Foraging The Delicious Edible Cauliflower Mushroom

Before I share a brand-new video with you, I’d like to mention that my newest online course, Exploring Wild Ecosystems, will reopen for registration on Monday, September 23.

This online course is designed to strengthen your relationship to wild places by introducing you to fascinating terrestrial and wetland ecosystems. With a focus on the connections and communities that bind nature together, Exploring Wild Ecosystems will help you gain important ecological skills.

You can register here on Monday.

Speaking of connections, forests are teeming with connections of all kinds. Nothing in a forest exists in isolation.

Take the cauliflower mushroom, for instance.

This edible mushroom grows in association with certain trees. To find the cauliflower mushroom, it only makes sense to explore ecosystems where these trees grow.

During a recent hike, I discovered a cauliflower mushroom growing near a mature red oak. Sensing the connection, I started checking every oak in the forest. Within 30 minutes, I found two more cauliflower mushrooms — one of which I harvested and turned into a delicious meal.

Fortunately, I brought my camera along to document the experience. To learn more about this lovely edible mushroom, check out the brand-new video.

Thanks for reading and watching! If you want to develop ecological literacy and see how all the components within nature are connected, consider enrolling in Exploring Wild Ecosystems on Monday.

— Adam Haritan

A Weed Lover’s Manifesto

A Weed Lover’s Manifesto

Journeying into Deep Medicine, Magic, and Connection: A Comfrey Initiation

Journeying into Deep Medicine, Magic, and Connection: A Comfrey Initiation

Why I’ll Probably Never Eat This Mushroom

“Is it edible?”

This question constantly runs through the forager’s mind.

As it turns out, the answer isn’t always a simple yes or no, particularly regarding wild mushrooms.

Some mushrooms are choice edibles. Some mushrooms are toxic raw. Some mushrooms are toxic no matter how thoroughly you cook them.

But there’s another category of mushrooms: those that are no longer recommended for consumption even though field guides once listed them as edible.

Included in that latter category is a mushroom that grows in hemlock forests. This lilac-colored mushroom causes unpleasant symptoms in many people who consume it.

But not everyone experiences unpleasant symptoms, and in some cultures, this mushroom is considered undeniably edible.

Why is this the case? How can a mushroom poison some people and nourish others?

In this brand-new video, I share my thoughts.

Thanks for reading and watching! Have you seen any neat mushrooms lately?

— Adam Haritan

Finding Dozens of American Chestnut Trees

I like finding all kinds of trees, but there’s one tree in particular whose presence excites me more than most.

American chestnut.

I’ll drive out of my way to find a decent-sized American chestnut. I might even interrupt a conversation to point out American chestnut.

This behavior may seem strange to some people. I consider it proper etiquette for anyone with a burning passion for North American trees.

I recently explored a remote forest in search of American chestnut trees. By the end of the day, I had found dozens of American chestnuts — one of which was the largest I had ever seen.

Fortunately, I brought my camera along to document the experience. If you’re interested in seeing several beautiful American chestnuts, check out the brand-new video!

Thanks for reading and watching. Have you seen any American chestnuts lately?

— Adam Haritan

Metaphysical Land Healing: A Druid’s Garden Guide

Metaphysical Land Healing: A Druid’s Garden Guide

How The Passenger Pigeon Changed North American Forests

In 1857, the Ohio State Legislature famously wrote:

The passenger pigeon needs no protection. Wonderfully prolific, having the vast forests of the North as its breeding grounds, traveling hundreds of miles in search of food, it is here today and elsewhere tomorrow…

Forty-five years later, the last wild passenger pigeon was shot and killed in Indiana. In 1914, the last member of the species died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.

The passenger pigeon — a species once numbering in the billions — became extinct in a few short decades.

Barring a miracle in the field of de-extinction, no human alive today will ever see a living passenger pigeon that isn’t a biological novelty. No human alive today will stand in awe as massive flocks of passenger pigeons eclipse the sun and darken the skies.

But whether or not scientists actually figure out how to resurrect the dead, there is something many humans can experience today: the legacy left behind by the passenger pigeon on the North American landscape.

In a brand-new video, I discuss how the passenger pigeon profoundly altered North American forests.

You can watch the video here.

Thanks for reading and watching, and thanks for your continued support!

— Adam Haritan

Medicinal Mushrooms: Reishi or Hemlock Varnish Shelf (Ganoderma Tsugae)

Medicinal Mushrooms: Reishi or Hemlock Varnish Shelf (Ganoderma Tsugae)

The Great Hemlock Decline

I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Shakespeare, but a particular line from Hamlet has always stuck with me.

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

These words come to mind particularly when I think about the current state of our forests.

Understandably, people are worried about the “unprecedented changes” occurring in woodland ecosystems. Invasive species are taking over, diseases are killing trees, and desirable organisms are failing to regenerate.

At any given moment, the state of our forests can seem rather bleak.

But when we recall the words of William Shakespeare, our perception of this matter shifts — especially when we consider something fascinating about eastern hemlock.

Many people know that an insect is currently threatening the health of eastern hemlock. Nothing about this situation seems good until we understand a critical piece of information: eastern hemlock is no stranger to threats.

In a brand new video, I discuss an important event of the past that may help us better understand modern-day forests.

You can watch the video here.