What a totally wonderful experience! I was excited myself to see you mention the Firefox students. I didn't know they were still a group. Andrew Wiggonton started this group at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School in GA. In 1975 they published their first books about Appalachian life and I purchased the set of 6 books, which should be on the shelf of every prepper who hopes to know how to continue to live in a world that has no modern conveniences. Using these books you can know what wild plants are safe to eat, build a log cabin, make a wagon, or spin your own cloth. They are also rich in insights and personal history and stories of the Appalachian people.
Barbara, I'm not sure they're still an active group, but I drive by the Rabun Gap Nacoochee school quite often and think of them. I just got my Mom's set of Foxfire books and can't wait to look through them - I remember flipping through as a child, fascinated by the old stories. Now I hike up in the hills around that area, so I'm hopeful I'll recognize some of the spots and maybe be able to write about some of it - old-growth forest areas, for instance. There's a Foxfire museum nearby that I haven't visited but would like to. As a teacher, I read Wigginton's "Sometimes a Shining Moment" and was inspired, but later was really saddened to hear all the negative press about him. It put a tarnish on the overall Foxfire project with the kids and distracted from the amazing work they did. I'm glad you enjoyed this issue - hopefully I'll get to see some actual foxfire fungus at some point!
Heather! This is magical, and I learned so much! I was just talking with a friend about how we both grew up calling them "lightning bugs." She's from Maryland and I'm from Ohio, so according to the purple and orange map of the country, we're right on target. How interesting that younger generations are using "fireflies" more frequently!
Thank you - I'm glad you enjoyed it! I wondered about whether the younger generation is using "fireflies" more because we're so surrounded by information via the internet now, and popular articles seem to tend to use that term more. Almost all the articles I referenced when writing this issue called them fireflies. But I've been fooled more than once, thinking their flashes in my window are far-off lightning -- I prefer the term lightning bugs!
Although we have no fireflies, sadly, we do have glowing fly larvae, and they aren't uncommon. When you make it to New Zealand, you must visit the glow worm caves where the rooves of the caves are covered in the fly larvae. But they can also be found on damp banks in the forest.
I saw pictures of the caves as I was researching this issue and they look absolutely magical. There weren't nearly as many larva on our hike recently - the most we saw was one small hillside with about 20 spots of light. New Zealand is on my bucket list for sure...
Also, this site shows the range of fireflies (and discusses their endangerment) and shows you don't have many species up your way, but you do have a few. Perhaps only in particular, special areas?
What a totally wonderful experience! I was excited myself to see you mention the Firefox students. I didn't know they were still a group. Andrew Wiggonton started this group at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School in GA. In 1975 they published their first books about Appalachian life and I purchased the set of 6 books, which should be on the shelf of every prepper who hopes to know how to continue to live in a world that has no modern conveniences. Using these books you can know what wild plants are safe to eat, build a log cabin, make a wagon, or spin your own cloth. They are also rich in insights and personal history and stories of the Appalachian people.
Barbara, I'm not sure they're still an active group, but I drive by the Rabun Gap Nacoochee school quite often and think of them. I just got my Mom's set of Foxfire books and can't wait to look through them - I remember flipping through as a child, fascinated by the old stories. Now I hike up in the hills around that area, so I'm hopeful I'll recognize some of the spots and maybe be able to write about some of it - old-growth forest areas, for instance. There's a Foxfire museum nearby that I haven't visited but would like to. As a teacher, I read Wigginton's "Sometimes a Shining Moment" and was inspired, but later was really saddened to hear all the negative press about him. It put a tarnish on the overall Foxfire project with the kids and distracted from the amazing work they did. I'm glad you enjoyed this issue - hopefully I'll get to see some actual foxfire fungus at some point!
Heather! This is magical, and I learned so much! I was just talking with a friend about how we both grew up calling them "lightning bugs." She's from Maryland and I'm from Ohio, so according to the purple and orange map of the country, we're right on target. How interesting that younger generations are using "fireflies" more frequently!
Thank you - I'm glad you enjoyed it! I wondered about whether the younger generation is using "fireflies" more because we're so surrounded by information via the internet now, and popular articles seem to tend to use that term more. Almost all the articles I referenced when writing this issue called them fireflies. But I've been fooled more than once, thinking their flashes in my window are far-off lightning -- I prefer the term lightning bugs!
Although we have no fireflies, sadly, we do have glowing fly larvae, and they aren't uncommon. When you make it to New Zealand, you must visit the glow worm caves where the rooves of the caves are covered in the fly larvae. But they can also be found on damp banks in the forest.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/glow-worms/page-1
I saw pictures of the caves as I was researching this issue and they look absolutely magical. There weren't nearly as many larva on our hike recently - the most we saw was one small hillside with about 20 spots of light. New Zealand is on my bucket list for sure...
Great post. I also went and read your waterfall piece and restacked it. Thanks for the info and inspiration!
Thanks, Lisa! I was pretty excited to find out the positive benefits of waterfalls - I've enjoyed them even more whenever I visit them now!
I loved this! Thanks. Fireflies are a treat and we don't have them in coastal Oregon that I'm aware of. Your experience sounds magical!
It was magical! Thank you for restacking :-)
Also, this site shows the range of fireflies (and discusses their endangerment) and shows you don't have many species up your way, but you do have a few. Perhaps only in particular, special areas?
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2023/06/02/firefly-lightning-bug-extinction-explained/70257108007/
Thanks for that. Boy, I'd love to get ahold of some larva and introduce more! of course, those ideas seldom work well IRL...