Not Every Conifer Is A Pine

Greetings,

Before I share a new video with you, I’d like to mention that I’ll be opening up registration for my online tree identification course on Monday, May 15.

Trees In All Seasons is an online video course designed to teach you how to successfully identify over 100 trees in every season. Registration will be open for one week only — from Monday, May 15 to Monday, May 22. Once you register, you will have immediate and unlimited access to the course.

If you’re interested in improving your tree identification skills, check your email on Monday for more information on how to register.

Two years ago, I explored a remote bog in northern Pennsylvania. It was the peak of the autumn mushroom season, but I wasn’t there to look for mushrooms. Archery season had just begun, but I wasn’t there to harvest deer either.

After a few hours of wandering through the bog, I eventually encountered the only person I’d see the entire day. His name was Bill and he was heading home for the day.

Taking one good look at Bill, I immediately knew why he was in this isolated part of Pennsylvania. He was hunting deer.

Bill, on the other hand, wasn’t too sure why I was there. He noticed that I had no hunting gear, no camouflage, no truck, and no apparent desire to look for deer.

Instead, I had a tripod, a camera, and a paper map printed off the internet.

After exchanging formalities, I explained to Bill why I was in the bog: to film and photograph balsam fir.

Bill was a lifelong woodsman. He hunted. He fished. He knew his way around the woods better than most people did. Bill spent his entire life in Pennsylvania, but he had never heard of balsam fir.

“We call them all pines,” he said as he watched me point out a few balsam fir trees.

Pines. I wasn’t too surprised to hear that response. Heck, I could even relate. Years ago, I called every conifer a “pine.” It didn’t matter if I was looking at a spruce or a fir. As long as the tree had evergreen leaves and woody cones, it was a pine.

Today, things are different. Disciplined tree study has allowed me to appreciate the beautiful differences between conifers. I now love observing the distinctive Christmas tree shapes of balsam firs. I love watching fir cones fall apart in the autumn season. I love smelling fir leaves (they smell better than any conifer I’ve ever smelled). And I love knowing that firs, despite being in the pine family, aren’t true pines. They’re firs, and thank God they are.

Noticing the distinctions between conifers is an important skill if you want to learn how to identify trees. Tree identification skills are important if you want to improve your ecological literacy.

To get you started, I created a video in which I teach you the major differences between conifers.

You can watch the brand new video here.

Thanks for reading and watching. If you are interested in learning how to identify over 100 trees, check your email on Monday for information on how to register for Trees In All Seasons.

-Adam Haritan

Foraging The Most Inconspicuous Edible Wildflower

A typical walk in nature can be slow. From an outsider’s perspective, it can be painfully slow. A 1-mile walk might take a naturalist 4 hours to complete — a pace 12 times slower than the average walking speed.

While it’s true that a turtle could probably outpace a botanist walking through a flowering floodplain, the point of any nature excursion isn’t momentum.

It’s observation, education, and integration.

On several walks this year, I’ve halted my pace in order to observe a particular wildflower. Known as false mermaidweed, this plant grows in floodplain forests along rivers and streams.

False mermaidweed is unlike other plants for a few reasons, one of which is the size of its flower. Only a few millimeters wide, this flower is among the smallest of any wildflower in nature. It’s rarely seen by people walking through the woods, which is why even a slow pace isn’t recommended for proper observation.

Rather, complete stillness is.

Despite its small size, false mermaidweed offers immense value. Its stems, leaves, and flowers are edible and can be harvested during the spring season.

To learn more about this inconspicuous edible plant, check out the brand new video!

Speaking of edible plants, Sam Thayer is releasing his 4th book on edible plants of North America. Sam is a renowned author, forager, and teacher who travels the continent in search of wild food. His brand new field guide features over 650 edible species and 1,700 color photos, as well as an innovative system for identifying plants during their edible stages. Anything that Sam publishes is brilliant, and this book will be no different. You can pre-order your copy here.

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

-Adam Haritan

These Shrimp Live And Die In The Woods

Over the years, I’ve met all kinds of strange creatures in the forest. Insects, mammals, mushrooms, and the occasional strange human are just a few examples.

But up until recently, I had never encountered shrimp-like creatures.

