Jul. 27th, 2023 04:20 pm
Goldenrod: Literally Just Goldenrod
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When I saw that one of the prompts was "goldenrod," I knew that I'd end up recommending one of my favourite essays from Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer!
I could have sworn that I saw it published on its own somewhere online, but I'm afraid it looks like you will have to acquire the book to read it. If it's not at your library (I highly recommend the audiobook, which is read by Kimmerer herself), archive.org does have a scan! It starts on page 39.
Dr Kimmerer is a Powatomi botanist and poet, and her book blends modern science, knowledge passed down via her indigenous heritage, and stories from her remarkably interesting life. Everyone I have recommended this book to has come out of it with a different take away. If you've read it, I'd love to hear you thoughts as well!
"Asters and Goldenrod" is an essay about racism in "Western" science, but not in the way that we usually think of "scientific racism." When Kimmerer first begins her botany programme, she tells her professor that she wants to learn why asters and goldenrod look so beautiful together. Her professors laugh this off as the frivolous interests of a silly young girl, and I think it highlights a fundamental issue with mainstream science. Kimmerer's question isn't just about her two favourite flowers, she wants to understand their relationship to each other and to herself. While science has gotten better about understanding ecology in the last few hundred years, I think we as "Westerners" (to the extent that the term means anything) tend to forget that we're also part of the ecosystem. We need these different perspectives in order to better understand our world, and I found it extremely upsetting that Kimmerer's professors didn't foster that curiosity.
Kimmerer then goes on to answer her question, and the answer takes her across multiple disciplines, all woven together in her stunning prose. This book will make you feel things about plants that you did not know were possible to feel about plants.
Goldenrod season is soon upon us in my little corner of the world, and every time I see them in bloom, I try to keep an eye out for their little purple companions. I think Kimmerer has really helped open my eyes to the beauty of the natural world around me. I hope her work will spark a similar love for you as well.
Thoughts
I have not read it, but added it to my wishlist forthwith. I have read much indigenous writing, and in recent years, I am most captivated by the steady trickle of cookbooks ranging from traditional recipes to modern gourmet-style ones (of which I favor the former approach). I have spent much time running down rabbitholes of research for some of my series like The Bear Tunnels with a tribal foundation.
>> Dr Kimmerer is a Powatomi botanist and poet, and her book blends modern science, knowledge passed down via her indigenous heritage, and stories from her remarkably interesting life. <<
Oh, cool. I'm in central Illinois and that's a tribe not far from here -- part of their territory was northern Illinois. Up near Danville there's a Potawotami festival. Most of what I pick up is Cherokee or Lakota, or something far-flung I'm researching for a specific locale.
>>When Kimmerer first begins her botany programme, she tells her professor that she wants to learn why asters and goldenrod look so beautiful together. <<
Because purple and yellow are opposites on the color wheel and contrast creates interest. She just asked the wrong scientists. Any optics scientist could tell you that. So could any artist, there are whole classes on color theory. *ponder* Or you could check the Asian department, because flower arranging is a huge thing in Japan, but they use different flowers. But you have to know where to look for information, who to ask, and most incoming students don't unless they grew up with family friends in academia.
>>Her professors laugh this off as the frivolous interests of a silly young girl, and I think it highlights a fundamental issue with mainstream science. <<
Absolutely, which leads directly to this.
The science of aesthetics is absolutely a thing, but it's weirdly broken up. You get it with the "golden" geometries in grade school or junior high, then it's rarely mentioned until graduate school. Hardly helpful.
>> Kimmerer's question isn't just about her two favourite flowers, she wants to understand their relationship to each other and to herself. <<
Yeah, that's ecology. It'll keep surprising you. I've studied it for years and only recently stumbled across what a potent insectary plant goldenrod is, supporting hundreds of species. I knew mine was always full of butterflies but now that I know how valuable it is, I'm not trying to replace all of it with native grasses or other wildflowers.
>> While science has gotten better about understanding ecology in the last few hundred years,<<
... sort of. They're still too stupid to figure out "don't saw off the branch you're standing on" with regard to protecting the biosphere.
>> I think we as "Westerners" (to the extent that the term means anything) <<
It's a very dangerous cultural paradigm that is prevalent in the western and northern hemispheres, but that doesn't mean any individual has to agree with it. To me it's just amazing bullshit.
>> tend to forget that we're also part of the ecosystem. <<
They also can't figure out that the economy and the environment are not at odds, the economy is a subset of the environment. No environment, no economy. Also no humans.
>>We need these different perspectives in order to better understand our world,<<
True.
