Planting Season-Time to Buy the Book!

 

It's time to plant! I 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.

Demand is High for Our Book on Growing Ginseng, Goldenseal and More!

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.

 

Ginseng Book Available in Time for the Planting Season

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.

 

Our Tiny Farm is Going Through a Transition

I apologize for not posting anything since last January. It has been a busy year for us on Our Tiny Farm. We did a major remodeling of our house, which you all know causes all kinds of disruptions in a family.

We are also in the process of changing what we produce on Our Tiny Farm. In the past we have raised beef cattle, chickens, horses, donkeys, bees, garlic, popcorn, vegetables, and herbs. With the kids grown and gone (or mostly so), wanting time for other activities, and just wanting to try different things on the farm, we have downsized what we do.

Presently, we do not have any beef cattle or chickens on the farm and aren't sure if we will raise anymore. We are also not raising horses right now either.

We are still raising garlic and bees. The garlic is curing and we have hives full of honey.

We are only raising vegetables and herbs for our own family needs.

We are providing a temporary home for some donkeys. These were rescues and we are teaching the owners how to be good donkey parents. Meet Faith (the jenny) and Hope (her baby). This is a good fit for our farm.

Glen will continue to consult with folks interested in leading a lifestyle like we do.

And I will continue to teach at workshops and conferences, and consult out of state. I will also try to keep our website more up to date!! And of course, the book is available:

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

How Scott Persons, Wild-Simulated Ginseng Expert, and I Became Co-authors

Scott Persons is known around the world as THE expert on growing ginseng in the woods. His book, American Ginseng Green Gold is a classic book on the topic.

Scott was good friends with my predecessor in my faculty position at NC State University. That is Dr. Tom Konsler. Tom did research on growing ginseng and some of that work is highlighted in the book. Tom retired in 1987 and I took over his position in 1988. I picked up research and extension responsibilities for ginseng and added other herbs, both medicinal and culinary. Scott and I became acquainted and were on several educational programs together. When it came time for him to revise the book, he asked me to read it over and help edit it. When it came time to revise the book again, he suggested to his publisher, Bright Mountain Books, that they change the format somewhat and include other woodland herbs. Scott approached me about doing that and our book, Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal, and Other Woodland Botanicals, was born.

I will always be grateful to Scott for inviting me to coauthor that book with him. What an opportunity it was for a first time author! He helped me make the transition from being a technical writer to a more personal one fairly easy. The folks at Bright Mountain Books were also incredibly helpful.  After that book was published, it too quickly developed a reputation for being the go-to authorative source for information on growing the most popular forest botanicals used in the medicinal herb industry.

When it came time to revise that book, we had some big decisions to make. Our publisher was retiring and shutting down her business. So we began the search for a new publisher. I was also interested in expanding the book to serve the growing home gardener interest in woodland botanicals. I started approaching publishers that I thought might be interested in our book and was very excited when New Society Publishers in British Columbia said they wanted it. I LOVE their books and their philosophy; they are all about sustainable, green living. What a great fit! And so, the revised, updated expanded version of Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal, and Other Woodland Medicinals was created.

Working with New Society Publishers has been a delight. They have a great team of people to help authors through the long and complicated process of writing, editing, and marketing a book. And they make it fun. So, the book is just out now and Scott and I are both very proud of it. The book is beautiful, the format is easy to read, and it feels good in your hands. It is a big book, over 500 pages, chock full of iniformation on how to grow, harvest, dry, sell, and enjoy these wonderful plants. So, if this topic is of interest to you, pick up a book. You can order one signed by me, Jeanine Davis, right here on this blog. You can order one signed by Scott Persons by contacting him at Tuckasegee Valley Ginseng, P.O. Box 236, Tuckasegee, NC 28783, (828) 293-5189. Some of your local, independent booksellers will carry it, and they all can order it for you. And the big online discount booksellers carry it, too. The suggested retail price for the book is $39.95, but it is available for a WIDE range of prices already. Hope you enjoy it!

My New Book on Ginseng and Goldenseal is Hot Off the Press!

I got so excited when two copies of my new book arrived this morning that I took my first "'selfie" (ever) and just had to share. This has been a long time coming and represents hundreds of hours interviewing, writing, revising, and editing. Writing a book is a labor of love and its almost like holding a new baby when you finally get to pick it up, smell it, and flip through the pages. It is not yet available in stores, so you can still preorder it through the publisher, your local bookstore, or the "big guys" (Amazon and Walmart).

Here's a little about it:

The sudden popularity in wild-harvesting ginseng has increased interest in how to find, grow, and profit from native woodland botanicals. Whereas widespread harvesting of these native plants from our forests can threaten their very existence, the authors of this book promote conservation through cultivation. While there is a great deal of material available -- both in print and on the internet -- that discusses growing ginseng and other woodland botanicals, almost none of it forthrightly assesses profitability and the challenges that may be encountered trying to produce and sell these plants. Forest landowners, if they follow this book and use patience and common sense, can grow many of these native medicinals profitably while preserving and even enhancing their woodlands.

Aspiring herb growers are often attracted first to American ginseng, because it is the most valuable medicinal botanical and because it has a broad, well-established market, which has persisted for over 275 years. Indeed, in the southern part of its range, ginseng has long been referred to as “green gold.” The first half of this book is devoted entirely to this one native plant. An individual can cultivate a forest garden of this fascinating and subtle herb just for his (or her) own consumption, but ginseng also has great potential as a small-scale cash crop with a ready market. With little capital investment, the small farmer can net a greater profit growing ginseng on a rugged, otherwise idle, woodlot than he can net raising just about any other legal crop on an equal area of cleared land. Of course, you have to be willing to take a risk, bend your back, get your hands dirty and  persevere when the payoff is years in the future.

The second half of this book provides practical guidance in the production and marketing of other native woodland herbs that also have the potential to yield “green gold.” Goldenseal and ramps are covered at length and in detail, because their economic potential is well established and reliable information on their propagation is available.  Black cohosh, bloodroot, and ten other lesser known native botanicals are discussed as thoroughly as present knowledge allows, with emphasis on their potential and their uncertainties. Plant botany and usage and present market conditions are addressed in detail. Personal stories of successful growers, extensive references and resources, including a unique Disease List, enhance this book. 

And new to this edition is a section just for home gardeners, information on wild-harvesting, and rules and regulations pertaining to the buying and selling of these plants. It is hoped that this book will help the herb grower to diversify and enjoy a greater variety of woodland medicinal herbs and/or to reduce risk and increase long-term profit potential.

Jeanine Davis is an associate professor and extension specialist with NC State University. Her focus is helping farmers diversify into medicinal herbs, new crops and organic agriculture.

W. Scott Persons is the author of American Ginseng: Green Gold and an expert in growing and marketing wild-simulated and woods-cultivated ginseng.