# Sweetgrass Braid

> A hand-plaited rope of sweetgrass about a foot long, green and grassy at first, deepening toward vanilla and warm hay the longer it rests in a drawer.

Price: 9.50 USD · in stock

## About
A slow ember at the end of a braid, and a thread of sweet smoke drawn through the room by a feather or an open hand. By tradition, sweetgrass is offered after a space has been cleared with something sharper, to invite in what is good.Each braid is three long strands of pale green-gold Hierochloe odorata, plaited tight from end to end into a rope roughly a foot long, still faintly bendable rather than brittle. It is braided fresh by hand within a day of harvest, then hung to air-dry slowly, which coaxes out the coumarin sweetness the plant is named for. Fresh, it smells green and grassy; cured for a season, it turns toward vanilla and warm hay.Many Indigenous nations across North America hold sweetgrass among the sacred plants. The braid is often read as a small teaching, its three strands standing for mind, body and spirit woven into one.DetailsSweetgrass, Hierochloe odorataThree strands, braided by hand, roughly a foot longAir-dried slowly after braidingHow to useSnip a small length from the end rather than lighting the whole braid: it is meant to smolder like a slow ember, not flame. Fan the smoke gently through the room, then rest it in a heatproof dish where it can go out on its own.A sweet rope of meadow to keep in the drawer for the days that need it.