Heirloom Gardening with the Three Sisters and Seed Bank
Three Sisters planting has been occurring for at least 700 years, with iterations of the method being documented as found throughout what is now the Eastern US by around 1300.
Newer research has now shown that the indigenous peoples of our original Eastern Woodland homeland had been farming for more than 5,000 years!
This research speaks to Traditional Ecological Knowledge, a modern term applied to our long-practiced scientific method of acquiring deep knowledge over hundreds or thousands of years through direct contact with the environment. We developed agricultural expertise independently of other areas like southeast Asia, Mexico, and the Fertile Crescent. Who is unsurprised?
The Three Sisters planting technique represents a balanced and symbiotic practice. Sister Selu is the oldest and tallest. Selu’s cornstalks provide a structure for Sister Duya’s bean vines to climb for the sun. The beans, with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria that live on their roots, give back by returning nitrogen to the soil and feeding the hungry corn and pumpkin/squash. Sister Iya’s broad leaves shade the ground, slowing evaporation and preventing weeds. The Sisters all have their own way of living, but they thrive together through their connection and support of each other, much like we do as Cherokees! We’re better and stronger together.
Often originally attributed to the Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois), the Three Sisters intercropping method is found in many Cherokee gardens today, including mine (our oral histories and language do suggest we spent time with the Haudenosaunee before traveling to our southeastern homelands). The Three Sisters are well known to us as ᏎᎷ se-lu (corn), ᏚᏯ du-ya (beans) and, most likely for us, ᎢᏯ i-ya (pumpkin) rather than ᎧᏴᏎᏆ ka-yv-se-qua (squash). Though we do grow some great Cherokee squash also known as “Georgia candy roaster”.
Heirloom Garden and Seed Bank
“You can’t be Cherokee without Cherokee plants. And without Cherokee plants, there can be no Cherokee.” - Pat Gwin
As we know, prior to our forced removal from our eastern homelands, we grew an abundance of plants for food, cultural ceremonies, and medicinal uses. Cherokees were among the first botanists and agronomists. The Trail of Tears significantly reduced the volume and variety of our long-grown crops. Cherokee Nation staff along with Pat Gwin, Senior Director of Environmental Resources, established our first Native Plant Garden in Tahlequah in 2006. I was blessed to be able to visit last year and walk amongst our precious plants, deeply rooted in Cherokee tradition.
This garden is used to educate and forge a legacy for future generations to know the plants our ancestors used. Visitors, citizens, and students can take guided tours to learn about the traditional plants grown there, such as white eagle & flour corn, redroot, rivercane, Trail of Tears beans, rattlesnake master, tobacco, goldenseal, ginseng, New Jersey tea, jewelweed, sunchokes, Cherokee dipper gourds, senna, purple coneflower, sochan (cut leaf coneflower), poke, possum grapes, passionflower, elderberry, sassafras, and hickory trees.
The Heirloom Garden helps to preserve tribal culture and language through school programs, including with symbology throughout and Cherokee signage with each plant. Also, the heirloom plants grown each year help replenish our Seed Bank. The Seed Bank is a plant and cultural preservation program that provides seeds to citizens for growing traditional Cherokees crops. Seeds are requested every year through the Gadugi Portal. If you miss the opportunity, friendly Cherokee gardeners may also be able to share with you.
From the Seed Bank: A Word to the Wise
“Please note the Seed Bank contains rare cultivars that are not commercially available and represent centuries of Cherokee culture and agriculture. It is important to preserve these rare genetics, so please be mindful of the directions denoted in this planting guide. Any divergence from these instructions could result in hybridization and loss of the plants' genetic integrity. These seeds have been produced in the Cherokee Nation by trained staff and are made available to Cherokee Nation citizens for cultural uses. This seed stock is not to be sold or offered for sale. The propagation and cultivation of these rare plants is the only way to assure their genetic preservation and the continuation of a vital component of Cherokee history. ᏩᏙ Thank you.”
For more information, email seedbank@cherokee.org or call 918-453-5336.
