About Nick

North Spore: grow your own mushrooms. Use code TheBayForager for 10% off.

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Nick smiling outdoors in dappled sunlight, backpack on, in the field

Hi, I'm Nick.

I hold a PhD in bioengineering from UC Riverside and still work part-time in the biotech field and run a company that makes alcohol detectors for kombucha brewers.

My teaching experience goes back over a decade; I have experience with all ages. I have been foraging since I was a boy growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia.

I started leading foraging tours because the knowledge felt too good to keep to myself. Once you begin identifying plants, a plain field of green turns into a new universe.

My approach is beginner-friendly, sensory-forward, and question-welcoming. I would love to yap about latin names and ecosystem inctracacies, but I lean towards accesibility first.

Foraging ethics

  • Always have permission to take
  • Take only what you'll use
  • Be "banana positive" on your identification
  • Do not take endangerds/delicate natives
Book a walk

There's more to find than food

Paying attention to plants slows you down just enough to notice everything else. Lizards on rocks, salamanders under leaves, slugs doing their thing. Something always turns up.

A small alligator lizard held gently between two fingertips, looking at the camera
Alligator lizard
A bright yellow banana slug curled on brown redwood duff
Banana slug
A tiny slender salamander resting on a fallen autumn leaf in an open hand
Slender salamander
A western fence lizard resting on an open palm in sunlight
Western fence lizard