The Serviceberry: An Economy of Gifts and Abundance

by Robin Wall Kimmerer

As indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most?

Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution insures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”

As Elizabeth Gilbert writes, Robin Wall Kimmerer is “a great teacher, and her words are a hymn of love to the world.” The Serviceberry is an antidote to the broken relationships and misguided goals of our times, and a reminder that “hoarding won’t save us, all flourishing is mutual.”

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Audiobook, Science, Indigenous, Philosophy, Environment

124 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 19, 2024

About the author

Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer (also credited as Robin W. Kimmerer) (born 1953) is Associate Professor of Environmental and Forest Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF). She is the author of numerous scientific articles, and the book Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. She is Potawatomi and combines her heritage with her scientific and environmental passions.

Reviews

[Nathan Shuherk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goddamn it. I’m going to have to buy this audiobook and use it as comfort blanket when I need to go for a long walk to get away from the world. If I log this more than 20 times this summer, you can reach out to ask if I’m okay.

[Kerrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer is a thought-provoking extended essay that explores the gift economy in the natural world. Using the example of a serviceberry tree, which forms a symbiotic relationship with birds, Kimmerer examines how we can foster sharing, generosity, and abundance in human communities. She highlights that, unlike market transactions, the gift economy operates without the expectation of direct compensation, relying instead on trust and mutual care.

Kimmerer draws parallels to systems like public libraries, which thrive alongside market economies by offering communal benefits without profit motives. Through her reflections, she challenges readers to rethink consumption and encourages a more mindful approach to resources—urging us to "harvest honorably" with responsibility, restraint, respect, reverence, and reciprocity.

[The Conspiracy is Capitalism · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gift Economy 101…

Preamble:
--It always gives me a great thrill to see talented thinkers/communicators from diverse backgrounds bring their gifts to address today’s escalating global crises; indeed, it’s a responsibility.
--Kimmerer, a Potawatomi botanist who wrote the 2013 best-seller Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, has now brought her indigenous and ecological lenses to also consider how the (social) world works (and fails). Thus, the obvious tools to consider (and challenge!) is in political economy:
i) “politics”: group decision-making, see the foundational video series “What is Politics?”
ii) “economy”: society’s production/distribution/reproduction: Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works—and How It Fails
--My goal here is to cheer on this direction by highlighting the frameworks and (since it's a very short book) add further connections…

Highlights:

1) Indigenous Animism vs. Colonial Commodification:
--Kimmerer cites anthropology describing indigenous communities where the “currency” is relationships. We can add to this the anthropology on egalitarianism as a group adaptation protecting individual liberties against domination (challenging the myth of equality vs. liberty: Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior) and the centrality of care (Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding).
--In contrast, capitalism colonized such relations with its viral drive to severe us from the web of life, rendering “the environment” as inanimate “natural resources” with no (market) value until it is commodified (privatized/extracted and sold). Long-term communal relations (i.e. community) is colonized into market exchanges, which are instantaneous transactions between strangers (see Graeber’s fabulous Debt: The First 5,000 Years).
--Given the anthropology that every human society can trace back to indigenous relations, we can add that Western Europe’s capitalism didn’t just colonize foreign lands; it had to colonize its own indigenous relations through “primitive accumulation” (the original accumulation birthing capitalism) violently privatizing land/“Commons” via the “Enclosures” (creating the land market). The dispossessed lost their connections to land/community and were forced into wage labour in “dark, Satanic mills” (William Blake, 1804) (creating the labour market).
…Communal medieval relations (“golden age of the European proletariat” 1350-1500, age of “feast days”/festivals, anti-feudal/anti-commercial social movements) were crushed and branded as heresies (including targeting women in witch-hunts): Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation
--It only makes sense that such direct and deep everyday “indigenous” relations in the web of life are coded in cultural values of responsibility/gratitude (Kimmerer’s “indigenous world-view”), where our surroundings become animate. We still long for this as we continue to be enchanted by stories; the most obvious being stories featuring magic (ex. The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Babel), which directly reanimates the world around us.

2) Cooperative Abundance vs. Manufactured Scarcity:
--Kimmerer asks: “what is economics, anyway?”. Note: mainstream economics, “the dismal science”, is merely one school (lens) of economic thought, i.e. Neoclassical economics, the one most convenient for capitalists: Economics: The User's Guide.
--Kimmerer notes that scarcity is at the center of Neoclassical economics. Price requires scarcity. Nature provides an abundance of clean air, which is essential for survival (“use-value”) but its abundance means no price can be charged (“exchange-value”, capitalism’s value system). …Until we pollute the air so much that we need to buy clean air. Thus, Kimmerer points out capitalism’s “manufactured scarcity” (artificial scarcity). We can think back to colonization's dispossession of land (modern example: Why Can't You Afford a Home?), rendering people dependent on capitalism’s wage labour/debt. Kimmerer:

[…] because I have not thought much about economics since my introduction to it in high school decades ago, I realized that I had just been accepting the principle of scarcity as if it were a natural fact.

