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Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 8:09
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Subject: [Livingontheland] Mother Earth
News,The Three Sisters . . . The nutritional balancing acto of
theAmericas
The Three SISTERS
The foundation of our family's survival plan is nothing but a plot of
relatively isolated, well-watered land and a stock of Native-American plant
seed that we've been growing
by John Vivian Illustrations by Elayne Sears
The foundation of our family's survival plan is nothing but a plot of
relatively isolated, well-watered land and a stock of Native-American plant
seed that we've been growing, storing and upgrading since we first went
a-homesteading back in 1968. Since then, I have done my best to assemble the
seed, hand-powered tools and simple skills to take part in the cooperation
between man and nature that harks back more than 10,000 years to when
Homosapiens first crossed from Eurasia into what is now
Alaska. These early hunter-gatherers selected and improved a group of plants
that could be hand-grown with relative ease and in sufficient quantity above
daily subsistence needs to afford the people leisure time to establish
settled, agricultural societies.
Many native species that are still grown today include potatoes,
sunflowers, amaranth, quinoa, chilies and many more. But the three foundation
plants of early new-world agriculture were, most importantly, the wild grass
Zea mays (called maize in most of the world and corn in the U.S.), beans
(native legumes of several species) and squash (a curcubit).
The elemental botanical differences between these three species guarantees
that they will not all succumb to a single nutrition conflict, pest or
meteorological event. Their growth habits and footprints on the land are
markedly different, as are their nutritional requirements. Beans can thrive in
half sun or in a short, wet, cool and sunless summer that won't mature corn
naturally and where those few squash that do develop are small and all seed.
High winds that mow down corn and whip-shred the large, fragile leaves of
cucurbits will not much bother the small, tough leaves and wiry stems of
beans. And well-rooted corn will stand up to the droughts and deluges that
wilt or wash out less well-rooted species.
MIRACLE MAIZE
Maize is the single greatest agricultural boon to mankind that nature has
given us. It produces three to six times more food to plant or parcel of land
than any other crop.
Though most corn grown today goes to feed livestock or to fortify
industrial products, unprocessed corn is a nearly ideal foundation food for
humankind. It does lack two essential amino acids - lysine and tryptophane -
as well as riboflavin and niacin. These are supplied by beans.
Carbohydrate-rich squashes are a great source of vitamin A, and their seeds
provide quality vegetable fats that corn and beans lack. Together, the three
plants constitute a complete nutritive punch.
Native Americans recognized this combined, complementary dietary benefit
and they were adopted into the spiritual family of man as the three sisters.
This relationship was held sacred and was nearly universal among the settled,
agricultural native people of the Americas.
The origin of corn is still a subject of intense study and academic debate
among paleobotanists. Corn's generous tendency to produce eight or more rows
of kernels (totaling 500 to 1,000 nutrition-filled seeds) per cob is not
observed in any living wild grass. Corn may have derived from a naturally
mutated or ancient manmade hybrid of teosinte, a genetically close relative
that also produces multiple kernels - but only six or so in a single row.
Alternatively, it may be a natural or manmade hybrid incorporating tripsacum,
another genetically close relative.
Throughout the Americas today, varieties of one or both of these wild
grasses tend to grow along the uncultivated outer borders of fields cleared
and prepared for corn. The mingling of their airborne pollens with the corn
crop results in a genetic variety that can arm open-pollinated (nonhybrid,
nongenetically spliced) seed corn against flood, drought, bugs or disease.
Without this genetic diversity a homogenous plant population (monoculture) can
prove vulnerable to a single pathogen or pest.
The origin of beans and squash is much easier to trace. Many of their wild
progenitors still exist. In addition, the insects that freely cross-pollinate
the flowers of the cucurbits and wriggle their way into self-pollinating beans
carry a huge wild-species' gene pool that continually strengthens curcubits
and beans with the resistance of genetic diversity.
GARDEN SITE AND PREPARATION
To take advantage of the three sisters' promise of a perpetual, wholesome,
handgrown food supply, it is best to follow the example of our predecessors
and build homes and gardens downhill or close to a reliable water source. In
selecting your own place, look in the lowlands as near as you can get to good,
year-round water.
In most of rural North America, you can take advantage of earlier
generations' skill in locating water by finding a 1920s or earlier farm.
Search for a dip in the ground or several large, flat stones covering the
wellhead. The stone sheathing of the old well may be caved in, full of
decades-old trash or contaminated by any number of modern sources. But with a
little work, it can be reclaimed and used to water the sisters. When searching
for water at antique homes, one giveaway is a thick stand of Jerusalem
artichoke sunflowers.
In the flatlands, a concrete slab with rusty angle irons protruding at the
corners can indicate the location of a long-gone windmill. The central well
opening may be mortared up for safety's sake. On any old farm, a shallow
handdug well may be found in the yard. No matter the circumference or the
depth of the well hole, you can get water out with a solar- or hand-powered
push-pump or a long, tubular sheet metal-drilled well bucket on a spool of
rope.
Incidentally, both new and recycled/antique windmills are available. Many
of the newer low-tech water-collecting devices were developed in response to
exaggerated fears over the Y2K computer glitch of the late 1990s, but the
supply is limited, so stock up now.
