Braiding Sweetgrass

examples, including my Anishinaabe relations Stewart King,
Barbara Wall, Wally Meshigaud, Jim Thunder, Justin Neely, Kevin
Finney, Big Bear Johnson, Dick Johnson, and the Pigeon Family.
Nya wenha to my Haudenosaunee neighbors, friends and
colleagues Oren Lyons, Irving Powless, Jeanne Shenandoah,
Audrey Shenandoah, Freida Jacques, Tom Porter, Dan Longboat,
Dave Arquette, Noah Point, Neil Patterson, Bob Stevenson,
Theresa Burns, Lionel LaCroix, and Dean George. And to those
myriad teachers along the way at conferences, cultural gatherings,
fires, and kitchen tables whose names are forgotten, but whose
lessons remain: igwien. Your words and actions have fallen like
seeds on the fertile ground, and my intention is to nurture them with
care and respect. I accept full responsibility for the unknowing
errors that I will undoubtedly make from my own ignorance.
Writing is a solitary practice, yet we do not write alone. The
kinship of a writing community that inspires, supports, and listens
deeply is such a gift. Many thanks to Kathleen Dean Moore, Libby
Roderick, Charles Goodrich, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Carolyn
Servid, Robert Michael Pyle, Jesse Ford, Michael Nelson, Janine
Debaise, Nan Gartner, Joyce Homan, Dick Pearson, Bev Adams,
Richard Weiskopf, Harsey Leonard, and others who have offered
their encouragement and critique. To my friends and family who
have kept me going, your warmth is written into every page. I owe
special gratitude to my dear students throughout the years who are
so frequently my teachers and who give me faith in the future.
Many of these pages were filled during the tender care of writers’
residencies at the Blue Mountain Center, The Sitka Center for Art
and Ecology, and the Mesa Refuge. They were also inspired by
time at the Spring Creek Project and the Long Term Ecological
Reflections residency at the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest.