Saturday June 9. Three Sisters Garden.

This week on the farm we planted our “Three Sisters” garden   (corn, pole beans and squash). 

The Three Sisters garden (first used by North America’s native peoples) takes advantage of the symbiotic relationship between corn, pole beans and squash (think rock, paper, scissors).  The corn provides a “trellis” for the beans to grow on.  The beans “fix” nitrogen from the air and make it available in the soil for plants to use (nitrogen is needed by all plants, especially heavy feeders like corn).  The squash grows below and keeps the weeds down by shading the ground.  It's no coincidence that corn, beans and squash can also be used together to make some pretty delicious meals!

We planted our Three Sisters garden on a patch of ground that for the past few weeks has been home to the pigs.  Any swineherd (pig farmer) is fond of saying “A pig is a bulldozer on the front end and a manure spreader on the back!”  Pigs do a wonderful job of stirring up the soil while foraging and adding fertility in the form of copious amounts of piggy “poo and pee”.  Just one more reason to love these amazing animals!

Those grass fed pork chops taste pretty good with corn, beans and squash too!

In other news the ducks who suffered the racoon and weasel attack (Sat June 2) are back outside after getting a little bigger in the barn.  We are again using the chicken tractors but have this time surrounded them with a (hopefully predator proof) electro-net fence.