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Introducing The Three Sacred Sisters |
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HistoricFoodie
Admin Group Joined: 21 February 2012 Location: Kentucky Status: Offline Points: 4940 |
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Posted: 09 May 2012 at 08:38 |
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For Native Americans, corn, beans, and squash were the very stuff of survival. So important was their role as foodstuffs that they were called the Three Sacred Sisters. Wherever agriculture was practiced the Three Sisters were planted together. Later on we’d understand the synergism that made this work. Each of the three benefitted from the others while contributing to the whole. For instance, the cornstalks provided support for the beans, which in turn set nitrogen in the soil for the corn to consume. The squash became a living mulch, that shaded the ground, reducing weed growth and conserving moisture. The squash also helped deter deer, who don’t like walking through the prickly vines. Cornell did some studies, a few years back. They planted a three acre field as a Three Sisters patch. Nearby they planted each of the varieties used in separate one-acre fields. The result: The Three Sisters patch produced 35% more usably biomass than the three separate plantings. Native Americans weren’t much on theory. They just knew what worked! There are two models of Three Sisters planting. The first is the Algonquian model; first only because Europeans contacted it first. The supposed method is to plant corn, surround it with beans, then plant squash in the spaces between. Native Americans, and, consequently, early settlers, did not plant in furrowed rows. Instead they constructed hills. These were roughly 18 inches high, and two to three feet in diameter. Hills were spaced four feet apart. The exact method used by Eastern tribes isn’t really known. Early observers were not trained anthropologists. Rather they were travelers and settlers who recorded their observations in journals. A typical entry: “The Natives interplant their corn, beans, and pompions.” Pompion is a variant of pumpkin, and Europeans referred to all winter squashes that way. The problem is with the word “interplant,” as it has several possible meanings. Whether right or wrong, the Algonquian model has come to mean this: Corn is planted in the rounded top of the hill. After it sprouts, beans are planted further down the sidewalls of the hills. This allows the corn a running start before the beans start growing up the stalks. Pumpkins or other squash are then planted at ground level, between the hills. The Missourian model is different. And, unlike the Algonquian model, we have a precise description of it by a trained anthropologist. Gilbert Wilson spent more than a year living with the Hidatsa, observing and recording the process. His main source of info was a woman who’d grown up in pre-reservation days, and lived through the early- and later-reservation periods. So she was able to relate the differences between how she did things and how her aunts and mother had done them. The whole episode is recorded in a book called Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in Native American agriculture. With the Missourian model, hills are constructed in off-set rows, with the rows four feet apart. First corn is planted in every other row. Once all the corn is set, they’d go back and plant beans in the alternate rows. By the time the bean vines spread across the intervening spaces the corn was tall enough and strong enough to support it. The squash were planted in a perimeter frame to deter deer. From a horticultural viewpoint, the Missourian model actually makes more sense. But it takes a lot of room, and isn’t suitable for most home gardens. The Algonquian model, on the other hand, is suitable for small patches. You have to be careful, however, to not overplant the beans, because they can choke out the corn if you do. And you want to allow the corn at least three weeks of growth before setting the beans. |
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AK1
Master Chef Joined: 10 April 2012 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 1081 |
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Nice write up
I've made Three Sisters Soup many times over the last three years. It was a dish my son introduced me to during his first year of university when he took a Native Studies course. Everyone I've shared the soup or recipe with has enjoyed it immensely. I always did like the story of the three sisters.
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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Brook, this is some outstanding information ~ thanks for posting.
the missourian model must have been used by the mandan, hidatsa and arikara not too far from where i live, and actually very close to where my dad was born and raised. i don't know the exact dimensions of our garden plot, but i will check i can see this working, and like the perimeter" concept with the squashes. our garden is split by a path to the alley, about 2/3 of the garden on one side of the path and 1/3 on the other (maybe 3/4 to 1/4, but you get the idea). normally, i stubbornly try to plant as if the path isn't there, and every year the kids just re-make the path. i'm thinking this year perhaps i should put a three sisters plot on the large half, then plant my tomates and other plants on the other side. this might solve three problems with one stroke ~
darko, the three sisters soup sounds great. if you could post the recipe in the eastern canada section, i'd appreciate it - i'll need to try it this fall!
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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a little more on this - i'll mention the dimensions of the "big half" of our garden and take a look at how this can work out. this might make a good running project for the summer on the forum. i've got an historical line of beans on the way to me (thanks, brook!) and will choose one or two corns as well as an assortment of squashes, possibly pumpkins, zucchini, a summer squash and a winter squash. these squashes will provide good fodder for some favourite projects, including Tök Főzelék
and Stuffed Pumpkin, not to mention darko's three sister's soup! |
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AK1
Master Chef Joined: 10 April 2012 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 1081 |
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Ron; Three Sisters soup is very easy to make. Basically, corn, beans, squash, stock, seasoning.
