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Seeds ~ Roots ~ Rhizomes ~ Cultivated Goldenseal ~ Wild Simulated Ginseng ~ Tinctures ~ Capsules ~ Woodland Botanicals ~ Nursery

American Ginseng that grows locally in Madison County, NC has the reputation for being some of the highest quality and potency in the world. Seventy-eight percent of Madison County is part of the Pisgah National Forest in the Blue Ridge chain of the Appalachian Mountains.

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Since 1994, the North Carolina Ginseng & Goldenseal Co. has been growing organic medicinal herbs (and trees), specializing in ginseng and goldenseal, plus other woodland botanicals in a natural hardwood cove at Eagle Feather Organic Farm. Private personal classes are available, in addition to rustic housing and finished medicinal products. United Plant Savers has designated the farm as a Native Botanical Sanctuary.

The Southern Appalachian School for Growing Medicinal Plants is an herbal growing school that holds classes, by appointment, for individuals on all aspects of organic farming in the woods with forest crops. Classes are geared to what the student wants to learn, such as starting a garden, growing in the forest, or sessions on water. Robert Eidus, owner, also holds farm tours as interest in agritourism develops.

Member: United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary Network; North Carolina Ginseng Association; Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Program

6 videos

Growing forest medicinal and decorative plants as nursery stock for market sale can often be more profitable than selling just the root. We take a look at the process of growing and transplanting seedlings for market sale with Robert Eidus, owner of Eagle Feather Organic Farm, and we review the importance of knowing your market and creating a business plan beforehand.

Provided courtesy of Forest Farming. Find them on YouTube at www.youtube.com/channel/UCA-ZP07pEpCzWuGGeI1veWQ

Robert Eidus, owner of Eagle Feather Organic Farm, gives advice on how to begin growing and selling forest medicinal herbs.

Number one: “Don’t cut down your trees.” We look at stratification – the best method for increasing ginseng’s propagation rate. We follow up with the importance of having a business plan before attempting to supplement income through forest-based medicinal plant production, and we finish with a few bits of advice on cutting costs.

Plastic pots can often be obtained for free from other growers or nurseries and leaves can be gathered in the fall once they’re put out for trash collection. However, be careful of collecting any invasive species that may be tossed in with the leaf pile. Leaves contribute to forest soil and can be combined with other organic additives and composted to be used in raised beds and for potted plants.

Provided courtesy of Forest Farming. Find them on YouTube at www.youtube.com/channel/UCA-ZP07pEpCzWuGGeI1veWQ

Ginseng is very susceptible to fungus and as a result, it is sprayed with a variety of fungicides to reduce the chances of the plant building up a tolerance to just one chemical. Consumed as a holistic herb taken for general well-being, the residue of fungicides on the root is considered a harmful additive which detracts from its healing properties.

Robert Eidus, owner of Eagle Feather Organic Farm, explains how ginseng is not regulated for the presence of fungicides and as a result, much of the ginseng that is sold for public consumption is tainted with harmful chemicals. There is an alternative form of ginseng and that is in a wild-grown or wild-simulated root without the use of fungicides. Robert explains the organic method he uses to ‘immunize’ ginseng against the soil-born fungus.

By steeping goldenseal roots and rhizomes in hot water, he makes a concentrated tea that he uses to wash the soil in the raised beds. Once the soil has been washed with the antibacterial and antimicrobial properties of goldenseal, the ginseng seeds are then planted. To combat air-born fungus, Robert sprays the ginseng seedlings with horsetail. After it rains, a new coating of horsetail spray should be applied. While this method may be more feasible for smaller patches of ginseng, growing ginseng and goldenseal together may help reduce the spread of fungus such as phytophthora.

Provided courtesy of Forest Farming. Find them on YouTube at www.youtube.com/channel/UCA-ZP07pEpCzWuGGeI1veWQ

Bart Zink first learned about wild harvesting from his father, hunting for morel mushrooms in rural Michigan. Now he hunts for wild mushrooms and ramps on the steep slopes of Western North Carolina. “You kind of have to go out into uncharted territory now,” Zink says. “It’s like finding a needle in a haystack, and you might not even be looking in the right haystack.”

