Artifact #3 Description

Artifact 3: Planting the Three Sisters

Basics About the Project

During my Junior year at New Roots, the 2013-2014 school year, everyone in grades 9, 10, and 11 took these classes called expeditions.  In these classes, everyone went out and studied certain aspects of our local region.  During the first half of the school year, I had the “Local Resources in our Region” Expedition with David Streib and Todd Ayoung; during the second half of the school year, I had the “Indigenous Cultures in our Region” expedition with Audrey Southern and Tanya Kingsley.  In this expedition, I learned about the five, and later six nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy that are Indigenous to most of what is now New York State, and especially the Finger Lakes Region of it.  At the end of this expedition in June 2014, we all had to complete final research oriented projects where we studied a certain topic pertaining to the peoples of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy that we were curious about. At the end, we created presentations based on what we learned.  I researched about different technological capabilities that they had gained, with an especial emphasis on their agricultural method of “the Three Sisters”. This agricultural method works in such a way whereby corn, beans, and squash are all grown together in such a way that the three plants benefit each other and the soil around them.  For instance, the beans which grow in the soil fix nitrogen which both helps the other two plants to grow and makes the soil fertile for the long run.  Then, the corn plants which are planted next to the beans and squash grow tall in the fertile soil and provide a surface for the beans to climb up onto as they grow.  Finally, the corn provides shade to the growing squash with its leaves--this is very important in order for it to grow!  So, at the end of the year, I put on a powerpoint presentation about all this, and when I was done with it, I invited the class to come with me out in front of the Clinton House to plant the Three Sisters in front of our main school building.  That is what you see us doing in the above pictures.  

What S.W.O. does it align with?

This project strongly aligns with the School Wide Outcome (S.W.O.) of “Healthy Persons”.  It strongly aligns with this S.W.O. for a few reasons.  First off, it is a way of growing healthy wholesome food.  Second off, it is a way of growing food without the use of pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, or any other modern farming chemicals and methods that are harmful both to the Environment, and also to human health. Third, this way of growing foods also benefits people’s health with the Human-Earth connection that it opens up in the process when one digs in the soil in order to plant the corn, bean, and squash seeds.  Finally, the other connection and awareness that it opens up is the Human-plant connection that comes into being when one handles the seeds delicately and with care, as well as the ways in which one interacts with the growing plants up through the time of harvest.  I firmly believe that re-adopting this method of agriculture in farming applications throughout the World could solve many of the most pressing food related crises and problems of the 21st century, and make us all healthier people in the process!!