When my son told me about it, I did a google search as to how to make it since all he told me that it was those three vegetables & stock. I'll dig up the original recipe that I used, and pop a new thread in the Eastern Canada section. Darko
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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sounds easy, and good!
if you don't have the actual recipe, that's no problem. as i recall, the algonquians and other tribes didn't have cookbooks lying around, either ~ we'll figure it out ~
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HistoricFoodie
Admin Group Joined: 21 February 2012 Location: Kentucky Status: Offline Points: 4940 |
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I would guess there are as many basic versions of Three Sisters Soup as there were Native American tribes.
My version---adapted from various southern tribes---uses baby limas, pumpkin, and, of course, corn. Plus a few other ingredients such as onion and leek.
One thing to keep in mind if you're concerned with authenticity: there was no sweet corn when these soups were originated. Instead, green field corn would have been used.
possibly pumpkins, zucchini, a summer squash and a winter squash.
Ron, I can see a distinct problem with zucchini and other summer squashes. They are bush varieties, and, unless you want to build a solid wall with them, I don't see how they'd serve the function, even with the Missourian model. Pumpkins and other winter squashes are the way to go.
BTW, immature winter squashes serve the same culinary function as summer squashes, and can be substituted for them in most recipes. So it wouldn't be a great hardship to cut back on the zukes and yellows.
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HistoricFoodie
Admin Group Joined: 21 February 2012 Location: Kentucky Status: Offline Points: 4940 |
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as i recall, the algonquians and other tribes didn't have cookbooks laying around, either
Sure they did. They were called great aunt Renea, and as long as her memory held......
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TasunkaWitko
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looks like pumpkins and winter squashes are the way to go! i might put a zucchini somewhere (maybe in each of the corners), just for variety, or more likely just plant them "on the other side of the path" with the tomatoes etc.
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AK1
Master Chef Joined: 10 April 2012 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 1081 |
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One question Brook; Have you found any reason for the different ways of planting between the Algonquian and Missourian methods?
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HistoricFoodie
Admin Group Joined: 21 February 2012 Location: Kentucky Status: Offline Points: 4940 |
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Other than geography nothing definative, Darko.
I can offer a guess, though. Crop for crop, the Algonquian model uses fewer hills. That might be important when you have to actually chop the ground to open the soil.
The Missourian model was used by tribes in the floodplain of the river, who merely mounded up the annual alluvial deposits (you like that term? Normal folks would say "silt").
Thus, while the Missourian model uses twice as many hills per crop, they were so easy to construct it hardly mattered how many you built, particularly once metal tools were introduced by Europeans.
Let me repeat, so there's no confusion: This is pure speculation on my part. I have absolutely no evidence one way or another.
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AK1
Master Chef Joined: 10 April 2012 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 1081 |
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That makes sense! Thanks Brook.
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HistoricFoodie
Admin Group Joined: 21 February 2012 Location: Kentucky Status: Offline Points: 4940 |
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used by the mandan, hidatsa and arikara, was used not too far from where i live,
IIRC from my days interpreting the Fur Trade, Ron, the Upper Mandan Villages would have been close to you, near Fort Benton. The others were lower down on the river. The Hidatsa were located on the great bend of the Missouri, down around Fort Mandan, ND, and the Arikara upstream from there.
I can check my references if it really matters?
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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brook -
when i said "not too far from where i live," i was thinking in western terms; this is some big area, and those two points, distance-wise, are pretty far from each other. no need for references - you got me; i'm getting pretty far off-topic here, but hopefully in a good, interesting way ~ fasten your seatbelt!
the three tribes were definitely all in what is now north dakota (with the arikara extending down a bit to south dakota). your location for the hidatsa (also called the (eastern) gros ventres) is basically correct, but the mandan were also in the same area (as i recall, they would have been established in-between the two other tribes). the mandans were located where lewis and clark had their winter camp (1804-5). the reservation for the three tribes is located at the northern edge of that range, but still in north dakota.
the cousins of the hidatsa, the atsina (otherwise known as the (western) gros ventres or, to themselves, the ah-ah-nee-nin (people of the white clay), lived farther upstream along the milk river, which is north of the missouri and where i live (the gros ventre reservation is 20 miles from home). they were a nomadic plains tribe rather than agricultural, as the other three tribes were, and due to social structure, geography, life-style and other factors, are basically considered a quite separate, though distantly-related, tribe.
