My name is Adam Haritan, and I am a wild food enthusiast, researcher, and forager.
For several years, I have been leading wild edible plant and mushroom walks throughout the woods, forests, and fields of Pennsylvania as a way of reconnecting humans with their land.
In addition to outdoor walks and hikes, I offer indoor presentations on a variety of topics related to foraging, herbal medicine making, and the benefits of nature connection. A brief list of the various organizations for which I have presented include Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, Penn State Master Gardeners, L.L. Bean, University of Pittsburgh, and Pennsylvania State Parks.
To learn more about the work I do, please visit my YouTube channel which features dozens of videos pertaining to foraging, plant identification, mushroom identification, and tree identification.
If you’re interested in supporting the work here at Wild Foodism, check out the online store which features personally created medicinal mushroom extractions and other wild food supplements.
Thank you!
—Adam Haritan
Wild Foodism 
Dear Adam,
I’ve just discovered your pages here and am really interested. I found oyu because I was looking for something with birch tree bark as a treatment for my Dad’s skin after a cancer operation. I read about birch tree bark here in Germany where I live and was hoping to find a cream or salve with a large amount of it in it. My Dad wouldn’t be able to go through the “production process” you rightly suggest. Maybe you’ve got an idea how he could find it – compounding pharmacy??
Thank you and I’ll keep on reading!
Jenny Sandhaas
Dear Jenny,
Hope all is ok with your father and he has made a good recovery. I wanted to comment and share something I was reading the other day in a medical journal (see link below). Hope it could help in some way!
It is freely available and 100% natural. Where to buy shouldnt be too difficult when you google for it.
Regards,
Sander Sluijter
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/cannabis/healthprofessional/page4
Hi Jenny,
Thank you for reaching out. There are, unfortunately, few topical products that contain birch bark. However, if you do a search for “birch bark salve” in Google, you’ll come across a few sites that offer their products. I have never used any commercially, so I cannot speak to their effectiveness. Still, it may be something worth looking into.
I may be making my own later this year, and you may be interested in some. If you have no luck finding any, let me know.
Wishing you all the best, and thank you for reading!
-Adam
Dear Sander Sluijter,
Thank you for the link – very interesting. It would be nice to get advice on which products contain birch bark juice as my dad is not able to obtain it as described in the website. Product names would be super helpful here. Thanks once again!
Sincerely,
Jenny Sandhaas
Thank you Adam! I would like to go on your list of people to notify when you get your birch salve/creme going. I’ll keep on looking but haven’t found anything interesting yet.
Sincerely,
Jenny Sandhaas
Consider the ‘radium weed’.
http://www.radiumweed.com.au
Hi Adam. I found what I think might be Chaga today. However there was wood inside. I would like to send pics if you could take a look please. Thanks. Mandy
Hi Adam, I have enjoyed your YouTube channel! Thank you for your incredible insite!
I have been looking across Minnesota and western Wisconsin the past many months for Polypore’s and Chaga… since being diagnosed with Stage 3 Colorectal cancer, I have been vary successful with the Birch Polypore… but no luck on the Chaga… today I found what I first thought was Chaga, but it wasn’t on Birch, there was quite a bit of it on White Oak… possibly Phellinus Igniarius? other times I saw something like it on Elm and wild Cherry. I have a picture I can send you if you can connect at jrcoye@gmail.com. Thank you!
Rich
Hello Adam,
How long can I safely store maple or other tree sap and at what temperature is
recommended for the storage? Also, how should it be filtered to remove unwanted
critters and in what type of containers are the best? Thank you so much for your
help!!
Hey Adam. Where can I send you photos of a mushroom I find in my yard. I am having trouble identifying it. Thank you.
Adam…. I am following a path similar to yours. You teach me so much – thank you very much for that. I live in “Near North” Ontario Canada. I have so many medicinal mushrooms to harvest all the time all over my own 100 acre property. Is there specific place where I could sell these that you know of? Lots of Red Belts, Artist Conks, Birch Polypores, Tinder Conks, Willow Brackets…. some Chaga and Turkey Tail…. along with a ton more….. lots and lots of Lobsters. Could sell whole and fresh but I am constantly dehydrating and sawing them up into chunks for tea and powder for coffee substitute. Any ideas of where I could sell these easily? Much thanks for all you do to promote love of nature and helping to dissolve the common fears of it.
Hi there,
Do you have a way for me to send you a picture of what we think is a pretty huge hen of the woods? We found it under our oak tree but just want to make sure it truly is one before we eat it and die!
Thank you so much!
Debbie
Northern IN
Hi Adam,
A member of our local mushroom club here in NE Pennsylvania recently shared your you-tube video about the potential for Sarcomyxa serotina (Late Fall Oyster Mushroom) to contain a carcinogenic substance. It was a relief to see that your own research into this matter turned up favorable evidence; the German mycologist who had originally posed this question has determined these mushrooms are safe to consume. However, one of our club members has posed an interesting question. It is known that (at least) some species of Agaricus contain a toxin when they are first harvested, and this toxin evaporates after the fruit bodies have been harvested. I would think that the German mycologist would have accounted for this type of possibility. However –unlike Agaricus– Sarcomyxa serotina fruit bodies tend to persist in-situ for extended periods. So, I think it’s a good question to pose: Does freshly fruited Sarcomyxa serotina contain some volatile substance that dissipates as the fruit body matures?
Thanks,
Dave Wasilewski
Hello Adam, I have been enjoying all your YouTube foraging videos and love the content on your website. I have some questions and pictures of some Chaga fungi which I located in
Ontario , Canada and would like help with identification . How may I contact you and send some images ?
Modify a very little word for thank you once again, always contribute the correct suggestion regardings problems..
Hello Adam,
I was brought here by looking up information on cranberrys’ because of a really awesome survival computer game called Unreal World. Set in Finland in the early iron age. It’s been in development since 1992 and focuses on extreme realism. Thanks for the information and thought I would give back to you a gem of a game that involves many of your interests. Keep up the awesome stuff I am now subscribed!
Thiss is awesome
Very good work, thank you for sharing. I am curious about non traditional saps and my search brought me to your site. I just started collecting maple sap and the first sips are so refreshing it occurred to me that there are potentially many health benefits associated with different tree saps. Syrup is great but it is a processed food that potentially has had beneficial bacteria or enzymes etc removed.
II appreciate and listento your videos often and yesterday my husband and I learned about a wild plant very high value of vitamin C but we cannot for the life of us recall what plant??? it as many times more vitamin C than orange can you guide me to that video please thank you & all the best. Loretta
Is there a certain tree that is most prized for chaga. Or can I harvest and sell all varieties
Hi Adam a friend who heard you speak referred me to you. Do you presentations for Garden Clubs. We are Mercer Garden club in Mercer Pa. We’re a small group celebrating our 30th year and would love to have you do a presentation thanks.