The Three Sisters
(Page 3 of 6)
February/March 2001
By John Vivian
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. Look here for additional water collection ideas.
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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.
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