#braiding sweetgrass
“It is not enough to weep for our lost landscapes; we have to put our hands in the earth to make ourselves whole again. Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”—Robin Wall Kimmerer, from Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants(Milkweed Editions, 2020)
To Fruit or Not to Fruit - The Story of Mast Seeding
To Fruit or Not to Fruit – The Story of Mast Seeding
Perennial plants that are able to reproduce multiple times during their lifetime don’t always yield the same amount of seeds each time they reproduce. For some of these plants, there is a stark difference between high-yield years and low-yield years, with low-yield years outnumbering the occasional high-yield years. In years when yields are high, fruit production can seem excessive. This…
“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”
- Robin Wall Kimmerer, “BraidingSweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants “
There were years in college when I actively avoided learning more environmental science because I knew it’d be depressing and I already struggled. It meant ignoring part of my soul. Now I work in an environmental agency. I read the environmental news every day as part of my job.
Sometimes choosing joy is hard. But if you let despair eat you, you won’t dothe rest of the work that so needs to be done, all the time, by all of us.
Choose to return the gift.
Post link
On my “want to read” list and even my “still need to buy” list.
“Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
I know nothing about this book other than what the cover says. Doesn’t matter, I’m hooked and I want to read it. Historically we have ignored almost every native group and the knowledge they amassed as their own individual civilization.
Here in the grand old United States of America (again just DRIPPING with sarcasm) we have almost taken pride in the fact that we suppress the indigenous groups of the lands we occupy. It’s disturbing. Our neighbor Canada is currently being swept up in a massive scandal revolving around the mass deaths of children up there that was covered up for decades.
As a whole humanity needs to do better at respecting other cultures and the nuances that surround them. People have developed their own civilizations and we should be thrilled that there is so much diversity in the world.
