The Serviceberry – Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
By Robin Wall Kimmerer - (review by Robert Kauffman)

Robin Wall Kimmerer treats us to an inspiring vision of how we might orient our economy, our individual
lives, and our communities -- around the natural giving of what we have as well as receiving freely from
others. Though bold in terms of our contemporary economic system, it’s not a new idea. The natural
world has always operated from a base of reciprocity and mutual giving. As she begins:

“(The) abundance of berries feels like a pure gift of the land. I have not earned, paid for, nor
labored for them. There is no mathematics of worthiness that reckons I deserve them in any
way. And yet here they are … You could call them natural resources or ecosystem services, but
the Robins and I know them as gifts.”

The author develops what might be called the ‘Serviceberry relationship’ with the world within which it
lives. When ripe, the berries support an entire community of birds, animals and soil cycles – which In
turn preform services vital to the survival of the berry plant. In a passage referring to indigenous
American cultural heritage, she remarks, “With my fingers sticky with berry juice, I’m reminded that my
life is contingent upon the lives of so many others, without whom, I simply would not exist.” The berries
are a constant reminder that we do not live within a planet of commodities, ripe for the picking, but are
privileged to participate in ta vast circle of life along with the plants and animals. “The currency of a gift
economy is relationship, which is expressed as gratitude, as interdependence, and the ongoing cycles of
reciprocity.” She continues:

“In summer, when the boughs are laden, Serviceberries produce an abundance of sugar. Do they
hoard that energy for themselves? No, they invite the birds to feast. Come, my relatives, fill your
bellies, say the serviceberries. Are they not storing their meat in the bellies of their brothers and
sisters – the Jays, the Thrashers and the Robins? … Without gift relationships with bees and
birds, the Serviceberries would disappear from the planet.”

Kimmerer also assures us that human gift economies are everywhere if we know where to look. Their
formulation is simple enough – where “no money (is) exchanged and there (is) no expectation of
compensation in any form.” And while they mostly exist at a small scale and within local settings,
examples abound as neighborhood potlucks, a book-sharing box in the park, the park itself, or a ‘barn-
raising’ community event. Such activities would never register on the national measure of GDP, but
nonetheless contribute to harmony and prosperity at every local level.

She ends with a list of guidelines for what she calls the Honorable Harvest -- “that would look something
like this”:

-- Know the ways of the ones who take care of you so you can take care of them
--Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life.
-- Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer….and so forth.