By Rose High Bear, Founding Director Summer 2026 TEK Internship This summer we trained and mentored a generation of young university students and recent graduates from OSU, UofO, Willamette University, Western Oregon University and Reed College. We worked with a larger number of Native American and Latino interns this summer, including Eastern Shawnee, Mescalero Apache, Chickasaw, Ponca, and Native Hawaiian. They majored in forestry management, fish and wildlife, ecological e

By Rose High Bear, Founding Director Airtime schedule for Elderberry Wisdom TV. Update on Elderberry Wisdom TV As some of you have discovered, Elderberry Wisdom Farm began producing a new local television program this summer. It is filmed and broadcast in partnership with Capitol Community Media, “a multimedia center in the greater Salem area that provides local content, education, and a platform for people who want to hear and be heard by their community.” Filming and final

By David Mora, Urban Forestry Coordinator Blue Elderberry Farm's Elderberry Syrup and Wisdom of The Elderflower Healing Skin Salve. There is something satisfying about watching a piece of equipment arrive at a small farm and realizing just how much it can change the work we do. At Elderberry Wisdom Farm, the newest addition to our processing area is a commercial tabletop tilting kettle. We installed it at the end of August, and already it has begun to make one of our most imp

By Rose High Bear, Founding Director EWF's second Native Plant Nursery Site at GeerCrest Farm from April 2026, photograph courtesy of Sam Forencich. Our lease at GeerCrest Farm has been providing us with three acres of rich organic soil to expand our Native American Plant Nursery. Elderberry Wisdom Farm has now successfully developed this second native plant nursery site which is generously funded by an Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development grant. This is ful

By Rose High Bear, Founding Director Martin High Bear We are happy to report that the Martin High Bear Biography is continuing to be distributed out there into the world. I received a few messages recently including from a woman who knew Martin in the 1980’s and 1990’s and had just purchased a copy. She is willing to include her message in our newsletter. Rose, I was looking through Kindle listings when I came upon a photo of Martin High Bear....I knew that face instantly. Ma

By Renee Dompier, or Grandmother Oak Over the winter and into early spring, we carefully planted a collection of acorns, tiny, unassuming seeds that, at first glance, don’t seem like much. Now, after weeks of waiting, watching and hoping, they have begun to emerge from their shells. Somewhere along the way, I was affectionately given the title of “grandmother” to all these little acorns, and now that they are sprouting and reaching toward the light, that title feels more mean

By David Mora-Flores, Producer/Director, Elderberry Wisdom TV and Radio Program (Left to right) David Mora-Flores, Joaquin Ocaña, and Rose High Bear during a segment of The Elderberry Wisdom TV and Radio Program. A new chapter is unfolding for our community outreach and education efforts with the launch of The Elderberry Wisdom TV and Radio Program, a monthly multimedia production hosted by Joaquin Ocaña. This exciting development brings together storytelling, ecological know

By Soul Reed, Urban Forestry Assistant Justin Stanton along with EWF staff and interns identify a potential planting site at Houck Middle School. (Left to right: Taylor Walker, Paige Wentzel, Jamie Myrick-Duckett, Justin Stanton, Soul Reed, Claudia Vega, David Mora-Flores) Outreach coordination is in full swing at Elderberry Wisdom Farm (EWF) driven by a clear goal: connecting students and their families with native trees that will shade and cool them in the heat of summer. B

Founder Rose High Bear’s venture shares lessons of the earth – but future funding is uncertain.

As we break into the new year and the plans for our native plant nursery continue to flourish, we are very excited to share our partnership and collaboration with Geercrest Farm, the historic site near Silverton, OR. Thanks to the vision and efforts of Jim and Erika Toler, owners and stewards of the historic property, Elderberry Wisdom Farm is expanding and forming our second native plant nursery on four acres shared through a lease. Along with the support and hard work of o

We released the Elderberry Wisdom Farm 2025 Annual Report in December. Sam, our filmmaker, drove down to the farm to record us and then he drove back home to edit the content into a short film summarizing the past year of activities at our Native American nonprofit. His recording shows how we value oral tradition to share our truths. It has existed for centuries within our earth-based cultures. I invite you to view our film. Our activities from the past year reflect the incre