People in the WNC mountains have been foraging in the woods for generations, seeking out edibles like mushrooms and ramps or medicinals like bloodroot, goldenseal, black cohosh and — perhaps most famously — ginseng. But with interest in these plants rising and more novice foragers venturing into the woods, the plants are becoming harder and harder to find.

“Ramps have been over hunted in certain areas,” Zink points out. “When I was in Barnardsville recently, I saw carloads of people who were going out into the woods with big grocery bags.”

The rise in popularity of tailgate and farmers markets is also putting an increased demand on these forest plants, and according to Jeanine Davis, associate professor and extension specialist with N.C. State University, many people don’t understand where the plants they buy are coming from.

“That’s always a shock to folks when I show them that most of this black cohosh, bloodroot or goldenseal, there’s not a farm where it came from,” Davis says. “People are walking out in the woods and finding it, and that’s not necessarily bad, but we do need to have some controls on this, or those plants could be gone.”

As gourmet restaurants tout the flavors of wild edibles and herbalists extol the health value of native medicinals, interest in these plants is only continuing to grow. But what is the responsbility of the recreational forager or even the consumer? When browsing the stands at the farmers market or the shelves in an herbal shop, how can you know if the plants and products you’re purchasing came from overharvesting or even poaching? How can you know if you’re encouraging a sustainable, local economy or contributing to a growing problem?

An unsustainable demand

Davis notes that one of the first things to understand, is that not all these plants come from foraging. Some local growers are taking up the task of cultivating in their forests, but growing sustainably comes with a price.

“I can take you into the woods and show you people growing these plants all over the place,” Davis notes. “But [the question] is, ‘How do you do it so that you make money? How do you charge enough? What kind of yields do you need?’”

Ginseng is a potent example. Wild ginseng roots fetch a high price on the herbal market, but they are also small, light in weight and take years to mature to their full potency.

“Think of how old this little root is, but also think of how many of these it takes to make a pound,” Davis notes while examining a wild root. “People say, ‘Oh, ginseng’s going for $1,000 a pound,’ but that’s dried. Think of how many of these it takes to make a pound. It weighs basically nothing.”

Some growers have turned to simulated conditions and, in many cases, large amounts of fertilizers and pesticides to produce a plant that can be harvested quickly, but is compromising quality, says Robert Eidus of Eagle Feather Organic Farm in Marshall.

“The growing period for the cultivated [variety] is three to four years, and they grow for weight,” Eidus says. “With the wild [variety], it takes 6 1/2 to seven years to get the full constituents, and they’re not growing for weight; they’re growing for age. You’ve really got two different products that are confused by the public as the same thing.”

Examining the root of a cultivated ginseng plant will easily show you the difference. The wild root is small and gnarly with a long neck, whereas the cultivated root is larger and smoother. But most consumers aren’t buying ginseng roots — they’re buying dried and ground up ginseng that comes in a bottle that tells you little or nothing about where the plant came from.

Some growers, including Eidus and other members of the N.C. Ginseng Association, grow in the forest or by simulating wild conditions without the use of chemicals. But these growers are selling their ginseng at a higher price in smaller markets, not growing quickly to sell in bulk to high-volume buyers in the U.S. or Asia. Eidus asserts that most of the ginseng grown in America, and most of what you’ll find in herbal stores — particularly large chains — is exposed to chemicals and harvested too young. “You can’t get away from that fact,” Eidus says. “There’s just a small amount of really good ginseng in the world, in my estimation.”

A desire for the more potent wild ginseng has led to the rise of poachers who take the plant from private and federal lands without permission, hoping to make a quick buck. And when money is involved, so is greed — and little incentive to leave any of the plant behind.

“The mental attitude seems to be, ‘If I don’t take it then that jerk over there is going to take it, and I’m not going to let him have it, so I’m going to take it all,’” Eidus says. Though he says many ginseng dealers have a “sixth sense” that a plant has been poached, it’s often impossible to know for sure.

“The plant is definitely endangered and going downhill,” Eidus adds. In order for a wild patch of ginseng to be considered sustainable it should have about 75 plants in it, he adds. But, “You don’t see that anywhere anymore.”

