For many Native American communities, three plants have played a vital role in indigenous agricultural practices – corn, beans, and squash. Known as The Three Sisters, these plants demonstrate how people can benefit from working with nature rather than against it.
Who are the Three Sisters?
Photos by Robin Powell, Gerrit Davidse, and Tom Incrocci / Missouri Botanical Garden.
The Three Sisters are corn, beans, and squash. Specifically, the corn varieties are usually flint corn meant for drying and grinding into cornmeal, the beans are usually pole beans that are harvested when fully ripe and dry, and the squashes are pumpkins or other winter squashes that grow on a long vine.
The general idea is that the corn acts as a pole or trellis for beans to climb, the beans add nutrients to the soil due to the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their root nodules, and the large leaves of the squash plants act as a natural mulch that shades out weeds and keeps moisture from escaping.
Sunflowers on display in the Bank of America Family Vegetable Garden at the William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening. Photo by Tom Incrocci/ Missouri Botanical Garden.
Other plants may be grown alongside the Three Sisters and sometimes get referred to as a “fourth sister.”
In eastern North America, the “fourth sister” might be amaranth or sunflower. In the US Southwest, Mexico, and Central America where corn-beans-squash is the cornerstone of themilpaagricultural system, other plants like chili pepper and tomato might be planted as companion plants.
Aside from being tasty and/or nutritious in their own right, these other “sisters” may offer benefits to the garden such as attracting pollinators or repelling pests.
So why are they called the Three Sisters? Native American culture is by no means singular, with over 500 federally recognized tribes in the U.S. alone. In fact, not every tribe uses Three Sisters planting, and the beliefs and customs surrounding these plants vary.
Within the Iroquois and the Cherokee culture, corn, beans, and squash were called the Three Sistersbecause they nurture each other like family when planted together according to Christina Gish Hill with the State University of Iowa Three Sisters Project.
Similarly, there is a belief in many Native communities that our relatives are not just the people to whom we are related by blood or DNA, but also include the non-human beings who we share our environment with. We rely on them and they rely on us.
Two-way relationships of reciprocity and care between humans and non-humans are absolutely essential for everyone to thrive. Calling these plants “sisters” is a reminder that they are not just resources to exploit, but that they are part of our web of relationships linked by responsibility, care, and even love.
The Potawatomi botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer goes into greater detail about this idea of relationships of reciprocity with our non-human kin inBraiding Sweetgrass.
How the Three Sisters teach us to work with nature
Three sisters gardening is a great example of how to work with nature rather than against it.
If you plant corn, beans, and squash in separate rows in a traditional garden, you have a lot of work ahead of you: you need to add a bunch of fertilizer, spend a lot of time weeding and possibly spraying pesticides, and you need to figure out a system for staking or trellising the beans.
In a Three Sisters garden, a lot of that work is taken care of for you by the interactions between the plants. The typical method is to construct a mound of soil, add compost or other organic fertilizer if needed, and plant several corn seeds in the middle. Once the corn is a few inches tall, the beans are planted surrounding the corn. Squash seeds can be planted after the bean seedlings emerge.
Variations on this method are also possible. Corn might be grown in a row, with beans and squash planted to either side. The corn might also be grown in a grid, with beans and squash interspersed.
Three Sisters gardens are hard to implement on a commercial scale because they can’t really be planted or harvested with machinery. However, some home gardeners and organic farmers have had success growing the Three Sisters.
One of the challenges with growing the Three Sisters is figuring out the right varieties to use. For example, the stalks of sweet corn varieties tend to be too short for the beans, while popcorn stalks usually aren’t sturdy enough.
For many Native American communities, three plants have played a vital role in indigenous agricultural practices – corn, beans, and squash. Known as The Three Sisters, these plants demonstrate how people can benefit from working with nature rather than against it.
To the Iroquois people, corn, beans, and squash are the Three Sisters, the physical and spiritual sustainers of life. These life-supporting plants were given to the people when all three miraculously sprouted from the body of Sky Woman's daughter, granting the gift of agriculture to the Iroquois nations.
The Three Sisters is a vegetable medley of corn, squash and beans that are planted together so each plant can support and nourish each other. Corn, beans and squash have provided nutrition for the Chickasaw people for generations.
During Native American Heritage Month, it is important not just to celebrate the legacy that Indigenous history makers have left, but also to celebrate those who continue to shape our society, lead their communities, and impact our culture today.
Each of these crops does better when planted together than when planted on their own. They each contribute a different characteristics that helps all three of them grow and be strong. The Three Sisters teaches us: Everyone has something to offer.
The Three Sisters play an important part in Aboriginal history and, according to legend, were once three beautiful sisters called Meehni, Wimlah, and Gunnedoo. The sisters fell in love with three brothers in the neighbouring tribe– something that was forbidden under tribal law.
Think of the Three Sisters as the Holy Trinity of some Indigenous cultures, a trifecta of agricultural sustainability, and as the base of a really good soup. The Three Sisters are represented by corn, beans, and squash and they're an important facet of Indigenous culture and foodways.
The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and 'Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.
The first academic description of the Three Sisters cropping system in 1910 reported that the Iroquois preferred to plant the three crops together, since it took less time and effort than planting them individually, and because they believed the plants were "guarded by three inseparable spirits and would not thrive ...
Native American Heritage Month is observed in November to call attention to the culture, traditions, and achievements of the nation's original inhabitants and of their descendants. The official designation of November as National Native American Heritage Month was signed into law in 1990.
In 1990, President George H.W.Bush signed a joint congressional resolution designating November as “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar proclamations have been issued every year since 1994, and we now refer to this celebration as “American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.”
In a Three Sisters garden, corn is planted first as a vertical structure for the beans to climb. Beans fix nitrogen in the soil that benefits the other crops. Squash is planted between the corn and beans to provide ground cover and act as a natural weed barrier.
The Cherokee legend involves three women who helped each other stay fed, hydrated and strong on the Trail of Tears, a lesson that the Cherokee used in planting their crops when they arrived in the Oklahoma Territory.
The three sisters not only grow well together, but also provide complementary nutrition when eaten together. Corn, a whole grain, is rich in B vitamins, magnesium, and manganese.Beans are a good source of protein and packed with fiber.Squash is a great source of potassium and vitamin A.
What makes the landmark iconic is the strangeness of its beauty that's mystifying, and charming. Visitors to the place easily recognise the sandstone formation. Millions of tourists, both local and international visitors, come to see the iconic Three Sisters to have a unique Blue Mountains tours experience.
The Ancestral Pueblo people depended on agriculture to sustain them in their more sedentary lifestyle. Corn, beans, and squash were the most important crop items. Called the "three sisters", these foods were essential to survival because together they provided for many of the people's nutritional needs.
The folate in squash helps protect against birth defects and squash also offers trace minerals such as copper and magnesium. Corn, beans and squash work together nutritionally to offer carbohydrates from corn, protein from beans and healthy vitamins and minerals found in squash.
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