Thursday, March 25, 2010

Peace and the Three Sisters

Spring's wonderful weather has inspired me to get outside more
and get my hands in the dirt.
Last year my DH and I (mostly my DH)
put in a Native American
Medicine Wheel Garden...of sorts.
We had a garden full of wonderfully fresh produce
and herbs that just smelled and tasted so good.
This year I want to document my garden progress here at the Attic.
Hopefully you will be inspired to get out there and start some kind of garden of your own.
It doesn't have to be a large one,
as you can have a small patio container garden just as easy.

This is the beginnings of this years garden. 
It has the 8 ft. tall Peace Pole in the middle.
I plant many different kinds of
veggies and herbs in the four quadrants of the garden,
and always try to use companion planting.

When friends come visit they bring me
prayer stones to put at the base of the peace pole.
On the top of the peace pole,
is several different Native American words for PEACE.
I burned it into the wood with a woodburning tool.

This year I am planting by the moon,
just as my Grandmother did many years ago.
I have this years Farmers Almanac for a reference,
and that helps me know just when to plant above ground crops
and below ground crops.
The 23rd and 24th of March were days to plant above ground crops.
I planted many things,
but the one I want to tell you about is
my Three Sisters Garden Plot.
The three sisters are
corn, beans and squash.
In one of the quadrants of my garden
I made 2 mounds.
In a circle on top of each mound
 I planted about 10 corn seeds,
6 inches apart and one inch deep.
After the corn is about 10 inches tall
I will plant the pole bean seeds 6 inches outside of the corn stalks.
One week after the beans sprout
I will sow squash seeds one foot outside the beans.

I found this at gardenweb dot com...
It is an ancient method of gardening using an intercropping system which grows corn, beans, and squash crops simultaneously in the same growing area that is typically a rounded mound of soil, often called a hill.



Corn is the oldest sister. She stands tall in the center.

Squash is the next sister. She grows over the mound, protecting her sisters from weeds and shades the soil from the sun with her leaves, keeping it cool and moist.


Beans are the third sister. She climbs through squash and then up corn to bind all together as she reaches for the sun. Beans help keep the soil fertile by coverting the sun's energy into nitrogen filled nodules that grow on its roots. As beans grow they use the stored nitrogen as food.



I will be posting pics as my garden grows.
Do you see St. Fiacre, the patron saint of gardening
overlooking the garden?
It was a gift from my DH.
I love it.
The book on the left is one I have about
Medicine Wheel gardens.
It is full of great information.
Hope you create some space for healing
and celebrations and more.

Savor the Day!
Yvonne

8 comments:

Amy Q said...

Jim and I are still trying to decide if we want a little salsa garden for our patio. We might do that this weekend.

Mary Helen-Art Saves Lives said...

I love this medicine wheel garden with corn,squash and beans...by the light of a silvery moon. I would love to link up with you but to be honest I do not know how to do this. I am sorting my latest vintage...stained fibers... and will be pre-treating and washing in the machine...if they survive there I do know they can be used in a finished composition. I am moving slowly but I am still moving :o). Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

if the fibers stayed stained I get to play with paints, dyes and kool-aid...smile

Melissa ;-) said...

We plant a garden, but with three dogs, it is all fenced in and not nearly as gorgeous as yours!

Ann Summerville said...

Yvonne, what a lovely idea. I have started a vegetable garden in the corner. It cannot compete with the vegetable garden next door that my neighbor, who is a master gardener, has planted. I did notice last year that his water spurted over to my yard so I'm thinking I won't have to ever worry about watering that area in the Texas summer. Thanks for stopping by my blog, I expect you will get some lovely pictures at the Botanic Gardens, my daughter had her wedding pictures taken there and they were beautiful.
Ann

Barb said...

What a wealth of information! Thanks and love your peace pole.

Kris said...

All of this is absolutely fabulous!!!
I do hope that you will update thru the season with more photos and bits about how it is going.

Clare Wassermann said...

I love the wheel garden - I planted the three sisters method last year and it worked fabulously. I'm setting out my potatoes today!

Bea said...

Wonderful post, full of great information. If I didn't already have a big beautiful fenced in garden plot, that Zeus created for me I would ABSOLUTELY want a medicine wheel garden. How beautiful.
BUT, I will try to take most of what you suggest and incorporate into my existing landscape.
I do plant by the moon and with the old ways. It's peaceful and makes me feel connected to my history and the earth.
I will be reading your updates, as always. :)Bea