Celebrating Our Ongoing Partnership with the Johnson Creek Watershed Council 

September fills up fast. The garden is heavy with fruit, the powwow circle is full, and our next group of ITEK interns is taking shape. Here’s a look at what’s been happening at Wisdom of the Elders over the past few weeks, and how you can be part of it.

Harvesting Plums and Sharing the Abundance

Plum harvest at Wisdom’s garden, Zenger Farm

We spent an afternoon picking plums from Wisdom’s garden at Zenger Farm, our partner and the home of our garden space. The work was good, but the conversations were better: talk about reciprocity, about the land, and about where this food would go and who it would serve.

The answer was close to home. We shared the harvest with our friends at Wapas Nah Née Shaku, NAYA’s community garden. That garden is grown around Indigenous Food Sovereignty and First Foods, stewarding heritage crops like the Makah Ozette potato and Inchelium Red garlic (one of the oldest known garlic strains in North America), alongside the three sisters, camas, and other native plants.

Zenger Farm has grown food and built community in outer SE Portland since 1999, pairing organic farmland with a wetland to support sustainable agriculture, food access, and farmer training. We now turn the plums we picked into jams, dried fruit, and other goods for community members.

To connect with your land, food, and medicine, follow Zenger Farm and NAYA to learn more or get involved.

Reading the Health of Balch Creek in Forest Park

Our partners at the Green Workforce Academy wrapped up their third week with a trip to Forest Park, where Megan from the City of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services showed the group how scientists assess stream health.

The method is simple and surprisingly revealing: collect the macroinvertebrates living in the water. The kinds of critters you find tell you a lot about water quality.

Based on what the group pulled from Balch Creek, the verdict was good. The creek is quite healthy.
Megan also walked everyone through a dissolved oxygen test. More oxygen in the water means it's healthier. That data helps the City decide where to focus its restoration resources, which makes this kind of hands-on learning directly useful, not just educational.

Wisdom of the Elders is proud to be a Green Workforce Academy partner alongside Ecotrust, The Blueprint Foundation, NAYA, and Self Enhancement, Inc. The Academy is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Portland’s Portland Clean Energy Fund.

Fall ITEK Internship: Thank You to Every Applicant

Earlier this month, we opened applications for our Fall ITEK Internship, a paid, hands-on program where participants build real skills in ecological restoration while learning Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK) in a supportive, community-centered space.

Sessions run 8 to 12 weeks and are offered twice a year. Interns spend field days at partner sites across the Portland Metro area and rural Oregon, and classroom days blending ITEK, Western science, and Native cultural arts. People leave with skills, relationships, and career pathway support that carries forward.
Applications closed September 11, and we were blown away by the response. So many bright, talented people applied, and we want to honor the effort it takes to put yourself forward.

Missed this round? Here’s how to be ready for the next one:

• Subscribe to our newsletter
• Follow us on social media
• Watch our posts, where we document the work our interns, staff, and partners do all year

Questions about the program can go to ITEK@wisdomoftheelders.org.

Highlights from NAYA’s 14th Annual Neerchokikoo Powwow

“Every year, seeing our youth enter the powwow circle for the first time is exciting. Families choose NAYA to introduce their children to the powwow circle, and that is such an honor for us.”

Tamara Henderson (Laguna Pueblo), NAYA Chief Operating Officer

The Native American Youth and Family Center’s 14th Annual Neerchokikoo Powwow brought Native dancers, drummers, artists, families, youth, and Elders together in Portland for a day of culture and celebration. It’s one of our favorite powwows of the year, and if you’ve never been, this is the one to check out.

We sat down with Oscar Arana (Chichimeca), NAYA’s Chief Executive Officer, to talk about the event and what it means for the community. A few highlights:

• Held on meaningful ground. Neerchokikoo was once a trading and fishing village where Chinook Peoples fished these waters for generations. The powwow is free and open to the public.
• More accessible than ever. A new on-site elevator improved ADA accessibility this year.
• Honoring Two-Spirit relatives. NAYA continued recognizing a Two-Spirit Head Dancer, a tradition it started in 2023.
• A reflection of Portland’s Native community. With members of nearly 400 different Tribes living here, the day featured two Grand Entry ceremonies, more than 30 Native vendors and artists, and food including frybread tacos and tamales.

Now Collecting: Our First Annual Kids Halloween Costume Drive

As spooky season approaches, a community need often goes unnoticed. For some kids, a costume just isn’t in the cards. We believe every child and teen deserves the chance to dress up and just be a kid.

That’s why, together with our partners in community care at NAYA, we’re launching our first annual Kids Halloween Costume Drive.

How to help:

• Drop off gently worn children’s costumes. New costumes are greatly appreciated if they fit your budget.
• All sizes are welcome, from little ones to teens.
• The drop box is out daily through October 20.
• Have costumes but can’t make it to the drop box? Send us a message, and we’ll see what we can do to pick them up.

Together, we can make this Halloween bright for our community kiddos.