Reuniting the Three Sisters explored the cultural and agronomic underpinnings of the Native American practice of intercropping corn/maize (Zea mays), common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), and squash (Cucurbita moschata)—colloquially called the Three Sisters. Because Native American communities in the Midwest have limited access to healthy, fresh foods, Native growers have established community gardens to incorporate culturally appropriate Indigenous growing practices, including the Three Sisters, to build community and improve health. Yet, support systems for these gardens remain inadequate. Thus, there is a critical need to determine the production barriers that Native gardeners experience and design research that demonstrates ways to improve soil/plant/human health. Without such knowledge, developing culturally appropriate agronomic strategies to help increase community gardening in Native communities will remain stymied. Our project sought to add to this knowledge.
Research Results
This project documented cultural and agronomic underpinnings of Three Sisters intercropping (3SI), with the overall objective of collaborating with Native gardeners to begin a 3SI research and education plot at Iowa State University’s Horticulture Research Station. Our central hypothesis was that working in collaboration with Native people to use their cultural knowledge of 3SI to design current gardening systems would result in improved yields and soil heath. Our rationale was that by working collaboratively with Native gardeners, our research would provide evidence for the socio-cultural, nutritional, and agroecological benefits of rejuvenating Native agriculture. Our specific objectives were to:
1) Assess the cultural, nutritional, and agricultural importance of 3SI among 5 Native American communities. To accomplish this objective, we used interviews, community surveys, and evaluations of geographic food availability to explore the impacts of revitalizing the practice.
2) Engage Native gardeners/farmers through citizen science. To accomplish this objective, we advanced our current collaborations with Native gardeners to collect soil and crop data from their own Three Sisters gardens.
3) Evaluate the effects of 3SI on crop yield and soil health. To accomplish this objective, we used citizen science data collected in Objective 2 and established a collaborative long-term 3SI research and education plot at Iowa State University, designed with direct input from Native gardeners.
Learning outcomes included increased awareness of the cultural, nutritional and agroecological value of 3SI to Native communities. Native participants gained deeper knowledge of soil health and the skills to test their soil. Action outcomes included improved agroecological practices for soil health. Participants took soil tests and implemented new practices based on the results.