Posted on 04/30/2012 9:36:58 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows
A Chinese farmer who pulled a bizarrely shaped root out of the ground has said he will not part with his plant.
The root, from the He Shou Wu plant, was unearthed in southern China by local farmer Lu Chen.
No doubt he was shocked when he pulled the root from the ground due to its resemblance to a human being, albeit with an overgrown appendage.
The root is often used in Chinese medicine to rejuvenate virility and strength and Lu Chen believes the obscene shaping of the root is a sign his farm will produce a good harvest next year.
'I think it is a sign that my farm will have new fertility and that I'm going to have a bumper crop this year,' he explained.
(Excerpt) Read more at metro.co.uk ...
I have a suspicion that the root was grown on a mold much like the square watermelons the Japanese farmers incorporate.
HA HA HA HA HA...Homer Simpson with a woody.
My dad raised ginseng in the 50’s and sold it to Korea, China, whatever, because it came out of the ground looking like a human. They paid well, back then, especially for the real obscene ones. I think this is the same thing.
GIGGITY!
My rudely-shaped root would hit your rudely-shaped root.
This happened in China. They have a different "perspective" on things there. ;)
You are correct. True “Man-Roots” are hard to find and can be quite valuable. Growers have been ‘pruning’ roots for centuries to achieve the desired human shape.
When the ginseng plant (Panax family) enters dormancy in late fall, the roots are dug up and ‘clipped’ to form human-shapes. Since wild plants have been known to live well over 200 years, this allows plenty of time for growers & wild harvesters to shape the root as they wish. Patience is the key here.
I agree with ResponseAbility that this particular root was most likely grown in a mold or pruned. It’s just too perfect to be otherwise.
Every ginseng grower/digger that I’ve met have been most colorful in character, i.e. strongly independent, excellent outdoorsmen, hunters, fisherman, trappers and falsely called as eccentric or “crazy”. My kind of people! Bet your dad had lots of interesting stories.
Now there’s something you can hang your hat on!
The Bagel Guy looks a little different...
My old man was dedicated to the oil fields and jobs here in PA. He worked many leases and picked the wild (or feral?) ginseng and we had a sort of hothouse at home. I really don’t know who he sold the stuff to, but I remember helping pick, fertilizing and cutting the stuff for years. He made a good buck between oil, ginseng and working in a steel mill. (And shooting cornfield cows {deer}.)
“You are what you eat.”
Sometimes...MORE! lol
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.