American Indian Heritage Month - The Three Sisters

The Three Sisters Garden is a method of planting utilized by American Indian farming societies. The American Indian legends that tell the story of the three sisters vary from tribe to tribe, but some aspects are always the same. The three sisters represent corn, beans and squash, three crops that should be planted together, enjoyed together, and shared among the community. The story of these sisters, who are different yet dependent upon each other, is passed down from one generation to the next, as a way of ensuring that the Three Sisters Garden continues and these basic foods are always plentiful to sustain the community.

Plant your own Three Sisters Garden:
Five or six kernels of corn are planted in the center of a mound of soil. When the corn has grown to about 6 inches tall, a circle of beans is planted around it, and an outer circle of squash is planted about 6–8 inches around the beans. The corn stalk serves as a pole for the beans, the beans help add the nitrogen to the soil that corn needs, and the spiny squash deters animals and provides a ground cover of shade that helps the soil retain moisture. The three crops complement each other both in the field and in their combined nutrition. This sustainable system renews soil fertility and supplies a long-lasting, nutritious food supply to the community.

Beans
The Sister of Community

Beans of many types are one of the great plant varieties that have changed the level of nutrition around the globe. An integral part of the “Three Sisters,” along with corn and squash, the common bean is said to have originated in Central America long before Columbus discovered the new world. Varieties such as kidney beans, string beans, snap beans, butter beans, lima beans, pinto and pole beans are descendents of that original variety. These were widely traded and traveled ancient trade routes from South America north, and throughout the entire North American continent.

Planting in both hills and rows, American Indians grew large quantities in small plots and set aside large piles of dried beans to help sustain the community during the colder months of the year when food might be scarce. Like other hardy plant foods, beans were a staple in the Indian diet.

Beans have been shown to be an important source of protein, and have greatly improved the nutrition of populations around the world, especially where meat is not readily available or generally consumed.

Beans of all varieties are now a mainstay of people around the globe, and they began right here with the American Indians.

Resources: angelfire.com, nativetech.org, and local growers

Corn
The Sister of Support

Corn, or maize (zea mays), is a domesticated plant of the Americas, along with many other indigenous plants like beans, squash, melons and tobacco, and it provides the backbone of a Three Sisters Garden. European colonists in America quickly adopted maize agriculture from American Indians, and these crops quickly spread to other parts of the world. Over a period of thousands of years, American Indians purposefully transformed maize through special cultivation techniques.

Maize was developed from a wild grass (Teosinte) originally growing in Central America (southern Mexico) 7,000 years ago. The ancestral kernels of Teosinte looked very different from today’s corn. These kernels were small and were not fused together like the kernels on the husked ear of modern corn.

By systematically collecting and cultivating those plants best suited for human consumption, American Indians encouraged the formation of ears or cobs on early maize. Some of the corn was dried to preserve and keep for food throughout the winter months. Dried corn could be made into a food called hominy. Corn meal could be used to make cornbread, corn pudding, or corn syrup, or mixed with beans to make succotash. A special dessert was made by boiling corn meal and maple syrup. All parts of the corn plant were used. Nothing was thrown away. The husks were braided and woven to make masks, moccasins, sleeping mats, baskets and cornhusk dolls. Corncobs were used for fuel, and were tied onto a stick to make a rattle for ceremonies.

Native people truly were our first horticulturists, and bred and crossbred many types of corn, in many colors, for many different uses. From those corn varieties of long ago, we now count corn as one of the main crops across America, with thousands of food products being produced with corn as their main ingredient.

Compiled from: Woodland Culture Area, Ross/Fernandes, 1979, and nativetech.org

Squash
The Protecting Sister

Native American people of Meso-America (Southern Mexico) grew several varieties of squash that eventually were brought to the North American Southwest, and traveled north and east via major ancient trade routes. Cultivated with other plants for better nitrogen supply, pest resistance, water retention and shade, squash was a staple of the American Indian diet.

The word "squash" comes from the Massachusetts Indian tribal word "askutasquash," meaning "eaten raw or cooked." There are soft skin types, such as summer squash and zucchini that must be consumed soon after harvesting. There are also harder shell varieties that will keep over a winter, such as Acorn, Butternut, White Scalloped, Turk’s Turban and, of course, pumpkins of all varieties. Much like beans, squash can store for long periods of time, providing a valuable source of nutrition when other foods are in short supply.

Squash can be consumed alone as a vegetable, or used as an ingredient (and thickener) in soups and breads. Seeds were saved, dried and stored over the winter and planted the following spring with beans and corn, thus assuring the continuing supply of food for the Indian community.

Resources: angelfire.com, nativetech.org and local growers

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