Growing Ginseng
Tyler Saemrow, owner of Ty’s Ginseng in Morristown, holds up a freshly dug ginseng root. Saemrow sells wild and wild-simulated ginseng and works to educate people about the medicinal qualities of the native plant. (Lisa Ingebrand photo)
Ginseng--one of the most soughtafter and valuable plants in traditional Chinese medicine—grows wild in the local area and has one farmer turning to fertile woodlands instead of wide-open fields this fall to harvest his crop.
“There used to be a lot of wild ginseng in this area, but it was overharvested years ago,” explained Tyler “Ty” Saemrow of Morristown, owner of Ty’s Ginseng. “But, if you know what you’re looking for, you can still find it.”
Saemrow has been hunting and harvesting wild ginseng most of his life. It’s a skill his grandpa, Ernst Hering—an old, wild-ginseng seller—passed down to him over the years.
“I’d spend hours with my grandpa as a kid in the woods, looking for and digging up ginseng,” he shared. “I learned a lot from him. And then, I started to research it more on my own—its history and all its health benefits. It’s really an amazing little plant.”
The Asian culture has long touted ginseng’s antioxidant and antiinflammatory effects, as well as the plant's ability to help regulate blood sugars, improve physical stamina, enhance concentration, and stimulate immune function.
“Ginseng is huge in...
To see more on this story pick up the October 6, 2022 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.
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