For most of the 30 years that I’ve been writing books about native plant gardening, I’ve participated in the settler erasure of Indigenous knowledge by neither engaging with nor acknowledging the millennia of wisdom held by Inidgenous communities and knowledge keepers.
In the past few years, I’ve been learning from Indigenous writers’ books and from Indigenous earth-workers. The following are just a few of the books I’ve been learning from:
Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer: I am always reading this book! I think I’m on my fourth session with it…The subtitle opens up so much: “Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.” Weaving stories and science, grounded in love, this book celebrates reciprocity and deep, respectful relationship with the earth and all the beings with whom we share this home.
Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have To Do is Ask, edited by Wendy Makoons Geniusz
Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have To Do is Ask, edited by Wendy Makoons Geniusz: Written by the editor’s late mother, this book shares Anishinaabe teachings about plants, not as individual “specimens” but as woven in a richy animate fabric. Full of stories, cultural teachings, information about medicines, and with a section of recipes, this is a book to return to over and over.
Medicines to Help Us: Traditional Métis Plant Use, by Christi Belcourt
Medicines to Help Us: Traditional Métis Plant Use, by Christi Belcourt: Honouring the personality and spirit of each plant, in this gorgeous full-colour book artist Christ Belcourt explores the 27 plants in her painting Medicines to Help Us, sharing traditional Métis medicinal knowledge and the healing power of these wild plants. The book includes an essay by Elder Rose Richardson.