Ginseng isn’t the only plant facing limited supply and high demand. Eidus and Davis say goldenseal and lady slippers — often used in tinctures — are both highly threatened by overharvesting.

Growing solutions

So, what do you do to make sure you’re being a conscientious consumer? Davis says to start by reading the labels: Look for the USDA Organic label to know no chemicals were used in production or the Blue Ridge Naturally label to know that any wild-crafted ingredients were sourced sustainably.

But most importantly, Davis says, ask questions: Ask where the plant came from, how it was grown and what the seller is doing to prevent overharvesting.

And once you find a grower or seller you trust, be willing to pay more for their products, Davis adds. “If we want to support the farming of these plants, we need to be willing to pay a little bit more,” she says. “It’s going to cost more for someone to farm something than to go out on property they don’t own and just gather it all up.”

For those searching out these plants in the woods, local forager Michael Gentry says to take less than a quarter of what you find and remember the Rule of Three: Leave some for the wild animals, some for re-seeding and some for other foragers.

Of course, there’s another option for those who are looking for a modest supply of these plants or who are interested in preservation efforts: You could always grow your own. Many forest plants can thrive on steep slopes unsuited for other gardening, Davis points out. And Eidus adds that ginseng and goldenseal can happily grow together in a raised bed with good drainage and good shade. “It’s my answer to suburbia,” he says. “[You] don’t have to have a forest.”

Davis adds that many people in the area are inheriting land that they have no interest in farming but still hope to keep. Modest harvesting of forest plants can provide additional income to cover property taxes. And creating contracts or agreements with others who would responsibly forage on your land in exchange for caring for the property is a way to protect the plants and keep your land in good condition.

The main thing, though, is to be mindful. Whether you’re shopping at the farmers market, exploring in the woods or even beginning a construction project on your property, Eidus says to be aware of the unique and fragile nature of the plants around you.

“We have not dealt with these plants correctly,” Eidus says. “We don’t really care what’s in the forest, and that’s unfortunate because we’re losing this connection to these plants that was really strong just three or four generations ago.”

By Nathaniel Axtell, Times-News Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, December 9, 2012
www.blueridgenow.com

For generations, Appalachian residents have harvested ginseng roots as a source of extra income. Often, whole families would search the woods each fall for the distinctive three- or four-pronged plant and the lucrative roots lying beneath its yellow leaves.

Today, ginseng is so prized in the Orient for its medicinal properties that poaching and overharvesting of the plant by collectors threatens to wipe out wild Appalachian ginseng from North Carolina’s forests, experts say. Dried roots now sell here for $500-$600 per pound.

“I’m very concerned that we might not have ginseng in the wild in a few years,” said Jim Corbin, a plant protection specialist with the N.C. Department of Agriculture, which regulates the sale and export of ginseng.

Corbin was part of an expert panel of botanists and regulators discussing plant conservation Friday at the International American Ginseng Exposition, a conference held this weekend at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center.

Conference speakers agreed that more ginseng must be grown on private lands by forest farmers to take pressure off wild populations on federal lands, which have been hard-hit by drought, poaching and decades of intense collecting pressure.

“Getting more ginseng grown on private lands is the key to sustainability of ginseng long-term,” said Pat Ford, a botanist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

While the conference focused on numerous barriers facing ginseng cultivators, experts say high demand for wild ginseng in China and Hong Kong offers local landowners the opportunity to sustainably manage their forests while generating steady income.

“Every single year, they continue to make some kind of money off it,” said Robert Eidus, a medicinal plant dealer from Marshall who teaches courses on ginseng growing. “Where as when they cut the trees down, boom, that’s it. The key here is to diversify. If somebody does cattle, soybeans and a nice woodland lot (of ginseng), you’re talking about a nice $200,000 income.”

‘Sang gets rarer

Since the 18th century, Appalachian ginseng collectors have been exporting the plant’s root to the Orient, where Asian ginseng has been used as restorative tonic and energy booster for 5,000 years. But in recent decades, global demand has outstripped supply and intensified pressure on wild populations.

In 1997, about 6,500 pounds of dried wild ginseng root were harvested in North Carolina; in Henderson County, just 86 pounds were recorded that year by the N.C. Department of Agriculture.

