The Latest Dirt - May 2024

Growing Up Together

Article by Meb Phillips
Photos by Mary Beth Phillips

In some indigenous cultures, often in May, the golden triangle of the corn seed, the glossy brown bean, and the hand-pie-shaped squash seed are planted together in a mound. These are called the Three Sisters. The first to grow, the corn, like the firstborn in a family, shoots up straight, alone for a time. The bean takes its time as the second born because it first sends its long root deep into the earth. When the bean’s heart-shaped leaves break through, these heart leaves multiply and then become this flexible vine that searches, in a winding way, for something to hold onto before it catches the cornstalk, starts climbing, and flourishes. The squash is even slower to find the light. When they emerge, they grow away from the beans and corn. The larger leaves act like living mulch, shading, cooling, and keeping the moisture in the earth. So much depends on the soil and the nurturing of sun and rain, of course, but indigenous people all over the country have stories about the success of the Three Sisters’ approach and have used this method to “grow more together than each crop would grow if sown alone”. Indigenous people speak of “right relationship” –that which is good for the earth is good for the people who are the gardeners.

I was thinking about the Three Sisters the last time I was at the Lafayette Community Gardens (LCG). We had some recently graduated UC Master Gardeners, new LCG gardeners and some members of the public present. Someone decided to share the story about how the garden got started. One member of the public asked about how decisions were made: how the gardeners decide what to do and when. The garden developed into a rich, vibrant place, and people learned to work with each other, taking their turn to lead or contribute just like the Three Sisters. Initially, some strong leaders worked together to get things started, but today, the garden functions very collaboratively. Teams of members and leads organize the logistics of maintaining particular aspects of the garden. There is a collaborative director and co-director, and all members share in the garden’s bounty equally and communally. I don’t know how it came up, but we learned they’d once tried the Three Sisters method. They found that other approaches worked better in a raised bed environment.

An openness to change ---let’s call it the Let’s Try It! Method—has served the LCG well. For example, they used to only grow things that could be eaten; now, they grow flowers too. (Some are edible!) More flowers resulted in more pollinators and a relationship with the beekeepers in Contra Costa County. Now they have beehives! New ideas, new crops, and new approaches are part of the mix:

• A pizza oven building community.
• A garden sculpture about peace.
• A play area for children with a sink with running water.
• Lafayette-grown okra.

I can’t wait to see what’s new next month!

I am also intrigued by what is happening at Family Harvest Farms. Family Harvest Farms (FHF) is a John Muir Land Trust program and part of the larger community that supports the mission. Like the Lafayette Community Garden, the land was unused, a vacant urban lot waiting for the vision to transform the space. FHF employs transition-age foster youth in a job-training program, teaching state-of-the-art farming practices and other horticultural skills that will help them be successful outside the foster system. The Farm’s focus on organic gardening contributes to the engagement of a larger support system for the youth, including UC Master Gardener-sponsored talks on nutrition and healthy cooking. By growing organic food and contributing to the local food system, with the support they receive, these young apprentices are ‘growing’ with their farm and garden, providing food for others. In addition to the gardening guidance, there is now a CoCoMG fledgling demonstration garden (though it does seem like sheet mulching will never end). “The farm’s approach envisions everything---people, animals, plants, compost, and the surrounding environment---working together.” The Farm reflects the “right relationship.”

In one of my favorite books, Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer says: “The way of the Three Sisters reminds me of one of the basic teachings of our people. The most important thing each of us can know is our unique gift and how to use it in the world. Individuality is cherished and nurtured, because, for the whole to flourish, we must be strong in who we are and carry our gifts with conviction so that they can be shared with others. Being among the Sisters provides a visible manifestation of what a community can become when its members understand and share their gifts. In reciprocity, we fill our spirits as well as our bellies.”