Buffalo Bird womans garden

[Alan]

this article probably gives the greatest insite into past (including pre-contact) Native American agricultural practices. It is an interview/article about/with a native Histada Indian woman named Buffalo Bird Woman. I cannot stess enough how important/how much that this article should mean to those wishing to return to the earth. Everything from types grown, how it was planted and cultivated, selecting for seed, making implements, and cooking and storing the final product is covered within, of course a large overall element is the three sisters (5 if you really want to get into it, tobacco and sunflowers counted in some cultures and were grown on the outskirts of the garden to attract pollinators)

digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html

[brook]

Ironically I was talking about this book last night, at a presentation.

A particularly interesting angle is the difference between the Plains model and the Algonquian model of a three-sisters patch.

Best as we can determine from rather scanty first-hand reports (i.e., "the natives plant their corn, beans, and pompians together"), with the Algonquian model all three were actually interplanted. With the Plains model, for which we have a report by a trained observer, thank the Mother, the corn and beans were interplanted, but the squash were planted in a perimeter block surrounding the field. Sunflowers were planted off to the side.

Also, from the description in Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden, it seems that they were growing a summer squash, which was then sliced and dried for storage. This came as a surprise to me, as I had always just assumed a winter squash. Most growers using the Algonquian model do choose a winter squash, quite often a pumpkin.

The Southern Woodland tribes had a totally different model, using circle gardens in which concentric rings were planted in different crops. The whole thing was then surrounded by a brush fence, to help keep critters at bay.

Almost always tobacco was a sacred plant, and was not part of a food plot. Rather it was grown by itself, with due ceremony.

Whichever model is choosen, the synergistic benefits of the Three Sisters is well established. Cornell, in fact, did an experiment which indicated that a Three Sisters approach (using the Algonquian model) yielded 35% more usable biomass than planting the three crops separately.

[Alan]

thanks for that informative post brook! I would seem to me that planting the squash in with or around the perimiter of the beans and corn would be good at keeping the weeds down as well as keeping the critters out, i'm still not sure how I will do that yet when I experiment with it. The only reason I call tobaco the fifth sister is because after post-contact it modern varieties were often grown around the outside of the gardens, alternated with sunflowers to help attract pollinators (however I do see you point with sacred tobacco (n. rustica) which is something all to itself.
-Alan

[johno]

I knew that the three sisters approach was used across the continent, but I never heard of those particular differences before. Thanks for the post!

[brook]

It's a real problem, Johno. We tend to say "Native American" as if there was a cohesive, single culture. But the fact is, saying "Native American" is as nebulous as saying "European." The differences between tribal groups were probably greater than the similarities.

Heirloom collectors, in general, have to be aware of population dynamics. It's one of the ways we track the movement of seeds. But it's even worse for those who specialize in Native American varieties. They really have a job separating out what belonged to that tribe, what they had picked up from others, and what the post-contact influences may have been.

Another part of the problem is that in the 19th century, ethnologists (many of them German, btw, which is why the greatest Native American collections are in German museums) were unaware of the widespread trading networks that blanketed North America. As a result, if something was found in an X village, they assumed in was X in origination---when, in fact, it might have traveled many hundreds of miles before winding up there. But the "experts" still say the item belonged to the X people.

Alan, you're probably right about tobacco. But I'm in the heart of tobacco country, and had never seen a tobacco flower until I started growing rustica (in my case, Cherokee Ceremonial). Tobacco farmers, as I'm sure you know, top off the plants long before they can blossom, so that all the energy goes into leaf production. So it's difficult for me to think of it as an attractant for pollinators.

[Alan]

Brook, I know what you mean about tobacco flowers not being though of as attracting insects, I grew up here on this farm growing tobacco with my father and my grandfather and we always topped the plants for leaf production too. However, the indians were known to use the flowers for smoking as well as the leaf (much like using squash flowers for a food source as well as the squash) and so were more likely not to top the flowers. However, tobacco flowers do indeed attract a number of pollinators and huming birds.

[bluelacedredhead]

Brook, do you have any links that you could provide to the Algonquian method of planting?? We live in just up the road from the Chief of the (modern day) Algonquian tribe. I find this fascinating..

[johno]

What about the Osage in the Ozarks region? Got any info on their methods?

[brook]

Blue, the word "Algonquian is used to describe a group of ethnically related tribes. This included the actual Algonguins plus something like 7 or 8 others, if I recall correctly.

The Iroquis (sp) confederacy is said to have used the same model; which makes sense, being as they were geographically close to each other.

I have no links handy. But if you just google Three Sisters you'll get oodles of hits.

Johno, I don't know about the Osage for sure. My best guess is that they would have used either the Plains model (there was a lot of trading back and forth between them and the tribes of the upper Missouri) or something similar to the Cherokee circle gardens.

[flowerpower]

This is Iroquois country. In fact the Iroquois Indian Museum is not far from me. But at the Farmer's Museum in Coopertown, they do have a 3 Sisters Garden. The Bean varieties used for this method are ones that you would dry for winter storage.

Squash/Pumpkin does keep the weeds to a minimum. It was also planted to keep animals from raiding the garden. In fact, Raccoon is actually an algonquian word (Aroughcun) that loosely means ''he who washes with the hands".

[johno]

I saw an insect recently that seemed to be specialized for tobacco flowers. It was surreal to watch! It looked like a 1/2 scale hummingbird, hovering. Then it produced a threadlike appendage which entered the long, tubular flower. Never seen anything quite like it, haven't seen it since.

I really like the idea of a border including sunflowers, tobacco, and squash. It would be beautiful, to say the least. I'll try to remember that next year.

Blueflint, Brook, anybody - I am looking for a half-runner bear to go with the sweet corn next year. Native American would be nice, but not required. Any suggestions?

With limited space, a smallish semi-formal garden rather than fields, the Plains model of having squash around the perimeter makes the most sense for me. The corn and squash will be breeding experiments, but I'd love to find the perfect heirloom bean to go in the Three Sisters garden.

[americangardener]

Johno.. I'm not sure this is an heirloom.

But i had some Red Peanut (half runner) Beans last year. Not this season but the year before... i was selling some seeds on ebay last winter and they were extremely popular. I had some crazy people bidding as much as thrity dollars a pound for them. Unfortunately i didn't save any seed for myself to grow another crop this season. And from what I've now found out they are really hard to locate.

But if i do find some this winter, i'd be glad to share with ya...

Dave

[Alan]

Hey, if you do decide on using the red peanut half runner johno or americangardner then let me know, the local seed shop here in Salem (about 8 miles up the road) did carry them and I am sure they still do so they may be handy to pick up for you guys

[Tom Akers]

johno said:

I saw an insect recently that seemed to be specialized for tobacco flowers. It was surreal to watch! It looked like a 1/2 scale hummingbird, hovering. Then it produced a threadlike appendage which entered the long, tubular flower. Never seen anything quite like it, haven't seen it since.

Johno,
I think what you saw was a humming bird moth
72.41.49.149/page5b.html
I have seen many of them over the years. If you have humming birds you probably have these also.

[flowerpower]

The Hummingbird moth is pretty cool looking. They love scented phlox also.