By 2007, when prices hit close to $1,000 per dry pound, the statewide harvest almost doubled, to 12,799 pounds. Locally, harvests reached 216 pounds that year. Corbin said the lure of big money turned what once was a sustainable family affair, where seeds were sown and immature plants left to ripen, into a ruthless business.

“These folks we’re seeing today, they’re taking everything,” Corbin said, even baby plants whose roots aren’t five years old, as required by state law.

Ginseng reproduces by seed and usually doesn’t produce fruit until its third growing season. So harvesting a young plant before it’s able to produce seed stifles reproduction. A study of 335 likely sites along the Blue Ridge Parkway found just 47 ginseng populations, 35 percent of which had no mature plants left.

“Seventy-one percent of the populations — this just staggered me — had less than 15 plants remaining,” said conference panelist Nora Murdock, a botanist with the National Park Service. Many experts consider 30 ginseng plants the minimum number necessary to ensure the long-term survival of a population.

These ginseng patches weren’t found close to the road, or even near trails, Murdock said. And harvesting ginseng is illegal on national park lands.

“When we started this, I honestly thought when we got back to these really remote sites, we’re going find some big populations,” Murdock said. “And we’re flat not finding them.”

A four-year study in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of six ginseng populations found that most patches were so bereft of mature seed producers that they “are currently barely maintaining themselves and cannot tolerate any further harvest,” Murdock said.

On National Forest lands, where ginseng may be harvested in most areas between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31 by permit, botanist Gary Kauffman said the number of permits has risen steadily over the last five years, while harvestable ginseng has become more rare.

“So I’m kind of wondering where people are getting all the plants,” he said.

‘Wild-simulated’ to the rescue?

Experts at the conference said “wild-simulated” ginseng — plants sown, lightly cultivated and sustainably harvested on long rotations in private woods — could help take pressure off wild populations.

Roots grown under such conditions typically are nearly indistinguishable from those of fully wild ginseng, and command high prices, but the practice has its challenges. Poaching of wild-simulated “crops” is widespread, growers at the conference said, and it requires ample patience and land.

“You really need this huge amount of forest because you’re doing 400 roots, 10 years old to make an average pound,” said Eidus. “And they have to be spread about three feet apart, so you need a lot of land to do it.”

The first harvest can’t occur until the seventh year, Eidus said, but when combined with other commercially valuable medicinal plants such as goldenseal, Echinacea, bloodroot and black cohosh, a forest farmer can make good money from his or her land without having to log or subdivide it.

Not all forests are suitable for growing ginseng, Eidus said. The best sites are shaded, north-facing cove forests dominated by tulip poplar, beech, and maple, not woods filled with rhododendron and mountain laurel.

Chinese consumers also need to be educated more about the value of cultivated ginseng, said Dr. Jeanine Davis, a horticulturist at the research center. Years ago, buyers were wary of cultivated goldenseal, another medicinal herb, but research proved it was just as potent and more consistent a product than wild-grown.

“We need to work with consumers to have them understand that wild-simulated is better for the environment, it’s better for the conservation of the plant and I would like to see the research that shows wild-simulated ginseng is a more consistent product,” she said.

Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or than.axtell@blueridgenow.com.

The Permaculture Activist (North America’s leading permaculture periodical),
www.permacultureactivist.net

Ginseng Speaks by Robert Eidus

Who will speak for the plants
The gentle flowers cloistered
In quiet meadow and lonely wood
Plants whose power is in their softness
Or in their strange difference?
Grandfather Ginseng will take the stand!
~ Lee Murray

Panax quinquefolium (American ginseng), a relative of the Chinese Panax ginseng, is a member of the Araliaceae, a family of approximately 700 plants which includes spikenard and English ivy. Though the Chinese have been using herbal medicines for approximately 5,000 years and writing down information for over 4,000 years, the earliest mention of Asian ginseng is in Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, the world’s oldest comprehensive herbal document, written about 2,000 years ago.

