When my nephew is in the back yard and shouts “come quick!”, I always know there will be something interesting to see – usually a lizard with unique color patterns, a chrysalis, or another nature discovery he knows I love.
On a windy autumn day, I heard him calling, “Jodi, you’ve got to come out here!”, so I ran outside and saw him pointing at a banana tree that had fallen down in the wind, while holding something in his hand. From a distance, I could tell it was small and delicate. As I got closer, I could see that it was an intricately woven bird’s nest that must have fallen out of the tree as it went down. He held it up in the light, and I saw that the bird wove a part of me into its nest, and tears of joy welled up..
In her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer describes how so often in the modern world, we live in a transactional relationship with the natural world where we take things but don’t always give back. Through her beautiful storytelling, she shows how Indigenous teachings recognize the living world as beings to interact with, not just to take from, and invites readers to do the same. In doing so, it opens our senses in ways that once were judged, but now science recognizes as valid.
Before my children were born, I started embracing that tradition in my own world. It began with recognizing that when I was foraging wild foods, I was receiving something that nourished me that I did not plant and had not tended to. Before harvesting acorns, or prickly pears from wild places, or parsley from my garden, I give back by pouring a splash of water on the soil, singing a song of gratitude, or running my fingers through my hair and leaving a few strands for the birds. At first, it seemed far-fetched that a bird would use my hair to weave a nest, but I did it anyway, not knowing if it would be used, but putting it out there as a practice of being grateful and offering something whether or not I would see the outcome.
So on that windy day when my nephew held out the bird’s nest, I was overcome with emotion to see one of my strands of red hair woven into its home. It truly was a full circle moment where I realized my actions were not just gestures, but were actually contributing to an animal who was searching for materials to build its nest. Unfortunately in that same nest was synthetic cushion materials from human trash. It really illuminated the idea that animals all around us are using what they find, and whenever possible finding something natural would be better for them.
So join me this Earth Month and every month by embracing reciprocal relationships and offering something meaningful for all we receive from the natural world. As small as they may seem, these actions are truly impactful and make the world a better place. As Ghandi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world”.