>> and I found it extremely upsetting that Kimmerer's professors didn't foster that curiosity.<<
Sadly that's the norm. Especially, straight white Christian male professors tend to misunderstand or outright sabotage anyone who is different. *shrug* It's a university, it has multiple libraries, raid them for your education and throw the professors whatever bones are required to maintain your attendance. Don't expect them to be actually useful, but on average you will get at least one per semester who's absolutely worth your devoted attention.
>> Kimmerer then goes on to answer her question, and the answer takes her across multiple disciplines, all woven together in her stunning prose. <<
What did she come up with? Thinking beyond the obvious color contrast, they're also both autumn-blooming bug magnets. All those are reasons why they're commonly paired in garden plans or seed packets for a wildlife or insect garden. Me, I've got goldenrod out the wazoo but the only asters I've had major luck with are the little white frost asters growing wild. I keep trying to get some purple ones going but they're iffy. Got one to bloom this year, though.
>>Goldenrod season is soon upon us in my little corner of the world<<
Yeah, mine are waist to shoulder high right now. By the time they bloom, they'll be head-high or a little more. The sunchokes usually tower up to 10-12 feet but got knocked sideways by a storm, so they're effectively shorter this season. Same thing happened to the cup plants, but those are already blooming.
Re: Thoughts
One of my good friends is a marine biology grad student, and I will say that our study of ecology has much improved. But yeah, it definitely needs more research. Especially back in the 80s, when Kimmerer's story takes place.
I will say that I was upset and disappointed by her professor's attitude, but not surprised. There is this idea in academia that the concerns of everyday people are somehow below our expertise. But lucky as the sciences become more diverse, I think that attitude is starting to fade somewhat. I ask silly questions to my marine biologist friend all the time and she's more than happy to entertain them! But she's also a trans, Asian lesbian, so she would absolutely be the type of person those professors would step on.
As for your asters, Kimmerer grew up in upstate New York, so perhaps your frost asters just do better in your prairie soil than the purple ones do. Some plants are very picky!
I won't spoil Kimmerer's answer, but you've certainly laid the proper foundation! You'll just have to read the essay to find out *wink*
Re: Thoughts
Cookbooks:
The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen
Discusses ingredients, not just recipes. One of my favorites.
Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking
Touches on the traditional foodways of various tribes.
New Native Kitchen
A bit more modern, but worth a look.
I love the fact that there are so many more cookbooks now, from more tribes, and no longer relegated to museums, rustic gift shops, or powwow booths.
Recipes:
My favorite is at least 12,000 years old and something I remembered from stumbling across a subset of it as a health food. And every time I make it in an electric skillet, I appreciate not having to make it on a hot rock. :D
* 1 pound buffalo (or venison, beef, other ground meat)
* 1 onion diced
* 8 oz. package of mushrooms, chopped
* splash of sunflower oil to grease the skillet
* 3-4 juniper berries
* teaspoon or so of rubbed sage
* 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt or mineral salt
Dice the vegetables. Grind the seasonings together in a mortar and pestle. Grease the skillet. Brown the vegetables until they just start to soften. Add the meat and break it up with the spatula, turning briskly. Once it's broken into crumbles, stir in the seasonings. Cook until fully brown. This makes a terrific taco filling, but you can also use it anywhere else you'd use ground meat, like putting over potatoes or stuffing squash.
If you want a smaller amount, you can make this with just onion or just mushroom -- all three is a very generous portion. You can throw in other things like diced squash, hominy or corn kernels, peppers, etc. Three Sisters + meat is a more Eastern Woodlands version, and peppers is more southwest desert.
Where I found a reference recommended using half meat and half chopped mushroom, to reduce meat use. It's not just healthier than plain meat, it's infinitely juicier and tastier. I'll probably never make plain ground meat again. For a meatless version, you can do it just with mushrooms -- using some dried and soaked ones along with fresh gives it a chewier texture.
>> One of my good friends is a marine biology grad student, <<
That's awesome. But it's also someone to keep an eye on -- all the ocean sciences have a higher risk of mental injury from how badly damaged they are. Humans studying that take collateral damage from it.
>> and I will say that our study of ecology has much improved. <<
Yes, but ...
