Welcome to Forager's Harvest
Connecting People and Nature Through
the Ancient Craft of ForagingÂ
Harvesting wild food is the oldest and most basic subsistence activity of humankind, but today we live in a world where these skills are almost lost. Foraging is the missing link in modern civilized cultures--it is this direct physical connection, in the form of sustenance, that brings us to our deepest appreciation and understanding of the natural world. Â
This is the home site for Sam Thayer, renowned author and forager and internationally recognized authority on edible wild plants. It is also the site for Forager's Harvest Press, publisher of Sam's award-winning wild food books.  Our mission is to promote responsible foraging, appreciation and conservation of Nature, and sustainable food production systems. If you care about these things, please explore this site's content and links.
News:Â I'm excited to announce that I'll be teaching at the Wild Food Summit in northwest Minnesota this June, and also at the Great Lakes Traditional Arts Gathering on Drummond Island, Michigan, this August 2-5. These are two really awesome events that you'll want to look into attending if you are super excited about foraging (or you want to be!) Also, I am now writing a regular column for Plant Healer Magazine, a paperless publication. Check them out at planthealermagazine.com. You can see some of my previous columns here.
Once Upon a Little Prairie
Timber rattlesnake sunning on a boulder amongst wild grape vines
Note: this piece appeared previously in my column at plant healer magazineÂ
  Life is too short to cancel trips for inclement weather. It’s been raining for the last three days, really up until the moment I park my car. The first thing that Josh and I notice as we get out is a huge stinking pile of rotten carp and shortnose gar, some dragged here and there by raccoons. The discards of some commercial fisherman from the Mississippi, I suppose. We chuckle that it must be an omen, but of what we don’t know.
    “Good omen. Good omen for sure,” I confidently decide after we walk away holding our breath.
    “What makes you say that?” Josh asks.
    “Not so much  a special understanding of omens, but because I found this spot, and I’ve been here before.”
    Josh smiles.
    We slip into the forest on a gloomy morning of drizzle and dripping leaves, trying not to get our shoes soaked in the wet grass. We follow a deer trail that angles down a steep ravine under bur oaks. At the bottom we hop across a random assortment of  precarious limestone boulders before ascending the other side. We aren’t even close to The Spot yet, but our hearts are already thumping in anticipation of the anticipation when we get there. “Holy crap, what if this really happens?” I say as we pause to rest.
Recent Articles
Stitchwort in the Backyard
/ August 18, 2011Autumnberry, Autumn-olive
/ March 24, 2010Black Nightshade
/ March 24, 2010Into the Wild and other Poisonous Plant Fables
/ March 24, 2010Fern Fiddleheads: The Succulent Stalks of Spring
/ March 16, 2010Why God Put Those Bumps on Your Tongue
/ March 16, 2010Basswood: The Ultimate Wild Salad Plant
/ March 16, 2010Making Your Own Apple Pectin
/ March 16, 2010Milkweed: A Truly Remarkable Wild Vegetable
/ March 16, 2010
