When I first read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, I thought of my father. He is from Peru and often talked about how people there honor the land and see it as something alive. He would tell me that the earth listens when you care for it and that when you stop listening, you lose something important. His words stayed with me, and as I read Kimmerer’s reflections, it felt like she was giving shape to the lessons he had always carried in his heart.
To me, Braiding Sweetgrass is really about connection, gratitude, and learning how to live in balance with the world around us. Kimmerer brings together her background as a botanist and her identity as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, demonstrating how science and Indigenous knowledge can support each other. What stood out to me most was how she discusses reciprocity, the idea that the earth gives to us, and we have a responsibility to give back. When she describes tending sweetgrass and making sure to leave enough for it to keep growing, it made me think about how we care for the things that support us. Her writing made me realize that caring for the earth is really about respect, not control. Everything around us, such as the trees, plants, and rivers. It gives us something, and it’s up to us to take care of them so that the balance can continue.
Reading about the history of the Indian Boarding Schools in the late 1800s really hit me hard. It was painful to think about how those schools tried to erase Native identity and culture. Even with all that loss, the stories and wisdom of Native peoples survived, which shows a lot of strength and resilience. It made me think about my own father’s story, and how both his family and Kimmerer’s ancestors went through a lot of struggle and injustice. Still, their teachings and their love for the land were passed down. When I read Kimmerer’s words, it felt like those lessons were coming back to life, and I could see how the gratitude and respect for the earth keeps moving through generations.
Kimmerer’s writing made me slow down and notice things I usually miss, like the sound of rain on the ground or how sunlight moves through leaves. She shows that these little moments are not small at all but part of what keeps the world alive. Reading this book changed the way I see my surroundings. It taught me that the work we do at Big Reuse, from composting to caring for street trees, fits within that same circle of gratitude and giving back. Returning food scraps to the earth, helping trees grow, and making use of what we already have are all ways of caring that connect to what Kimmerer writes about.
Braiding Sweetgrass reminded me that healing the planet begins with how we see it. The Earth is not a resource to be taken from, but a relationship to be nurtured. Like my father always said, the land listens when you care for it, and as Kimmerer reminds us, it speaks back in its own quiet way. In my view, this book is a masterpiece of ecological and historical non-fiction. It is inspiring and hopeful, a call to action for all of us to care for the world that has always cared for us.
Did you know? If you order your copy of Braiding Sweetgrass through Big Reuse’s bookshop.org page, Big Reuse will receive 30% of the purchase – which will help fund our community-based environmental programs!
Written by NYSERDA Fellow Tatiana Guerra.