On my third year. I suppose, like a lot of people, I got into this with visions of making lots of money. That went by the wayside pretty quickly. Now, it's become a quest to learn how to get this persnickety little plant to thrive. Each year, I learn a bit more, and a lot of this has to be learned by experience. Every piece of land is a bit different.
Just planting seeds has been an experience. I tried a couple of seed drills, only to find that they were more trouble than they're worth. Good old rake and scatter seems to work the best, actually deep rake, scatter, and cover with dirt. Has me wondering how to invent a hillside tiller... I was looking at a hillside mower the other day, thinking that maybe it could be adapted.
Exploring other ways to market it, even though that's a long way off. As I work in software development, I have a couple of contacts into China, but direct export can be a real minefield - real easy to get stiffed. I have a web site design in mind for regional sales, and yes, quality media is essential: top rate photographs (another hobby of mine) are essential.
I'm concerned about the Chinese economy. Can I get this crop marketed before it goes bust? And it will go bust, just a matter of when. Even mature societies have trouble with that sort of explosive growth. One that's elevated itself from an agrarian society to high tech within a decade is likely to founder. The people working dirt cheap over there will eventually become dissatisfied. The absence of regulations that makes doing business there so easy will backfire, as their environment degrades and workplace accidents rise - both are happening. Changes in technology such as flexible manufacturing systems can negate much of the advantages of cheap labor. Or they may be done in by overconfidence and hubris, which is essentially what took down the Japanese economy in the early 90's. Remember when they were going to buy us?
Not worried about competition, though. If there is one thing I've learned in the last three years, it's that ginseng farming requires dedication and patience, and the right land. I have the third, working on the first two. It's not for the quick buck artists. So this hobby has gone from making money to just seeing what it takes, more a quest for knowledge than money now.
And, heck, I wasn't doing anything else with those hillsides.
