The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Scribner Publishing, 2024 (124 pages)
Sometimes, I just want to read something comforting and cozy. It's often related to nature in some way. This book for me, was all that. The author, while one day harvesting berries from the A. alnifolia tree or Serviceberry, observed that the birds were getting their nourishment as well as herself. The harvest was abundant. Nature, she noted, was distributing its' wealth of "abundant, sweet, juicy berries," to meet the needs of the surrounding community.
This open sharing ensured the survival of the community as well as the tree itself. As the author added, "Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity rather than accumulation, where wealth and security comes from the quality of our relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency." In other words, our tendency to hoard actually does damage to ourselves and those around us.
We need to lean on our natural world and each other to learn to live in gratitude and sharing. The natural world can teach us so much. If we have an abundance of potatoes, why not ask the neighbor if they need some? Nothing in nature goes to waste. The food is there for all to share, what is left is composted into the soil for coming times. The rhythm of nature calls to us, there is a time and a season. What a cozy book to read on a grey, cold day. It is a fast read, but worthy to be read.
The author of several books, Kimmerer, is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. A professor of Environmental Biology and founder of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, her website can be found here Robin Wall Kimmerer and gives you more information as well as a listing of various speaker engagements you can attend.
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