American ginseng, which may have been used at least as long by Native Americans, lives in the rich, shaded, and moist coves of the mountains of the eastern United States and has a range from Georgia to Maine and west into the plains. On the West Coast, wild ginseng can be found in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Like its Chinese cousin, “sang” as it’s called by the mountain folk, ginseng is a perennial herb, its stem and leaves die in winter but regrow in the spring. This shade dependent plant has a fleshy, slow-growing root and short stem, and is native to hardwood forests. It is best adapted to cool, temperate climates.

The Shapeshifter

Ginseng is magical and mysterious. Although there are general patterns of growth, sometimes it will trick you. Most perennial herbs look the same each season of their growth, but not ginseng. The first three years it changes its appearance each successive year. When the seedling first emerges, there are three small leaves (said to resemble wild strawberry) on a little stem. When it unfolds in year two, there is more growth to the central stem with two prongs, each producing three to five leaflets. In the third year, three prongs emerge from the leaf stem, each bearing a palmate cluster of five leaflets. Where the prongs are joined to the stem, white-green flowers appear which later ripen into bright red berries containing the seeds.

Ginseng is the only species I know that reveals the age of each and every plant, because when the stem falls off in the fall it leaves a scar on the neck or curl. The new bud emerges just above the old scar. Just count up the scars to determine the approximate age of the plant. Each year the plant grows, more prongs may be added. As a rule four prongs indicate a seven-year-old plant that is medicinally mature. Ginseng can continue to grow more prongs as it gets older. I remember seeing a five-prong, which is getting rare, and two of the prongs had five leaflets but two had six and one had seven.

Above the ground ginseng plants of a similar age look pretty much alike, but when you look below the surface, wild roots will vary greatly in appearance. Cultivated roots tend to be more uniform. Every now and then you can find a mature root with a human-like shape, with arms, legs, and body. These were prized by the Chinese whose ideogram for ginseng means “essence of the earth in the form of a man.”

At Home in the Woods

Ginseng needs hardwood forests to block out the sun and to provide a roof. It thrives in mixed groves of poplar, beech, maple, and dogwood. If the trees above are cut down, ginseng’s root and seeds dry out, a fatal condition. Clearcuts thus destroy habitat for this threatened species. Shade from the forest canopy keeps the soil cool, the roots stabilize the earth, and the trees provide a rich annual mulch of leaves. Herbaceous plant companions commonly found near ginseng include trillium (Trillium spp.), cohosh (Caulophyllum thalactroides -blue, Cimicifuga racemosa-black), jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema atrorubens), wild yam (Dioscorea villosa), goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), and Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum).

Some of these companions help the ginseng to survive. Research by Dr. Jeanine Davis, with the North Carolina State University Agricultural Research station, has shown that goldenseal can clean up beds of ginseng infected with fungal disease. Since ginseng has a problem with fungi, goldenseal’s anti-fungal properties make it a choice and valuable companion. Many Native American tribes consider ginseng and goldenseal to be brother and sister plants because they grow well together in the wild.

The Ginseng Industry

Most Asian and American ginseng is grown in an environment that is not natural. How did this happen?

Panax ginseng has been in increasingly short supply, especially in the last four hundred years. With population growth and the steady loss of forest cover to agriculture, the governments of China, Korea, and Japan long ago took measures to ensure a supply of this precious medicine. For many years they licensed the growing of ginseng on plantations in guarded walled compounds, but only in the last century have these growing techniques been documented. Although Asian growers were successful with ginseng in a monocultural environment, very strict rules and procedures were required to achieve healthy plants.

The labor-intensive procedures developed in East Asia were largely abandoned as chemical fungicides and nasty stuff like DDT became available. Although, the worst of the chemical sprays are not used in America today, most cultivated ginseng, including woods-grown ginseng, is still heavily sprayed worldwide. Studies in recent years have shown fungicidal residues to be cumulative and toxic in cultivated roots. This discovery, along with recent EPA fines levied against Wisconsin ginseng growers who had used toxic biocides, has sounded a worldwide wake-up call to the dangers of contamination of this great plant.

At the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora (CITES), 80 countries identified American ginseng as one of the many plants that need international protection. The CITES agreements were implemented in the US in 1977 and are administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Despite rules and regulation governing the export of American ginseng, we are still losing this plant in the wild due to over-harvesting. Currently, more than 90% of the ginseng harvested in America is exported to Hong Kong and other Pacific Rim markets. With worldwide demand steadily increasing, the situation becomes ever more critical for this powerful tonic.

