[MPWG] new book and NC Medicinal herb project

[jmdavis2 at ncsu.edu]

Another member of this list mentioned that you all might be interested in
the following, so here it is:

New book:

Growing and Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal & Other Woodland Medicinals by
W. Scott Persons and Jeanine M. Davis.  2005.  Bright Mountain Books,
Fairview, NC.  466 pages.  Softcover.

Scott Persons, author of American Ginseng Green Gold, teamed up with
horticulturist, Jeanine Davis, to write a comprehensive manual on how to
grow and market ginseng, goldenseal, ramps, black cohosh, bethroot,
bloodroot, blue cohosh, false unicorn, galax, mayapple, pinkroot,
spikenard, wild ginger, and wild indigo.  The book is written for the
commercial grower but will be of interest to anyone serious about growing
these forest medicinals.  What makes this book unique is its emphasis on
the commercial aspects of production and marketing.  It contains budgets
for five of the herbs, prices through a variety of markets, growers's
stories, and a comprehensive disease list.  It has over 200 pictures, many
of them in color.


New Medicinal Herb Research Project:
I wrote you last year about the Medicinal Herbs for Commerce Project in
which 16 farmers were provided small grants to grow an acre or more of
medicinal herbs.  The project was very successful and resulted in first
year sales of over $25,000.  This year we are working with over 40 growers
across North Carolina to grow a variety of open field and forest medicinal
herbs.  The objective of the project is to determine the economic
feasbility of large-scale medicinal herb production in North Carolina. An
emphasis is being placed on organic certification, proper post-harvest
handling, herb quality (bioactives, pesticide residues, heavy metals,
etc.), mechanization of production practices, and marketing.  You can read
about this project, our two newsletters, and the upcoming inservice
training at http://ncspecialtycrops.org.  In addition, the project is
sponsoring a medicinal herbs track at the Sustainable Agriculture
Conference coming up this weekend, November 4-6, at the Marriott in
Durham, NC.  The track, which runs Saturday and Sunday, will include two
sessions by Nate Johnson of Klickitat Organics in Washington State.  For
more information see http://carolinafarmstewards.org.

Jeanine Davis