Samuel Thayer
Author of The Forager's Harvest (2006), Nature's Garden (2010), Incredible Wild Edibles (2017), and Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America (2023). Sam is one of the leading experts in the US about wild edible plants and continues to set the mark as a foraging authority. He has been an instructor for us every year since the festival started.
Sam began foraging as a child and has been teaching and writing about wild edibles for over 25 years. Not only is his writing impeccable, he is a very engaging and knowledgeable instructor. In addition to wild food foraging, Sam is an all-around naturalist with particular interest in reptiles, amphibians, bird watching, botany, and mammals. His passion for wild food extends to studying the origin of cultivated plants and the socio-economic history of the human diet. Other favorite activities include running, bicycling, archery, fishing, cliff diving, swimming, photography, cooking, growing fruit trees, using scythes and other old hand tools, hunting, and anything with the family. www.foragersharvest.com
Author of The Forager's Harvest (2006), Nature's Garden (2010), Incredible Wild Edibles (2017), and Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America (2023). Sam is one of the leading experts in the US about wild edible plants and continues to set the mark as a foraging authority. He has been an instructor for us every year since the festival started.
Sam began foraging as a child and has been teaching and writing about wild edibles for over 25 years. Not only is his writing impeccable, he is a very engaging and knowledgeable instructor. In addition to wild food foraging, Sam is an all-around naturalist with particular interest in reptiles, amphibians, bird watching, botany, and mammals. His passion for wild food extends to studying the origin of cultivated plants and the socio-economic history of the human diet. Other favorite activities include running, bicycling, archery, fishing, cliff diving, swimming, photography, cooking, growing fruit trees, using scythes and other old hand tools, hunting, and anything with the family. www.foragersharvest.com
Ellen Zachos
Ellen Zachos is the author of seven books including The Wildcrafted Cocktail and Backyard Foraging: 65 Familiar Plants You Didn’t Know You Could Eat. She wrote the foraging website for About.com, and shares seasonal wild recipes at www.backyardforager.com. Ellen is a regular contributor to several of the Edible magazines, and a Senior Advisor at Garden Compass, a plant identification app. She also works with RemyUSA, teaching foraging mixology workshops across the US. A former Broadway performer (cast of Les Miz), Ellen is a Harvard graduate and earned multiple certificates in horticulture and ethnobotany at the New York Botanic Garden. She taught at the NYBG for many years, and also worked there as Coordinator of the Gardening Department in Continuing Ed, before moving to Santa Fe, NM in the summer of 2014. Foraging is tougher in the desert southwest than it was in the northeast, but it's fun exploring new territory and getting to know new edible plants and mushrooms.
Ellen Zachos is the author of seven books including The Wildcrafted Cocktail and Backyard Foraging: 65 Familiar Plants You Didn’t Know You Could Eat. She wrote the foraging website for About.com, and shares seasonal wild recipes at www.backyardforager.com. Ellen is a regular contributor to several of the Edible magazines, and a Senior Advisor at Garden Compass, a plant identification app. She also works with RemyUSA, teaching foraging mixology workshops across the US. A former Broadway performer (cast of Les Miz), Ellen is a Harvard graduate and earned multiple certificates in horticulture and ethnobotany at the New York Botanic Garden. She taught at the NYBG for many years, and also worked there as Coordinator of the Gardening Department in Continuing Ed, before moving to Santa Fe, NM in the summer of 2014. Foraging is tougher in the desert southwest than it was in the northeast, but it's fun exploring new territory and getting to know new edible plants and mushrooms.
Todd Elliott
Todd Elliott grew up in the Southern Appalachians, and his passion for the natural world has led him to work as a naturalist, photographer, and biologist on six continents. His collaborations and publications from this research include the naming of more than 100 fungal species and 5 genera, and he is an author of the Timber Press field guide Mushrooms of the Southeast (USA). Todd is an avid forager who is particularly interested in expanding the list of mushrooms that we regularly harvest and eat here in the US and beyond. Recently Todd has been working as a researcher studying interactions between birds, reptiles, mammals, and fungi at the University of New England in Australia. Learn more about Todd by following him on Instagram or Twitter.
Todd Elliott grew up in the Southern Appalachians, and his passion for the natural world has led him to work as a naturalist, photographer, and biologist on six continents. His collaborations and publications from this research include the naming of more than 100 fungal species and 5 genera, and he is an author of the Timber Press field guide Mushrooms of the Southeast (USA). Todd is an avid forager who is particularly interested in expanding the list of mushrooms that we regularly harvest and eat here in the US and beyond. Recently Todd has been working as a researcher studying interactions between birds, reptiles, mammals, and fungi at the University of New England in Australia. Learn more about Todd by following him on Instagram or Twitter.
Linda Black Elk
Linda Black Elk is an ethnobotanist specializing in teaching about culturally important plants and their uses as food, medicine, and materials. Linda works to build hands-on curriculum and ways of thinking that will promote and protect food sovereignty, traditional plant knowledge, and environmental quality as an extension of the fight against hydraulic fracturing and the fossil fuels industry. Linda takes the mantra “good is medicine” very literally, teaching classes on simples ways to incorporate “edible medicinals” in to everyone’s diet. She has written for numerous publications, and is the author of “Watoto Unyutapi”, a field guide to edible wild plants of the Dakota people. Linda is the mother to three Lakota boys and serves as the Food Sovereignty Coordinator at United Tribes Technical College.
