Braiding Sweetgrass

                                                                                

I'd been hearing about this book for some while, but you know how it is--so many books, so little time. Then a friend came to visit and put the book in my hands. 'You'll like this," he said, and oh, I do, I do!

Kimmerer is a botanist and a college professor. But braided in with these two strands is her heritage as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and the acknowledgement of the interconnectedness of humans and the rest of the natural world.

And her writing! It's lyrical as well as wise. Here she talks of the indigenous gardening style in which the Three Sisters--corn, beans, and squash--are planted together for their mutual benefit:

"At the height of the summer, when the days are long and bright, and the thunderers come to soak the ground, the lessons of reciprocity are written clearly in a Three Sisters garden. Together their stems inscribe what looks to me like a blueprint for the world, a map of balance and harmony. The corn stands eight feet tall, rippling green ribbons of leaf curl away from the stem in every direction to catch the sun. No leaf sits directly over the next, so that each can gather light without shading the others. The bean twines around the corn stalk, weaving itself between the leaves of corn, never interfering with their work. In the spaces where corn leaves are not, buds appear on the vining bean and expand into outstretched leaves and clusters of fragrant flowers. The bean leaves droop and are held close to the stem of the corn. Spread around the feet of the corn and beans is a carpet of big broad squash leaves that intercept the light that falls among the pillars of corn. Their layered spacing uses the light, a gift from the sun, efficiently, with no waste. The organic symmetry of forms belongs together; the placement of every leaf, the harmony of shapes speak their message. Respect one another, support one another, bring your gift to the world and receive the gifts of others, and there will be enough for all.

It's a lesson too many of us have forgotten. This wise and beautiful book is a much-needed reminder.