Braiding Sweetgrass

A Book Review

Hello, friend,

As you may be aware if this isn’t your first time on the blog, 2023 is the year of LGBTQIA+ and POC voices when it comes to my reading list. If you are new here then you can check out this post in regards to what is on the list for this year.

I started 2023 off with Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This has been on my list to read for a little bit but having this goal for 2023 of diversifying the voices I read moved it to the top of my TBR. Literally in the sense that I actually finished it first this year.

Braiding Sweetgrass originally released in 2013. Its purpose was to educate on how Indigenous Knowledge could be an alternative or complementary approach to the Westernized scientific methodologies. The deeper look into the book is showing the natural relationship that people had with Mother Earth before Western ideas began to be forced into the mainstream.

I spent the majority of January with this book, trying to take my time to absorb the information that Kimmerer was providing in its pages.

When I tell you that this book has made me more attune to what I use in my practice as well as my everyday, it is no joke. I have started being more mindful and have begun working even harder to find ways to live my life that are kinder to our environment. I’m starting my recycling back up with plans to get a few bins in my utility room for the different sorting so I can really start going hard on it. However, I have started doing my cardboard/paper so progress is progress.

I’m digressing from the book though.

Kimmerer not only gives you the science within this book, but she also includes the stories of her people, of Skywoman and her life. I think the section I most enjoyed of the book was in the section called Picking Sweetgrass where Kimmerer tells of her learning to weave a basket from Black Ash tree. I could feel the call to be patient and to take time with your craft – whether that is making a basket or your hobbies such as crochet or knitting – wash over in me in this section.

My biggest take away from this book was that you do not have to do it all in one go. Taking our time to be observant before we begin to make the changes to the way we live our life. We have to honor the world around us or we won’t have a world to honor.

As always, I rate my books at the end of reading. I give this read a five out of five stars. You need to add this to your TBR list whether you are a practitioner or not.

Happy reading,

Trula Marie