An Awakening

But I didn’t learn this until 1977, when, at a health conference in Hot Springs, North Carolina, I met Hawk Little John, a Cherokee medicine man, who discussed ginseng and goldenseal. His enthusiasm and respect for plants seeded in me an ever-deepening relationship to the green world.

In 1992, Dr. Jeanine Davis of the N.C. Dept. of Agriculture, organized an historic conference on ginseng, near Asheville, where I learned much about the wonderful nature of the plant and techniques for growing it. After the conference, I went back to my land in Madison County, and with the help of a knowledgeable friend, found ginseng growing. When Paul found the plant he gave a Native American war cry to the forest spirits. After praying, we harvested this root and dropped some tobacco as an offering. It was a wonderful day.

A couple of months later, I founded the North Carolina Ginseng and Goldenseal Company in Marshall, but it was not until 1995 that I left my real estate job and decided to grow and sell medicinal herbs as a full-time business. This was not an easy choice, for though I was an experienced gardener, I was still new to forest farming and botany. But following a weeklong illness I reappraised my life and saw that selling real estate was not something I did very well. The ginseng plants spoke to me during that feverish time and asked me to help them survive. Definitely a favor worth returning.

I agreed with the plants to become a role model for the new wave of ginseng farmers.

I soon found myself trying to convince others to attempt farming in the woods. Unexpectedly, my New York accent and urban background turned out to be a big plus. If I could learn to grow high quality ginseng there was no reason others couldn’t also be successful medicinal herb farmers.

As I became a spokesperson for the plants, I knew that the plants, especially ginseng and goldenseal, would do their part to help me to the next level. An unexpected assist came in the form of a request from the owner of New Frontiers magazine to review Eliot Cowan’s Plant Spirit Medicine. I loved the book and gave it an enthusiastic review. By learning about the spirit world of plants, I came to realize that I could communicate with them and that I had a special ally in ginseng. My heart had no problem understanding this psychic relationship. My body followed.

Thus, the North Carolina Ginseng & Goldenseal Co. was born with the primary goals of actively re-seeding both plants in the wild and encouraging their organic cultivation in the woods. In the last five years we have laid a strong foundation for both aspects of this work. In that time the United Plant Savers, a non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing endangered populations of wild botanicals, was founded, and the land I steward, Eagle Feather Organic Farm, became a U.P.S. Native Botanical Sanctuary. At the same time research into organic methods of cultivating ginseng has given us some important tools. Following Dr. Davis’ work, we’ve learned to spray extracts of goldenseal on the ginseng beds to control soil-borne funguses in the fall. And now a group of people are conducting research into the use of horsetail (Equisetum arvense), another native plant, as a spray to curb airborne fungus in the spring.

A Growing Challenge

In some ways, however, the situation for ginseng is getting worse. Though more information is available today and interest in growing and in conservation is high, the harvest of ginseng is increasing. Last year 11,000 pounds were legally exported to Hong Kong from North Carolina. This is 2,000 pounds more than the year before. Five and a half tons may not seem like much until you consider that it takes approximately 400 dried ginseng roots to make a pound. That would mean that over four million roots were harvested in 1999. During the same year I sold 21 pounds of ginseng seed to Madison County Extension Service. That seed was divided and sold by the ounce to local farmers. If all the plants come up, (350 seeds to an ounce), that would be about 500,000 first-year plants, nowhere close to replacing all the plants taken in the North Carolina mountains. There are only a few of us selling ginseng seed in this region, and only one other Extension office, in Yancey County, is offering this program to area landowners. That leaves 31 other mountain county Extension offices pushing Xmas trees, blueberries, strawberries, or other non-herbal commodities.

You do not have to be a genius to realize that the plants are losing the battle for survival. The two-leggeds must rally round these beneficent plant alies and help save them from greed and extinction.

Robert Eidus grows ginseng near Marshall, NC. Contact him at eidusbiz@gmail.com

Reported from YCBI September 13, 2001 by
Beverly Whitehead and Bobbie Ammons

Yellow Creek Botanical Institute, Inc. (YCBI) sponsored a Natural Products Tour on August 23 and 24, 2001 to illustrate economic opportunities in herb growing, processing and production for local people.