…Kimmerer refers to the Algonquian concept of the “Wendigo”, the spirit of insatiable cannibalistic hunger. We can connect this to our crisis of addiction/ alienation: The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
--In contrast to manufactured scarcity, Kimmerer considers cooperative abundance through relations in the Commons. For a debunking of the “Tragedy of the Commons” (which conveniently assumes capitalist individualism and no communications), see Mexie’s video.
…Kimmerer provides indigenous examples of Commons stewardship: the “Dish With One Spoon” treaty, as well as the general principle of the Honorable Harvest (coding care into the value system):
i) learn about nature’s care-takers, so you can take care of them
ii) introduce yourself, be accountable for your request, ask for permission, abide by the answer
iii) never take the first/last, take only what’s needed/given, never take more than half; leave for others, harvest via minimal harm
iv) use responsibly, never waste, share
v) give thanks, reciprocate care
--Kimmerer’s general examples include care-work (citing Genevieve Vaughan; we can add Folbre’s
The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values), information Commons (from public libraries to Wikipedia/freeware), and mutual aid (including during crises: A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster). We can also add the greatest contributor to recovering the standard of living which capitalism derailed in “dark, Satanic mills”: public health interventions (esp. sanitation, vaccines, antibiotics, publicly-funded medical research). Public health and other social welfare programs are, in essence, new Commons to push back against colonization’s manufactured scarcity. For the significance of public health in context, see this passage (from Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World) as well as Perilous Passage: Mankind and the Global Ascendancy of Capital

Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?

[Jonas Salk replying to question of who owns the new polio vaccine]

…see comments below for rest of the review…

[Sunny Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gift economy + communism

[Ken]

This little hardcover, just over 100 pp., seemed to be a nature book á la Annie Dillard, but it's more than that, really. Originally an essay in a magazine, The Serviceberry was expanded to bookish length by Robin Wall Kimmerer, probably due to successfull sales of a previous book of hers, Braiding Sweetgrass (this is how the publishing world chases dollars).

But wait. Kimmerer is donating proceeds to a charity here. Look at the book's subtitle ("Abudance and Reciprocity in the Natural World") and it makes sense. Ostensibly about a plant with many names that gives plentiful berries to humans, birds, and wild mammals alike, this book is really about the giving economy.

One anecdote about a Native American Indian who made a successful hunt for a large animal shows what the term means. A non-Indian asked where the hunter planned to store the plentiful meat, and the Indian replied "In my neighbors' bellies." The whole concept of ownership and freezing for yourself and your own family only is foreign in cultures familiar with a giving economy. It's all about sharing what is plentiful, not hoarding it.

And so it is with the tree, supposedly. Heck, I even bought two from the Arbor Foundation and put them in the ground before it froze. In spring, it flowers white. In fall, its leaves turn brilliant red. And in-between, it'll provide, provide. Berry much.

[David Robertson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my original capsule review:

A good message comparing human economies to natural economies, but a bit simplistic, disorganized, rambling, and repetitive. Maybe I'm just too cynical...

Here's a more comprehensive assessment:

Botanist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry is not a natural history of the genus Amelanchier. Instead, it is an extended meditation on gift economies—both natural and human. The serviceberry’s gift of abundant fruit serves as a metaphor for reciprocity that Kimmerer wishes could be adapted to, and adopted by, human market economies.

Serviceberries (also known colloquially as shadbushes) burst into clouds of white blossoms just as American shad return to northeastern North American rivers to spawn in early spring. The flowers provide pollen to sustain some of the earliest emerging insects. Serviceberry is the preferred browse of native ungulates and hosts a suite of lepidopteran larvae. The plants produce prodigious quantities of sweet fruit—a gift to birds (and people) that eat the pomes and, in so doing, disperse the plant’s seeds widely. Both the shadbushes and the birds derive benefits from the relationship.

In contrast to the abundance and reciprocity exhibited by the serviceberry, human economies, originally based on cultures of sharing and gratitude, have transmogrified into market economies characterized by scarcity, competition and privatization. Kemmerer, understandably, regrets this evolution that has commodified natural resources and led to exploitation and unsustainable diminution of the natural world.

Kimmer repeatedly acknowledges that gift economies function best in small, tightly knit communities. She also recognizes that most humans no longer live in such societies. An analysis conducted just after the turn of the 21st century summarized estimates for the human population that the Earth could sustain into the future. The estimates were derived from 14 independent demographic studies. Estimates ranged widely from a low of 0.5 billion to a high of 14 billion; the variability stemmed from assumptions about the availability of food, energy, clean water, and many other factors. Nevertheless, the median estimated sustainable population was 2.1 to 5 billion people.

The Earth currently supports over eight billion people, but global warming, loss of biodiversity, water shortages, wealth disparities and countless other indicators clearly demonstrate that this population level is unsustainable with current technologies. Supporting a human population that exceeds the planet’s long-term carrying capacity guarantees that humans will deplete the Earth’s natural reserves, especially fossil fuel resources. Even switching to renewable energy sources would have impacts on the natural world, though the effects likely would be less severe than those associated with fossil fuels. Maintaining an overwhelmingly large human population requires sophisticated and costly investments in industrial-scale technologies, investments that simply cannot be met with pre-Industrial Age social and technological economies. Kimmerer is no fool, but her lamentations over the virtual disappearance of gift economies seem quaint and naïve.

