Community Garden
Farms of the 1880’s had kitchen gardens, not far from the kitchen door, where fresh vegetables and herbs were grown for cooking. The garden at Heritage Village was established in 2009 and is a reconstruction of a typical Mackinaw kitchen garden. The fence around it is built of sticks and is tall enough to keep deer out. We also have an old-fashioned bean pole that looks like a tee-pee and is a replica of one used in Mackinaw City.
The garden plots are rented to local citizens who come to enjoy the outdoors with their neighbors and collect their freshly grown vegetables.
Celebrate the Three Sisters: Corn, Beans and Squash
According to Iroquois legend, corn, beans, and squash are three inseparable sisters who only grow and thrive together. This tradition of interplanting corn, beans and squash in the same mounds, widespread among Native American farming societies, is a sophisticated, sustainable system that provided long term soil fertility and a healthy diet to generations. Growing a Three Sisters garden is a wonderful way to feel more connected to the history of this land.
The Iroquois believe corn, beans and squash are precious gifts from the Great Spirit. By retelling the stories and performing annual rituals, Native Americans passed down the knowledge of growing, using and preserving the Three Sisters through generations.
The Three Sisters support the growth of each other. Corn provides a natural pole for bean vines to climb. Beans fix nitrogen on their roots, improving the overall soil fertility and they help stabilize the corn plants, making them less vulnerable to blowing over in the wind. Shallow-rooted squash vines become a living mulch, shading-out emerging weeds and preventing soil moisture evaporation, thereby improving the overall crops’ chances of survival in dry years. Also, spiny squash plants also help discourage predators from approaching the corn and beans.
The Three Sisters are nutritionally balanced for humans. Corn provides carbohydrates, the dried beans are rich in protein, balancing the lack of necessary amino acids found in corn. Finally, squash yields both vitamins from the fruit and healthful, delicious oil from the seeds.
Native Americans often look for signs in their environment that indicate the right soil temperature and weather for planting corn, i.e. when the Canada geese return, or the dogwood leaves reach the size of a squirrel’s ear. You may wish to record such signs in your garden.
Early European settlers would certainly never have survived without the gift of the Three Sisters from the Native Americans, the story behind our Thanksgiving celebration.
