Braiding Sweetgrass | 
pickBraiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer is a collection of essays exploring different aspects of Indigenous ideals and values. Overall, it identifies and examines the relationship between humans and our home, Earth. Through her own experiences and sentiment for ecology, she talks of restoration ecology, plant intelligence, the Story of Maple Trees, the role of language, and the necessity of gratitude.
1. Taking care of my loved ones and helping others.
2. The simple things: a good cup of coffee, dancing, laughing with friends and family, snuggling with my cats and my dog, a good book, beating a video game, making art, being in nature, etc.
3. Tagged was my favorite which I finished in August 😊
#WondrousWednesday @Eggs
pickNo question that this is my #bookbracket2024 pick for August. I‘ll be surprised if it doesn‘t win the year.
pickI could have sworn I‘d reviewed this book already. It‘s utterly gorgeous and I adored every line.
pickSaying I loved this one is an understatement. Yes, there are some slow parts when she focuses more on the science behind certain plants, but even with those my interest was piqued. This is a collection of essays on nature, where Kimmerer connects nature to the wisdom of her heritage and to science. Through these connections she also finds a certain spirituality that resonates. The main focus is on us finding our way back to gratitude… Continued ⬇️
“You don‘t show your love and care by putting what you love behind a fence. You have to be involved. You have to contribute to the well-being of the world.”
“If grief can be a doorway to love, then let us all weep for the world we are breaking apart so we can love it back to wholeness again.”
“Our natural inclination to do right by the world is stifled, breeding despair when it should be inspiring action. The participatory role of people in the well-being of the land has been lost, our reciprocal relations reduced to a KEEP OUT sign.”
“Indulgent self-interest that our people once held to be monstrous is now celebrated as success. We are asked to admire what our people viewed as unforgivable. The consumption-driven mind-set masquerades as “quality of life” but eats us from within. It is as if we‘ve been invited to a feast, but the table is laid with food that nourishes only emptiness, the black hole of the stomach that never fills. We have unleashed a monster.”
“Whatever they needed they asked for respectfully, and for whatever they received they offered prayers and gifts in return.”
“Ear of stone, will you hear our anguish when we understand what we have done? The harsh post-glacial world in which you began may well become our own unless we listen to the wisdom in the mutualistic marriage of your bodies. Redemption lives in knowing that you might also hear our hymns of joy when we too marry ourselves to the earth.”
pickWhat a great read! Though, I could agree that it is a really long book and the theme of reciprocity is often repeated, I think everyone would benefit from a dip into this - even one chapter, any chapter should give pause to give thanks, share gratitude, give respect to Mother Nature. It makes sense to me! Now how do live it to make a true impact for sustainability?
#Book59 #Aug2024 #NakedLadyFlowers #Library #Audiobook
“Ceremony focuses attention so that attention becomes intention. If you stand together and profess a thing before your community, it holds you accountable.
Ceremonies transcend the boundaries of the individual and resonate beyond the human realm. These acts of reverence are powerfully pragmatic. These are ceremonies that magnify life.”
“I drop to my knees in the grass and I can hear the sadness, as if the land itself was crying for its people: Come home. Come home.”
“Recent research has shown that the smell of humus exerts a physiological effect on humans. Breathing in the scent of Mother Earth stimulates the release of the hormone oxytocin, the same chemical that promotes bonding between mother and child, between lovers. Held in loving arms, no wonder we sing in response.”
We know that appreciation begets abundance. Why should it not be so for Mother Earth, who packs us a lunch every single day?
Lately this is how I start my mornings during the week before CrossFit. It‘s very early, so just a very light breakfast to start (I usually eat more post-workout, I can‘t exercise on an empty stomach but I can‘t eat too much beforehand either), a shot of Cuban coffee, and my book. A quiet, simple moment before an intense workout; all about balance I guess lol.
“I had known it would happen from the first time I held her—from that moment on, all her growing would be away from me. It is the fundamental unfairness of parenthood that if we do our jobs well, the deepest bond we are given will walk out the door with a wave over the shoulder.”
These chapters on parenting are breaking my heart… I was already in my feelings about my youngest starting middle school in a couple of weeks 😞
#ReadingBracket2024 Nonfiction Update
I'm going with Braiding Sweetgrass for July even though I'm not quite finished with it yet, because I've liked it much more than Spirit Run so far. I'll wait to eliminate any farther though until I'm completely done.
“A species and a culture that treat the natural world with respect and reciprocity will surely pass on genes to ensuing generations with a higher frequency than the people who destroy it. The stories we choose to shape our behaviors have adaptive consequences.”
I just started this one last night, it‘s been in my TBR pile for a while and I‘ve felt it calling to me recently. So far, I‘m loving the way Kimmerer connects Indigenous wisdom to science and how she connects it all back to us as humans. It feels highly spiritual in a way that moves me.
Such a beautiful book! 😍 I‘m so glad this is the edition my library had—the gorgeous printing and binding suit the prose so well.