Seemingly in recognition of the enormity of reforming the entrenched market economy, Kimmerer pivots to consider what she calls mixed or mosaic economies—gift economies running alongside the market economy. For example, books flow into and out of the ubiquitous Little Free Library boxes on street corners. The FreeCycle online community shares unneeded items and prevents them from filling landfills. On a larger scale, public libraries function somewhat as gift economies, sharing books and other resources acquired and maintained for the public good and owned in common, though the model isn’t perfect since libraries are supported by involuntary “donations” in the form of taxes. Like libraries, parks, trails and cultural landscapes are held and used in common trust.

Gift economies are vulnerable to abuse and failure if participants cheat or steal. The success and continued viability of the relationship requires mutual respect and reciprocity. Perhaps the most familiar example of cheating may be the “tragedy of the commons,” famously articulated in 1968 by Garrett Hardin (Science 162:1243–1248). Hardin theorized that any shared resource (specifically, a communal grazing allotment accessible to all village farmers) will inevitably be destroyed because some selfish individuals will always overgraze their livestock for their own benefit and to the detriment of the resource and the community. Kimmerer points out that the scenario is not always true, especially among some traditional cultures that depend on land as a common source of community abundance.

In one particularly memorable and instructive anecdote, Kimmerer makes her point about the effects of cheating. The author lives in rural upstate New York. Her neighbor Sandy sets up a wooden roadside shed in which she gives away surplus produce and flowers from her garden. The kiosk is graced with a sign that reads “Free Farm Stand.” One autumn, after the first killing frost that marked the end of the growing season, the shed’s shelves were bare and Sandy was preparing to store the shed in her barn for the winter. To her surprise, the shed was gone; someone had stolen the entire structure. Sandy chalked up the disappearance to the sign’s ambiguous syntax (“free” farm stand) and her neighbors dismissed it as a prank. But Kimmerer points out that the mindset that claims permission to convert a gift into private property has robbed the community for individual gain and is highly consequential. She uses this incident as a springboard to excoriate individuals and corporations for exploiting the world’s resources. (Perhaps indicative of the strengths inherent in a gift economy, though, the following summer a local Eagle Scout volunteered to build a replacement farm stand.)

Near the end of the essay, Kimmerer compares the existing exploitative economy and its possible transition to an economy based on reciprocity and mutual respect to the changes that an ecosystem undergoes during natural succession. She conjures a compelling scenario for readers attuned to the workings of the natural world.

Kimmerer’s essay wanders and rambles. It is occasionally repetitive and redundant. For readers trained in the sciences, the meandering may be frustrating and irritating. However, whether by intentional design or good luck, the “folksy” format is persuasive rather than polemical. Had Kimmerer chosen to present her ideas in a straightforward argument backed up with sources, references and footnotes, the result could easily have come across as a strident manifesto.

This version of The Serviceberry is a quick read; the main text spans fewer than 40 pages. The essay was originally published in 2022 in an abbreviated form in Emergence Magazine. The book’s cover bears an evocative color image by illustrator John Burgoyne of cedar waxwings gorging on serviceberry fruits. An additional 11 of Burgoyne’s black-and white drawings are interspersed throughout the text. There are no footnotes, references, or an index. Although I read the essay in its electronic form, the book is also available in hardback.

[Drew Huff · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an anti capitalist essay.

I thought I’d be reading about serviceberries and birds and nature. It started with that but just descended into her ultimate goal of anti capitalism. I feel duped.

Maybe I’ll find what I was looking for with Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan…

[CM · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was beautiful. I absolutely loved the message.

It really talks about how we need to focus more on a gift economy. On a give and take relationship and not just a take one. Our world has become so obsessed with money and material items that we have lost respect for our resources. When there is no relationship involved, we take more than we need.

When a neighbor says help yourself to some of the tomatoes in our garden, we would only pick a couple that we needed. But if we saw a random tomato patch in a field, we would clear it out.

If we were gifted a plate by a friend, we would cherish that plate. But if we went and bought it at the store for $10, we wouldn't care so much. Relationships matter.
In today's market economy, we have lost the relationships connected to the items we consume. We have lost respect for our environment.

This book is small but will definitely leave you with a whole new outlook and a lot of things to think about.

I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Terrie Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kimmerer's theory of the Serviceberry Tree, which generously provides fruit for birds, bears, and humans, is fascinating to learn about. She refers to this offering from nature as a Gift Economy versus our current Market Economy.

Gift Economy: treats resources as gifts that foster relationships and gratitude. Think: Reciprocity.

Market Economy: treats products as goods to be owned and hoarded. Think: Scarcity.

