The Berry Way of Life
This is the summer season. Breathe deep, take it in. Let the warmth settle into your bones, and imagine reaching out to collect a sun-ripened berry on a hot summer day.
This episode is all about berry medicine — why it’s good for us, the stories and reverence wrapped around it, and how these small, vibrant foods have nourished our people for thousands of years. Berries like strawberry, huckleberry, blackberry, and blueberry are among the first foods of this continent, present in our creation stories and honored across Indian Country in the naming of our lunar cycles.
We’re excited to share with you səswix̌ab Martha Lamont’s berry picking song, sung by Tulalip youth at the Lushootseed Language Camp, to be joined by special guest Colleen Echohawk (Pawnee and Upper Athabascan), a community organizer and longtime Seattle leader whose work uplifts Native visibility and Indigenous-led solutions to homelessness, food insecurity, and justice, and to be gifted a poem by her sister and dear friend, Abi Echohawk. Together, we reflect on what it means to live the berry way of life — how to bring ancestral food knowledge into urban spaces, grow what we can, respect the land and our relatives through our honorable harvest, and reconnect to the land even in the middle of the city.
When we walk into harvesting with intention — making offerings, prayers, and sharing our harvest with our communities — we receive deep nourishment in return. And as the elders remind us: the best time to harvest is the time you have.
Resources & How to Support Us:
Follow Colleen at @cechohawk, and make sure to check out her organizations: Eight Generation and Chief Seattle Club. You can follow Abigail Echo-Hawk at @echohawkd3.
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