“The question of goldenrod and asters was of course just emblematic of what I really wanted to know. It was an architecture of relationships, of connections that I yearned to understand. … the visual effect is stunning. Purple and gold, the heraldic colors of the king and queen of the meadow, a regal procession in complementary colors. I just wanted to know why.” #literaryconnections 💖 #audiobook
pickI can‘t believe I didn‘t read this book sooner! It was such a comfort read for me. I took it slowly and even listened to some of it because the author performs the audiobook beautifully. This is one I will absolutely revisit in sections from time to time. Beautiful book!
pickThis was beautiful and sad and hopeful and heartbreaking. It‘s entirely possible that the author was trying to do too much, but I still loved the final result. I recommend reading the audiobook. It‘s one of the few I‘ve found that‘s read by the author and is improved by the fact.
pickWhat is there to say about this book? At this point it is a well established classic. I didn't love the prose as much as I thought I would but I resonated with Kimmerer's ideas so heavily. I find it so honorable the way she takes on the burden of teaching her students a different way of seeing - that seems a huge emotional undertaking that she handles with each new group and ultimately that's the gift she gives readers with Braiding Sweetgrass.
The person ringing me up at Barnes&Noble today said this was the most diverse selection of purchases he's ever seen lol. 2 horror mangas by one of my favorites, indigenous teachings about nature and learning from plants, a puzzle, and a magazine about gardening.
I told him I have a lot of interests. What's funny is this just scratches the surface of things I enjoy 😆
#bookhaul #variety
Through reciprocity the gift is replenished. All of our flourishing is mutual.
I saw the writer and writing coach, Paulette Perchach post about this book in her IG stories. She said if she recommended one book that everyone should read, it would be this one.
pick5/5
This was a fascinating read about about plants, the natural world, and indigenous culture, from the perspective of a Potawatomi scientist.
Thank you, Wendy!!! I am excited to read this! ❤️
Happy Jolabokaflod, everyone! 😄
@wen4blu @MaleficentBookDragon
#JolabokaflodSwap2023
pickI loved this book! I learned so much.
Kimmerer is a biologist who has spent her life learning and teaching about plants and their place in the world. She relates her knowledge back to her Potawatomi roots and lessons she learned from her grandmother and other members of the Indigenous community.
pickThis work is a treasure. There is only one word to describe this book, beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful.
Worth the wait to find myself a copy.
An easy read, even the science. Although, some parts were emotionally difficult to read... thankfully, the author kept such subjects light on details and more on cause and effect.
This work takes a poetic approach at suggesting a way forward...
Page 305 “...George Washington directed federal troops to exterminate the Onondaga during the Revolutionary War, a nation that had numbered in the tens of thousands was reduced to a few hundred people in a matter of one year...Parents tried to hide their children from Indian agents...the language that framed the Great Law of Peace was forbidden...ceremonies meant to keep the world in balance, were banned by law.“
This was one of the magical chapters. I've read it twice because I have always noticed that there are different water drops (I've been amazed by this fact since childhood).
I'm a couple of chapters over from this now.
Was excited at the mention of Hiawatha and the Peacemaker. Although, I prefer the version that tells of Hiawatha's grief over the loss of his daughters and his choice to forgive instead of hate, and about the first Clan Mother.
I always loved the history of the Hiawatha Belt. The Mohawk were one of the tribes involved.
We've considered such things. The way we address this is to buy the closest to genuinely natural as possible, and be grateful that those options are available.
Not easy, true. It's a journey. We began years ago & continue to learn & apply.
My mom has become better at this, the minute I see one of my obsessions I am again lost to non-eco bric-a-brac.
Batman, Encanto, anything Christmassy, fantasy or ghostly, garden deco. Etc. Etc. I'm horrible!
“I wonder if much that ails our society stems from the fact that we have allowed ourselves to be cut off from that love of, and from, the land. It is medicine for broken land and empty hearts.“
“...one thing I would recommend to restore relationship between land and people...“plant a garden.“ It's good for the health of the Earth and...people...once you develop a relationship with a little patch of Earth, it becomes a seed itself.“
“It is said that our people learned to make sugar from the squirrels.“
I ♥️ 🐿️ ! I will always think of squirrels while having maple syrup.
“the wonder of drinking sap straight from the tree. Sap, but not syrup...Earth endows us with gifts...The responsibility does not lie with the maples alone...we participate in its transformation. It is our work, and our gratitude, that distills the sweetness.“
Truth in so many of life's tedious tasks.
“The animacy of the world is something we already know, but the language of animacy teeters on extinction“
I've read about this in other American Indigenous languages.
It matches the way I feel, and I have always tried to incorporate this into my writing/speaking. Constantly try, yet it is tricky in the english language. I've probably missed chances to apply these rules.
Am I foolish to believe that the english language can be enlightened??
A bouquet of perfection.
“flowers could be ugly to us and still fulfill their purpose. But they're not.“
“by definition beauty could not be a valid scientific question...my questions were bigger than science could touch.“
“It is this dance of cross-pollination that can produce a new species of knowledge, a new way of being in the world. After all, there aren't two worlds, there is just this one good green Earth.“
The notion that a sacred plant is made impure if sold/purchased did not settle well with me.
That's like saying our tap water is no longer sacred.
I don't mean to be disrespectful. I get it, I feel and was raised up differently...this is something I just can't believe.
I get the chemically ruined, that could transform medicine into poison.
The gift economy was interesting. I've always liked the idea of bartering and such.
The Council Of Pecans
Absolutely fascinating. The way the pecan trees work is breathtaking.
“In the old times, our elders say, the trees talked to each other...“
“There is now compelling evidence that our elders were right-the trees are talking to one another...“
I've always known this about plants, but finding out that science has acknowledged this as fact...spectacular.
I believe that it is by wind and root (fungal bridges) 😉.
Braiding Sweetgrass is a deeply influential book with beautifully crafted story-telling, building a heavily impactive novel. As a newly found love for this work, I hope you dive into it and find out why so many people love this book! 2w