A Gift Economy is based on 'enoughness' — taking only what is needed — which promotes natural abundance rather than deficiency. The author expands on examples of this system of sharing, many of which will sound familiar. Looking for alternative ways of daily living should be at the forefront of our minds as our changing Earth evolves.

An immersive read, the audiobook is narrated by the author, Robin Wall Kimmerer, an environmental biologist known for blending Indigenous wisdom with traditional ecological knowledge and Western scientific methods. She is a mother, scientist, decorated professor of environmental biology, and an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Her narration is enthralling!

The Serviceberry is an essay initially published in Emergence Magazine. This 128-page book and 1H 56M audiobook explores an alternate idea from long ago that inspires an intentional act of sharing with our neighbors and community. Kimmerer is also the New York Times bestselling author of Braided Sweetgrass.

4⭐

[persephone ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

lovely message but if i see the word « economy » or its variations again i might scream. the constant repetition made me feel almost seasick

[Hannah (hngisreading) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tiny little book offers so much wisdom. Just like when I read BRAIDING SWEETGRASS, upon finishing this one, I can’t help but think of what a better place the world would be if more people thought, acted, and cared like Robin Wall Kimmerer.

[Brandice · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Serviceberry is thought-provoking read about embracing a reciprocal, gift economy as often observed in nature, instead of our current one, frequently filled with competition and scarcity.

I appreciate this food for thought and while it’s a welcome idea any time of year, it feels especially timely now as we head into the holiday season.

[Heather Truckenmiller · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to love this - I don't believe you have to agree with an author to enjoy a book. But for this one, I felt like I was reading half of a fairy tale.

Locally, we had a famous rose cultivator who joined a socialist utopian community in 1894. I had hoped that this sort story [essay? ] would enrich my understanding of his life & beliefs. And on that front, maybe it did, a little? But I read a lot about his life & how that utopian gift economy failed, so that ended up only adding to my overall dislike of this trope.

Follow the examples of the Indians! They were always sweet & loving & giving & never kidnapped women from other tribes nor slaughtered other tribes to conquer them and take their land. [I'm not defending all colonists. Some were horrible. But I'm also not ok with defending all Indians nor pretending they didn't kill each other long before colonists arrived. Some natives were horrible too. People are people, whether colonists or native.]

Land should be free! Says the author who has obviously never dealt with public hunting rights on their land. The ridiculous stories I could share from when we allowed just anyone to hunt here.

Nature gives freely! Follow the examples of nature! As I think of how the weeds & predators completely destroyed my garden while I was away for 2 weeks this summer. And have you ever read about Blue Jays? Perhaps those evil capitalists ARE following nature's example..

Parks belong to everyone! With no mention of what has happened to public land left open to everyone without supervision. Waterfalls closed after the public trashed them, Graffiti highway in Centralia closed after the grafitti spread to the nearby cemetery [among other issues] Beltzville State Park where bus loads come from the neighboring state where the state parks require a fee, leaving trash & grills, dirty diapers in the creek, stereos blasting,in the public park with free admission.

Oh yes, there is mention of the free farm stand that is taken, but it's made out to be a cute isolated anecdote, as if this isn't the common way of "free". In the summers in our rural area, the town facebook pages are full of pleas to return things that were too near a free sign, but were obviously not meant to be included.

We pay for water because we can't trust our neighbors to not pollute our supply through not just greed, but also carelessness, ignorance, and honest mistakes. [I'm thinking of the many typhoid epidemics in our local history] It's not as simple as greedy capitalists selling water that "should be free". Let's not also forget our reliance on convenience - we expect that water to be delivered to us - we don't usually think we should just take a filter to a creek & gather our own supply.

Cloth diapers are closer to free, and far better for the environment. And yet disposable diapers are still the popular choice. All of blame for our societal disregard for the earth can not be placed on "capitalists."

And lastly, shouldn't a book ranting against capitalism & greed & promoting a free gift economy be... free? If so, both my local bookstore & amazon have made an error. Rather than sharing the sweet story of the serviceberry on a free online forum, the story was made a political rant in marketable form, in a very stereotypical capitalist move.

Our society has major problems, and some aspects of capitalism are definitely large factors in the problem. I can't pretend to have the answer to those problems, nor can I pretend this book helped me gain any ground on those answers. As much as I may have wanted it to.

[Corrado · Rating 2 out of 5]

A small, poetic book that feels more for children.

It offers suggestions for addressing pollution and fostering community against our capitalistic and alienating world, but the ideas are presented very simply and I think it lacks a bit of depth.

I read it mainly to complete some reading challenges here on Goodreads; it was okay, but not particularly memorable and likely one I’ll forget in a few months.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many other I readers I was very impressed with Kimmerer’s last book Braiding Sweetgrass, so I had been looking forward to her next book. For me, it didn’t reach those heights. It felt more dry and repetitive, despite it’s short length. Her writing is still solid and she made interesting points about a giving economy versus a market economy, using the serviceberry tree as the centerpiece. She explains that “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.” These concepts are interesting but not enough to completely engage me. Once again the illustrations by John Burgoyne are beautiful.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

So many have loved this book, but I am not a fan. It was so repetitive and could easily have been a long essay. Perhaps gifted on the internet for free? Instead it is long enough to be a short book and sold in our capitalist system.

