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Katharina's avatar

Braiding Sweetgrass is a beautiful book! My copy is currently far away from me, so I will reread it another time, but I'll still enjoy following here.

About Valentine's day: in Finland, where I live, it is mainly celebrated as Friend's Day (Ystävänpäivä). There's still lots of heart imagery and I suppose people also celebrate romantic love, but the main focus is definitely on celebrating friendship (Finns, despite their reputation of being silent and closed off, truly value sincere and deep friendship). Somehow Friend's Day is more welcoming and less normative than Valentine's Day, so I like it a lot more.

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Katherine May's avatar

That is SO lovely ☺️

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Miriam's avatar

I’ve read Braiding Sweetgrass and listened to the audiobook, narrated by Robin Wall Kimmerer. She has the most beautiful, calm voice and sometimes I go back and listen to her reading the opening section - Sky Woman Falling - as a kind of meditation. I’m so excited to hear what others think about this wonderful book.

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Katherine May's avatar

The audiobook is gorgeous! I always love hearing the author read their own book.

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Kathryn's avatar

Yes! I do not usually enjoy audiobooks but Kimmerer’s voice is so soothing while still transmitting her passion. Much like listening to Katherine!

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Laurie Weiss's avatar

My first newsletter and I’m beyond delighted! I’m in desperate need of a safe and soothing place to escape to given the political scene in the US right now. This space will happily be my refuge and salve for my weary soul.💕

I have read Braiding Sweetgrass and loved it. Such a beautiful prayer for the earth and all its inhabitants. Will happily revisit this book and enjoy a deeper dive! Thank you Katherine for creating this divine space! 💖

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Katherine May's avatar

Ah well I hope we can help a tiny bit 🤍

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Polly Paton-Brown's avatar

I've had this book on my shelf for a long time. I did begin it but life took over. SO happy to dive deeply into it. I am loving this way of reading. Also finding it is impacting my other reading....making me more curious. I am a very slow reader but for the first time in my life I am glad...gives me time to ponder. Thankyou for that unexpected bit of healing Katherine!

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Katherine May's avatar

I’m loving this way of reading too - I often skim through books quickly because I have yo read so much, and this is making me return and go deep :)

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Sarah Copping's avatar

I read slowly too, especially if a book is written poetically. I cherish and immerse myself in the language!

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Rebecca's avatar

I cannot wait to start Braiding Sweetgrass and keep following you on your journey! I want to lean into slow living. I want to be the woman in a wool jumper, thoughtfully stirring a pot of something wholesome while a beeswax candle flickers beside an open book of poetry. But instead, I am the woman in mismatched socks, refereeing a dispute about whose turn it is on the sled while trying to extract a Lego piece from the baby’s mouth.

The world tells me that Imbolc is about the returning light, about tending to new life stirring beneath the frost. And yet, I want to wrap myself in winter for just a little longer. I want the long, dark evenings where the wind howls against the stone walls and we’re all tucked in together, books and blankets and endless cups of tea. I want the excuse to hibernate, to ignore the pressure to bloom, to say, “No, thanks, I’ll stay here under my woolen cocoon for another month or two.”

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Katherine May's avatar

Ah Rebecca, I so sympathise!

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Heather F.'s avatar

This has been on my shelf for a while now! This will be my first online book club - seems like it’ll be a great start!

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Katherine May's avatar

Yes!!

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Susan littlemissinquisitive's avatar

Same here 📖

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Shelley Wallace's avatar

I’ve had this book for ages unread. Glad to get some company and momentum for reading it.

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Katherine May's avatar

I think you’ll love it

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Shelley Wallace's avatar

Yes, I’m looking forward to it - after the last 3 chapters of A Woman In The Polar Night ; )

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Eva Boev 💫🐝🎵📚's avatar

Bohzo nicanek….hello my friends in Potawatomi. I’m reading the book, basically underlining everything. So far I feel as enchanted as frustrated….because I’m a “daughter of supermarket “ as my father said when I was a kid. Reciprocity. Probably THE concept that could really save us. I wonder how can we build it. Thanks Katherine.

