The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World

“You could call them natural resources or ecosystem services, but the Robins and I know them as gifts. We both sing gratitude with our mouths full.”

In the opening pages of The Serviceberry, Kimmerer locates herself within the natural world, evoking her namesake—the robin—to note that both she and the red-breasted bird are part of a naturally formed gift economy that is based on ecology. This comparison establishes the lens of the book, positioning human beings as an intrinsic part of the natural world.

“Ethnobotanists know that the more names a plant has, the greater its cultural importance.”

Kimmerer speaks from her experience as a botanist and a member of Indigenous communities, underscoring her credibility. Her expertise allows her to transcend cultural expectations, linking the etymology of the serviceberry to its function in the gift economy of the natural world. Kimmerer suggests that the need to name something is as fundamentally human as generosity, foreshadowing the text’s thematic interest in Optimism as a Tool for Building a Better World.

“This pail of Juneberries represents hundreds of gift exchanges that led up to my blue-stained fingers.”

Kimmerer explicitly frames the berries as a symbol of gift economies, highlighting her thematic engagement with The Natural World as Inspiration for Economic Reform. The bucket of berries “represents” participation in a gift economy, a level of symbolic abstraction that is contrasted with the very real, very explicit description of the blue-stained fingers.