The Old Farmer's Almanac

Tis the season to start planting! We just ordered our 2021 edition of the Old Farmer’s Almanac… Always timely, topical, and distinctively “useful, with a pleasant degree of humor”. This compilation of stories, weather forecasts, moon cycle planting and other wive’s tales is a real gem.

There is so much we can learn from growing with nature rather than against it. Three sisters companion planting is exactly that. Straight from the Almanac:

Each of the sisters contributes something to the planting. Together, the sisters provide a balanced diet from a single planting. 

As older sisters often do, the corn offers the beans needed support.

The beans, the giving sister, pull nitrogen from the air and bring it to the soil for the benefit of all three.

As the beans grow through the tangle of squash vines and wind their way up the cornstalks into the sunlight, they hold the sisters close together.

The large leaves of the sprawling squash protect the threesome by creating living mulch that shades the soil, keeping it cool and moist and preventing weeds.

The prickly squash leaves also keep away raccoons and other pests, which don’t like to step on them.

Together, the three sisters provide both sustainable soil fertility as well as a healthy diet. Perfection!