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Katherine May's avatar

🙏🙏🙏

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Kathryn's avatar

My copy of Sweetgrass is so marked up!

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Eva Boev 💫🐝🎵📚's avatar

Dear Kathryn, I’m reading it together with Wintering and they seem to go perfectly together. Both are great re-sources to set up our peaceful revolution! 🪴

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Kathryn's avatar

Yes, these two books complement each other perfectly. Thank you for teaching us a bit of Potawatomi! I follow a native-speaker on Instagram who introduces Ojibwe words and their meanings and find it so beautiful to my ears. It takes me back to childhood when we lived near a large community of Ojibwe and the elders still used the language often.

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Charlene's avatar

Very excited for this book club. I’ve read the book and indeed it has stayed with me. Her new book is also fabulous and beautiful to hold and appreciate physically too.

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Katherine May's avatar

I’m looking forward to that one :)

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Leslie E's avatar

I kept picking up Braiding Sweetness in the bookstore at different visits but then putting it back on the shelf and choosing something else. Over and over again this would happen. It must have been calling to me. I’m so happy to dive into it now with this lovely group of people. I’ve never been a part of a book club before and am looking forward to it.

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Katherine May's avatar

It’s been following you around!

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A Place To Read And Knit's avatar

Reading now for the third time. When I saw that this was the February book I thought there was no way to cover it in four weeks. Glad you thought the same. Two years ago on a vacation with my family I gave copies to each of my daughters in law. One has my copy of The Serviceberry now. (Not sure that’s the correct title.) After this read along I will get myself a copy of Gathering Moss.

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Katherine May's avatar

I almost tried to squish it into a month and then realised there was absolutely no need to!

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Anne Melia's avatar

I read Braiding Sweetgrass several years ago and then reread a lot of it for a book club that I lead. It is such a lovely book, and such a great choice as we come into the season of new growth in the northern hemisphere...and also for us in the U.S. with such turmoil and uncertainty and pain. I look forward to your book club and the chance to dive into the book once again, to gain new insights from your leading us through the book.

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Katherine May's avatar

It feels like exactly the right book for this moment

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Laurie Matthews's avatar

One of my all time favorite books! I read it years ago, and now read select chapters once a year. Partly because I assign some chapters to my University students for a class I teach on cultural landscapes, but also to be reminded of the words. I’m part way through her new book The Serviceberry, after hearing her talk about it last Fall, but waiting to finish it in Spring which is the season I most associate the plant.

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Katherine May's avatar

Ooh I’ll be interested to hear your perspective then!

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Susan Munkres's avatar

I am thrilled you have chosen this book, that's been incredibly transformative - globally it seems! it's long been a staple of environmental studies courses at universities here in the US and I think profoundly affects the young people who read it. eager to read it again in thoughtful company!

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Katherine May's avatar

I hope we can do a good job!

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Rebecca Ember's avatar

Braiding Sweetgrass is also on my shelf… looking forward to the opportunity to reading it properly!

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Katherine May's avatar

Perfect!

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J. Paul Moore's avatar

I'm a long-time fan of Robin Wall Kimmerer. Braiding Sweetgrass is a gem, and I have personal stories about some of the plants she mentions. Robin is the first author I have read who combines scientific knowledge and Indigenous wisdom, which has been an interest of mine for many years and has informed my way of gardening with native plants and how I share that love with others. Before Braiding Sweetgrass first appeared on the scene, I had fallen in love with her book Gathering Moss, which I often refer to in my presentations and nature walks.

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Katherine May's avatar

I love Gathering Moss - and I also need to read her new book. Maybe that’s my mission for this weekend :)

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Barbara Sjoholm's avatar

I discovered Gathering Moss in the gift shop of Lake Quinault Lodge in the midst of the Pacific Northwest rain forest. Had to immediately obtain a hand lens and get out into the forest to look closely at the sphagnum. That's a great gift of Robin's, to make us look closely at what has been ordinary or invisible. I look forward to rereading Sweetgrass.

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J. Paul Moore's avatar

It's a great read as well!

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