Sam’s First Ginseng Experience at the Farm
Sam’s First Ginseng Experience at the Farm
Forest Farming in Appalachian Woodlands Grant
Ever since the kids and I found ginseng, we’ve been fascinated by it. Finding it, studying it, seeing shapes in the physical roots, and drinking it in tea. But we’re also worried about ginseng. For one thing, it gets stolen and too frequently the thieves don’t respect the “take” failing to plant the berries into…
Romancing The Root: The Passions and Perils of Wild American Ginseng
Wild American Ginseng Published in the Spring 2019 Journal of Medicinal Plant Conservation by George Lindemann Toward the end of April 2018, the Chinese Government imposed a tariff on imported wild American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius). This little known wild root has somehow gotten into the middle of a brewing American/ Chinese trade war. I am…
Ginseng. It’s all the thing.
This month National Geographic has a feature on ginseng emphasizing violence and crime. While theft is an important challenge, the plant faces many other challenges as well. I have written a “top twenty” list explaining 20 of my favorite ginseng factoids. Please read my story on medium here.
Enhancing the Environment Can Lead To a Stable Economy
We love our farm and work hard to find ways to steward the natural resources there while ensuring we’re a profitable operation. Working with environmentalists, we’ve developed a process to burn fields then graze our cattle there. We’re finding native grasses returning. From there, habitat and food for native wildlife will return, especially the birds….
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
The male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, boldly patterned in black, white, and rose, is easily identified. The drab, striped female, however, is more of a challenge, resembling a large sparrow or finch. To answer the question, do evening grosbeaks interact with rose-breasted grosbeaks? The answer is probably no. Rose-breasted Grosbeak tend to visit the south in the…
Ginseng Season on Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau
September 1 is the beginning of ginseng season on Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau. Towards the end of the summer the plant has produced seeds which fall of the stem, and some, two years latter become new ginseng plants. Wild American Ginseng is a threatened species, and is protected by the United Nations CITES treaty. Because of…
Soak Creek Farm Grant for Restoration
We love our working farm, from the cattle to the trees, from the mushrooms to the bees. But the farm doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It exists in a beautiful biologically diverse system. So we work to improve farm productivity and environment, and support land restoration efforts, while we support the work to do the…
Northern Harrier
What is the Northern Harrier size? Northern Harriers are slender, medium-sized raptors with long, fairly broad wings and a long, rounded tail. In Northern Harrier images, you’ll see that they have a flat, owl-like face and a small, sharply hooked bill. Males are gray above and whitish below with black wingtips, a dark trailing edge…
Grasshopper Sparrow
The Grasshopper Sparrow, also known as the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, is a small, short-tailed, flat-headed sparrow found in weedy grasslands. Here are some Grasshopper Sparrow facts about their appearance. They have warm, buffy coloration with a clean, unstreaked breast. Their back and wings are patterned with gray and rufous. They are easy to see when…