Uploaded September 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Ruby Daniels is an “Afrilachian” forest farmer and herbalist, who lives on her family homeplace in the former coal town of Stanaford, West Virginia. She works with landowners to grow ginseng for seeds and sustainable harvest, and uses alternatives to American ginseng in her business, Creasy Jane’s Herbal Remedies.

Explore the exhibition: https://s.si.edu/ginseng

Filmed and produced by Clara Haizlett
Illustrations by Rosalie Haizlett
Research and interviews by Mary Hufford
Music: “Homeward Bound/The Old Slipper Shoe” by Tom Sullivan, “Credo” by Mary Lou Williams

© Smithsonian, 2021