During my time making work for the Gifts for the River project, I spent most of my time listening. Each day I would head back out to the same area of the woods beside the river, work quietly and listen for the wisdom of the water and woods to teach and guide me. Each time I entered, I was drawn to look into the heart/lung shaped holes created by the roots of this beautiful riverside cedar.

“Fill me,” they said. “Offer breath of berries and bone, lay down the deepest of gifts, the pulse of self and of soil, of sediment and song. Give your whole strawberry heart, the tender flesh exposed, there is no more sacred gift.” “Do it again. And again. And again.” 

So I did. I filled the holes with strawberries and encased them with deer ribs founds in this area of the woods. A little offering to the creatures who shared their space with me, I watched the ribs get pulled back day after day, and the strawberries disappear. During my time working there, I re-filled the holes with gratitude over and over as they emptied.