Scott Persons, Author of American Ginseng Green Gold, Explains Why He Wanted Other Herbs Covered in the New Book

The other day an older man who has been a 'sang hunter and grower for over forty years asked me why Scott Persons would want to change what he considered to be the most perfect book on growing ginseng that ever existed as he held his well-worn copy of American Ginseng: Green Gold. He was referring to the book that Scott and I coauthored together. I was a little offended until I asked him if he had read the newer book. He said no, you can't improve on perfect so he had no intention of reading the newer book.

Scott Persons is a beloved authority on growing ginseng, speaking and consulting on the topic around the world. He is a humble, soft-spoken man who has earned the respect and affection of many people in the ginseng trade. His book, American Ginseng: Green Gold, is often referred to as the bible on the topic. So why did he team up with a co-author to write a second book? I did a post on a similar topic this past summer, but here Scott explains it himself in Preface I of the first version of Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals:

 “When I realized that my old book, American Ginseng: Green Gold, was rapidly becoming outdated and that a new book was needed, I thought that many of my potential readers would be interested in practical, detailed information and instruction on growing other valuable native woodland medicinal herbs-other species of green gold-as well as ginseng. I asked Dr. Jeanine Davis to be a co-author and cover the additional material. Dr. Davis and I have interacted professionally for many years. I grow American ginseng and a little goldenseal on wooded hillsides in western North Carolina at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountians. Dr. Davis is a professor at North Carolina State University’s Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center, where she conducts research on a wide variety of native woodland botanicals. Dr. Davis works only about an hour’s drive northeast of me, and we often share information, and sometimes we find ourselves speaking at the same conferences-I on woodland ginseng production and she on the cultivation of goldenseal, ramps, and other native herbs. Our approaches to small-scale farming and our advice to prospective growers are similar and compatible.

                There is a great deal of material available, both in print and on the Internet that discusees growing woodland botanicals. Some of the information is excellent, but a significant chunk is partial disinformation. It is often not based on sound research-or even on more than one grower’s experience-and profitability is not forthrighthly assessed. Cultivating native woodland medicinal herbs in a sustainable manner is often advocated primarily as an enjoyable, even noble, activity. Of course, it is a noble and enjoyable activity (or it can be), but Dr. Davis and I have a more hard-core point of view: We are interested in using best management practices and in turning a profit.”

That quote is from the 2005 version of our book. We completely revised and updated the book in 2014. You can purchase it at local independent bookstores and all the major on-line booksellers. It is available in paperback and as an ebook.

Special Collection of Woodland Medicinal Seeds!

My friends at Garden Medicinals and Culinaries in Virginia are offering a special collection of three full-sized packets of black cohosh, ginseng, and wild yam seeds. This is perfect for the beginning woodland medicinal herb grower. Wrap it up with an author signed copy of my book (see right sidebar) and you have a great holiday gift for the gardener and herb enthusiast. Because these are moist living seeds, they will be shipped in the spring just in time for planting.

50% OFF Book Sale-All Books by My Favorite Publisher!!

                               Photo from the New Society website
New Society Publishers is offering 50% off ALL their books through December 12, 2014. New Society is my publisher and I chose them because they represent my values and publish on topics I am interested in. They have great books on farming, gardening, green building, energy, food, health, sustainable living, sustainable communities, and finances. And of course, you can order my book through them. Check them out at New Society Publishers.

Choosing Plants for Your Woodland Botanical Garden-Are You a Purist?

When we talk about shade medicinal herb gardens, I find there are two distinct groups of gardeners: those who will only use native medicinal plants and those who like to "mix it up a bit". As I wrote in the new home garden section of my book Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals (you can order it by clicking on one of the "Add to Cart" buttons on the right sidebar of this blog) "As you make your shade garden plans, consider what kind of plants you want in it. Do you want to grow only native plants? Do you want mostly native plants with some exotics thrown in for color and interest? Do you want to plant only medicinal plants? What about designing a garden of medicinal and edible plants? Are you trying to create a particular garden that will need some specific trees and plants, such as Spanish moss hanging from tree limbs for a Southern garden ambiance? Don't take this all too seriously. Have fun. Collect plants from friends, festivals, and herbalists. If a plant is not a medicinal herb but you really like it, so what? Put it in your garden. And don't be afraid to make mistakes. You can always move plants!" 

