Elderberry Wisdom Farm Internship Update

Joaquin Ocana

Native Plant Nursery Coordinator

Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. Over the last few weeks, our eight interns have had some exciting and educative experiences working with our partners. 

We had the opportunity early in the month to visit Scholls Valley Nursery in Forest Grove and work with George Kral to learn all about how he and his team work together to run their nursery and distribute native plants. We began the day as always by introducing ourselves to one another and sharing our ancestry and the reasons we were involved in the internship. 

This practice for me has been inspiring and exciting because it gives everyone the space to share what is most important to them in work that we are all doing. Everyone comes from different places or people, they have different ways of looking at or understanding the place we call home, but the awesome thing is that when given the space and the time of others to listen and share, we all have a really strong desire to give back, connect, and do something meaningful. And, along with having the desire to be engaged, the best part about working with our partners is that we can do the work and learn even the smallest bits of information from them about how the plants grow, what their needs are, what they communicate, how they function in the environment, etc. That aspect for the interns is always very exciting and fulfilling. 

The following two weeks after visiting Scholls Valley nursery, we worked with the Institute for Applied Ecology and Willamette Valley Native Plant Partnership learning about seed harvesting, collection, and cleaning. They first began by taking a trip to the top of Marys Peak to harvest and collect two different species of plant, Castilleja hispida, and Penstemon cardwellii. The interns noted throughout the process feeling calm while harvesting seeds among the wild plants and amazing views from the top of the peak. They asked questions, learned about the ethics and protocol of collecting seeds, and learned about seed diversity and the importance of saving them. 

Photo of interns working at IAE’s seed cleaning facility

Not only did they learn to collect seeds, but the following week, we all worked in the IAE’s seed cleaning facility and learned about all the varied methods for cleaning seeds. We learned about different machines and the appropriate ones to use for each situation, and why it’s important to always pay attention to the seeds. They don’t all look the same, they come in a variety of shapes, sizes, textures, and colors, and can vary greatly from one year to another depending on climate and environment conditions during that season. The work involved in cleaning and distributing them is not as simple as some may think, and it involves a lot of attention to detail and care. The seeds are gifts from the plants and as people with the ability to work with our environment we have to do our best to learn from the plant and observe and find the best solutions for saving and caring for them. 

Overall, the last few weeks at Elderberry Wisdom Farm have been very exciting and we all are excited to keep working with our partners to learn about how to do restoration and planting of native species, how to collect and share or distribute seeds, how to combat climate change and create balance, and how to take better care of our home.