fort benton is located farther upstream even from there, closer to great falls. there were no agriculturral tribes there, but the western gros ventres, blackfoot, crow and a few others hunted and camped there as they followed the buffalo (yeah, yeah, bison, i know, but, just like pluto IS a planet, american bison ARE buffalo, in spite of the scholars....).
here's a map to give a general idea of the terrain:
coincidentally, the two arrows point to approximately (not exactly, but pretty darn close to) the same location as the places on the missouri referenced above, fort benton at the left arrow, and the mandan village at the right. the milk river (home of the western gros ventres) is the black river north of the blue missouri river above "NTAN" in the label, "montana." as an aside, i live right about where the "I" in "milk" is - maybe closer to the "L" - in chinook, montana. another aside: if you draw a line due east from the second "A" in "montana" and another line due north from the first "A" in "dakota," they will intersect really, really close to where my dad was born and raised, killdeer, north dakota.
here's some fairly good [albeit rather one-sided] information, from http://users.humboldt.edu/danielwr/BERTHOLD.htm:
for some absolutely wonderful artwork givng a good, contemporary visual of the daily lives of the tribes in that area in the 1830s, consult george catlin (less technical, more emotional):
and karl bodmer (more technical, less emotional):
the portraits are actually of the same man, mato-tope, or four bears
for those interested, here's an excerpt from a collection profile on a piece by alfred jacob miller (a contemporary artist who painted the west, farther south in wyoming) that i wrote when working for the c.m. russell musem:
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HistoricFoodie
Admin Group Joined: 21 February 2012 Location: Kentucky Status: Offline Points: 4940 |
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Thanks for posting that, Ron. That's a bunch of great info.
From where I sit it's not far off topic, because it puts some perspective on how and why things were done. Besides which, it's interesting in its own right.
Again, my memory is vague, but wasn't Miller the official artist on Marcy's expedition to Santa Fe?
One of the great contributions of Wilson's work is that he picked exactly the right people to study. Even though it was the late reservation period, almost at the turn of the century, Buffalo Bird Women had lived through, and remembered, all three periods. So, between them, they were able to separate out what were traditional methods versus those that reflected European influences. For instance, while she used "modern" steel tools, she well remembered her aunt using nothing but a digging stick. And was able to demonstrate how it was used.
Wouldn't surprise me in the least to find she had, as a youngster, actually known some of the Mountain Men. Although the last Rendezvous was in 1840, many of them hung tight, eking out a living from the progressively rarer beaver, and the lower prices they brought. The Great Panic of 1848 wrote a final finis to that lifestyle. And a year later the gold rush drove the final nail.
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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I'm not sure, Brook - I don't recall seeing it in my research, but that was 8 years ago. It could have happened on a separate expedition.
Regarding Miller (and this really is off-topic, but I won't tell if you won't! ), here's the complete collection profile, for anyone interested:
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HistoricFoodie
Admin Group Joined: 21 February 2012 Location: Kentucky Status: Offline Points: 4940 |
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Getting back to actually planting.
On the assumption you won't be building hills, I would put in the patch like this.
Plant your corn at it's normal spacing. Once it has grown at least a few inches, plant a single bean seed at least six inches from each stalk. For most home corn varieties, one bean vine is all it will support. Some native corns can do better. Cherokee White, for instance, grows to about 13 feet, and the stalk is almost 3 inches in diameter at the base.
Once the beans actually start climbing the cornstalks you can plant the squash. In short-season locales, there's no reason not to pre-start the squash, then transplant in between the rows.
In practical terms, this will work out at about two week intervals between planting. First the corn, then, two weeks later the beans, then two weeks after that the squash.
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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that sounds like the way to go - my hope is to get the ground tilled (and hopefully planted) this weekend. it's a day or two early, going by the customary "growing season," but i think it will be ok as we've only had one night in the last week dip down below freezing, and i don't see where it's expected to do that again.
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TasunkaWitko
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3 sisters garden for 2012 started! I've got an 18 x 18 foot started with corn, and will be adding beans and squash in the subsequent weeks. read about it here:
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Margi Cintrano
Master Chef Joined: 03 February 2012 Location: Spain Status: Offline Points: 6357 |
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Tas,
Amazing feature ... I am quite a fan of Native American Indian Art and Culture. Your article is awesome and very much enjoyed. Thank you again for such a wonderful historical feature and explanation with profound insights into the Native Americans. The art work accompanying your feature is astonishingly profound too. THE MUSEUM OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN BROADWAY AND WEST 155th STREET MANHATTAN I visit this incredible museum, every time I visit NYC. This Museum is a must for all Americans, and those travelling to The Big Apple. It is phenomenal. Thanks again. MCD.
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Volamos a Mediterraneo, un paraiso que conquista su gente u su cocina.
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