Further along in that chapter, there are cautions about introducing invasive plants or potentially toxic plants, but I go on to describe a large number of medicinal herbs, vines, shrubs, small trees, big trees, ferns, berries, mosses, and non-medicinal plants to consider. The bottom line is this is your garden. You can make it whatever you want it to be. If you want it to look like a botanical garden with metal identification tags with common and scientific names in front of every plant, go for it. If you want it to be a whimsical fairy land with beautiful medicinal, edible, and decorative plants with gazing globes, a small waterfall, and wind chimes included, I love those, too. Gardening should bring us pleasure and make us smile-embrace it, have fun, and remember to share your pictures!

Growing Woodland Medicinals in the Home Garden

The 2014 revision of my book "Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal, and Other Woodland Medicinals" has a whole new section devoted to home gardeners. Gardeners have always found the book useful for learning how to grow and propagate these beautiful native plants, but the new section provides detailed information on how to design the garden, choose the best plants, and make use of what you grow. What a great gift for the gardener in your family! Here is a short excerpt from the beginning of that section:

"When I first moved to western North Carolina to take my position with North Carolina State University, we lived in a little house nestled in the woods on an oversized lot in a small neighborhood. For ten years we tried to grow vegetables in a small clearing near the house without much success, but we also planted native medicinal herbs and ornamentals throughout the woods, and they flourished. Over the years we built walking paths through the woods and created habitat for different kinds of plants. There was an area under the dogwoods near the “forest edge” planted with galax and shortia. Behind it grew a patch of mayapple that quadrupled in size while we lived there. We planted bloodroot, ginseng, goldenseal, wild ginger, blue cohosh, ramps, sassafras (Sassafras albidum), and Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum). And I will never forget the excitement I felt when we discovered two pink lady’s slippers (Cypripedium acaule) growing in a corner of the lot far from our paths. We carefully guarded that area and watched for them to emerge each year.

My objective with this section is to help others create woodland medicinal herb gardens to enjoy with their families like we did. Woodland gardens fit well into busy lives, too. When properly established they will take care of themselves for the most part. Weeding is minimal and watering is usually only required in a drought. I have fond memories of walking the garden trails with my children looking for what had emerged or bloomed since we had last been through. My daughter, as young as four years old, always looked forward to finding the first “little brown jug” on the wild ginger plants each spring.

Keeping with the design of the previous two sections of the book I visited and interviewed six amazing gardeners. What a joy it was to spend a few hours with each of them. And then I was delighted when Scott said he wanted to add a chapter for growing ginseng in the home garden, too."

Where to Buy Seeds and Plants to Grow Your Own Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Botanicals

The interest in growing ginseng, goldenseal, black cohosh, bloodroot, and ramps is greater than ever. I receive dozens of inquiries each week at work about them. Common questions this week have been "Where can I buy ginseng seeds?", "Who sells goldenseal rhizomes?", "Where can I buy shade cloth?", and "Where can I buy a root washer?" Because Scott Persons and I get so many of those questions, we put extnesive (although not exhaustive) resource lists in our book "Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals". All of those listed are companies we have done business with or know personally.

Fall is a good time to plant and its not too late to get many of these plants and seeds into the ground. Just think, come spring you will have some of your own woodland medicinals growing!

If you are serious about growing woodland medicinal herbs, whether for a business or your own personal enjoyment, this is the book to have. Written by two well-know authorities, the book is chock full of information and hundreds of pictures on how to grow ginseng, goldenseal, ramps, black cohosh, and many other native herbs.

