Written by Leah McMichael, story-teller and artistic collaborator.

We were taught to see nature as competition, but the botanist and Citizen Potawatomi Nation member Robin Wall Kimmerer reminds us that we’re surrounded by reciprocity. Columbines feast hummingbirds on nectar as the iridescent birds spread pollen from flower to flower, allowing the plant to reproduce. Goldenrod and aster grow side-by-side, the splendor of purple and gold attracting more pollinators than either plant would alone. And morels are the fruiting body of a fungus that partners with trees, sheathing roots in a threadlike web and trading nutrients and water for the tree’s sun-spun sugar. 

We live by this constant exchange of gifts as we breathe tree-air and eat anything that fruits. It’s easy to see what we’ve trampled in our taking. But the dance of reciprocity invites us to imagine a better way. How might the world be richer for our living in it?

Click the images below to explore other facets of For The Love Of!