Honorable Harvest

In her beautiful book Braiding Sweetgrass, scientist and professor Robin Wall Kimmerer has a chapter titled “Honorable Harvest” that explores the deep traditional knowledge of Indigenous harvesters and the principles that guide their exchange of life. The guidelines for the Honorable Harvest are not written down, but they are recognized and reinforced in daily acts. In the Honorable Harvest, the producers have the upper hand; they will continue to give their lives if we follow these guidelines. If the guidelines were written down, Robin Wall Kimmerer writes they would look something like this:

Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.

Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life.

Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer.

Never take the first. Never take the last.

Take only what you need.

Take only that which is given.

Never take more than half. Leave some for others.

Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.

Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken.

Share.

Give thanks for what you have been given.

Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.

Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.

Let us pray: God of gratitude, inspire us to give thanks this week for the providers in our world and in our lives—for the plants and animal that nourish and bless us. May we honor their lives with our respectful consumption and our generosity of spirit. Amen.