Samuel Thayer

Samuel J. Thayer (born 1976) is an American wild food forager and author. Thayer is a self-taught natural historian. In 2001, Thayer founded Forager's Harvest and acts as editor and director of the institute.

Early life and education Born in Wausau, Wisconsin, to Richard and Ellen Thayer, he was raised in Madison and graduated from Madison East High School in 1994. He has one brother and two sisters.

Books

Thayer has published four books as of 2026: The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants; Nature's Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants; Incredible Wild Edibles: 36 Plants That Can Change Your Life and Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern & Central North America. The Forager's Harvest self-published all of them.

Awards

He has won three awards for his book Nature's Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants First Place for the 2006 Midwest Book Awards in the category "Nature"; First Place for the 2010 Midwest Book Awards, Midwest Independent Publisher's Association, and second place in the category "Gardening/Agriculture" for The 2011 Benjamin Franklin Award.