take only what you need respect the land, and use what you take. Throughout the book, Robin tells stories told by Indigenous people, stories forged with love and gratitude for the gifts of the land. Laurie’s experiment proved the teachings of the elders…never take more than half, and … people play a role in ensuring sweetgrass survival. The sweetgrass taught Laurie that if it is collected properly with respect, the harvesting stimulates growth and sweetgrass thrives. First ,she got to know her subject by visiting a sweetgrass meadow, then proposed her experiment scientifically with multiple study sites, many replicates, and intensive sampling techniques. After learning about sweetgrass, one of Robin’s students, Laurie, chose an experiment based on questions about the sustainable harvesting of sweetgrass. She says, “Experiments are not about discovery but about listening and translating the knowledge of other beings”.

Plants answer questions in their physical responses and behaviors, by the way they live and by how they respond to change. Robin sees botany experiments as conversations with plants. The three braids represent the unity of mind, body and spirit. Some Indigenous communities give sweetgrass braids as gifts, to honor, to say thank you, to heal and to strengthen. Sweetgrass is the centerpiece of this book. Living on what was once Onondaga land, she explores the countryside surrounding her home with her eyes wide open and all her senses alert.įINWR supports the programs and activities that go on at Iroquois NWR. Robin is a member of the Potowatami Nation and listens with humility to the stories and wisdom of the ancestors, the original inhabitants of our country.

In spite of his advice, she is now a Professor of Environmental Science at SUNY Syracuse. She said she chose botany because “ I want to learn about why asters and goldenrod look so beautiful together.” Her adviser, a professor of botany, told her, “It’s not science….if you want to study beauty, you should go to art school.” He told her science is not about beauty, not about the embrace between plants and humans. She told him she already knew some of the plants and their habitats she had thought deeply about their nature. So years later when her college adviser asked her why she wanted to study botany, she had a well-planned answer. She often would stop her bike along the road to identify a new plant species. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KimmererĪs a young girl, Robin Wall Kimmerer collected shoeboxes of seeds, and piles of pressed leaves.

Book braiding