Needless to say, I feel the author’s idea of a gift economy to be unrealistic, impractical, simplistic and something she herself has not done in this instance.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you haven’t read Braiding Sweetgrass, you definitely should. This short piece covers many of the same ideas in a less satisfying way. It’s really more an essay than a book, stretched out to 105 pages through generous spacing, illustrations, and very small pages. And the essay is more meditation than either argument or call to action. Some interesting ideas here about applying ecological thinking to the economy, pointing out how prevailing economic models are largely fictional and also depend on eyebrow-raising principles, such as the assumption of scarcity. Food does not in fact need to be scarce—there’s enough for everyone, it just isn’t fairly distributed.

However, as an argument it is weakened by citing no sources beyond a few personal interviews, and as an inspirational envisioning of a different system it falls short by not going far enough. Kimmerer points out ways that very local transactions often do depend on sharing, gifts and reciprocity and suggests that local communities do more of this, but acknowledges this can only take us so far and then leaves it at that. If we’re just playing in the realm of imagination here, can’t we be a little bolder? It’s all so vague and general, and then it is soon over.

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robin Wall Kimmerer uses Indigenous wisdom, and her knowledge as a botanist and an ecologist to write about the reciprocity in nature and a gift economy. Photosynthesis and respiration--with the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide--is the ultimate gift exchange in nature. She also uses Serviceberries (Juneberries) as her example of the interconnectedness in nature:

"This pail of Juneberries represents hundreds of gift exchanges that led up to my blue-stained fingers: the Maples who gave their leaves to the soil, the countless invertebrates and microbes who exchanged nutrients and energy to build the humus in which a Serviceberry seed could take root, the Cedar Waxwing who dropped the seed, the sun, the rain, the early spring flies who pollinated the flowers, the farmer who wielded the shovel to tenderly settle the seedlings. They are all parts of the gift exchange by which everyone gets what they need."

Kimmerer compares modern market economics with its supply and demand, and manufactured scarcity with a traditional Indigenous "gift economy" where people share an overabundance of food. She wrote that "anthropologists who study gift economies note that they function well in small, tightly knit communities." However, we could start by sharing extra food or plants from our gardens, donating books to little free libraries, and eating in-season food to minimize our carbon footprint. Unpaid labor like family care and volunteering are also part of a gift economy, and promote a sense of community. Shared green spaces and public libraries are another example. Since most of us don't live in small communities, the modern market economy will still exist, but a gift economy will stretch resources and promote well-being. Sharing a basket of Serviceberries from a garden could be a first step. This lovely slim book also featured nature illustrations by John Burgoyne.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

We live in a time when every choice matters. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer

“When an economic system actively destroys what we love, isn’t it time for a different system?” Robin Wall Kimmerer asks us in The Serviceberry. She contrasts the Indigenous idea of a gift economy, where one views abundance as a gift to be shared, to the market economy that allows wealth to be privately held by a few.

Her illustration is the native serviceberry tree, whose berries were a staple that Native Americans used in pemmican. “Imagine a fruit that tastes like a Blueberry crossed with the satisfying heft of an Apple, a touch of rosewater, and a minuscule crunch of almond-flavored seeds.” Birds and animals rely on the berries.

She tells of a woman whose Serviceberry trees were so productive, she gave the berries away, an example of a gift economy where wone with an abundance shares with others. She references public libraries as another example of a gift economy, for the books belong to everyone.

Take only what you need, what is given. Never take over half or waste what you have been given. This teaching is contrary to a market economy focusing on buying more, waste actually a positive: buy cheap, toss, buy more, keep the factories going.

I participate on a social media site for our city where we give stuff away. People get what they need, and items are recycled and not trashed. A few years back, our apple trees were so productive we couldn’t keep up. We made applesauce and apple butter and froze them and baked. We have away boxes of apples. Our two mile square city has a half dozen Little Free Libraries. My weekly quilt group brings fabric and patterns and supplies to give away on the ‘free table” and we often share quilts we entirely made with fabric found there.

People do want to share.

It will take a revolution, or worse, to change the market economy. But we can each personally choose to live with gratitude, sharing what we have.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.

[Matal “The Mischling Princess” Baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

At face value, “The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World” by Robin Wall Kimmerer might seem to be about the Western Serviceberry or Saskatoon Berry (Amelanchier alnifolia). In fact, the serviceberry is used to symbolize gift giving in American culture, a subject that the author discusses in great deal.

When the author stated that,

“…Eating with the seasons is a way of honoring abundance, by going to meet it when and where it arrives…” (p. 3),

it reminded me of the stories that my momma always tells about my great-grandmother Clara. During the late 19th century, Clara would purchase paw paws in the city—a fruit that can’t be found in cities today because unlike other fruits, paw paws have a short shelf life. Coincidentally, you also don’t see Serviceberries in the vast majority of supermarkets.