Truthfully, it never crossed my mind that the forest could accommodate such organisms. Besides pill bugs, which are often referred to as land shrimp, could anything shrimp-like actually live among the pin oaks and red maples? I didn’t think it was possible.

Until I learned about fairy shrimp.

Fairy shrimp are aquatic crustaceans that live and die in the woods. More specifically, fairy shrimp complete their entire life cycle within vernal pools. Eggs hatch in late winter. Larvae transform into breeding adults within a few weeks. By the end of summer, all fairy shrimp perish.

I recently spent a lot of time in the presence of fairy shrimp and decided to capture their short lives on film. To learn more about these amazing creatures, check out the brand new video!

You can watch the video here.

Thanks for reading and watching, and thank you for your continued support!

-Adam Haritan

Stalking The Wild Goldenseal

Greetings!

On Thursday, May 24th, I’ll be leading an evening foraging walk in Apollo, Pennsylvania (about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh). We’ll be exploring a beautiful area known as Roaring Run along the Kiskiminetas River in search of wild edible plants and mushrooms. If you’re interested in attending this walk, click here for more info!

Moving forward, let’s talk about Goldenseal.

Perhaps you’re familiar with this plant in supplement form. Several immune-boosting formulas contain Goldenseal as the primary ingredient, and it’s one of the top-selling herbs in the world today.

Goldenseal is not an exotic plant. This understory species is native to North America and can be found in rich, deciduous woodlands… usually in association with tulip poplar, American beech, white ash, and sugar maple trees.

For centuries, various Native American cultures utilized Goldenseal as a medicinal plant. Early European settlers also took a liking to this plant and quickly reduced wild populations to perilous numbers.

Today, Goldenseal is listed as endangered, threatened, or vulnerable in at least 10 states. In some areas, however, it can still be quite abundant.

I recently explored the woods in search of Goldenseal and documented the experience on film. If you’re interested in learning more about this incredibly special plant, as well as how to receive the benefits of Goldenseal without harvesting Goldenseal (there’s a great alternative!), check out the new video!

Some fungi eat plants, and some fungi eat animals. Some fungi eat both plants and animals! The edible Oyster mushroom is just one among the many species of omnivorous fungi that consume non-segmented roundworms called nematodes. Check out this Instagram post to learn more!

Click to view post

Thanks for reading and watching, and as always, thank you for your support!

-Adam Haritan

Wild Edible Plant & Mushroom Outing with Sam Thayer & Adam Haritan

Greetings!

I am extremely excited to announce that I will be co-hosting the upcoming Wild Edible Plant & Mushroom Outing with Sam Thayer on Saturday, June 2nd. Sam is a nationally recognized foraging instructor and the author of three popular foraging books, including The Forager’s Harvest, Nature’s Garden, and Incredible Wild Edibles.

He will be traveling from his home in Wisconsin to spend the day with us in Western Pennsylvania for the Wild Edible Plant & Mushroom Outing. This event is an all-day outdoor excursion designed to improve your identification skills by introducing you to a variety of edible species that grow in the early weeks of summer.

During the first part of the event, we will explore Pennsylvania’s beautiful Moraine State Park by hiking a 1.5-mile trail alongside the park’s main feature, Lake Arthur. While walking, we’ll discuss the plants and mushrooms that inhabit the grassy meadows, lakeside ecosystems, and wooded habitats.

In the afternoon, we’ll head to nearby McConnells Mill State Park to explore 2.5 miles of the North Country Trail and its notable hemlock-lined ravines, sugar maple slopes, and sandstone cliffs… all while discussing the area’s unique plants and mushrooms.

Interested? Here are more details:

What: Wild Edible Plant & Mushroom Outing with Sam Thayer & Adam Haritan
When: Saturday, June 2nd, 2018
Where: Moraine & McConnells Mill State Parks, Western Pennsylvania
Time: 9:00 AM — 6:00 PM

Please note that in order to maximize your learning experience, space for this event is limited to approximately 25 participants. Registration with payment in advance is required.

To purchase your ticket, and to learn more about the outing, please visit this link: Wild Edible Plant & Mushroom Outing

We’d love to see you there!

-Adam Haritan