Ginseng intern Iryna Voloshyna reflects on her time spent uncovering the peoples and stories associated with this historic plant, providing insight into how the culture of ginseng cultivation has morphed, grown, and changed through time.
2. Table of contents
1. Expressive culture:
music
art
folk belief
storytelling
2. Ginseng hunting:
interview with Bobby and Wanda Eldreth in Boone, NC.
3. Expressive culture - music
Since ginseng played such an important role in the life of many rural
communities in Appalachia, it is no wonder that the narrative about it found
its reflection in the folk music.
In the next slides I offer just several examples of such songs.
4. Ginseng Blues - The Kentucky Ramblers
Ain't a-gonna dig no ginseng
Well I ain't a-gonna hunt no crow
Ain't gonna do a doggone thing
But love my dear sweet Mama
O, you can't read my mind
When you think I'm loving you, Mama
I'm quitting you all the time
My home ain't here
It's down in Caroline
I got two chillun down in Georgia
But they sho' ain't mine, sweet Mama
O, you can't read my mind (etc)
I got a girl in Georgia
One in Dixie, too
If you treat me mean, sweet Mama
Turn my back on you, good baby
O, you can't read my mind
When you think I'm loving you, Mama
I'm quitting you all the time
Ain't gonna work no tipple
Ain't gonna load no coal
Put my head out the window
Watch the drivers roll, sweet Mama
O, you can't read my mind
When you think I'm loving you, Mama
I'm quitting you all the time
Watch the video here
5. Ginseng Sullivan - Norman Blake
About three miles from the Battelle yard
The river curves on down
Not far south of the town depot
Sullivan's shack was found
Up on the higher ground
You could see him every day
Just walking down the line
With his old brown sack across his back
Long hair down behind
Speaking his worried mind
It's a long way from the delta
To the North Georgia hills
A tote sack full of ginseng
Won't pay my traveling bills
I'm too old to ride the rails
Or bum the road alone
So I guess I'll never make it back to home
My muddy water Mississippi delta home
The winters here, they get too cold
The damp it makes me ill
Can't dig no roots in the mountain side
With the ground froze hard and still
Gotta stay at the foot of the hill
But next summer, things turn right
The companies will pay high
I'll make enough money to pay my bills
Bid these mountains goodbye
Then he said with a sigh:
It's a long way from the delta
To the North Georgia hills
A tote sack full of ginseng
Won't pay my traveling bills
I'm too old to ride the rails
Or bum the road alone
So I guess I'll never make it back to home
My muddy water Mississippi delta home
Watch the video here
6. Dolly Parton - Home
Even the legendary Dolly mentions ginseng as an integral part of her identity
growing up in the rural South.
“…Home
Honeysuckle vine and muscadine wine
At home
Where the ginseng grows in the shady groves of… ”
Watch the video here
7. Expressive culture - art
During my archival research I stumbled
upon something that attracted my
attention – a tattoo of a ginseng plant
on a person’s body. It made me think
even deeper about a great value of the
plant for those who rely on it
economically and culturally.
Persons, W., and J. Davis. 2007. Growing & Marketing Ginseng, Goldenseal &
Other Woodland Medicinals. Fairview, N.C.: Bright Mountain Books.
8. Expressive culture – folk belief
There are also traditions and rituals
connected to processes of gathering,
drying and using of ginseng. Here are
just some of them that I have found.
Persons, W. 1986. American Ginseng : Green Gold. Pompano Beach, Fla.:
Exposition Press of Florida.
9. Expressive culture – folk belief
Some people describe their
experience of interaction with
ginseng as spiritual.
Hudgins, Phil, |issuing body Foxfire Fund, and Jessica Phillips. 2018.
Travels with Foxfire : Stories of People, Passions, and Practices from
Southern Appalachia. New York: Anchor Books, a division of
Penguin Random House LLC.
10. Expressive culture - storytelling
People would also tell stories
connected to the ginseng and
traditions around it, and these
become something people
identify themselves with.
Hudgins, Phil, |issuing body Foxfire Fund, and Jessica Phillips.
2018. Travels with Foxfire : Stories of People, Passions, and
Practices from Southern Appalachia. New York: Anchor
Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
11. Ginseng hunting
Through my advisor Dr. Patricia Sawin’s connection, I
was able to conduct a phone interview with Bobby
Eldreth, a son of Bessie Eldreth, an old-time ballad
singer and storyteller from Western North Carolina.
The cover of Dr. Sawin’s book features Ms. Eldreth and
her granddaughter Stacey, Bobby’s daughter.
By the way, Ms. Eldreth performed at many festivals,
including Smithsonian Folklife Festival. It would be a
nice continuation of the tradition if Bobby Eldreth was
also invited to the Festival in 2020.
You can watch a documentary about Ms. Eldreth here.
12. Bobby and Wanda Eldreth
I visited them in their home in Boone, NC.
They are both retired, and do not see
themselves as “professional” ginseng hunters,
but rather enthusiasts
13. Just a hobby
“Iryna: Did you do it professionally, I mean
did you live off of it? Or was it just a hobby?
Bobby: No no, it was more of a sideline, or
just a hobby, for us personally. Other
people that did and actually made lots of
money off it, they were our buyer and then
they resold, shipped it to China and
overseas places”
14. Appreciation without consumption
Wanda is particularly fond of the beauty of
the plant.
“The plant is so pretty, you don’t wanna dig it.
I like taking pictures of it” [laughs]
15. Ginseng on a flowerbed
After finding a ginseng plant in the
woods, Wanda and/or Bobby collect the
berries and plant them on a flowerbed in
front of their house, so that later they can
re-plant it into the woods.
16. Digging
Wanda dug out a ginseng plant from her
flowerbed and showed me the root
(video)
17. Plant’s age
Just like one can tell the age of
a tree by counting the circles
on its trunk, one can also tell
the age of a ginseng plant by
counting the knots on its root.
This plant is one year old.
18. Tools for digging
Ginseng root is very sensitive, and it is very
easy to damage. Sometimes people just
use bare hands to dig the plant, and also
other tools are used. For instance, the
Eldreths’ tools are this metal stick and
something I thought was a screwdriver
(although some people do use those), but
this is just a paintbrush handle. Others may
also use small rock climbing axes.
19. Stolen often
Because the roots are so expensive, some people would do anything to get
some.
“It’s stolen a lot. A lo-o-ot of people steal it. And I’ve got an actual family
member who had bragged about crawling across some man’s at night into a
flowerbed and digging it. Because he knew it was there. I said - the man
would shoot you. And he said – yes, if he catches me. And I said – well, you
are playing with it!” [laughs]
20. Restrictions
There are also some economic and political reasons why ginseng hunting is
not that popular anymore:
“Bobby: Well, when you're talking about going to hunt for ginseng, first and
foremost, nowadays it’s really hard because of the property people owning
are different. When we were growing up, we knew everybody in the area
down where we were at, in the community, so we could just walk over
anytime”.
21. Passing on the tradition
The Eldreths emphasize on a very low interest in ginseng
among young people nowadays.
“Bobby: I don’t think that anybody will completely quit. I
don’t think that’ll happen, because it has been going on
for centuries… But as the older people are getting older,
it’s kinda dying out with them.
Wanda: It’s like our kids. They don’t know anything about
it at all. They are not interested in it”.
I am confident that Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2020 will
become one of the places where young people can learn
about ginseng, get excited about it, and continue the
tradition of ‘senging.