At the beginning of this book, the author undercut her own writing when she explained how she was able to pick tons of fruit from her neighbor’s serviceberry—and it was all “gifted”—free of charge. Wall Kimmerer uses this as a launching pad for the rest of her book analyzing the “Serviceberry Economy” vs the “Market Economy.” As a farmer, I have a fair bit to say about this, and I have even more to say as an anthropologist, but I will try to be brief.

If I was going to grow A. alnifolia on my farm, I would get several trees because even though they’re self-pollinating, the average tree yields 20 pounds of fruit. When you average in all of the fruit that the birds and critters eat, you might end up with half of that.

Costs vary, but for a 12 inch plant, it will cost you $10, while a 2-3 foot plant costs about $25. in many places if you buy in bulk, between 5 and 25 plants, it can cost as low as $12.00 each. Great! Even better is the fact that these trees are considered fast growing, averaging about 1 foot per year. Serviceberries can reach a height of about 10 feet-20 feet. You generally don’t see significant fruiting until it’s in the fourth year, and full production doesn’t occur until after 8 years, with an expected lifetime production of about 20 years. Now, that fruit the author collected might have been “free” to her, but it certainly was not “free” to the farmers, especially if you consider how long they had to wait in order to get fruit.

The author discusses how modern society has commodified everything, leading to the exploitation of resources. I absolutely agree with this. Likewise, I agree with everything that she says about gratitude and reciprocity. And I can even empathize when she states,

“…I lament my own immersion in an economy that grinds what is beautiful and unique into dollars, converts gifts to commodities in a currency that enables us to purchase things we don’t really need while destroying what we do…” (pg. 69).

However, I would respond with the old aphorism, “Change starts with you.” And by saying that, I don’t mean that she should just donate the,

“…advance payments from this book about the gift economy of the natural world…as a reciprocal gift…” (p. 109).

The author can **obviously** do this because she received a grant from the MacArthur Foundation to write this essay. As an academic professional, she’s making far more than the vast majority of farmers; she could instead teach for free. If she did that and others followed her lead, then colleges could be tuition free or at the very least reasonable. The author could also volunteer her summer months working without pay to harvest vegetables, thereby dramatically lowering the cost of food.

Instead, the author is advocating for a,

“…system of redistribution of wealth based on abundance and the pleasure of sharing…” (p. 41).

This ‘pleasure of sharing’ won’t last long and will quickly become a burden for a small population while simultaneously becoming an unyielding demand of a much-larger group. All one has to do is look into the pages of Native history to see how well this so-called utopia worked out. Even today, one can hear tales whispered in the wind in Indian Country—and not just in South Dakota where I lived. Giving is highly valuable in Indian Country, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard aggrieved people complain how others took advantage of their generosity—not just from other Natives, but from everyone else as well.

I totally get it. While the market economy was in full swing on the reservation where I lived, the “Serviceberry Market” also thrived. I understand gifting and reciprocity and still live it to this day. It’s unfortunate that many others don’t. The author discusses these “bad actors” and the accompanying greed.

Some people take, take, and take. And never give. The author seems to think that there are fewer takers than givers but anyone who’s been ripped will tell you that the taker’s can swallow a million givers in a millisecond. Even worse, they believe their behavior is justified. In the past, I’ve fallen on hard times and had to use Food Stamps. But never—not in a million years—would I have threatened to steal a basketful of groceries from a store—let alone from another shopper who actually paid for their groceries—because my food stamps were late. I completely understand desperation, but most people currently using Food Stamps did not make these threats; it was a small minority of takers. And the takers **always** outsize the givers.

If the author was really interested in alternative governing structures based upon gifts and reciprocity, she would realize that several already exist. For example, the Hutterites.

The Hutterites have what is called a “Community of Goods.” In fact, many of their fellow farmers are extremely jealous of them. The Hutterites live in apartments, eat (and pray) together, and everyone works for the common good. In short, nobody gets a paycheck; they work for “free,” although many communities will give their members “allowances.” As far as work is concerned, the elected leadership are responsible for assigning jobs; you don’t get to decide what you want to do. Laziness is not an option and there is no such thing as a “housewife.” You **have** to work. Even people with physical and mental disabilities are put to work. Many apartments don’t have kitchens because everyone cooks and eats communally.

If you grow up in this community and you’re a rebel—for example, you refuse your assigned job slaughtering pigs and decide you want to work in the office instead—then you are kicked out of the community because they **already** have office workers assigned…and you’re being disobedient. So, then you leave—with nothing. When you leave, you forfeit your entire lifetime of work. You pack up the very few personal items you have (e.g., your toothbrush, your 2 pairs of pants, your bonnet or hat, and etc.). Now you can either find another Hutterite community where you can work and live at OR you enter into the “English” world completely penniless.

“But,” you might be saying, “I would never live in a religious community!” Well, there’s already a place for you—the commune. In fact, there is a commune in my state a few hours south of my farm. One woman who’s lived on the commune since her early 20s has expressed a desire, now that she’s in her mid-40s, to leave. However, she is hesitant because just like the Hutterites, that commune also practices a paler version of the Community of Goods. This woman now feels trapped because everything that she worked for during the past 20-something years isn’t hers; it belongs to the community, so when she leaves, she’ll be penniless.

