Feed the People Farms breaks ground!

In May, Feed the People Farms, with the help of the IWW General Defense Committee Local #18 Food Security Working Group cleared an area of grass and legumes to make way for an ancient Cherokee grass/legume combo that is the Three Sistsers of corn, beans, and squash. For the specific varieties we have chosen, check out the Products page.

This is the entirety of the three sisters plot. Notice the grasses, legumes, and broadleaf weeds already present. Three sisters garden is an imitation of this very ecosystem.

The roots of the vetch and clover that was already growing among several grass species showed signs of the symbiotic bacteria that is essential to the functioning of the three sistsers garden. The plant debris cleared was composted and will spread back onto the plot after we thin the seedlings.

Growing grass with legumes is an ancient technique that has up until recently been lost to industrial agriculture and mono-cropping. Not us; we use this tried and true technique that was developed thousands of years ago and based on mimicking the natural grassland and prairie ecosystem. So upon noticing a lush patch of a variety of grasses with white clover, vetch, and a few broad-leaf weeds, we cleared a 50 foot by 40 foot area for 50 foot long beds. We composted the residue to be spread back on the soil later. After the area was cleared, we allowed the grasses and legumes to begin to grow back for a few weeks, then then double-dug beds 30 inches wide, and paths 18 inches wide.

The clearing has been growing back, and three rows have been double-dug. We are adding a finer texture soil as the seed bed, which will be worked in and weeded with a stirrup hoe once seedlings emerge before thinning.

Double dug beds

Preparing the seed bed

The first bed will be sown with squash, and every third bed after that will be sown with squash. The squash will grow over many beds while the corn and beans can still be in 4-row blocks for better shade and easier hand pollination and harvest. Although this combination of crops is ancient, this way of building beds is not the traditional method for Three Sisters gardens. For our purposes, we have blended it with a low-till permanent raised bed method with standard bed sizes so this plot can be rotated with other crops in the coming seasons.

Wish us luck and come out for the next volunteer day!