Elderberry Wisdom Farm 2025 Annual Report

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 Wisdom Farm 2025 Annual Report in this December newsletter. Sam, our filmmaker, drove down to the farm earlier this month 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 increasing capacity of our organization to fulfill its lofty mission and vision in service to our community. 

Honoring and acknowledging our people – our board of directors, our staff, our partners, our volunteers and our funders – is a high priority. Gratitude reflects the importance of reciprocity to our team and community. We support them, and they in return help to support our efforts. 

Duane Medicine Crow, who has served as our Board’s Co-Chair along with another treasure, Co-chair Jan Cockrell, for the past six years are two perfect examples. A proud member of the Crow tribe of Montana, Grandfather Duane served for decades at the US Forest Service as a fire fighter and manager of wildfire crews. Due to his declining health, our board of directors accepted his notice of resignation with sadness last week. Duane visited our farm frequently, attended our internship celebrations, and especially enjoyed traveling with us to visit partners, including Elanor down at Persephone Farm in support of her conservation work. He was always thoughtful and respectful during our board meetings. His qualities of kindness and dedication, and his spirituality are precious to us and will be remembered. I am always so relieved when Jan commits to stay with us as the leader of our board of directors. She jumps from co-director to board treasurer to sometimes recordings secretary, but other members are also stepping up to support so no one is overloaded.

Our film mentions seven initiatives that are continuing to unfold, all anchored in EWF’s Traditional Ecological Knowledge Workforce Development Internships. The most recent initiative, our urban forestry work, has opened the door for us to work with and mentor our community’s youth in several of Salem’s high schools. This opportunity involves partnerships with three local high schools. We and multiple partners are including students and their families in the planning for tree canopies needed in low tree canopy neighborhoods where tree shade is too sparce for families to endure the increasingly hot and dry summers that are expected to increase in intensity and duration in our mid-Willamette Valley. 

We welcome you to screen this film that shares our story of 2025 successes. 

In gratitude, we say:  Ahéhee’ (Inupiaq)• Askwali (Hopi) • Gunalchéesh (Tlingit) Miigwech (Ojibwe) • Nia:wen (Mohawk)