The five businesses toured included Red Moon Herbs in Black Mountain, We-Du Nursery in Marion, the North Carolina Ginseng and Goldenseal Company in Marshall, the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Fletcher, and Gaia Herbs in Brevard. YCBI provided transportation and lodging for everyone on the tour. The idea for the tour originated with Robin Suggs of YCBI. He and Rob Jordan were responsible for the grant that funded the event and Rob Jordan made the arrangements.

We learned there are two places in the world that grow over 250 different herbs, Manchuria, China and western North Carolina. As a result Gaia Herbs, a 15 year old herbal remedy company, moved here from Massachusetts in 1995 to be closer to the source of their product with the intent of growing their own organic herbs. Jeanine Davis and a group of scientists at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research Station are currently doing research on different growing conditions to help local growers produce herbs as commercial crops. Several of the people on the tour have test plots of Golden Seal and are monitoring them for the Specialty Crops Program study.

The first stop on the Natural Products Tour was Red Moon Herbs in Black Mountain. Red Moon Herbs “mission is to handcraft wild and organic herbal medicines that preserve the spirit of the plants and provide our community with simple, accessible health care.” Jessica Godino, founder of Red Moon Herbs, and Corinna Wood, a Certified Herbalist, showed us the facility where they make wildcrafted and organic herbal medicines. They explained the cold processing methods used to make extracts, oils, salves, and vinegars. As women and mothers of young children they have a special interest in women’s health issues and products. They teach classes and retail Red Moon products through catalog sales, the Internet, and health food stores.

With a greenhouse for propagation, plenty of water and a long shaded slice of land against Polly Spout Road in Marion, We-Du Nursery, is in its twentieth year of business, and was our second stop. Owned and operated by Dennis Niemeyer and Joani Lawarre, it is primarily a mail order nursery which grows over 4000 species of plants and ships over 250,000 plants a year all over the United States. Specializing in “essential natives and rare native plants their motto is “We-Du Natives and Other Neat Stuff”. They are open for retail sales in the Spring ONLY on Friday and Saturdays April – May and in the Fall for sales ONLY on Friday and Saturdays September – October. The rest of the year is dedicated to their mail order business.

The North Carolina Ginseng & Goldenseal Company in Marshall, NC was the third stop. Robert Eidus talked to us about the difference in microorganisms between shaded soil versus sunny soil. He said Dr. Elaine Ingram’s (1-888-LANDCARE) work in soil biology indicates that shaded soil has 75% fungi to 25% bacteria, but soils in direct sunlight have 25% fungi to 75% bacteria. To balance shaded soil he recommended adding composted pine bark, manure and vegetable compost. Then he led us up a trail and through the woods identifying growing conditions and plants. Robert said that the presence of maidenhair fern appears to indicate the proper environment for golden seal, ginsing, and bloodroot. An advocate of companion planting he said, “It seems the more diverse the vegetation is in an area the healthier the plants are.”

Friday morning started at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research Station in Fletcher. Dr. Jeanine Davis told us that the Specialty Crops Program went statewide this year and added medicinal herbs, including ginseng, black cohosh, goldenseal, and ramps. Just like any traditional crop, optimum soil pH, mineral and trace element levels are being studied. American Botanical Labs tests products such as ginseng to determine purity levels. The lab is finding that a significant amount of ginseng imported into the USA is contaminated. Dr. Davis said that if we cultivate in controlled conditions in USA, we could set the standard for the world market.

While looking at shade cloth covered herb beds she exclaimed, “do not use straw for mulch! In WNC, slugs and diseases love it. Pine straw is okay and leaves are great!” She referred us to Peaceful Valley Farm Supply’s Website for natural pesticides which would not jeopardize organic farm certification. Recognizing that Agritourism can bring more money into our area she said that, “tourists to NC are willing to pay a high price for an experience of nature, like navigating through a corn maze. People will travel a great distance to walk a different maze.” In creating more moneymaking opportunities for farmers, Dr. Davis is looking at other types of crops for maze making such as sunflowers.