How to Get a Copy of the Book: We suggest you order the book through the publisher, New Society Publishers, or your favorite local book store; that way the authors can receive their full royalties. It is available in bookstores where native plant gardening is popular. You can order the book through all the big on-line discount book sellers. Many sellers offer the book on Ebay. The book is also available as an ebook through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, New Society Publishers, and elsewhere.

The book is a high-quality soft cover book with 508 pages. It has a center color photo section and black and white photos throughout. Here is detailed information about the book and a link to the table of contents.

A Very Early Snowfall at Our Tiny Farm

This is a photo from our farm on November 1. Beautiful, but I don't remember ever getting this much snow this early before. We had about three inches on the ground.

Forecasts are for a very snowy, icey, and cold winter. Fortunately, it was a good hay season and we were able to purchase and put up a big supply of high quality horse hay at a good price. Our final delivery of firewood arrives on Friday and the roundbales of hay for the cattle will arrive this weekend. The garlic is planted and mulched. There are lots of potatoes and squash in the cellar. I think we are in good shape!

The only problem is that little Chester REALLY does not like to walk in the snow.

Last Chance to Buy Our 2014 Garlic

It was a great year for growing garlic in the southern mountains of North Carolina. We've sold what we wanted to locally, have choice bulbs set aside for planting next year's crop, and have little baskets full for use by ourselves, family, and friends. So what you see above is all we have left to sell now!

People are telling me that locally grown planting and eating garlic is in short supply. Everyone is sold out. So tonight, I quickly put together some 3.75 to 4 lb packages of garlic and put them on Ebay for sale.

Here are direct links to the Ebay listings if you are interested: 
German White-SOLD OUT!

Spanish Roja-SOLD OUT!

Elephant Garlic-SOLD OUT!

Manure is Worth its Weight in Gold. Want Some?

Even with the best manure management plans, on a little farm like ours sometimes you just have to get out there with a fork and wheelbarrow and pick the stuff up. But that "stuff" is worth its weight in gold to farmers and gardeners in the know. It can turn poor soil into rich, fertile, friable, fragrant, good gardening soilwithin a year or two. You will see a noticeable difference the first year you use it. We incorporate manure into all of our vegetable, herb, and flower gardens and feel blessed to have an endless supply at our disposal.

In my opinion, manure has gotten a bad rap in recent years. All the concerns about food safety have driven many gardeners and some organic farmers away from using manures. Following some simple guidelines, manures can be used safely and can be most beneficial to your growing efforts. And think about it, if we don't return animal manure to the soil where it belongs, what the heck are we going to do with all that we generate?

At the present time, we are not composting our manure, so we follow the federal National Organic Program rules for using manure in growing our food and flowers: "The NOP regulations require that uncomposted animal manures be applied at least 90 days prior to harvest for crops whose edible portions do not come in contact with the soil and at least 120 days prior to harvest of crops whose edible portions do come in contact with the soil." We feel very comfortable following these rules because we generate all the manure here on our own farm and we know what our animals eat. Our animals live on grass pasture most of the year. Our one senior horse is fed some additional grain because he can no longer eat enough grass and hay to keep his weight up. But his grains contain no antibiotics or hormones. The hay we purchase for winter feed comes from local farms. We know the farmers and we always ask what herbicides they use so we can avoid persistent herbicides that could carry over into the manure.

Most of us who have been farming and gardening for a lot time know how to handle manure and composted manure products. If you are a new gardener, please remember you are handling 'poop'. So you should wear gloves, cover any wounds on your hands, wash your hands when you are done, and keep your dirty hands out of your mouth. Follow these simple rules and you should be able to safely use manures for growing your food as many, many generations of people have done before us.

So, do you want some? For the first time this year we have more manure than we can use. If you would like some, FOR FREE, and you are within an easy drive of Etowah, NC, just use the contact form on the right to let me know and we will make arrangements for you to get some. This is a good time of year to apply it.