About 15 miles south of my farm, there’s an Old Order Mennonite community. In many ways, their society also mirrors gift giving and reciprocity. However, like the above two examples, they also have an extremely rigid criteria for membership. There is, and never will be, a perfect society. Communism in the USSR fell, monarchies were toppled, empires were ransacked, and Atlantis sunk into the ocean. Gift giving and reciprocity also has its setbacks. Namely, when people refuse to ‘play along’. For example, one of the biggest insults on the reservation is to call someone stingy—a form of public shaming meant to modify and/or control others’ behavior. It’s important to note that not only can we humans commodify inanimate objects, but we can also commodify people—and we do.

We can talk about ‘honorable’ Native cultures all you want, but I could tell you some reservation stories that would curl your toes. We can also commodify nature, and I believe that this is **precisely what the author has done.

I think that the author’s intentions were good, but that in the end, there is no way in hell that she is going to convince the American public—including all of the country’s myriad subcultures—to play along in anything resembling what she advocates in this book.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and eye-opening look at how our economy works, as opposed to the more give and share economy ("gift" economy) of the indigenous tribes. The author centers this long essay around the serviceberry bush (which now I have to find and try!) and how it can teach us to live in tandem with nature in a way that does not exploit it to its eventual demise.

I loved her comment that plants offer themselves to us, whether we are saints or sinners.

And the idea that gift economies often rise up during times of crises, as we can see right now in California with all the donations and volunteerism springing up.

Would that humans lived this way in times of noncrisis.

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim volume meditates on gift economies verses extractive capitalism, through the lens of the serviceberry, an abundant sweet berry bush or tree native to the north and eastern third of what we are currently calling the United States. I have never encountered this plant in the wild but I would like to! As always, Kimmerer writes with a gentle compassionate wisdom about how we could live more kindly and lightly and communally on this earth. She invites the reader to think about where gift economies exist in their own lives, and my mind immediately went to fandom and the gift economy of ao3 and podfic; to friends doing clothing swaps, to carpooling, and little free libraries. I want to keep this awareness awake and think about where I can nurture gift economies in my own life.

[Manybooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

With The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World (2024) and using her local, endemic (as well as totally delicious) serviceberry trees (amelanchier arborea) as a model, as an example of how an economic system that aligns with ecological principles could (and also should) work and with a gentle yet also to-the-point narrative tone, Robin Wall Kimmerer invites us as readers to question the way our dominant economic systems have made pretty much everything into objects, into commodities, into property to be exploited, hoarded and to always or at least usually be sold for monetary profit. So indeed and for me very much textually delightfully, we are with The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World offered Wall Kimmerer's concept of a gift and a sharing based economy and a culture of gratitude, abundance and reciprocity as organising principles rather than the scarcity, greed and self-interest on which basically most if not all current economic theories (both right wing and left wing I might add) seem to be based. But just to point out that we should not let the subject matter of The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World (economics) put us off either. For what Robin Wall Kimmerer is penning is both approachable, is easily textually digestible, and that Wall Kimmerer (who is herself a botanist) equally shows that much of The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World is not so much about conventional (and in my opinion often draggingly tedious) economics but is more about Native American and First Nations wisdom, is about how we want to live, is about what we value (and whether we can imagine and cultivate a system that nurtures mutual well-being and all-round sharing).

Furthermore, I also do appreciate how Robin Wall Kimmerer in The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World both acknowledges and admits that she is, that we are all rather tied to dominant and conventional economics, that the market economy is not about to just disappear and that what is textually being featured in The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World is something to mostly consider for the long haul, for the future. And well, as a botanist, Wall Kimmerer is actually likening her ideas and her concepts regarding sustainability and economics based on this and as is shown in The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World to sustainable, to mature plant growth that comes after the initial, fast-growing, colonising plants that dominate when land is initially cleared or has been razed by fire begin to disappear (with the original opportunist vegetation being replaced by more persistent floral inhabitants more reliant on relationships of cooperation, reciprocity and replenishment), with The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World feeling hopeful, realistic, achievable. And yes, even if the scale of change we would like to see might not actually happen in our own lifetime, we can and should be doing something now that makes a difference and contributes to long term, to future change for the positive (for everyone, on a global scale), that if we begin to increasingly engage in and universally encourage and support economies based on sharing, based on gifting, based on universal cooperation and support, this should be immensely healing ecologically, culturally, for flora, fauna and all humanity (and that Robin Wall Kimmerer's gentle and loving message of hope in and for The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World definitely rates solidly five stars for me).

