A BOOK RECOMMENDATION

MARGARET CARNEY RAVES ABOUT 'BRAIDING SWEETGRASS'

Recommendations from two friends in Ontario and mention by a relative on the West Coast brought it to my attention. Then a rave review in a national newspaper on new nature books put it on my to-do list last summer: read "Braiding Sweetgrass." Wouldn't you know, life happened, and I didn't get around to reserving it from the public library until January. I finally got a copy of the bestselling book in my hands when my turn came up in February.

So worth the wait! The first paragraph of the preface brought tears to my eyes: "Hold out your hands and let me lay upon them a sheaf of freshly picked sweetgrass, loose and flowing, like newly washed hair," whispered the author. "Hold the bundle up to your nose! Breathe it in and you start to remember things you didn't know you'd forgotten."

From canoe trips and cottage country, I know and love the scent of sweet fern, more familiar to me than sweetgrass, but just as aromatic. With a deep sigh, I settled in my armchair by the window and started reading, soon falling under the spell of Robin Wall Kimmerer's mesmerizing voice. She may be a scientist and university professor but she's also a gifted storyteller, and my favourite way of learning is through stories. Plus, she's a brilliant nature writer. I found myself enchanted by whole scenes and ecosystems she brought vividly to life for a reader, this time grateful — sometimes even envious! — me.

The content? Let's say the book covers just about everything important to an ordinary person. Motherhood, child-raising, property ownership, landscape rehab, community relations and restoration.

How to heal a planet, and how a planet heals you. Kimmerer basically writes an autobiography through stories, sharing what she cares about most passionately, and what she sees needs to be done by humans hoping to rescue a world. Starting with the "honourable harvest" — taking only what we need, leaving enough to regenerate, and being grateful for all we're given by bountiful Mother Earth.

Savouring every chapter, every vignette, I didn't finish reading "Braiding Sweetgrass" by the library due-back date. And couldn't renew it because — wouldn't you know it — there was a waiting list. So, I went out and bought my own copy, wanting my husband to read it anyway, and lots of friends.

It's a book to be dipped into, pondered, relished, then carried off in your heart. "A hymn of love to the world," as one astute reviewer so eloquently claims on the cover.

Nature queries: mcarney1490@gmail.com or 905725-2116.