Today we are blessed by the presence of Adam Haritan, founder of Learn Your Land. Adam started the famous Learn Your Land platform in 2014 out of a desire to connect naturalists with people who wanted to learn from naturalists.  Learn Your Land is an advertisement-free media channel, helping people to improve their nature skills one species at a time. He spends most of my days either looking for mushrooms/plants/trees, researching mushrooms/plants/trees, filming mushrooms/plants/trees, or editing videos and content around mushrooms/plants/trees. Before his life became dedicated to this project, Adam studied classical piano and euphonium, toured as a drummer with a heavy metal band until his academic pursuits led him to study nutrition and dietetics at the University of Pittsburgh.  I’m excited to probe the depths of a naturalist who has dedicated so much time and effort to help us all learn more about the land under our feet.   

Topics Covered:   

• Charting a New Life Course Through Nutrition  
• Learning from Mentors and Naturalist Groups  
• Western Pennsylvania Mushroom and Wild Food Community  
• Finding Purpose in Sharing Information About Nature  
• Foraging in Western Pennsylvania  
• Connection with Land as Essential to Human Health  
• Tips for Other Educators  
• Content Creation as a Disciplined Learning Process  
• Foraging Wild Water, Medicine and Food  
• Land and Belonging  
• Transcending Dystopian Futures  
• Significance of Land Trusts & Giving Back to Natural Spaces  
• Learning Each Mushroom that Crosses Your Path  
• Future Projects for “Learn Your Land”  

Episode Resources:   

• Learn Your Land Website: https://learnyourland.com/  
• Learn Your Land YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcbf8wnyVJl631LAmAbo7nw  
• Learn Your Land IG: https://www.instagram.com/learnyourland/  
• Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club: https://wpamushroomclub.org/  
• Echinoderma asperum (Fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinoderma_asperum