Linda Black Elk is an ethnobotanist specializing in teaching about culturally important plants and their uses as food, medicine, and materials. Linda works to build hands-on curriculum and ways of thinking that will promote and protect food sovereignty, traditional plant knowledge, and environmental quality as an extension of the fight against hydraulic fracturing and the fossil fuels industry. Linda takes the mantra “good is medicine” very literally, teaching classes on simples ways to incorporate “edible medicinals” in to everyone’s diet. She has written for numerous publications, and is the author of “Watoto Unyutapi”, a field guide to edible wild plants of the Dakota people. Linda is the mother to three Lakota boys and serves as the Food Sovereignty Coordinator at United Tribes Technical College.
Luke Black Elk
Luke Black Elk is a food sovereignty activist and teacher of traditional plant uses, gardening, food preservation, and foraging. Luke spends his time collecting and preparing traditional foods for Indigenous peoples and communities throughout the Oceti Sakowin. Luke believes that the Lakota way of life is embedded in ceremony and that practicing these ways is vital to a better future. Luke is one of the founding board members of the Tatanka Wakpala Model Sustainable Community, which is a Native non-profit on the Cheyenne River Nation focusing on traditional building design, permaculture, food sovereignty, and a return to Lakota spirituality as a guide for everyday life. He also sits on the board of Makoce Ikikcupi, a Native non-profit, which is a Reparative Justice project on Dakota lands in Minnesota. Luke is currently a student in the Native Environmental Science program at United Tribes Technical College, and he enjoys spending his time on the prairie of North and South Dakota with his wife and three sons.
Luke Black Elk is a food sovereignty activist and teacher of traditional plant uses, gardening, food preservation, and foraging. Luke spends his time collecting and preparing traditional foods for Indigenous peoples and communities throughout the Oceti Sakowin. Luke believes that the Lakota way of life is embedded in ceremony and that practicing these ways is vital to a better future. Luke is one of the founding board members of the Tatanka Wakpala Model Sustainable Community, which is a Native non-profit on the Cheyenne River Nation focusing on traditional building design, permaculture, food sovereignty, and a return to Lakota spirituality as a guide for everyday life. He also sits on the board of Makoce Ikikcupi, a Native non-profit, which is a Reparative Justice project on Dakota lands in Minnesota. Luke is currently a student in the Native Environmental Science program at United Tribes Technical College, and he enjoys spending his time on the prairie of North and South Dakota with his wife and three sons.
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Timothy Clemens
Tim Clemens was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN and began foraging as a child in the green spaces of Minnehaha Falls. During college, foraging became an intentional practice while studying Ojibwe language and culture. Tim founded Ironwood Foraging, www.ironwoodforaging.com, in 2017 to offer hands-on plant and mushroom foraging workshops. He is the president of the Minnesota Mycological Society, a Minnesota Master Naturalist, and a certified wild mushroom expert. Tim holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology/Archaeology from the University of Minnesota and a certificate in Environmental Education form Cornell University. You can also find Tim on Instagram @mnforager |
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Alexis Nelson Alexis Nelson is an all-around awesome human sharing with the world her love of the outdoors and wild food. Her study of theater in college comes through in her TikTok's a.k.a Black Forager. She has been featured on the Jimmy Kimmel show, the New York Times, done a Ted Talk, and many other notable articles. We are thrilled she has agreed to joins us again this year!
Chris Gavin is a naturalist and outdoor enthusiast born and raised in Wisconsin. After a stint in the Marine Corps where he traveled the country and the world, he returned to Wisconsin and earned a degree in Wildlife Ecology. He spends his time raising a family, hunting and gathering, and teaching outdoor skills like foraging through his business, Eagle Outdoor Skills eagleoutdoorskills.com
Crystal Brown
Crystal Brown, of Inspired North, is an ethnobotanist, bio-regional herbalist, and writer/creative, focusing on wild edible food and medicinal plants and fungi. She assists students in developing connection to nature, self, and community through creative outdoor experiences that incorporate an integrative approach to health, wellness, and personal growth. She has a background working as a psychiatric mental health nurse with children, adolescents, and adults; and is a Wilderness First Responder. Crystal teaches foraging and herbalism classes and workshops in Eastern and Northwestern Wisconsin, for the public, private, and non-profit groups and schools, as well as programming to experiential educators throughout the Midwest working with youth and adults, including connecting nature/adventure experiences with mental health and trauma-informed education.
www.inspirednorth.com
Crystal Brown, of Inspired North, is an ethnobotanist, bio-regional herbalist, and writer/creative, focusing on wild edible food and medicinal plants and fungi. She assists students in developing connection to nature, self, and community through creative outdoor experiences that incorporate an integrative approach to health, wellness, and personal growth. She has a background working as a psychiatric mental health nurse with children, adolescents, and adults; and is a Wilderness First Responder. Crystal teaches foraging and herbalism classes and workshops in Eastern and Northwestern Wisconsin, for the public, private, and non-profit groups and schools, as well as programming to experiential educators throughout the Midwest working with youth and adults, including connecting nature/adventure experiences with mental health and trauma-informed education.
www.inspirednorth.com
Dwight Zietlow
Dwight is passionate about wild edibles and has taught his wild cordials class for several years now. It's always a hit and you walk away with knowledge you just can't find in a book.
Dwight is passionate about wild edibles and has taught his wild cordials class for several years now. It's always a hit and you walk away with knowledge you just can't find in a book.