By Halley Strongwater
If you haven’t read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s books, they are a necessary step in understanding and contemplating both the natural world of plants and animals as well as the Indigenous perspective. As Cedar Waxwings are currently in Northern New Mexico, and one of my favorite birds (for good reason-see the photos below), I wanted to share this beautiful excerpt about the cycle of giving. A full essay can be found here.
“To understand this natural economy and apply it to our own, we have to remember that materials and energy move differently through an ecosystem.
When the cedar waxwing gobbles it up (the service berry) some of the carbon becomes the feathers that paint a yellow band on its tail, that flashes in the afternoon light. When that feather falls to the ground, it becomes food for beetles, which will become food for a vole, whose death feeds the soil who feeds the service berry seedling just germinating at the edge of the woods. Materials move through ecosystems in a circular economy.” Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry
I love this book, because it asks us to reimagine the way we contemplate value, giving and exchange. I’ve been thinking about this a lot as it relates to Loam. Our products have value because they mean something to the people who buy them. If they are stolen, they have basically no resale value like jewelry. Their inherent value is in the meaning to our customers. And while this is an exchange that involves money, for me it goes beyond that. I have relationships with my customers that started in October of 2019, when Loam launched and some of those customers maintain their relationships with me even now.
Over time these relationships have become friendships, partnerships in business and lasted for over five years. The meaning of all of this is never lost on me and I value my clients and customers beyond measure. Even now, I maintain at least two plant walks every year, because they are so essential to establish a connection to place which is everything that Loam stands for.
This photo was taken by Brad Trone, a few weeks before Loam Launched in October 2019. For me, it is a perfect capture of who we were then and who we are now. A cycle of understanding, harvest, creation, and use that is forever connected to the cycle of plants, animals and our bio-region.
In these extremely dark and tumultuous times, I think that coming into community is one of the most valuable things we can do. Whether that means sharing a loaf of bread with our neighbors, drying tea from our garden herbs or just sitting beneath a tree as the Cedar Waxwings messily chow on service berries—community and the exchange of “gifts” is so important.
Thank you for reading, as always.
x
Halley