Braiding Sweetgrass

Braiding Sweetgrass is a New York Times bestseller by Robin Wall Kimmerer.  I got this book just before New Years and have been savouring it.  It was published in 2013 and I’ve had it on my to be read list ever since.  I saw it in the bookstore and I had to pounce.  Usually I mow down a book in a matter of days.  This one I have chosen to take my time with – reading a chapter at a time.  This collection of essays is particularly suited to this way of reading because it is a slow burn.

Braiding Sweetgrass speaks to me on a deep level.  Frequently when I look at books to read as an herbalist they fall into the “if this, then that” category.  Long lists of herbs, their scientific names, and what properties they might have.  There is without question a place for those books but my soul needs more.  We need books that examine the why.  We need philosophers and Ms. Kimmerer is one I can relate to.  Part of what speaks to me is the blend of science and traditional wisdom.  I struggle daily to reconcile the two.  Seeing the tension between them so beautifully resolved gives me hope.  Ms. Kimmerer teaches at SUNY and founded the Centre for Native Peoples and the Environment. Reading last night about her students and their cattail adventures I was trying to figure out how I could study with her.  If, as the days lengthen, the forest is whispering to you – this book is for you.

“The land is the real teacher.  All we need as students is mindfulness.  Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer