Saturday, September 27, 2014

Three Sisters and Kiz

Autumn always recalls the companion planting practised by Native Americans. 
The crops most often used were corn, beans and squash - 
The Three Sisters.

The three plants benefitted from each other. The corn provided a structure for the beans to climb. The beans provided nitrogen to the soil and the squash would spread on the ground blocking sunlight to the roots and preventing weeds.

The squash's leaves also retained moisture in the soil 
and its prickly vine deterred pests.

Together the three sisters provided a nutritious diet .
This planting relationship was a universal 
among the agricultural people of the Americas.

Practising ancient ways, Kiz and Lim shared some of their harvest.

However, they wanted to carry on the old English tradition of 
growing root vegetables . . .

that look like . . . 

 I'd say they've been successful. 
We call this one Kiz.

2 comments:

shevaun said...

That's really interesting about the corn, squash and beans... I never knew that! I do like the carrots though, especially Kiz!

Candice said...

Hi Shevaun,
The Three Sisters story was part of my schooling in Michigan. I adore Native North American history.