3 Sisters Garden: corn, beans & squash.

Brian EtkinSamantha Bray

Three Sisters Garden: corn, beans & squash.

History of Three Sisters Gardening• Iroquois Legend says corn, beans and

squash are inseparable sisters that grow and thrive together. •passed down the knowledge of growing, using and preserving the Three Sisters using oral teachings and annual rituals.

CORN•Provides a natural pole for bean vines to crawl up in a spiral fashion.

• Red Mandan Corn from the Mandan Nation in North Dakota

SQUASH•Provides shade.•Keeps the soil moist (reduces evaporation).•Discourages weed growth.•May have spines that discourage predators

from eating the Three Sisters.•Produces Vitamins

•Summer Squash from Mahnominee Nation in North Dakota

BEANS•Bean vines grow up the

corn plants and stabilize the corn making them less vulnerable to blowing over in the wind.

•Have root nodules that fix nitrogen into a form that can be used by corn for growth.

Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans

Why are they planted together?•Symbiotic Relationship or Companion

Planting•Planted together on a mound of soil to

provide natural irrigation when it rains.•Complement each other nutritionally.

First Nation Gardening•Interconnectedness•First Nations respect the seed, corn,

squash, and beans and their interconnectedness through TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge). ▫Traditional ecological knowledge refers to the

knowledge, practice, and belief concerning the relationship of living beings to one another and to the physical environment.

▫First Nations have a strong connection to nature, water, air, and the land.

First Nations Philosophy•Everything on earth has a spirit and as such, we honor and acknowledge the spirit of it. ▫When we pick medicine from the earth we offer tobacco to the earth and thank the earth for giving us this medicine to keep us well.

Origin of Three Sisters Seeds•Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans•Summer Squash – from Mahnominee

Nation in Wisconsin•Red Mandan Corn – from Mandan Nation

in North Dakota ??????