Celebrating Our Artist-Shannon Davis

Our daughter is an artist who is officially launching her career this fall. What a great time to buy beautiful original prints, ceramics, and paintings for holiday gifts. Young artists charge very reasonable prices as they start their careers. So you can support an emerging artist and get a great deal in the process. That's when I like to purchase their art! You can also visit her website: Shannonmade.com.

This weekend, she is selling some of her work at the Blue Ridge Community College booth in front of the old courthouse at the Art on Main event in downtown Herndersonville, NC. These photos are from that event.

Our mini-donkeys (Smile)

I was out visiting the donkeys tonight. The light was lovely so I tried to take some photos. As usual, I got about a dozen super close-ups of donkey ears, donkey eyes, and a horse nose. Every time I pull out the phone to take a photo lately, they walk up to see what I'm doing. I did, however, get this interesting one with a horse head shadow on Meadow.

You may recall the problem we had last winter with the donkeys chewing on the barn. They really did a lot of damage. For any of you considering getting mini-donkeys, this is a common "bad habit" they have. Anyway, we repaired all the damage they did on the outside of the barn and then stapled up chicken wire to try to prevent them from doing it again. We will spray paint right over it all. Hope it works!

While I have your attention, note that we have three specials going right now with two other businesses. Click the tabs above to learn more about the offers of a copy of the book Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Medicinals with either 2 ounces of ginseng seed, 25 one-year old ginseng rootlets, or 10 goldenseal rhizomes.

Did you see the special deals on goldenseal rhizomes and ginseng rootlets that we are offering?

Johnny Crisson is a North Georgia medicinal herb grower who has been attending our workshops and conferences for years. This is his first year selling ginseng rootlets and goldenseal rhizomes. I am excited for him and his new business and he always says what a great resource our book Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal, and Other Woodland Medicinals is. So, we have teamed up together to offer special deals on ginseng rootlets + a book or goldenseal rhizomes + a book.

Quick update on Our Tiny Farm

I have been focused on promoting my new book the past few months and have neglected providing photos and words about the farm. So here is a quick update. First, someone asked for a better picture of the horse we are boarding right now. So here is a picture of Teddy. He is a real sweetheart and gets along beautifully with all our animals. I hope he is here to stay for awhile!

 

I always feel an immense sense of relief when we get the hay put up for the winter. Last year the hay was awful; we had to do a lot of supplemental feeding to keep the weight on the animals, and we didn't do that well for the older horse. So it is wonderful to have good quality hay stacked up and ready to go.

The little donkeys definitely approve of the hay we purchased for the winter. Within an hour there wasn't a scrap to be found. Even with a pasture full of green grass, the donkeys prefer hay.

 

One of you asked for a close-up of Chester, so here you go. He is an adorable chocolate mini-donkey with a kinked little tail, a pot belly, and the biggest most expressive brown eyes I have ever seen. You can't help but to give this little guy a hug...which he likes very much.

Another one of you asked for a picture of the portable shelter we have for our steers. So here it is. As you can see, it is on skids. On the other end, there is a strap that we hook right up to the tractor and tow the shelter wherever we want it. The steers use it all the time all year long.

This was just a pretty day on the farm this summer so I took a shot of the barn with the mountains in the background. We are so blessed to live in this beautiful area.

Poppy settled into this giant mixing bowl on the computer hutch (it has been there for years, she just discovered it). It is now one of her favorite places to sleep. Cute.

These are beautiful sirloin roasts from our pasture raised Black Angus cattle. After a long slow roast in the oven, they made for a number of delicious meals.

One of the great delights of living on a small farm is all the fresh food on hand to create tasty meals, like this one.

Special Offer: Ginseng Rootlets & Our Ginseng Growing Book for 36% Off

High Valley Ginseng & Herb and Our Tiny Farm have come together to make you a special offer of  25 ginseng rootlets AND a copy of the new book Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal & Other Woodland Botanicals for $60.25. That includes priority mail shipping and is 36% off our regular website prices if you bought the book and roots individually. The book will be signed and dated by the lead author, Jeanine Davis.

