posted by bobduncan
As a homeschooling family we have found the Foxfire series a great addition to our childrens curriculum. Our older boys ages 5-13 love scouring the pages to find "projects" to start . If you want to get your children out and busy with their hands these books are a good stimulus! Mike Gregory you have 22010 posts, that's amazing?
Yeah, but I'm retired from the full-time job, Menards, Wal-Mart, & Home Depot sucked away all the customers from the hardware store where I used to have a part-time job, the Late Great Irene is not here to suggest places we might go, and I'm not responsible enough to share my space with a dog, cat, bird....
Also too nervous to hang out in bars, where expressing the opinions, jokes, and flirtatious comments that I post here, might get me a piece of commercial-grade furniture upside my head.
Anyway, please keep track, and notify me when I get close to 22,222 posts, since that's Five Of A Kind, and, in poker, would either be a winning hand (with a wild card) or get me shot as a cheater.
I should like post #22,222 to be some sort of Significant Message.
TheBanjoDoctor - Posted - 11/17/2010: 14:33:02
quote:
Originally posted by mike gregory
quote:
Originally posted by bobduncan
As a homeschooling family we have found the Foxfire series a great addition to our childrens curriculum. Our older boys ages 5-13 love scouring the pages to find "projects" to start . If you want to get your children out and busy with their hands these books are a good stimulus! Mike Gregory you have 22010 posts, that's amazing?
Yeah, but I'm retired from the full-time job, Menards, Wal-Mart, & Home Depot sucked away all the customers from the hardware store where I used to have a part-time job, the Late Great Irene is not here to suggest places we might go, and I'm not responsible enough to share my space with a dog, cat, bird....
Also too nervous to hang out in bars, where expressing the opinions, jokes, and flirtatious comments that I post here, might get me a piece of commercial-grade furniture upside my head.
Anyway, please keep track, and notify me when I get close to 22,222 posts, since that's Five Of A Kind, and, in poker, would either be a winning hand (with a wild card) or get me shot as a cheater.
I should like post #22,222 to be some sort of Significant Message.
haha well your 110 posts away haha
MountainBanjo - Posted - 11/17/2010: 15:26:32
quote:
[i]Originally posted by mike gregory
I should like post #22,222 to be some sort of Significant Message.
If having 22, 020 posts hasn't sent you a significant message I seriously doubt that 22,222 will.
Couchie - Posted - 11/18/2010: 03:00:31
I still have my Foxfire 3. Great reading.
mike gregory - Posted - 11/18/2010: 05:57:27
quote:
Originally posted by MountainBanjo
quote:
Originally posted by mike gregory
I should like post #22,222 to be some sort of Significant Message.
If having 22, 020 posts hasn't sent you a significant message I seriously doubt that 22,222 will.
Umm, you mean like, anybody with 0ver 20,000 posts should be getting a message[i]
from the number itself?
That message would probably be something significant, but simple, like
"Turn
off the computer
Clean
up your house
Disclutter the garage
Arrange the workshop so you can find stuff
where it belongs, instead of
under other stuff
Walk around the neighborhood and interact with people in the Real World."
Thanks for the reminder. It was a good thing to do.
Ronnie - Posted - 11/18/2010: 07:02:57
I have most of the Foxfire collection boxed in the attic. I should get them down.
MountainBanjo - Posted - 11/18/2010: 07:05:49
I just saved you almost 200 posts. I've got some garage/house/life cleaning to do myself
Incidentally and on topic, to partially answer another thread, I think FF 3 may be part of the reason I play banjo. I got the book when I was in my late teens, and though I didn't start playing or build a mountain banjo for over 20 years I think it was smoldering somewhere all those years.
mainejohn - Posted - 11/18/2010: 07:27:35
I hadn't looked at my Foxfire books until you mentioned them, then noticed they're sitting on my bookshelf two feet from my computer. Good stuff on banjo starting on P. 121, Foxfire 3. FWIW, the New England counterpart to Foxfire is the "Salt Book," with great stuff on maple sugaring, lobstering, making snowshoes, rum running, lighthouses, and how to not be friendly to people from "away." (just kidding about the last part)
rfculbertson - Posted - 11/18/2010: 07:57:05
After reading this I liberated my folks copies of Firefox 1 & 3 (it is all they had). Than banjo section in 3 is amazing & 1 has a great section on moonshining.
Hmmmm... what should I do this weekend?
Kenneth Logsdon - Posted - 11/18/2010: 09:19:12
One of the best things to come out of the sixties... I have them all,of course.. They represent a treasure lode, of old time ways, the way life was and the skills needed to live!
Sadly in a way, I would say that the most of the contributors have pasted on now and just think of the additional knowledge that has been lost and not recorded..
Their not a "gimmick" book for sales and have nothing to do with the "hippie" movement.. Just a simple recording of the "way things used to be done"..
When the bubble busts, their gonna be worth more than their weigh in gold for survial!!
rudy - Posted - 11/18/2010: 14:15:05
Good stuff in the Foxfire series.
If you're specifically interested in the mountain banjo construction stuff you may be interested in my Proffitt-style banjo making information here:
bluestemstrings.com/pageFPMB1.html
Helix - Posted - 11/19/2010: 05:56:24
David Pickett's maple block rim is featured.
"When we got there, I am no liar,
There was the firefly and the foxfire.
Out in the water, it ain't no shuck
An otter swimmin circles 'round a cute little duck.
mtnpckr - Posted - 11/19/2010: 11:25:09
In "flipping " through channels this week, I ran across movie "Foxfire" with Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn on Hallmark channel. Unfortunately it was almost over so I guess I'll catch it later this month.
Still, although I've lived in Appalachia since '81, its the first I've heard of Foxfire series. And NO I wasn't doing drugs in the 60's.
Don Borchelt - Posted - 11/19/2010: 18:57:53
I didn't inhale.
