But Growing Your Own Takes Pressure off This Pennsylvania Native
Back in the mid-60s you might say the folks in Normalville were still living on roots and berries. Well, OK, the moonshine business was pretty good, too, but if a guy needed some pocket money, he'd head for the hills and dig some ginseng .
These days, Kim Derek Pritts makes his living as the fish warden (waterways conservation officer, to be precise) for the northern end of the county, but as a teenager growing up in Fayette County, he could make a nice piece of change selling ginseng roots for $30 a pound. He'd march into the general store in Indian Head, toss his harvest on the scale and take the proceeds in cash or goods, whatever he needed at the time.
Normalville? Indian Head? Roots and berries? What a quaint, pastoral existence. Of course, nobody could make a living digging ginseng roots in today's world. After all, it's only worth about...$500 a pound!
That's right: five hundred dollars a pound. But don't quit your job or convert all your corn and soybean fields just yet. That big number is the dry-weight price for the highest quality roots; you'll probably need about 200 of them to make a pound.
Then there's the conservation issue. Penn's Woods is noted for its high quality wild ginseng , but the harvest is regulated to ensure the plant's future. Kim grows his own, and encourages other ginseng fanciers to do likewise to take the pressure off wild stocks. In his new book, " Ginseng , How to Find, Grow and Use America's Forest Gold," he shows you how to get started.
So why pucker up with a ginseng root when you can eat carrots? Check this quote from a Chinese emperor.
" Ginseng is a tonic to the five vicera, quieting the spirits, establishing the soul, allaying fear, expelling evil effluvia, brightening the eye, opening the heart, benefitting the understanding and, if taken for some time, it will invigorate the body and prolong life."
That statement was written 5,000 years ago and half a world away, and the Orient sticks byy that testiimonial even today. Maybe there's something to it. After all, our Native Americans came to much the same conclusion long before they'd ever heard of Peking. American Indians used ginseng to cure croup, fever, earaches and stomach disorders, dress wounds, increase fertility and scare away ghosts.
After 500 years of collecting, selling and using ginseng, you'd think we computer-age colonials would have plenty of research to either prove or disprove all this snake-oil business. But we really don't have much hard data on ginseng 's curative powers, says Kim.
Whether or not ginseng is the herbal fountain of youth remains to be seen, but, just to be on the safe side, the author downs a few dropperfuls of a ginseng -honey mix every week. "The Chinese have a saying that you don't know what ginseng does for you until you reach 100 and look back," he says.
Meanwhile, on his march toward the elusive centennial mark, our fish warden hopes to cash in on the Asian market for ginseng by growing his own, and of course, selling books on how you can do likewise.
At first glance, it's a wonder that counties like ours haven't converted all those tobacco, corn and soybean fields to ginseng in the rush to cash in on this pricey root. You guessed it: the story isn't quite that simple.
In the first place, ginseng is a forest plant that requires shade. If you don't have it, you've got to build it, and that's expensive. Second, the stuff you cultivate isn't worth as much as the stuff nature grows.
The Asians drive the market, and they like their ginseng old and stressed out. Roots that have survived the hardships of the wild, they say, are the most potent. There might be something to that theory, since wild roots contain about twice the concentration of ginsenosides - sugar compounds considered to be the plant's active ingredients - as their domesticated counterparts.
At the two extremes, it's not hard for even the novice eye to tell wild fromm domestic. The former have that gnarly Clint Eastwood look; the latter are built more like the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
But that's not to say you can't grow ginseng that's very similar to truly wild plants. In fact, the less heavy-handed management you apply, the better the end product. Ginseng thrives on neglect.
If you have access to some woodland, buy some seed (it's illegal to cultivate plants from wild seed) and plant it half an inch deep in well-drained soil beneath deciduous tree cover. Forget about fertilizers and pesticides and let nature take over.
In fact, you might eventually forget about the plants themselves, since it takes six to eight years to grow them to harvestable size. If you're patient, though, planting ginseng can indeed be a good investment. In fact, it's a great way for farmers to cash in on their unused woodlots and fencerows, says Kim.
"It's a fabulous hobby for anybody who loves the outdoors, and it's profitable," he says. So I reminded him that if everybody takes his advice the Asians will be up to their ears in American ginseng , and there goes the market.
"Yeah, but I'll sell a lot of books," he grinned. Kim Derek Pritts' book, " Ginseng : How to Find, Grow, and Use America's Forest Gold," is published by Stackpole Books in Mechanicsburg and available at most local bookstores. For an autographed copy, write to the author at P.O. Box 182, Mount Joy, PA 17552. The price is $18.95 postpaid.
- BY: Jack Hubley
- SOURCE: Sunday News Lancaster, PA1996.08.04
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