When we moved into our house thirty-three years ago there was a large Serviceberry just off the front stairs. Vase shaped, spring flowering, berries for the birds in June, and beautiful fall color – it was the right plant, but it was in the wrong place. Having innumerable stems, it was more of a shrub than a tree, and it encroached on the ingress and egress of our front door. Too big to be relocated, a younger me removed it piecemeal, with the thought that I would plant another Serviceberry elsewhere on our two-thirds acre suburban lot. Now we total 27 species of trees in our garden, but no Serviceberry – yet the plant still has a place in my heart.

So when I found the book, The Serviceberry, Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, available through my county library, I was excited. It was written by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a professor of Environmental and Forest Ecology, who had also written Gathering Moss, a book that I loved that was a gift from my daughter Ellen. I assumed that The Serviceberry would mimic the presentation of Gathering Moss, a stimulating and riveting look at the ecology of an underappreciated plant family. My assumption was wrong.

Serviceberry is a common term for members of the genus Amelanchier, and there are twenty species spread across North America and all were important in the lives of the indigenous peoples. As Kimmerer says in the book, “Saskatoon, Juneberry, Shadbush, Shadblow, Sugarplum, Sarvis, Serviceberry – these are among the many names for Amelanchier. Ethnobotanists know that the more names a plant has, the greater its cultural importance”.

The book starts invitingly with Kimmerer recalling an invitation to pick Serviceberries on a friend’s farm and her observations of the birds she was sharing the fruit with.

Of indigenous heritage herself, of the Potawatomi Nation of the Great Lakes region, she then tells of the importance of the plant to native communities across North America. As she picks berries, she reflects on what the Serviceberry has meant to her people. I particularly liked reading about Pemmican – a mixture of dried Serviceberries, dried venison or bison, and rendered fat, that was solidified into the original energy bar – a great food source for a mobile culture. Indigenous peoples were by necessity foragers and looked upon the things that they harvested from the Earth as gifts. She closes these introductory essays with the notion of the “gift economy” – the gifts that nature gives us, the gifts we can give nature in return, and the gifts that people give each other – the pay it forward mindset.

But it is in the third chapter where The Serviceberry veers from the natural history narrative style of Gathering Moss. Kimmer starts to lament the loss of the gift economy and the current emphasis on the extractive economy, which she labeled “unbridled capitalism”, and “the commoditization of all things”, including water. She writes, “In the gift economy, wealth is understood as having enough to share, and the practice for dealing with abundance is to give it away. In fact, status is determined not by how much one accumulates, but by how much one gives away”.

Gift economies were more common in the past, especially in rural areas and in less commercialized cultures, where demanding tasks were completed with the help of community members. She goes on to give examples of some of the remaining gift economies in her community and it got me to think about things that I see in my community and life that I have thought of as positives, but had not appreciated to their fullest:

• The myriad of “little libraries” that people erect so folks can share books that they are finished with. I believe we have four within a mile of our house. And yes, I have given and taken from these collectives.

• The well run, busy blood bank that is nearby. Giving part of oneself is the ultimate gifting.
• The Covunity Fridge – a free standing, public refrigerator and pantry in nearby Covington, Kentucky, where people can drop off packaged food for others to take for free. It’s a community driven effort to address food insecurity.

• Our community Facebook group that mostly seems to function as a repurposing site, where people often offer up items for free that they no longer need. Especially common are child car seats, children’s clothes, toys, furniture, and appliances. It extends the useful life of the items and keeps them out of the landfill. My favorite thing to offer are garden plants.
• The Walter Gieske Family Community Garden – a community garden with a twist. The Gieske Family, along with support from Fort Mitchell city administration and some volunteers, plant numerous beds of vegetables on a plot at our city building, that are free for anyone to harvest – tomatoes, peppers, onions, greens, melons, asparagus, herbs, etc. The paradox is that most in our region think of our community as well to do – but it is a reminder that everyone can be one crisis away from challenge, and we don’t always know the reality of our neighbors needs.

• The collection of parks, forests, and nature preserves that we find ourselves in on our weekly hikes – they are all gifts to the public.
• And, in a broader sense, the ancient public footpaths of Great Britain, for which this blog is named, are an old example of a gift economy, allowing everyone to take the shortest route between villages.

So on first thought, most examples of “gift economies” seem local and often driven by not-for-profits. But Kimmerer’s essays cause one to think deeper and on a broader scale. When one does so, it becomes obvious that governments – local, state, and federal- have a role to play in building and sustaining “gift economies” – especially those that function on a grand scale. Taxes are legal obligations that give governmental agencies the resources needed to do so. Many of these government sponsored “gifts”, like national parks and universities, become the economic engines for entire communities and regions. The invested monies are multiplied many times over as it works its way through the economies. The full impact, however, is hard to measure and therefore does not translate well into sound bites, press releases, and casual conversations.

Interspersed through the remaining chapters are Kimmerer’s thoughts” on “unbridled capitalism” – that mankind’s current extraction and consumption outpaces Earth’s ability to replenish what we have taken and commercialized. I have shared that concern and it was comforting to find a peer, someone who, like me, cringes when we hear reports on the health of our economy that emphasizes escalating production and consumption – Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Consumer Spending, New Housing Starts, etc. It causes one to worry – can the world sustain this level of utilization and extraction?

Kimmerer is realistic in stating that market capitalism is not going away, but feels that society, and Earth, would be better served if we nurture gift economies to function alongside the market economy – what she termed, “a mosaic of economies”. I like that approach. We can improve our communities by supplementing the market economy with more gift economies. But to be impactful, it has to become part of the culture – across communities and across the nation. It has to involve all of us, to the best of our resources, and the government – local, state, and federal. Lets rebirth and re-emphasize the idea of the gift economy. Let’s celebrate philanthropy. Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, the Fords, the Mellons are the historical benchmarks, but Warren Buffett, MacKenzie Scott, Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Dolly Parton have done so more recently. Society needs to multiply those efforts. And more of us can do so on a local level. We also must send this message to our political leaders as well. I personally want to return to a time when the wealthy gave more to philanthropy than to PACs (political action committees).

The Serviceberry is both well written and thought provoking. I enjoyed Kimmerer’s wordsmithing, and how she put her thoughts down on paper. Examples of this included a couple of her comments about the Serviceberry itself:

“Imagine a fruit that tastes like a Blueberry crossed with the satisfying heft of an Apple, a touch of rosewater, and a minuscule crunch of almond-flavored seeds”.

“… to the improbability of bushes spangled with morsels of sweetness in a world that can be bitter”.

As I consumed her insightful essays, I jotted down “points to ponder” – statements that caused me to pause:

The common thread that runs through the book, and is often stated, is “All flourishing is mutual”.

In the end, while The Serviceberry was not the collection of nature essays that I expected, it was a very worthwhile read. So many thoughts to ponder. I had found a philosophical peer who inspired me to not only continue my advocacy for the Earth and Mother Nature, but to redouble my efforts in my community, and to support the “gift economies”. The interesting thing is that I initially read this book over a year ago and wrote a rough draft for this essay, but I could not succinctly say how it impacted me, so I shelved it. About 3 months ago I reread my draft and realized how the book caused me to reflect on the world today. So, I reread the book, and my feelings jelled. Kimmerer was speaking not only to me, but for me. She has a bigger audience, and more people need to hear her plea. Points to ponder indeed.

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Photo credits to Patrick Burns and Nick Gieske (the Fort Mitchell Garden photos).

The pen and ink drawings are from the book and are the work of artist John Burgoyne.