June 2026 – Paths I Walk

I have two updates: a special live event next month, and a brand-new video on an iconic forest plant.

First up: On Tuesday, July 21, I’ll be speaking at a unique, immersive event called Field & Fork.

This is a multi-sensory farm-to-table dinner and ecology experience hosted by Plant it Further at the scenic 80-acre Lodge at Water’s Edge in Portersville, Pennsylvania.

I’ll be speaking alongside Cornell Master Beekeeper Christina Joy Neumann, and we’ll all be sharing a beautifully crafted seasonal dinner.

If you want to slow down, talk forest ecology, eat incredible local food, and connect in person, I would love to see you there.

Click here for details and tickets to Field & Fork.

Next up: Ginseng.

Recently, I thought about a forest I visited 8 years ago, and I wondered if two American ginseng plants were still growing there.

To get an answer, I decided to visit the forest and see for myself.

The only problem was that I never dropped a pin on a map, and I wasn’t sure exactly where I found the plants 8 years ago. But after an hour of intense searching under a canopy of tulip tree and red maple, I finally found them.

“What luck!” I thought to myself.

Interestingly, I was also surprised to see quite a few other plants that looked like ginseng. Some of these lookalikes were even growing right next to the real thing.

This made me wonder: If I’m getting confused out here, I’ll bet other people are too.

So, I decided to film a video breaking down how to spot a few ginseng lookalikes, as well as how to identify true American ginseng in the wild.

You can watch the brand-new video here.

Thanks for watching, and I hope to see some of you in July!

— Adam Haritan

In my neck of the woods, some places are absolute tick hot spots. If I need to photograph ticks or study their habits, I know exactly where to go.

But until last week, I didn’t know that a particular shrub was strongly associated with tick abundance. A new study found this to be true, and we can now add this species to the growing list of plants that sustain ticks.

What is this shrub? And why do ticks love spending so much time near it?

In a brand-new video, I answer these questions and discuss why we shouldn’t be too surprised to see things moving in this direction.

You can watch the video here.