#the serviceberry

[ordinaryheavenn]

the serviceberry - robin wall kimmerer

[solar-sunnyside-up]

My afternoon started off selfish.

I was grabbing myself a strawberry plant from a neighbour nearby.

So I walk over- on the way I tried to listen to a book featuring Gift Economies. I dont get very far though, every few steps I have to take my headphones out to chat with neighbours.

A kid asking me to watch his skate trick.

Another asking where I was headed while he was having a smoke outside and I promise to give him any extra strawberry plants might pop up.

Another on her own way home, I reminded I had extra dishes set aside for her and I could drop them off on my way back.

Another chatted with me about the state of our community hall and it's nearly complete renovations.

And finally, I get to my gifters house.

She welcomes me and gives me 4x the strawberry plants I had asked for since they are taking over her yard as she desperately wanted them gone.

What I had assumed to be a selfish errand ended up being a gift to her, and a gift to me and nothing is lost in the exchange.

And I can't help on my way home, be in awe of what Gifts look like and how they slip threw the cracks of Capitalism.

That threw simple word of mouth on a sunny afternoon, we have created our own web of gifts. And due to that an economy all our own blooms, entirely separated from that of the States, or of the Capitalistic structures I often feel myself drowning in.

We seemingly cannot help ourselves once we know each other but to gift things forward.

[aroaessidhe]

read in 2025: nonfiction

The Serviceberry

The Transgender Issue

Disability Visibility

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique

Empire of AI

The Eyes of Gaza

Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal

A City on Mars

read in 2025

[a-ramblinrose]

All Flourishing Is Mutual 🌿

[songsofbloodandwater]

"Calendar plants like Serviceberry are important for synchronizing the seasonal rounds of traditional Indigenous People, who move in an annual cycle through their homelands to where the foods are ready. Instead of changing the land to suit their convenience, they changed themselves. Eating with the seasons is a way of honoring abundance, by going to meet it when and where it arrives. A world of produce warehouses and grocery stores enables the practice of having what you want when you want it. We force the food to come to us, at considerable financial and ecological costs, rather than following the practice of taking what has been given to us, each in its own time."

— The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World (2024) by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

[lakecountylibrary]

Kate's Top 3 Adult Nonfiction Reads of 2024

Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say and How to Be an Ally by Emily Ladau

This book gives readers actionable steps to be an ally to the disabled community as well as how to act and what to say or not to say to disabled people. The author describes how to follow these steps in a nonjudgmental way. She realizes that everyone makes mistakes and she informs readers on terminology to use and to eliminate from your vocabulary when it comes to the disabled community.

This is a concise guide to help readers become more educated, empathetic and accepting. I highly recommend reading this book.

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

This book focuses on life values that align with my way of thinking, therefore I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The author explains how important it is to focus on gratitude, reciprocity and community. She uses nature based examples to explain how the natural world also lives by these values.

Other books by this author include Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Give this book a try if you enjoy nature and short reads.

The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work by Simone Stolzoff

This book urges readers to reclaim their lives from a work obsessed world. It suggests putting more emphasis on our lives outside of work and allowing ourselves to believe we are doing a good enough job in our work lives.

The author offers strategies for how to have a healthier relationship with work and how to have a better work-life balance. If you are struggling with burnout at your job, this book will hopefully help you realign the important things in your life and make you realize you are doing a 'good enough job' in your career.

I really enjoyed these two quotes from the book:

“You are not the work you do, you are the person you are.”

(Edited to add: This was originally said - or rather, written - by Toni Morrison in a 2017 New Yorker article titled The Work You Do, the Person You Are. It was quoted with the source in the book. Thanks to the reader who pointed out this additional context would be good to add!)

and

“A good enough job is a job that allows you to be the person you want to be.”

See more of Kate's recs

[godzilla-reads]

—From “The Serviceberry” by Robin Wall Kimmerer

[fresh-coast-reader]

✔️Fifth read of summer ☀️🌻

(and 50th of 2026! 🥳)

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer—Anyone who loves Nature or wants to improve their relationship with Nature should read Kimmerer’s works, whether it’s _Braiding Sweetgrass_, _Gathering Moss_, or this beautiful addition to her bibliography, _The Serviceberry_. Kimmerer is a biologist with the writing prowess and soul of a poet. Her writing is so beautiful and her reasoning, explanations, and calls to action are so logical and straight-forward that I find myself increasing frustrated with the capitalistic and consumer market we’ve dug ourselves into. Kimmerer blends Indigenous teachings with ecological and biological imperatives in a way that makes learning about the world around us a beautiful and moving experience. 5🌟