Ꮭ ᎢᎸᏢ ᎤᏩᏌ ᎤᏓᏙᎯᏳ ᎠᏣᎳᎩ ᎢᎴᎯᏳ ᏎᎷ ᏄᏫᏒᎾ ᏱᎦᎩ
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la ilvtlv uwasa udadohiyu atsalagi ilehiyu selu nuwisvna yigagi
“No self-respecting Cherokee would ever be without a cornpatch.” - Cherokee proverb
Planting tips for current and burgeoning garden enthusiasts:
How my ᎠᏫᏒᏅ awisvnv (garden) grows: One of my Cherokee family names is Corntassel and is perhaps one reason I feel compelled to do my best to honor and preserve selu in the right way. In my Cherokee heirloom garden this year, I’m growing Cherokee White Eagle corn (last year was Colored Flour corn), Trail of Tears beans, Brown Turkey Gizzard Beans, Cherokee Tan Pumpkin, Cherokee Squash (also known as Georgia Candy Roaster), Native Tobacco (ᏦᎳ tsola), Dipper Gourds, and purple coneflower. I received many of these through the Seed Bank and others through the generosity and trade with CN citizens. I hope to continue growing as many of our important plants as possible to continue sharing them with citizens in our community. To do this, the seeds’ genetic integrity must be carefully protected as an investment in future generations.
I’ve heard it said that we plant the Sisters together in mounds typically around the full moon after the last frost was over. Corn is planted first with beans and squash following in 3-4 weeks, when selu is about 8 inches tall, to allow the corn to start growing and provide the structure for the beans. When planting any of our special heirloom seeds, you want to take care to prevent cross-breeding. Pollen from a different variety will change the genetics of subsequent seeds. This is especially important with our heirloom corn.
Preventing cross-breeding: Different varieties of corn should be at least 1,200 feet apart to avoid cross-breeding. Pumpkins and squash, at least 1,000 feet apart. I don’t have room for a very large patch of corn nor to separate my pumpkin and squash well enough, so I need to take extra precautions to help them along.
Corn pollination: If your corn patch is small (like in a backyard garden), you risk under-pollination. Corn is wind pollinated. In the morning, wind carries fresh pollen from the towering corn tassels to the lower corn silks. When you see a cob of corn, it has many silks spilling out over the top of it. Each one of those pieces of silks connects to one kernel of future corn. If one silk gets one piece of pollen on it, it will be fertilized and develop into one corn kernel. For full pollination, every silk needs to be fertilized. If you don’t have many plants or they’re not clustered together, the pollen will not drop on as many silks and your corncobs will be only partially developed. Since pollen from neighbors’ patches may float on the air to pollinate your crop, you need to know what your neighbors are planting also and, as a best practice, pull your cobs for seeds from the center of your crop.
Last year, I grew two short rows of corn. This year, I’m doubling down – still a small crop for wind pollination. I helped my corn pollinate by clipping the tassels and shaking and spreading them onto the silks every early morning. You can also try tapping the corn stalks in the morning to try and drop pollen down as they can get over 12’ tall.
Other pollination: For the Cherokee pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) and squash (Cucurbita maxima), they are the same genus but different species, which means they may or may not cross-pollinate if within 1,000 feet. To be safe with future seeds, that means hand-pollination and bagging female flowers to prevent later cross-pollination by insects. These types of plants have male and female flowers, which are simple to identify. Female flowers have a tiny squash/pumpkin already forming at the base of the flower and a bulbous stigma inside the flower. Male flowers have a plain straight stem and a pollen-covered anther inside the flower.
To hand pollinate these, in the early morning before the female flowers fully open and the bees wake up, you simply take pollen from a male flower and brush it into the center female flowers, such as with a cotton swab, small paint brush, or with the entire cut male flower (note: “bee” careful collecting pollen in the early morning, as you might find adorable squash bees dozing happily inside squash blossoms! They’re very docile. I’ve even collected carefully next to them without waking them up). After pollination, bagging the flower with something breathable but that insects can’t get through ensures the future fruit’s seeds will be true to type. I use muslin bags. Here’s a visual diagram and there are lots of videos on YouTube. An alternative to this is distancing the flowers by time (one crop early, one crop later) so that their flowers are not blooming at the same time. The timing for this can be tricky. With my dipper gourds (Lagenaria siceraria), I had to hand pollinate the small flowers also just because my pollinators were less interested in them than other garden flowers. They needed a little helping hand. With beans, cross pollination isn’t a major concern. They just want to climb, as do dipper gourds!
Cherokee Story: The Origin of Corn and Game
Corn was and is central to us as Cherokee.
ᏎᎷ Selu is the name of the First Woman and ᎧᎾᏘ Kana’ti was the first man, or Lucky Hunter. In the “Origin of Game and Corn” Cherokee story, we learn how Selu could make abundant corn, beans, and other food while Kana’ti always had ample game meats. We also learn how Selu and Kana’ti’s children disobeyed their parents and refused to complete tasks properly. This why we must work hard to carefully tend corn and hunt. Of course, there is more to this foundational story. One version can be found in James Mooney’s History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees.
ᏩᏙ wado
— Sabrina McKinney
