HEARTBERRY TEACHINGS FOR CHANGE
At IHEI, we draw inspiration from the Heartberry plant (Strawberry) celebrated for its generosity, life-sustaining qualities, and teachings of reciprocity, vulnerability, courage, transparency, forgiveness, and being in right relationship with change.
All of our work is guided by these principles, reminding us to begin in integrity and beauty, cultivate more integrity and beauty, and connecting with the futures envisioned by the loving wisdom of our ancestors. This focus protects us from the distractions of oppressive systems that do not have our well-being at heart, allowing us to build life-affirming, generative futures for all.
We imagine the first Heartberry plant offering its richest resources to grow runners, inspiring a future field of strawberries—a vision of abundance, resilience, and interconnected growth
The Heartberry symbolizes our connection to the past, present, and future.
The Heartberry symbolizes our connection to the past, present, and future.
At IHEI, we draw inspiration from the Heartberry plant (Strawberry), celebrated for its generosity, life-sustaining qualities, and teachings of reciprocity, vulnerability, courage, transparency, forgiveness, and resilience. The Heartberry symbolizes our connection to the past, present, and future, thriving in nurturing conditions—rich soil and sunlight—just as our work flourishes when we dismantle oppressive systems and cultivate environments strengthened by supportive, loving, and reciprocal relationships.
Courage is essential to healing and addressing the lasting impacts of colonialism, including historical and ongoing harms such as linguicide, cultural genocide, epistemicide, and data genocide. Healing is an active process at the individual, systemic, and institutional levels, reclaiming identity, culture, and well-being. It also requires acknowledging one’s own complicity in sustaining these systems and taking bold action to move beyond them.
As the Heartberry spreads its tendrils across the land, it finds new places to root and flourish, symbolizing the growth and expansion of our work. This reminds us that building justice, liberation, and self-determination requires both individual and collective effort, spanning generations, institutions, and communities. Just as strawberries serve as medicine, our work at IHEI is a healing force, centering Indigenous values, knowledge, practices, and community to cultivate transformative, life-affirming futures for all.
“Gifts from the earth or from each other establish a particular relationship, an obligation of sorts to give, to receive, and to reciprocate.”
— Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer