Pickers leave visible marks so later harvesters do not overtake a site.

Evidence

As we leave the meadow for the path back through the woods, she twists a handful of timothy into a loose knot upon itself, beside the trail. “This tells other pickers that I’ve been here,” she says, “so that they know not to take any more. This place always gives good sweetgrass since we tend to it right. But other places it’s getting hard to find. I’m thinking that they might not be picking right. Some people, they’re in a hurry and they pull up the whole plant. Even the roots come up. That’s not the way I was taught.” — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 546

Categorization

• XREF: The knotted-grass sign system is a terrestrial cousin of gift-economy self-restraint and of reputation-based commons governance seen in the trust and law readings. — connects to: Gatherers must leave the first plant they find untouched — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 649

Broader Connections

• Gatherers must leave the first plant they find untouched #expands (0.80) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 649