

She compares this healthy relationship to the scientific relationship she experienced as a young scholar, wherein she struggled to reconcile spirituality, biology, and aesthetics into one coherent way of thinking. “Planting Sweetgrass” includes the chapters “Skywoman Falling,” “The Council of Pecans,” “The Gift of Strawberries,” “An Offering,” “Asters and Goldenrod,” and “Learning the Grammar of Animacy.” Kimmerer introduces the concepts of reciprocity, gratitude, and gift-giving as elements of a healthy relationship with one’s environment which she witnessed from her indigenous family and culture growing up. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book is divided into five sections, titled “Planting Sweetgrass,” “Tending Sweetgrass,” “Picking Sweetgrass,” “Braiding Sweetgrass,” and “Burning Sweetgrass.” Each section is titled for a different step in the process of using the plant, sweetgrass, which is one of the four sacred plants esteemed by Kimmerer’s Potawatomi culture. The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Kimmerer, Robin Wall.
