According to Iroquois legend, a very long time ago, there were three sisters who lived in a field. The youngest was so small she could not yet walk so she crawled along the ground. She was dressed in green. The middle sister wore a bright yellow dress and loved to dart back and forth across the field. The eldest sister stood tall and straight, and her body would bend with the wind. She had long yellow hair and wore a green shawl. The three sisters loved one another very much and could not imagine living without the others.
One day a little Indian boy came to the field. He was very handsome and knew the ways of the land. He could talk with the birds and the animals and was straight and fearless. The three sisters were very intrigued by this boy as they watched him use his stone knife to carve a bowl or hunt with his bow and arrow.
Late in the summer of the boy’s first visit to the field, the youngest of the three sisters disappeared. She was the one who could only crawl along the ground. She could not even stand unless there was a stick she could cling to, but she was gone, and the other two sisters mourned her until the fall.
The Indian boy returned to the field to gather reeds that grew at the edge of a small stream. He used the reeds to make arrow shafts. The two remaining sisters watched him with fascination. That night, the second sister disappeared.
Now there was only one sister left, the tall and straight sister. She did not bow her head in sorrow, though she mourned deeply and thought she could not live in the field alone without her sisters. As the days grew shorter and colder, her green shawl began to lose its color and her yellow hair became brown and tangled. Night and day she cried for her sisters, but her voice was lost in the wind, and no one heard her.
One day during harvest season, the little Indian boy heard the third sister crying, and he felt sorry for her. He took her in his arms and carried her to his home, and there a wonderful surprise awaited her. Her sisters were there in the lodge, safe and very glad to be reunited. They explained that they had been curious about the little Indian boy and had followed him home. They had decided to stay because winter was coming and his home was warm and comfortable.
The sisters made themselves useful to the boy and his family. The youngest, now all grown up, kept the dinner pot full, while the second sister, still in her yellow dress, dried herself on the shelf so she could fill the dinner pot later in the winter. The eldest sister was so pleased to be with her sisters again and so impressed with the help they gave the boy that she too began drying herself so the family would have meals to eat as the winter went on.
And from that day to this, the three sisters were never separated again.
In many Native American cultures, the three sisters were and still are very important crops. The three sisters consist of corn, climbing beans and squash. Many different varieties can be used but traditionally they are winter squash, common bean and Indian corn. All three can be dried and saved for later use. This was important for native tribes whether nomadic or agrarian.
Corn should be planted first so that it can grow tall enough above the other crops. Plant the beans 2-3 weeks later, or when the corn is a few inches tall. When the beans start sending out their tendrils to climb, the corn will be tall enough to support them. Plant squash seeds 1 week later after the beans have sprouted. You don’t want the large squash leaves to shade out young corn and bean seedlings before they have time to get established.
I love color in my garden so I tend to plant scarlet runner beans and butternut or spaghetti squash. Pumpkin would be good for color too. The runner beans are a deep purple while the butternut is a soft tan and the spaghetti squash is a bright yellow.
The stalks of the corn provide a natural trellis for the climbing beans. The beans fix nitrogen into the soil from the air which is helpful to the corn because corn needs nitrogen to grow well. The large leaves of the squash plants help to retain soil moisture and shade out the weeds.
All three sisters are a staple in American Southwest cuisine today. Throw in some green chilies for some extra kick!
Nomadic Farmer 