Summary

The first section of Braiding Sweetgrass is called “Planting Sweetgrass.” Its first chapter, “Skywoman Falling” introduces the story of the Skywoman, the first human, who fell from the Sky and created Turtle Island, North America, on the back of a turtle using help from her animal friends. This story is part of an Indigenous tradition which author Robin Wall Kimmerer uses to introduce to readers the Indigenous perspective on reciprocity between humans, animals, and all other things on Earth. She contrasts this story, in which Skywoman creates a garden for all things to benefit, with the Christian tradition’s creation story, in which Eve eats an apple from a garden and is punished for trying to benefit from nature she does not own.

“The Council of Pecans” is the next chapter in this book. Kimmerer tells the family tale of her grandfather running...