Bio
Hi. I'm Sergei Boutenko. I love hiking and eating more than anything else in life. When I learned about wild edibles in 1998, I was ecstatic, because I could finally combine the two! Hehehe!I was fortunate enough to grow up with alternative parents who exposed me to nature at an early age. When I was nine, my family adopted a raw vegan diet to heal us from physical illness. This helped me to understand the value of good health and nature's ability to providing it.
At the age of 13 I hiked from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail with my family. We initially underestimated how much food five hungry hikers could eat in a week and started running into food shortages. Because it was not very pleasant to hike on any empty stomach we had to find a way to improvise if we were to finish our cross-country adventure.
Our salvation was the realization that nature is full of food if you know where to look. Foraging for wild edibles became out daily ritual. At times we supplemented as much as 60 percent of our diet with plants we found on the trail. We successfully completed our walk in September of 1998, in full health and happiness!
Since then, I've hiked in nearly every state, and in 20 countries. I've guided and helped guide many expeditions of children, teens, and adults.
After graduating from Southern Oregon University in the summer of 2006 I decided to invest my energy into Harmony Hikes so that I could share my passion for foraging and the outdoors with others.
Note: I am Red Cross certified in CPR and First Aid!