At GAIA HERBS in Brevard, our last stop, Greg Cumberford, the Business Operations Director and Daniel Vickers, the Raw Materials Inventory Manager gave us a walking tour of the outside tree orchards, the greenhouse, the cultivated open fields and the product production area where the herbs are processed into tinctures. Chemists check each batch to insure that the active ingredients of each remedy meet Gaia’s exacting standards prior to bottling and labeling. If not, the tincture is placed in a warmed centrifuge for evaporation and intensification of the active ingredients until Gaia’s standards are met. Then the tinctures are bottled, labeled and distributed to health stores and health practitioners.

As we were leaving Gaia, Greg and Daniel asked about the Smoky Mountain Native Plant Association. We told them SMNPA was comprised of local farmers, growers, and wild crafters. They said that within three years the demand for Gaia’s products would exceed their farm production capacity. As a result they are looking for local growers who would grow specifically for Gaia’s herbal needs. They offered to come to Graham County to provide organic growing advice, seed, and technical assistance if we would grow herbs for them.

After visiting all the sites Avi Askey said he learned that “no site is perfect, you have to make the best of what you have” …as long as you’re in the Southern Appalachians almost any piece of land will grow herbs.

Those participating in the tour were Karen Hurtubise, Ransom Cornett, Beverly Whitehead, Bobby Ammons, Joanne Parrott, Avi Askey, Tony Odom, Star Lightfoot, Jack Whisnant, Jim Weeks, and John and Priscella Carswell, Rob Jordan and Robin Suggs. Jack Whisnant said the, “trip set my agenda for the next couple years. I have a clearer understanding of what needs to be done to make this possible. In addition to the plants “creativity and marketing are important. A good business plan and marketing plan are critical.” Everyone had a great time, learned a lot and laughed a lot.

Yellow Creek Botanical Institute is also sponsoring the next educational opportunity geared toward the region’s production of native plants. On September 28 and 29, 2001 “Growing Opportunities in Native Plants, Part 2” will be held at the Hinton Rural Life Center in Hayesville. Call Rob Jordan at 828-479-4733 for information.

Quotes From the Tour:

“The first day we saw small businesses with 1-2 people, the second day we saw a large operation. It showed me how we can start out and where we could end up. Whether it’s a two-person business or a manufacturing plant, the process of distilling herbal essences into tinctures is the same.” – Ransom Cornett

“I learned more in two days than I had …in three years of seminars and reading on how to start my own herb farm.” – Bobbie Ammons

“I learned about different kinds of growing practices and marketing opportunities” – Joanne Parrott

“The most valuable for me was “connecting with neighbors and people in the trade to work towards a local network for marketing and sharing information.” – Avi Askey

“I learned that western NC offers the unique growing conditions necessary for the maximum variety and highest quality herb production. – Beverly Whitehead

The tour showed me how economically viable herbal production can be. There is an increasing need. There is money to be made in raising herbs.” – Beverly Whitehead

Comments:

Clodhopper
Jun-17-01, 10:39 PM (EDT)

“Re: Herb Farming”
There were some posts a while back talking about Robert Eidus, who runs North Carolina Ginseng & Goldenseal Co. here in Madison County. I went out to his place on Friday and took a tour of what he has going on there, and it’s pretty interesting. He grows and processes all kinds of natural medicinal herbs and plants and seems to be quite knowledgeable in those areas. I was mostly interested in ginseng, but apparently there are many other naturally growing herbs and plants in these mountains that have medicinal value. So at this point, I am still trying to learn more about this type of farming and will probably avail myself of his services in the future. If anyone has any thoughts or information on this subject, I would appreciate hearing about it.

freedom
Jun-19-01, 05:44 PM (EDT)

“RE: Herb Farming”
Clod, here’s another source for seed: http://www.seedsexpress.com.
Also, this site is one that offers info as well as goldenseal: http://www.mountainfarm.com/index.htm
Good luck!

ronstewart
Jun-20-01, 10:54 PM (EDT)

“RE: Herb Farming”
This is something i have always wanted to get into, after working with people for years this would be a welcome respite. Someday, post all the info you can on this, i am listening.