Who knew that Saskatoon, Juneberry, Shadbush, Sugarplum, Sarvis and Serviceberry are all names for the same plant? I didn't! The official name is Amelanchier. "Ethnobiologists know that the more names a plant has, the greater its cultural importance." P. 3, in Robin Wall Kimmerer's book, Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. She's the author of Braiding Sweetgrass.
It's a sweet little book, full of common sense we usually bypass, only 112 small pages and large print. She writes from her mutual perspectives as a botanist and one of indigenous heritage. The book could be summarized by the difference it makes if one considers the produce of the natural world as commodities or gifts. When these items are commodified the result is their treatment as part of the dominant economic order and impersonally bought and sold.
When the offerings of the natural world are seen as gifts their exchange fosters relationship and community. Want to guess which Kimmerer extols? Using Serviceberry as a case in point she offers illustrations of what happens when the berries are received as gifts. This she contrasts with the often exploitive results of trading in commodities.
Take a couple of hours and read it yourself.
Takk for alt,
Al
Monastery on the cliffs Greece. No place for persons with acrophobia!
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