Join Sustainable Woodstock on December 7th to make sustainable crafts, including homemade beeswax wraps. Photo by Jack Cole on Unsplash
“I imagine if we acknowledged that everything we consume is the gift of Mother Earth, we would take better care of what we are given.” – The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
In commercialized Western culture, December ushers in the season of a specific type of holiday giving. Black Friday and Cyber Monday urge us to buy, take advantage of sales, beat out the crowds by arriving before the store opens… you know the drill. Since 2006, 17 people have died and 125 have been injured as a direct result of black Friday shopping, and those are just the reported cases.
In the middle of this capitalist consumption machine, how can we find and emulate true gift giving and generosity?
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a botanist, author, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is known for her book Braiding Sweetgrass, and has a new book out this November: The Serviceberry. Kimmerer is an excellent thinker on the topic of gratitude. As she conceptualizes the world, firewood, food, air, clean water, and the very atomic elements that make up life are all gifts. For Kimmerer, there is value in naming the “things” we receive from earth as gifts:
“To name the world as gift is to feel your membership in a web of reciprocity. It makes you happy–and it makes you accountable”
No matter what tradition you celebrate, this season is an annual reminder of our connection and dependence on nature’s cycles and rhythms. It is a time to reflect on the gifts that nature gives us, and to remember the importance of returning those gifts through gratitude and stewardship for the earth. How can you give back to the earth at a local level? The answer may be pulling up invasive species, buying from local farms, gardening, volunteering, donating, recycling, composting, weatherizing, or advocating. The answer may be giving your neighbor a jar of homemade jam you made this summer.
When we give, we acknowledge the importance of others in our lives and the mutual care that sustains us. Each exchange becomes a gesture of gratitude, a reaffirmation of our interconnectedness, and a way to strengthen the ties that hold our communities together. In this spirit, we invite you to join Sustainable Woodstock on December 7th, 1-3 PM for an afternoon of gift-crafting and community. Make a homemade wreath/door swag, holiday decorations, or a beeswax wrap to take home and share with others. We’ll supply hot apple cider, you supply the community.