The earliest desert gardens were located where plants seemed to grow
naturally. Seed was planted deeply, in tubular holes that were sunk with
tree-limb planting sticks six to eight inches to subsoil moisture. That way,
gardeners didn't have to mound supporting soil around the plant's roots.
Instead they just filled in the planting holes when leaves broke the surface.
The deep-set seeds were also safe from crows and most other marauders. The
water that supplied these gardens may still flow underground or be contained
in shallow aquifers.
If you need to collect water in desert country, use cisterns, concrete or
plastic sheet-lined impoundments, or barrels filled by water collected from
house and barn roofs. (Visit www.motherearthnews.com for
additional water collection ideas.)
To take advantage of the three sisters' promise of a perpetual, wholesome,
hand-grown food supply, it is best to build homes and gardens downhill or
close to a reliable water source.
SOIL PREPARATION
From the limited information available, my guess is that three sisters
gardens included about an eighth of an acre for each adult in the family. As
they made their way to North America from their southern origins, tobacco and
sweet and white potatoes were planted in separate plots. Amaranth, quinoa and
sunflowers were often grown separately or along borders of the main three
sisters plots. Jerusalem artichokes, the perennial variety of sunflower that
produces an abundance of crisp, edible tubers, were given separate, permanent
plots to the north of annually planted gardens.
Gardens were prepared entirely by hand and with few tools: a long digging
stick, sometimes with the butt-end of a branch protruding from the working end
for use as a footrest; a hoe made from the scapula (shoulderblade) of a deer
or bison bound into a split stick with rawhide; rakes of deer antlers bound to
a sapling handle or a bound sheaf of curve-ended saplings; and flat-rock hand
trowels.
The Delaware and a few other East coast tribes cleared and dug up large
fields along upper reaches of tidal rivers, planting in long, straight rows.
Most gardens were located, sized and cleared as family size demanded and
available land allowed. On the prairies, Native Americans planted in
floodplains along rivers, where there were few permanent plants and the soil
was enriched annually by alluvial silt deposits. Woodland tribes planted in
the flat spring flood zones inside of meanders in rivers and streams, as well
as in sunny clearings whenever possible.
CULTIVATION
Most native cultures held the earth sacred, and resisted cutting too deeply
into the soil or cultivating unless it was essential for the crop. When
clearing land, the hoe and planting stick were used as needed to loosen roots.
These were shaken to loosen soil, then left in piles to dry for later burning.
Brush and small trees were cut and roots dug out with planting sticks. Large
trees were either relocated or destroyed - burned or girdled at the base and
left to dry and fall apart over time. Freshly cleared brush was allowed to dry
and was burned. Ashes were hoed in, along with lime and minerals, which made
the soil soft and easier to work.
Gardens were allowed to lie fallow for two years between corn crops, a
pattern that is followed by many homestead-scale gardeners today. Every third
year, before planting, the new fallow-ground plants were pulled, dried and
burned. Often, even more grass, brush and tree limbs were hauled in and burned
on the freshly cleared soil.
The three sisters were planted in hills, in yardwide pits or in raised
mounds that were fertilized, tilled and retained for several years.
Surrounding land was untilled, but cleared of potentially competing large
weeds.
Fish carcasses were often buried beneath corn hills, but no manure - human
or from horses or wild animals - was used as fertilizer. It often contained
still-viable weed seeds and was considered unclean in both a temporal and
spiritual sense. This is one area where we can part company with Indians, who
did not compost. Properly composted "humanure" or a winter's collection of
livestock dung, mixed with straw or sawdust bedding and allowed to rot during
the summer, makes a matchless soil enhancement.
Straw scarecrows, as well as long grass leaves bound into twisted-grass
cord and arrayed over the garden, were used to deter crows and other birds.
From our experience, they work as well today as long as locations are changed
at least one a day - crows are still pretty smart (see "Critter Control,"
November 2000).
Post-planting crop lands were thoroughly hand-cultivated, but only twice in
the season. The first shallow hoeing took place on a hot, sunny day a few
weeks after planting. By that point, most of the inevitable crop of windblown
weed seeds had germinated and grown to six inches or so - not yet shading crop
plants or vying with them for water or soil nutrients. Soil was shallowly
shaved by the hoe, cutting stems just below ground level, which allowed roots
to decay in the soil and above-ground growth to dry into mulch. A second
hoeing followed several weeks later. After that, the few weeds that were not
shaded out by the crops were pulled by hand.
VARIETIES AND PLANTING
The earliest wild-corn varieties probably produced kernels that dried
rock-hard on one- to two-inch long cobs. The corn was roasted in the husk and
enjoyed in the immature "green" stage as it is today. The earliest types were
probably popcorn, which retains a bit of water inside mature, dried kernels.
By all archaeological indications, kernels were eaten off the cob.
