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Rated: 13+ · Image · Photograph · Cultural · #1589415
The way NA grew corn, beans & squash before the white men arrived.
         When the White Man arrived in North American he found the Native Americans growing corn intermixed with pole beans and squash. Modern tests show this outproduces the "modern" methods of monoculture based on weight of foods three to one. NA's didn't know that corn removes LOTS of nitrogen from the soil, nor that beans added nitrogen back, but they knew that planting the two together meant they could grow both plants in one spot essentially forever.

         If they didn't do this, they would have to change garden locations every few years as the soil no longer would grow corn.  The NA of the Northeast United States called this "The Three Sisters".

         I planted a small patch of the corn (maize) grown the NA at that time  this year and am currently starting to dry the cobs. I plan to make seeds available for the cost of mailing them to tribal members sometime this Fall. Some of the stalks were 10 feet tall and all were over my outreached arm when I was standing.

         All of the corns were harvested by August 19 and further air-dried outside. One ear has been "de-kerneled" (I'm sure there is a proper word for that) and ground in an used coffee mill I bought at the thrift store for $1. It made four ounces of meal. Next step is to treat some wood ash with water to get some mild lye to turn the meal into a soft "masa" so it can be made into soft "corn-flour" patties and fried as "fry bread" or patted into tortillas, Aztec style.

Here is a photo of three cobs drying.
Sticktalker

Here is an article on "Three Sisters" plantings on line with much more information, including Heritage beans and squashes, including ways of drying and storing the corn, beans and squash:
http://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/Research/ThreeSisters.htm
The way NA grew corn, beans & squash before the white men arrived.
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