To learn more about High Valley Ginseng & Herb Company, check out their Facebook page or Website. They are offering one year old ginseng rootlets as shown above. They also have some two year old rootlets available. If you are interested in the two year olds, please indicate in the note section of the Paypal form if you want all or some of those in your order. As long as they are available, they will be shipped to you, otherwise, you will get one year olds.

The rootlets and book will be shipped separately from each business by priority mail. High Valley suggests you have the plants delivered to where you can be sure to pick them up right away so they don't lose quality from staying in the packaging too long. The book will be shipped in a padded envelope.

Each company retains responsibility for their own products and any questions or concerns should be directed to the relevant company.

This is a limited time offer and will be discontinued when High Valley Ginseng & Herb informs me that they can no longer ship roots.

Last Day of the Ginseng Fever Book Sale! Learn How to Grow Your Own Ginseng

The special offer is:

Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal 

and Other Woodland Medicinals book

Revised 2nd Edition by Jeanine Davis and Scott Persons

$39.00 (plus tax for NC addresses) 

includes free shipping: 2nd Day Priority Mail (padded envelope).

The first ten copies sold will be SIGNED BY BOTH AUTHORS*.

  Once those are sold, copies with the lead author signature only will be shipped.

THIS OFFER IS ONLY GOOD THROUGH MIDNIGHT ON SEPTEMBER 6.

TO ORDER, SELECT THE GINSENG SEASON SALE BUTTON ON THE RIGHT

*As soon as the ten copies with both signatures are sold I will post it at the top of this page. But if a bunch of orders come in at once, I will process them in the order they arrive. If you purchase this special, you do so with the understanding that the copy you order might only have one signature.

 

Ginseng Season Book Sale: Our New Book on How to Grow Ginseng & Other Valuable Herbs-Signed by Both Authors

 

Seems like everyone has ginseng fever right now! The wild-harvest season opens on September 1st and if everyone who says they are going to hunt ginseng actually does it, there won't be any left for next year! So, please, only dig the big ones. Leave the young ones to grow, set fruit, and scatter seed. And then consider growing your own wild-simulated ginseng. It will take some time, but you can grow wild-simulated that looks just like wild.

To encourage those of you who might never have thought of growing it before, I am offering a limited time Ginseng Season Offer on our newly revised book. My coauthor, Scott Persons, is the undisputed authority on growing wild-simulated ginseng. The first 178 pages of this book are devoted to ginseng. All about its history, use, trade, and cultivation. There are plenty of resources included to help you find seed, buyers, equipment, and consultants. The rest of the 508 pages of this book are mine and devoted to growing thirteen other woodland herbs that are bought and sold about this time of year. Ramps and galax are included, too.

The special offer is:

$39.00 (plus tax for NC addresses) 

includes free shipping: 2nd Day Priority Mail (padded envelope).

The first ten copies sold will be SIGNED BY BOTH AUTHORS*.

  Once those are sold, copies with the lead author signature only will be shipped.

THIS OFFER IS ONLY GOOD THROUGH MIDNIGHT ON SEPTEMBER 6.

TO ORDER, SELECT THE GINSENG SEASON SALE BUTTON ON THE RIGHT

*As soon as the ten copies with both signatures are sold I will post it at the top of this page. But if a bunch of orders come in at once, I will process them in the order they arrive. If you purchase this special, you do so with the understanding that the copy you order might only have one signature.

Both Scott and I are frequent speakers at ginseng and herb events around the country, so if you are not the recipient of a two-signature book, there will be many opportunities to gather the second signature at another time.

My Daughter is a Mural Artist!

Okay, I just have to brag a little bit. My daughter, Shannon Davis, is an artist trying to figure out how to make a living from her craft. She surprised me this summer when she told me she was contracted to do a mural for Tire Country of Hendersonville. I didn't know she knew how to do murals! With her experience working on set designs for school plays, some advice from my cousin who is a mural artist, and lots of natural talent, look what she accomplished! If you are interested in talking to her about a job, please use the contact form to the right. She doesn't have her website up and running yet.