>> But yeah, it definitely needs more research. <<
... it's not the research they're lacking, except in specific areas they've chosen to overlook. It's perspective, which is a lot harder to fix. They'll look right at a humpback's bubble net and not recognize that as technology because it is 100% biodegradable in about 5 minutes and isn't something they can pick up with their hands. They can be standing inside a food forest and not recognize it as agriculture, because it's not in rows -- which is great if you want white people to overlook your food so they don't steal it again, but not great for teaching people sustainable coexistence. They can figure out a simple cycle like "salmon are born in freshwater, grow in saltwater, and return to freshwater to spawn" but not that cutting that cycle will gut the ecosystems on both ends of it. They still think, largely, that dumping things into the air or water makes them go "away" because it doesn't pile in a landfill; they can't grasp "one earth, one air, one water." Or the importance of not sawing off the branch you're standing on. Science can only account for some of those things -- and the classes generally train people not to use those other perspectives, which is frankly data-cropping, but if you say that to scientists then they freak. 0_o
>> Especially back in the 80s, when Kimmerer's story takes place.<<
True.
>> I will say that I was upset and disappointed by her professor's attitude, but not surprised. There is this idea in academia that the concerns of everyday people are somehow below our expertise.<<
*snort* Hit them with anthropology and archaeology, those are all about ferreting out the everyday details.
It's a perspective issue again. Much of what white people are "discovering" is stuff that other, mostly nonwhite people have known for thousands of years. It doesn't take a degree, it just takes paying attention. Look at clam gardens, those are tremendous ecosystem boosters. Some ancestor noticed that beach life lives in narrow bands of water depth, then figured out that if you make a stone fence, the sea will naturally fill it with flattish sand, giving you a greatly expanded range in which lots of delicious critters like to live. You pick critters in fours, throw back the smallest (too young) and the largest (to reproduce jumbo ones) and eat the two in the middle.
>> But lucky as the sciences become more diverse, I think that attitude is starting to fade somewhat.<<
It's less worse than it was. The problem is, we're also out of time. If people had damn well listened to the hippies, we would've be cooking off the atmosphere, but that didn't happen. And now it's too late to fix a lot of the problems; we're down to damage control and harm reduction, but people aren't even putting concerted effort into that.
>> I ask silly questions to my marine biologist friend all the time and she's more than happy to entertain them! <<
That's always fun.
>> But she's also a trans, Asian lesbian, so she would absolutely be the type of person those professors would step on.<<
That, and she's got enough internal diversity to spot things that straight white cismen just won't notice. QUILTBAG folks know to watch for the odd sexual variations in nature, Asian philosophy is a lot more cyclic than Western, and so on.
>> As for your asters, Kimmerer grew up in upstate New York, so perhaps your frost asters just do better in your prairie soil than the purple ones do. Some plants are very picky! <<
I lean toward wildflowers, so the asters I'm trying are prairie species. I've had better luck with yellow coneflower and purple echinacea (another yellow/purple pair that grow well together) as they like to ramble around the wildflower garden and the prairie garden.
Re: Thoughts
I will also be adding the cookbooks to my wishlist. I adore learning about new recipes!
I am not familiar with clam gardens! I will absolutely need to do more research on those! In return, I shall share a sci-show video about ancient engineering, which includes a fascinating section about the aborginal Gunditjmara people's eel farming techniques. I especially love this video because all 4 of their examples aren't from what we usually think of when we think of "advanced ancient cultures" (i.e. Egypt, Rome, and Greece). I always appreciate when educational content pushes back against the idea that the only ancient people who did anything worth talking about are "coincidentally" the ones we like to see as the progenitors of the "West." (Nevermind that most of the "Western canon" is built off of Classical texts preserved by the Byzantines in the western Mediterranean and built on by Muslim scholars, who laid most of the ground work for our modern understanding of science and mathematics *grumble grumble grumble*)
Anyway, I love the history of everyday things! One of my other favourite YouTube channels, Tasting History, does these gorgeous deep dives into food cultures and the history of specific ingredients. My favourite video is one where Max recreates an actual meal from the Roman frontier in England based on writings from a soldier who was stationed near Hadrian's Wall. There's just something really humanising in knowing that almost 2 millenia ago, there was a Roman legionnaire stationed at the furthest reaches of his empire, enjoying a hearty dish of apples and pork. Maybe he did amazing things, maybe he did terrible things. He probably did both. But regardless of who he was, he had to eat (like everyone else), and this is what he ate. And here's this guy living on a landmass that our legionnaire didn't even know about recreating and enjoying his dinner. It's such a nice reminder that despite time and space, we're all just people, and we all need the same things.
Sorry, I'll leave it off there. I have a lot of Big Feelings about the little things in history. I like the Big Showy Treasures as much as the next person, but show me a neolithic hairpin or a Mycenaean kylix and I'll be just as happy, honestly.
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