Last week, I heard the noted author/pastor/public theologian Brian McLaren say, “If I could add one book to the Bible right now, it would be Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.” That book has been on my bedside table for months, just waiting for me to read it! Anyone want to join me? In Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, Kimmerer draws on her life as a mother, scientist, SUNY professor and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and “shows how other living beings―asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass ― offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices.”

Let’s spend the summer reading and listening to the voices of the natural world all around us. Then we’ll gather together later in August to share what we’ve learned and heard.

~Tami