Over the millennia, thousands of varieties were bred, both accidentally and
on purpose, from the originals. Some modern crossbreeding/hybridizing is being
done by agribusiness that breeds candy-sweetness into sweet corn and pesticide
genes into field corn. More to MOTHER'S liking are the plant-breeding programs
being undertaken by seedsavers - small private and corporate business growers
and some universities - to breed back to original Indian strains and to breed
natural drought, pest and pollution resistance into native varieties. Most
notable - and most accessible to home gardeners - are the efforts of the
certified all - or g anic growers at Seeds Of Change, PO Box 15700, Santa Fe,
New Mexico 87506.
Most original Indian varieties have been lost for generations, so anyone
making a half-serious attempt to establish a seedbank appropriate to their own
area will have to start with a sample of open-pollinated seed, selecting and
reselecting the best for their climate. I am trying to dehybridize early
developing corn by planting out and reselecting the wildly variable plants
that grow from the seed of early hybrid corn (from Vesey's Seeds of Prince
Edward Island. Call (800) 3637333.)
To try this in your own garden, plant hybrid or open-pollinated standbys
such as the eight-row Golden Bantam, introduced in 1902. Select the best
plants for five years or more and plant the seed in sun-warmed raised beds or
in blocks of well-draining sharp sand. Plant as early as you can, even if most
of it dies from cold and ground rot. In time, you will have a start on a
naturally shorter-season variety of your own.
Nearly all Indian corn, beans and squash were planted in multiseed "hills,"
located four or more feet apart in both directions, usually six seeds to a
hill and thinned to the best three or four plants. Rows of beans and corn were
alternated to keep them from competing for water or minerals. The climbing
bean varieties would scale cornstalks, their close-held leaves interfering
little with the fanned-out leaves of cornstalks and tillers. Corn was planted
in single-variety blocks separated by brush or by blocks of another species to
minimize unwanted cross-pollination and genetic contamination of the following
year's seed. Varieties with light, easily airborne pollen were carefully
isolated.
Experiment with many varieties of beans. Buy those that are grown to dry
and keep for a year or more. Few varieties grown for succulent pods will make
good crops of dry beans. One exception is the fine old Kentucky Wonder pole
bean; the long pods that are not used fresh or at the mature but still moist
shell-bean stage should be left to dry and provide a handful of succulent
white, Navy-type dry beans. You can pick from the world's largest assortment
of bean seed (and more) from Vermont Bean Seed Company in Fair Haven Vermont,
05743-0250. For additional information on Vermont Bean Seed Company's
selection of beans, visit http://www.vermontbean.com/home.html
.
Squash - which produces long stems and huge leaves, was planted by
Native-American gardeners in segregated plots or in ten- to 20-foot-wide
sections of com/bean fields. The tendrils would grow into the corn/beans - but
never high enough to shade other crops.
We have a much greater selection of squash than our predecessors -
including many varieties that have been improved in Japan and Europe. But when
picking a variety for sure cropping, choose and grow wisely. I learned early
on to start squash indoors along with the early broccoli. Northcountry Indians
did the same a thousand years ago: Seed was moistened, wrapped in moistened
grass, bagged in a deerskin pouch and kept warm till sprouted.
HARVEST AND STORAGE
Corn you intend to store should be allowed to mature to full hardness and
left to field-dry on the stalk. Watch out for corn borers - they can decimate
the kernels. To control them, crush a few handfuls of sunflower seeds and boil
and mash till their oil floats on top. Skim off the oil, cool, and on a sunny
day (when the corn ears are well-warmed), squirt an ample dose into the young
silks of new corn. Repeat generously if newly picked green roasting ears
reveal live borer caterpillars.
Dry corn can be shucked of its husk by rubbing pairs of cobs together to
loosen the kernels. Today you can purchase old-time mechanical one-ear
cornshellers or small disc-shaped hand-held shellers from the homesteading
catalogs. I keep seed safe from mice in surplus ammo cans, larger quantities
of grain keep well in steel garbage cans with the tops well secured.
Fifty-gallon steel drums would be more secure.
Dry corn is easily stored in a crib, such as the small air-dry ing corn
crib with aluminum pie plates under its legs to keep rodents out (illustrated
in MOTHER # 174, July 1999, "Build a Backyard Corn Crib").
The best way to deal with beans is to pull dry vines, heap them on a sound
tarp, stomp on them to split dry pods, and run a finger down both halves to
remove seeds. Then drop handfuls of beans in a good wind so that chaff flies
off.
Hubbards and butternut squash will keep for almost a year if the
temperature remains cool and the air dry. We store winter squash in a dry
cellar room kept from freezing by wood-stove heat piped down a floor duct or
just radiating from the ground floor.
SAVING SEED
Native Americans learned thousands of years ago that the best planting seed
comes from the fattest kernels at mid-cob of a corn ear; in addition, they
also knew that it comes from the most uniform and fattest-sounding uncracked
beans and squash seed.
Seed to be saved is cleaned and sundried-indoors on a windowsill or in the
shelves over a woodburning range. I have gotten into the habit of jotting down
the details of its history and enclosed note and seeds in paper bags (to let
drying air in and out) and store them in my ammo boxes - left open a crack -
on a high shelf in my always-warm kitchen.
--
Faith
expects from God what is beyond all expectation. - Andrew Murray
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