Joaquin Ocana (Kaqchikel Peoples), Native Plant Nursery Coordinator 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 acre

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq), Founding Director 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 vi

Photo of Martin High Bear and his horse For the past two internships, we have gifted copies of the Martin High Bear biography to our interns and assigned chapters for them to study. Then during our classes, we discussed what they learned from him. In our third Health and Wellness Resilience class, after interns read the chapters on Martin’s Three Spiritual Lives, they discussed Martin’s journey to become a medicine man and his struggles with alcohol. They explored themes of t

Renee Dompier (Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians of Oregon) Native Plant Nursery Assistant We are having our first ever six-month Winter TEK Internship and completely filling our classroom with an exciting cohort of gifted and enthusiastic interns! This is the size we usually work with each summer so it is not a new experience but training a team in the winter is new and so is the plan for six month internships. Since our Urban Forestry project prioritizes winter tree planting

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq), Founding Director   Elderberry Wisdom Farm’s Winter TEK Interns have been offering Blue Elderberry Farm products to the public this winter. Renee, Chloe and I started first at the Salem Holiday Market in December and then a group, including Kaitlynn, Tetianna, Michelle and Jess have been traveling to open our booth at the Corvallis Winter Market starting in January. The response has been fulfilling for both our interns and custome

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq), Founding Director Our newest Urban Forestry team just completed two urban forestry tree planting trainings this month, one with Friends of Trees and the second with Oregon Department of Forestry: Urban and Community Forestry. Last week, we traveled to Albany to meet Evan, our Oregon Department of Forestry: Urban and Community Forestry Program Officer.  We met Phil, the teacher at Memorial Middle School and his students who are dev

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq), Founding Director Becoming an Elderberry Wisdom Farm founding donor means that you make a small monthly donation to Elderberry Wisdom Farm. In return, the funds are used to recruit and provide stipends to Native American and other interns, many of whom are economically challenged. This helps strengthen their career pathways into conservation careers. They then learn how Traditional Ecological Knowledge can integrate with conservat

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq), Founding Director EWF was featured for the second time in 2025 in Civil Eats this month. They are one of those generous publications that offer free access to their articles without requiring a subscription and feature gifted journalists who cover issues like food policy, farming, health and climate. We felt honored to be featured in the Civil Eats article by journalist Rose Garrett. You can read her article here . I discovered th

Joaquin Ocana (Kaqchikel Peoples), Native Plant Nursery Coordinator The last few weeks at the farm have been some of the busiest and most exciting of the year. With all the support and hard work from our team of interns and volunteers, we have succeeded in expanding our native plant nursery and are caring for and growing almost 2000 plants! Now that our interns have completed their Fall TEK Internship and shared their final presentations, we can still enjoy their recordings p

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq), Founding Director We regard our sacred landscapes as a precious inheritance gifted by our ancestors seven generations back that we care for and then bestow upon our children seven generations into the future. This and other teachings inspire us. They heal us. They sustain us. This is one of the reasons why I’m grateful to be living and teaching in the mid-Willamette Valley on Elderberry Wisdom Farm. We are releasing the Elderberry

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq), Founding Director The public is growing increasingly aware that high levels of polyphenols and other powerful plant compounds in blue elderberry support our immune systems and reduce the severity and duration of colds and flu. Early research on the properties in Sambucus may eventually document its capacity to combat cancer, support cardiovascular and digestive health, alleviate diabetes symptoms and even reduce cognitive decline.

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq), Founding Director Blue Elderberry Farm Logo EWF is providing its own brand of locally sourced elderberry syrup, Wisdom of the Elderberry Syrup,  at the Salem Holiday Market December 12-14. This will launch Blue Elderberry Farm LLC’s sales and marketing campaign during the 2025 holiday gift giving season. We will be located at booth number J-13-14 in Jackman Long Building, 2330 17th St NE at the Oregon State Fairgrounds. We will in

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq) Founding Director Elderberry Wisdom Farm Logo We are excited to announce expansion of Elderberry Wisdom Farm’s TEK Workforce Development Internships for Native Americans and other interns interested in strengthening their conservation career training. In 2026, we are providing 6 month urban forestry internships in partnership with Oregon Department of Forestry: Urban and Community Forestry Program, City of Salem Urban Forestry, Fri

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq), Founding Director EWF’s Rose High Bear has been invited to appear on First Friday at the Marion Soil and Water Conservation District on Friday, December 5. This is a last minute scheduling and you can still register here . Rose will share her experience integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge into Elderberry Wisdom Farm’s experiential service-learning activities with partners in the mid-Willamette Valley for the past five yea

Joaquin Ocana (Kaqchikel Peoples), Native Plant Nursery Coordinator Dear readers,  As we reach the end of our fall internship and prepare for our first Winter TEK Internship, we have been focusing on 2026 expansion of our Native American Plant Nursery and learning from our partners about native plant nursery development.  Photo of two snoopy deer at EWF One of the biggest issues is finding enough space to grow the increasing number of native tree and plant species on our two

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq) Founding Director Last year, we gave cases of the Martin High Bear book to tribal colleges throughout the Northern Great Plains and other tribal locations. The Seven Commandments of the Sacred Buffalo Calf Woman: Martin High Bear (1919-1995) was shared with Oglala Lakota College: Rapid City Campus, Sitting Bull College in Ft. Yates, North Dakota and United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota. I’m so grateful to colle

Joaquin Ocana Native Plant Nursery Coordinator The last few months have been some of the most exciting and eventful of the year! Some of our summer cohort loved it so much here that they agreed to extend their internship through September. They continued to learn how we integrate TEK into conservation practices and have gone on to do the awesome things they are doing out in the world. We are really grateful for all the amazing work and energy they contributed. Working with th

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq) Founding Director Image of Blue Elderberry Farm logo Elderberry Wisdom Farm has been perfecting our Wisdom of the Elderberry Syrup recipe this fall. Many of you know that we have been growing the Sambucus nigra ssp Cerulea species of elderberry, also called Blue Elderberry, since before my move to rural Marion County in 2017. We formed Blue Elderberry Farm as a model business in 2021 and completed our business, marketing and financ

By Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq) Founding Director Image of Sacred Tree graphic Elderberry Wisdom Farm is excited to announce the expansion of our TEK Workforce Development Internships for Native Americans and other interns interested in conservation careers. In 2026 we will offer 6-month TEK Urban Forestry Internships that expand work with partners including Oregon Department of Forestry: Urban Forestry, City of Salem Urban Forestry, Friends of Trees and 3 local

Renee Dompier (Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians) Native Plant Nursery Assistant Photo of two deer at EWF I hate to drive past any kind of furry friend that has been hit by a vehicle and left alongside the road. It seems like it happens more these days which we might attribute to the ever-growing population and everything that comes with it. Do not get me wrong, I love my home, cellphone, and even my car, but I do not like seeing the animals alongside the road. I get