Nature Literature discussion

Please add your comments about The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World here.

I placed my order for this, but I noticed it's not being released until Nov. 19th, so we may have a slow start to conversation about this one!

I pre-ordered on iBooks, both the audio-book narrated by the author and the e-book. "Robin Wall Kimmerer is donating her advance payments from this book as a reciprocal gift, back to the land, for land protection, restoration, and justice."

I received my copy of The Serviceberry yesterday and started reading it last night. I've already come across some gems of thought and I'm only a few pages in!

BTW, as part of my job I'm blessed to get the opportunity to interact with local Indigenous people, and yesterday I was able to take part in a virtual smudging ceremony conducted by a Mohawk woman. She spoke to some of the same concepts mentioned in Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, which this group read earlier as a BOTM. I loved it!

I listened to the audiobook on a Thanksgiving road trip and was surprised how short it was. A simple, succinct message: nature teaches us how a gift economy can work. Since I listened to this BEFORE Thanksgiving Day, it was on my mind as I indulged in the abundance of dishes that make up our family’s Thanksgiving meal, shared outside in the warm Florida sunshine and followed by a hike down the bluff to the river and back up. The pecan tree made enough pecans to feed the squirrels and make a pecan pie and pralines and oatmeal cookies. There are bags full left over that my aunt shares with us for our Christmas baking. The book inspired me to think more creatively about reducing, reusing, and recycling. I saved all the Solo cups that held iced tea and will use them for growing native milkweed plants that will feed the butterflies.