A Woman’s Life on the Edge of the Sea

Author, activist, doula, grandmother, and singer of songs in reverence to the Earth, Irene Skyriver was born on the shores of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Her heritage is of Northwest Coastal Native (Tlingit and Makah) and European blood. At twenty-five years old and penniless, she moved to a small island community with her two, soon-to-be three, children. She felt at home in this small community, Lopez Island, on the Salish Sea. In her forty-two years on Lopez Island, she has lived a rich life. Skyriver is a song-keeper for the community and helped establish Winter and Summer Solstice traditions and Passage Rites ceremonies. She and her husband live on a homestead without traditional plumbing—a hand pump at the sink brings fresh spring water—the toilet is a composting outhouse, they eat from her large garden, drink the milk from raised goats, and brew cider from the orchard. In A Woman’s Life on the Edge of the Sea, Skyriver delves deep into her family and heritage and into the richness of nature and Mother Earth.