When does ginseng come up?
It’s always around this time of year when people start wondering. When does ginseng come up? Usually that happens here at Wild Ozark from mid- to late-April. Today is March 14, 2018. This is the page where I’ll post the photos of our wild-simulated and true wild ginseng unfurling as it begins the growing season of 2018.
I’ll have ginseng seedlings with me at the farmer’s market as soon as they’re ready to be potted. Watch the schedule calendar to know when I’ll be where and with what.
Check back here in April for the ginseng unfurling, or add this page to your feed readers. In the meantime, I’ll be posting pictures of the other native plants of Wild Ozark as they start to bloom. Those will be posted on the 2018 Spring Awakening Watch page.
Seedlings Unfurling
042218 – The first year seedlings began sporadically unfurling over the past few days. None of the older plants are up yet.
Predator and Prey, or the hunter and the hunted is a common theme throughout my fiction writing. No Qualms, one of my short stories (free at most retailers) is about about a predator/prey relationship. Symbiosis, my first finished novel, not published yet, deals with predator/prey relationships and the balance of energy among life on earth, sometimes symbolic and often outright. Many of my flash fiction stories (I have twitterfiction and 100-word flash stories) are also dealing with this same dynamic. This is a strong theme that runs through most of my fiction and is strongly influenced by life in the wild Ozarks where we live. My first published novel, First Hunt, also has a predator and prey theme to it. I guess it's just part of my nature.
Nature Farming
Wild Ozark is 160 acres of beautiful wild Ozark mountains. I call what I do "nature farming" because the land produces, all by itself, the shagbark hickory trees, ferns, moss, ground-fall botanicals, and the perfect habitats for growing and stewarding American ginseng. I'm co-creating with Nature - all of the things I use to make the Fairy Gardens and Forest Folk, the bark we harvest for Burnt Kettle's shagbark hickory syrup, are produced by nature without my input. This land is my muse for inspiration when it comes to my writing, drawing, and photography. It's truly a Nature Farm.
About the voice behind this blog, Madison Woods
I'm a creative old soul living way off the beaten path with my husband in the wild Ozark Mountains. Besides homesteading, growing plants & making crafty things and newsletters, I write books and stories. My rural fantasy fiction, written under the pen name, Ima Erthwitch, usually takes place in a much altered Ozarks.
An exciting day, then, Madison. I hope your weather stays warm enough that these little guys flourish!!
janet
Not yet, but looking for them anyway. The header pic is one from last year – just needed something to decorate the page, lol.
Got it. š
I checked last weekend hoping to see mine starting to pop-up, but knowing that Iām about a month early. Iām anxious due to my plants disappearing sometime last August. I checked on them late in July and they were beautiful with little white berries. When I checked them next, in early September, they were all missing. I was so looking forward to seeing the red berries! I do not think that I have been poached as there are no holes in the ground and my babies were only 1-3 years old. Being an optimist (or naive), I am hopeful the deer ate them and they will come back…
Wllow
Hi Willow! Yep, I’m always starting to look for them way earlier than I know they’ll be there. LOL, just can’t help it, can we? But, ginseng shouldn’t have white berries at any point in its life cycle. I wonder if maybe you had a different plant? Can you send me some pics of them from last year? Whatever it is, maybe the deer did eat them, and maybe they will be back. Fingers crossed!
I’m excited to see we are almost to “the season” of ginseng. Looking forward to following your calendar.
Me too, Nancy! Even though I know it’s too early, I still keep checking. Just in case the woodlands wake up early this year š