It’s full-on fruit time on the farm! Alongside harvesting, eating and sharing berries, I have also been listening to a book called The Service Berry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World written by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The author is a mother, scientist, professor and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. This book invites the reader/ listener into the gift economy. In this book, “serviceberries show us another model, one based on reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships.” Gift economies are systems of exchange in which goods and services circulate with out explicit expectations or direct agreements. Kimmerer writes, “gratitude and reciprocity are the currency of the gift economy.”

I first learned about gift economies when doing a work exchange on a farm in Florida where every market we would have a gift economy table. Folks at the farmers market could take something from the table with them – the offering was something the farm had in abundance. This has stuck with me for the past couple years – reminding me of the  generosity the land and encouraging me to bring this with me.

I feel grateful to live here where I see examples of the gift economy all around me. For instance, free libraries in neighborhoods, free pantries and fridges, free meals, farms donating produce to food banks, the Canoe Journey and more! While harvesting raspberries, I have been grounding into this gratitude for gifts of sweet berries cared for by the soil, sun, farmers, water, air, bugs and animals around us. When I feel this gratitude and pride, I want to share these gifts with others. I find this to be true as part of the culture of the farm: we want to share meals full of delicious fresh veggies and fruit with each other and those we care about! On the farm, I witness community members cooking lunch for the farm crew every week, folks coming back from doing deliveries bringing back boxes of delicious fruit gifted from the Corner Store, monthly gleaning of produce to provide free meals, treats from the food bank or farmers market left on the table for us to share! In all these ways, we are creating an ecosystem of care on the farm, and this is supported by many people in our community. Thanks to you all!  

Finally, I am curious about how you all are already engaging in the gift economy and if there are any ways you want to cultivate this act of sharing what you have in abundance?

~ Isabel