Okay. Proud momma brag is over.

Do I Ever Speak in the Piedmont of North Carolina?

Several people asked me this week if I ever come down out of the mountains and give presentations or workshops in the piedmont region of North Carolina. Well, of course I do! Actually, I will be in Winston-Salem next Thursday at the Piedmont Farm School Summit giving a hour and a half presentation in the morning on Hops, Herbs, and More. It is a fun presentation! To get more information and register for the Summit go to the EventBrite Registration Page. This event is put on by the Cooperative Extension Service.

In September I will be speaking at Duke Gardens in Durham; an evening lecture and a day long workshop. Details and registration information for those events can be found on my speaking engagements page (see tab at top of this page).

If you would like me to come speak in your area, just contact me and we will see what we can arrange. I speak on a wide range of topics and really enjoy offering hands-on workshops. Popular presentations right now are growing woodland medicinals, growing stevia-the natural sweetener, growing and using luffa sponge gourds, growing hops for fun or profit, growing heirloom tomatoes, and growing garlic. These presentations can be combined with hands-on workshops to propagate herbs, make dream pillows, make herbal tea packages, make luffa soap, or make stevia sweetened chocolate. Small-group discussion sessions are also of interest to some groups with the most popular topics being starting a small homestead and how did you get that job: doing something that is meaningful to you. Depending on the circumstances, I will be representing NC State University or Our Tiny Farm. It just depends.

Don't let the mini-donkeys get bored

Little Man, our old Tennessee Walker, this spring.

We have had an interesting time with our mini-donkeys in recent weeks. As I've explained before, these little ones want daily attention and affection and love to be played with and talked to. I was gone from the farm for eight days attending conferences in Valle Crucis, NC and Orlando, FL. My family take very good care of all the animals when I am gone, but they don't always have the time or inclination to inteact with the mini-donkeys the way I do. One morning it was raining hard and was just down right unpleasant outside. We went out to quickly feed our old horse (he can't get by on just grass anymmore). We did not give the donkeys much affection and we could tell they weren't happy about it. Well, several hours later my daughter's boyfriend looked out the window and asked "What happened to Little Man's tail?". Apparently, the mini-donkeys had been bored and frustrated and trimmed the horse's tail!

Little Man after the mini-donkeys dined on his tail!

Thank goodness they didn't eat the tail of the horse we board! So now I am very concerned that the donkeys get adequate attention daily and have many toys in the pasture to play with. I have also treated both horses' tails with Dawn dish soap (recommended by our vet) and may put some "No-Chew" on the boarding horse's tail. As you can see, it is always something new to keep us on our toes at Our Tiny Farm.

Meadow and Chester playing with the big Jolly Ball.

Chester and Meadow with their new mini-Jolly Ball.

Rainy Afternoon in the Kitchen on Our Tiny Farm

This time of year it can be difficult to find time to spend in the kitchen, but it is a rainy afternoon and I am working on on the computer trying to sell my book (spent too much time on that baby not to make at least a little money from it!), so it is a good time to make some Our Tiny Farm staples. First I got a batch of yogurt fermenting. My dear daughter eats my fresh yogurt every day. This evening I'll start a batch of Greek yogurt, too.

Commercial gluten-free bread is just too expensive to always have on hand, so I started a loaf of mine own using Pamela's Baking mix that I buy in bulk. Looking forward to smelling it baking.

We dug some potatoes the other day, so for dinner I'm planning to make a Spanish Tortilla with them and some fresh green onions. Last night hubby made a wonderful stew using our own pasture raised beef and potatoes. It was heavenly. Few things better than cooking wholesome food for your family using fresh ingredients that you raised yourself. We are so blessed.

 

And this is what that Spanish Tortilla looked like. It is potatoes, onions, and sweet banana peppers sauted in oil and cooked covered until the potatoes are tender. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Then topped with eight beaten eggs and cooked covered until the eggs are set. Served with sour cream and salsa.