Staff Picks: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Milkweed Editions, 2013. 

A friend lent me her copy of Braiding Sweetgrass after I moved to a rural home with a small area of land. Robin Wall Kimmerer shares an ecological perspective that blends her Potawatomi identity and academic schooling to validate indigenous knowledge with western science. At times the book is memoir, while other parts read more like a field guide. Kimmerer’s poetic style will keep you engaged all the way through.

My biggest takeaway were the principles of the Honorable Harvest (rules that guide foraging and harvesting of plants) and particularly the rule to never take more than half. Braiding Sweetgrass truly delivers an appreciation for everything that grows on the North American landscape and provides a pathway to restore our relationship with the land.

Get it: 

Borrow Braiding Sweetgrass from Middlebury’s collection.

I also recommend listening to the audiobook version, which Kimmerer narrates herself. You can access the audiobook for free with an Ilsley Public Library card (also free!).