Samuel Thayer

Samuel Thayer is an internationally recognized authority on edible wild plants who has been teaching workshops and classes for three decades. He is the author of four highly acclaimed, award-winning books on edible wild plants. His first book, The Forager’s Harvest, has sold over 250,000 copies. His most recent, Sam Thayer’s Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America, is the winner of the National Outdoor Book Award for best nature guide of 2023. Born in Wausau, Wisconsin, Samuel began gathering wild food in early childhood. At the age of 18 he built a log cabin and began pursuing his dream of homesteading, foraging, and studying Nature. Today he lives in Northern Wisconsin with his wife, Melissa, and their three children. Besides foraging, teaching, and writing, Sam runs a small organic orchard featuring apples, native fruits, nuts, berries, and edible native ground covers, and makes maple and birch syrup.