SUMMER READING: SHARING IN NATURE
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
In this small volume, Native American plant ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer uses the serviceberry bush as a way to riff on the concept of a gift economy. Also known as Juneberry, Saskatoon, or Shadbush, the serviceberry has small white flowers and reddish berries, which often ripen in June.
A gift economy, as opposed to our more familiar market economy, frequently operates in small Indigenous communities. In nature, the serviceberry bush receives sunlight and rain to grow, and its berries provide food for birds. The birds eat the ripe berries, and the seeds then get dispersed allowing the serviceberry to continue to propagate. Kimmerer opines on how the abundance of nature is freely shared to the benefit of the plants and creatures in nature as well as humans.
Her book gives testament to the need to be respectful of nature and to reflect on how this approach in the natural world might be more applied to human society. One small example is a book that is passed on from one reader to another to read, and then placed in a Little Free Library box for yet others to take and enjoy. The book is a gift that has served multiple individuals.
I had never heard of serviceberries until recently, when I noticed one of the plants in a nearby garden was labeled serviceberry. I recalled that serviceberry bush again when my friend Martha recommended this book. A short read, but a worthwhile one.
VIEWING: INDULGENT WEALTH
The Gilded Age Season 3 (HBO Max)
Although some critics have been less kind to Season 3 of The Gilded Age, I’m hooked. I like the elaborate costumes, the grasping for more wealth and greater social status, the inclusion of pertinent issues of the day, and the stellar cast. Will any of these individuals find love and true happiness?
Bertha Russell is determined that her daughter Gladys shall become a duchess; Marian Brook hopes to find love this time around after two failed engagements; and George Russell has grand ambitions to build a linked cross-country railroad. Meanwhile, Miss Scott (Peggy) continues her career as a writer, has a new admirer, and is a supporter of women’s suffrage. Ada and Agnes, Marian’s aunts, bicker as they adapt to new roles, while Ada is seduced by a séance and takes up the temperance cause with diehard determination.
There are 8 episodes in this season. They are being released weekly, with episodes one through six now available. Due to its popularity, there will be a Season 4 of the Gilded Age.
Note: Header photo of black-eyed Susans and dahlia photo ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)
Hi Jean — for a number of years, SUNY-ESF has been my client, and Robin Kimmerer is a faculty member there. An amazing person! You might like her earlier book, Braiding Sweetgrass, if you haven’t already read it.