This weekend, we visited New Glasgow. I took time out to visit the Coles bookstore at the Highland Mall.
Fortuitously, I found a new book by Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass.
The new book, The Serviceberry is a short but uplifting read on Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World.
As Kimmerer explains:
“ Serviceberries show us another model, one based on reciprocity rather than accumulation, where wealth and security come from the quality of our relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”
(See also my posts The Pastoral Economy, Landscape and Food: hidden gems of the Creative Rural Economy, Annapolis County Resources and The Mail Line). In The Main Line, I quoted from Poverty and Riches. S. Nearing. 1916,” Life is enriched by aspiration and effort, rather than by acquisition and accumulation” Poverty and Riches. S. Nearing. 1916.
We also enjoyed our Saturday evening with John watching PBS on the TV. It included ‘As Time Goes by’ and ‘Doc Martin’; both examples of community life in London and Southwest England. Given the programs come from Maine, it is easy to imagine the similarity of landscapes between rural Canada (Nova Scotia) and rural New England.
The emphasis, in both cases, is upon our sense of community.
Acknowledgements
Heather and I continue to enjoy the vibrant colours, especially the tamaracks, as we drive through the Rawdon Hills.
References
Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2024, The Serviceberry, Scribner/Simon&Schuster.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2013, Braiding Sweetgrass : Indigenous wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, Milkweed Editions.
Ernest Blair Experiment 