55. Reading Your Body, Reading the Land with Adam Haritan of Learn Your Land

Personal health is not just an extension of environmental health — they are one and the same.

For episode 55 of the Good Life Revival Podcast, I was fortunate enough to speak with Adam Haritan, creator of Learn Your Land. Nowadays he’s best known as a forager, naturalist, and educator, but these pursuits came after a sea change in Adam’s life which began when he woke up to how he’d been neglecting his health as a touring heavy metal drummer.

“My body was kind of slowly falling apart on the inside. Nothing too serious — other people would look at me and think I was fine — but I didn’t feel fine inside.”

As his interest in playing with the band was waning, Adam decided to pursue studies in nutritional science, and although he found the conventional academic approach somewhat lacking, he was lucky enough to connect with mentors who helped him discover the holistic health benefits of foraging for wild foods.

Because gathering wild edible plants and fungi is about so much more than mere nutrition: it is physical and spiritual sustenance for the whole human animal, which cannot be summed up in terms of macronutrient content or calories burned.

Adam and I had a great conversation about his background and his work; the health benefits of nature connection; and the kinds of perspectives we can take on when we learn how to read the landscapes that we inhabit.