[Amanda up North · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hold Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass in high regard, and maybe I was expecting something of that caliber while anticipating this new work.
The Serviceberry is a lovely little book. I was surprised by how small it is. On its cover there's an illustration of one of my favorite birds, a Cedar Waxwing. It has eye-pleasing fine line drawings inside.
But the writing felt like more of a campaign than a book. A campaign for a Gift Economy, which is what the serviceberry represents. It's kindof a meshing of ecology and economy.
(Given a quick re-scan, variations of the word 'economy' are used roughly 165 times in these few petite pages!)

I'm on board with the message.
I'm too-often the most non-consumer human in any room. I'd love to be less alone in that. Cycling of resources and Enoughness is my discipline, my lifestyle, my peace and joy. So yeah, I like the message. But it read a bit too much like a thesis or persuasive essay for my total enjoyment.

I appreciate the part about "a culture of gratitude," and that I'm reading this with Thanksgiving just a few days away. My family prepares wild turkey and/or other wild harvested game for Thanksgiving. We'll eat squash that grew free in my garden. We'll flavor it with maple syrup we tapped and boiled thick from the maple trees in our woods. Thanksgiving, for us, is a true celebration of harvest and a year-round lifestyle of gratitude, Nature, and reciprocity.
I prefer reading about those kinds of things more than market economy, commodity, and capitalism. This book is technically about the former, but its laden with talk of the latter.

I probably wasn't in the mood today for a book about economic world views.
I was in the mood for serviceberries and cedar waxwings.
But it's a worthwhile message that will hopefully inform or inspire thought and change in more people.

---------‐-----------------

"All Flourishing Is Mutual."

"Recognizing "enoughness" is a radical act in an economy that is always urging us to consume more."

"We live in a time when every choice matters."

[Vanessa M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Supporting a thriving bird community is essential for the well-being for the Serviceberry and everyone else up and down the food chain. That seems especially important to an immobile, long-lived being like a tree, who can't run away from ruptured relationships. Thriving is possible only if you nurtured strong bonds with your community.

When I began reading this book, I thought it pertained more to plant growing, the serviceberry (Amelanchier) in particular. I'd like my husband and I to grow an Allegheny serviceberry for our local birds. Instead, the serviceberry is a symbol for Kimmerer's concept of growing a gift economy on an individual and community scale.

She lays out her ideals for a gift economy to thrive and I like her ideas. I think we all can think of ways to give, share, and receive from others in order to build better relationships and communities.

A listing of her ideas from pages 64-65:

"Know the ways of ones who take care of you, so that you can take care of them."

"Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for a life."

"Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer."

"Never take the first one. Never take the last."

"Take only what you need."

"Take only that which is given."

"Never take more than half. Leave some for others."

"Harvest in a way that minimizes harm."

"Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken."

"Share."

"Give thanks for what you have been given."

"Give a gift in reciprocity for what you have taken."

"Sustain the ones who sustain you and the Earth will last forever."

[Jan Reatherford · Rating 1 out of 5]

A view through rose colored glasses of how we should become a gift economy which is wonderful in theory. In practice, most of the people in my small town are generous and sharing, but I don’t know anyone who can produce enough to sustain themselves or a community. I agree it would be marvelous but to target one person “Darren” as an example of the root of all evil is just unfair. The book does attempt to invite everyone to appreciate and engage in more sharing of whatever wealth you may have in whatever form.

[emma charlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful & comforting reminder of how we can take care of each other

[Ally · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a short book this felt pretty redundant at times. Yes the market economy is terrible for the environment, and I know that gift-giving and an abundance mindset is better for everyone but what is the actionable, practical advice for people?

I like the author’s writing style, the way she weaves in examples of a gift economy from nature and indigenous cultures, and the illustrations.

[Holly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Serviceberries are my favorite food to forage, so I was excited to listen to this audiobook from the library. Sadly it felt like I was listening to a slightly condescending church lesson that was kind of boring.

[Bam cooks the books · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title and beautiful cover artwork attracted me to this small book at an independent bookstore in Frisco, CO. We have two serviceberry trees in our yard and so I have observed firsthand how its berries feed so many robins and cedar waxwings and other animals each summer. It is truly an abundance shared. And in return, the birds and animals spread the tree's seeds. Reciprocity! The tree is also beautiful in a landscape design because of its white flowers in spring and colorful leaves in fall. It's truly a giving tree.

In this essay, Robin Wall Kimmerer compares the abundance of nature that is freely given, a sort of 'gift economy,' to how humans conduct their own 'economy,' which is frequently based on scarcity, hoarding and wasteful use of natural resources.

Ms Kimmerer is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and weaves the wisdom of Indigenous People and their close relationship with the plant world into her writing. She quotes a fellow tribal member who wrote, "If the economy requires people to consume more resources than the Earth can replenish, just to keep the whole thing from collapsing, isn't it time for a new economy?"

Some examples of a 'gift economy' would be the Little Free Library we all see in our neighborhoods where people share books. Or how we give away that summer abundance of zucchini and tomatoes from our gardens to our friends and neighbors. Or volunteer our time, or share our talents, or donate clothing, or stock food pantries. This is the currency of reciprocity.

A remarkable little book, enhanced by the beautiful illustrations of John Burgoyne, and giving each of us much food for thought.