The Three Sisters ...

This is one of the 3 sisters legends that I was thinking about yesterday.  When I was in Baja California, Mexico, the third sister was tomatoes instead of squash.  Since I have not started any corn yet this year, I can't recreate this, but I would definitely like to give it  a try next year.

The three sisters are Corn, Beans, and Squash. They are seen as the three beautiful sisters because they grow in the same mound in the garden. The Corn provides a ladder for the Bean Vine. They together give shade to the Squash. The Cherokee till the mound three times.
The Native American story of the Three Sisters vary from tribe to tribe. This story below is taken from an oral account by Lois Thomas of Cornwall Island, compiled by students at Centennial College and found in "Indian Legends of Eastern Canada."

The Three Sisters

A long time ago there were three sisters who lived together in a field. These sisters were quite different from one another in their size and way of dressing. The little sister was so young that she could only crawl at first, and she was dressed in green.
The second sister wore a bright yellow dress, and she had a way of running off by herself when the sun shone and the soft wind blew in her face.
The third was the eldest sister, standing always very straight and tall above the other sisters and trying to protect them. She wore a pale green shawl, and she had long, yellow hair that tossed about her head in the breeze.
There was one way the sisters were all alike, though. They loved each other dearly, and they always stayed together. This made them very strong.
One day a stranger came to the field of the Three Sisters - a Mohawk boy. He talked to the birds and other animals - this caught the attention of the three sisters.
Late that summer, the youngest and smallest sister disappeared. Her sisters were sad.
Again the Mohawk boy came to the field to gather reeds at the water's edge. The two sisters who were left watched his moccasin trail, and that night the second sister - the one in the yellow dress - disappeared as well.
Now the Elder Sister was the only one left.
She continued to stand tall in her field. When the Mohawk boy saw that she missed her sisters, he brought them all back together and they became stronger together, again.

The Iroquois Legend of the Three Sisters

Erney, Diana. 1996. Long live the Three Sisters. Organic Gardening. November. p. 37-40. The term “Three Sisters” emerged from the Iroquois creation myth. It was said that the earth began when “Sky Woman” who lived in the upper world peered through a hole in the sky and fell through to an endless sea. The animals saw her coming, so they took the soil from the bottom of the sea and spread it onto the back of a giant turtle to provide a safe place for her to land. This “Turtle Island” is now what we call North America. Sky woman had become pregnant before she fell. When she landed, she gave birth to a daughter. When the daughter grew into a young woman, she also became pregnant (by the West wind). She died while giving birth to twin boys. Sky Woman buried her daughter in the “new earth.” From her grave grew three sacred plants—corn, beans, and squash. These plants provided food for her sons, and later, for all of humanity. These special gifts ensured the survival of the Iroquois people.


Taken from: http://www.birdclan.org/threesisters.htm

Earth Day!

Well, its Earth Day/Holy Saturday! :) I've been off all week and had been hoping to get outside way more than I did since I came down with an annoying head cold that pretty much kicked my ass. But I have started some yard work, thanks mostly to John's muscles.  We have 3 terraced little squares, each maybe 6 feet by six feet-ish. He helped me to rake them out, turn the soil, eradicate these annoying magenta weeds.  My seedlings were started inside a few weeks ago and I am excited to see that some of them are actually sprouting.  It has been a miserably rainy spring so far. Hence the delay in the rest of them sprouting. (One can only hope...)  I'm seeing my mesclun mix, beets, beans, chard, cilantro, chives.... but no sign of the peas, cucumbers, cantaloupe, eggplant, basil, parsley, or tomatoes.  I am especially sad/worried about the tomatoes.  They are seeds of an Italian heirloom variety from a friend of John's. Why, o why, aren't they sprouting?? Is it too cold?? I usually end up buying some plants from Home Depot or Walmart but I was looking forward to starting a bunch from seed this year.  The compost is breaking down but I needed to add more brown/nitrogen to it yesterday. During the winter, our long, awful, snowy winter... I was not able to get to any browns so I just kept adding the kitchen waste, so its a little slimy and smelly and unusable right now.  So I added leaves and twigs in layers and hopefully in the next few weeks this starts to correct itself.  In the meantime, I did find a very cool article online about companion planting.  When I was in Baja two summers ago, I learned about the traditional three sisters of beans, corn, and tomatoes. (or squash..) So apparently there are lots of vegs that work well together and some that really don;t do well together.  Keeping this is mind, I have sketched out a plan for all the plants that I have growing this year, assuming that they all do sprout.  I'll take a pic of the space and my plans for what needs to grow next to what in the next few days ...