By Reddit user "OldStuffThrowaway"
“My grandmother was born in 1914 or 1916 (I don’t remember exactly) and lived for 90 or 92 years in her secluded home on the edge of a forest in the South Appalachian region (USA). Until the very end, she was vigorous and worked in the garden and around the house, until a stroke killed her. She was also a Christian and went to church every Sunday. Her house was on the leeward side of the mountain.
1) Grandma buried various types of metals in the four corners of her property. I don't remember exactly, but it seems it was iron, copper, gold and silver. The directions were North-iron, South-copper, gold-East, West-silver.
2) She loved trees, but did not allow trees to grow within 10 inches of her plot. When I asked her why, she said "I love trees, but I don't want to let the forest into my yard."
3) She laid paths of salt along the path to her house and at the gate of the fence, as well as along the entire fence around the house.
4) Regarding this fence. She always kept a strong fence around her house in good condition. When I asked what the problem was, she said, "Good fences give good neighbors." At the same time, there were no neighbors next to her for hundreds of yards around.
5) Once I played and made pyramids out of stones. She saw, came up and destroyed everything, and then she said, “Never put three stones together. And if you see stacked stones in the forest, don't touch them."
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6) She told me never to be in the shadow of a mountain during the "blue hour" at sunset, except in special places. Her courtyard and garden was one such place.
7) She told me that if I feel uncomfortable in the forest during the day, then I should stand still and say “I will walk here and this is my right”. About night walks in the woods, she said that it was a great nonsense.
8) She said that you should not wear too bright clothes in the forest, because “creatures can see you as other people see”. At the same time, she said that camouflage clothes should not be worn in the forest either, since “you are not a tree and you will not fool anyone”. She herself wore an old women's blouse in floral prints while hiking in the woods and this clothing was acceptable.
9) She said that you can pick berries that grow on the edges and in the sunlight. But you should never pick berries growing in the thicket.
10) She said that if I see white baneberries (raven berries or wolf berries), then you can not not only eat them, but even walk past them. Instead, it is necessary, without turning (backwards), to go back a few steps, and then turn around and leave this place as quickly as possible. I have not received an explanation of why this should be done.
11) She said that if you walk along the shore of flowing water, sometimes you have to move away from the water and go into the forest for several meters. This is necessary to "stay on the path". I didn't quite understand what this means.
12) If she found a ring of mushrooms on her site, she lit a smoky fire in its center.
13) She always kept clean around her site, not allowing any plants other than ordinary grass to grow there. If a grape plant allowed a vine on her site, she mercilessly burned it with fire.
14) Even though it all sounds like my grandmother was at war with nature or something like that, she was an excellent gardener and grew vegetables in her garden in large quantities. I have never seen anything like this on anyone else. In one year, six of her tomato bushes gave a huge crop of tomatoes. And when I tried to grow tomatoes, I was barely lucky to get three from three bushes.
I do not know what the unusual customs or superstitions of my grandmother were connected with or where they came from. She was not Indian, she was not a witch (in any case, I do not know anything about it), did not worship druids. She just had very strong rules and told me them on occasion. And I have always followed them."