Protip, if you plant the sage and tobacco around your plot of the 3 sisters it helps keep most pests away. Thats what the Catawba did in my area and thats what i have been doing for the past 4 years

Hi Malcolm, The main advantage of cooking corn in lye water is not in its improved palatability, but in the nixtamilisation. Theres a Vitamin B3 (Niacin) bound in the shell of corn, which cannot be absorbed by the body. It has to be broken free from the celluloses by this process. Otherwise an corn-heavy diet induces a illness called Pelagra ( like scurvy). In the native regions of maize like Mesoamerika this was common knowledge well before 1000BC but when Maize was introduced to Europe or Africa, this cooking method was not copied. As a result there were epidemics of pellagra when the diet became corn-heavy, for example after the volcanic eruption of the Tambora 1816 and the following coldspell in Europe. In Addition Maize protein has a low biological value. Enhancing it with beans for richer protein and fiber/Vitamins from the pumpkin only makes sense. Also this process destroys a lot of mycotoxins. Greetings from Germany Jonathan

@Reginaldesq

Жыл бұрын

Interesting, I read about a study that found mole rats living in corn fields were eating their own young. It seems the lack of B vitamin was causing them do do this out of survival instinct.

There is nothing more satisfying than eating natural delicious food that YOU worked on planted, and cultivated.. 🌽

I love these insights into mundane aspects of everyday life.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

I find ordinary things a lot more interesting than the military stuff.

@maggillaguerrilla830

2 жыл бұрын

@@MalcolmPL Nya:wëh Sgë:nö’ (I am thankful you are well) Can you please cover the game of lacrosse? And my No’yeh taught about me 4 sisters (sunflower) but she always gets left out. The Onöndowa’ga (Seneca) have a song about this. If you cannot cover anything about lacrosse could you speak about Ganö:nyök (the thanksgiving prayer)? I enjoy wantching all your video with my No’yeh (mother). Nya: wëh! (Thank you!)

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

I can’t talk about the thanksgiving prayer. But I intend to cover lacrosse at some point. It’s just a matter of finding the time and energy.

Connecticut Field Pumpkin is almost unchanged for 200+ years. Also, your corn ear looks fine for such a small planting! For a full pollination, you'd need a good field of corn for the wind to pick up. Lovely to see your experiment.

Native agriculture was pretty ingenious, with a history going back thousands of years. Great to see you putting it into practical application!

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

I just hope the experience gives me a bit more success this year than last, the corn turned out terribly.

At my first ever Mohawk family event with my in-laws, they were going around asking people if they wanted "lyed, dried or venison". I was too shy to ask what they meant, so I just declined. Turns out it was soup, and I totally missed out! Lyed corn soup turned out to be one of my favourite things.

There is one plant I was reading up on and is described a little in the book "Iroquois Medical Botany" and that's the Jerusalem artichoke. It's considered by some to be a weed but it seems that it's one of those plants that was part of daily life and given that it stores well, grows well and is very hard to kill and handles the climate even in the winter, I'm surprised there isn't more mentioned on it. I'm going to try it in my garden this year and I want to see how well it grows all year round being that we get frost here in October and it can last until early May.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

My dad has grown them, they are very hardy and easy to grow, and produce a decent bit of food per square meter for basically no effort. They taste like potatoes, good with butter. The drawback, and the reason they aren’t more popular is that they make you extremely gassy. My dad calls them “fartichokes.” I recommend blanching them like kidney beans before eating. Boil, drain, boil, drain.

@johnpeters9175

Жыл бұрын

The Jerusalem artichoke is a great addition to your garden. Its yield is good and it is a pretty plant to have around. I highly recommend it. I've eaten it many times from our garden myself.

My family has Iroquois mixing. We have a family history book made. In it are letters and memos from New France as they came over in the 1600s. One family member was taken as a slave by the Iroquois and had to work the corn fields. He managed to escape and go back to France for a decade before coming back!

You are one of my favorite KZread channels! not only are your videos relaxing but they are extremely impressive and I learn Everytime. Thank you for what you are doing and please keep going! Your the best brother

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

It’s kind of you to say.

A video about indigenous agriculture? SIGN ME UP!

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Consider yourself signed.

@AncientAmericas

2 жыл бұрын

​@@MalcolmPL Great video! Very glad you tested the three sisters. I've been tempted to try it myself but I don't have the space for it since squash spreads out so much.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

@@AncientAmericas Yeah, it has a tendency for taking over the yard.

I am a gardener, and I tried 3 sisters planting and got the same messy result that you did. I think that the mixed hill planting is a modern interpretation and not fact. Read the book titled Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden. She was Hidatsa and from the Dakotas, but she planted corn, beans, and squash in the same garden but separated into sections. Also, yellow crookneck and white scallop squash are nearly unchanged from pre-contact and were grown along the eastern seaboard and in the Appalachians. Good luck with your experimental work!

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

I disagree. I know a woman who is make it work, you just have to get your timings and soil conditions right. A messy garden is no big deal, you just have to walk carefully. I’m not going to argue with Buffalo Bird Woman, but she was from a different culture and a different time. As to squash, We’ve got a couple of traditional six nations varieties, I just couldn’t get my hands on the seeds due to covid.

@uthyrgreywick5702

2 жыл бұрын

@@MalcolmPL I've been planning to get some Tuscarora white corn and try it out. I live in central Maryland, and I know that both the Seneca were here, and the Tuscarora stayed on an island in the Potomac River for a couple of years on their migration north, so I'm convinced they grew their favorite corn while they were in the state.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

@@uthyrgreywick5702 I've tried that variety, it grows really big cobs.

I don't have anything smart or insightful to say besides awesome videos and keep it up man, I can tell you put in a ton of thought and effort. Truly one of the best channels I've stumbled upon.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Much appreciated.

It's interesting to view the three sisters from an Iroquoian perspective, since their consumption (especially of corn) is such a major staple of mexican diet. Nixtamalization, what you call "lyed corn", is basically the single most important process in mexican cuisine and is responsible for corn dough with which one makes Tortillas and other such products. You can also make atole, which is a sweet drink made from the boiled dough. It was instrumental in the original chocolate drink recipe.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Is it still common down there? Up here nobody outside of the rez even knows what it is.

@Rafael_Mena_Ill

2 жыл бұрын

@@MalcolmPL Yeah. In the north It is slightly less common but south of Jalisco you'd be hard pressed to not see a tortillería (a place that nixtamalizes and processes corn into dough and tortillas) in just about every block. Indigenous communities do It by hand as well, but the process has been standardized. If you stumble unto any Mexican or central American immigrant up there and ask about tortillas and nixtamal, they'd likely confirm it to you, even without understanding the process.

@Luziferrum

2 жыл бұрын

I learned about lyed corn from Donald Porta on KZread. Not sure what tribe he is. He calls it hominy.

@wilhelmseleorningcniht9410

Жыл бұрын

@@MalcolmPL it's a thing in the US South at least, traditionally anyways. Used for grits It's actually an interesting difference between southern Grits and Pennsylvania Dutch 'Mosch' (mush) as the Pa Dutch stuff is otherwise similar to grits but isn't nixtamalized

Thanks so much for your posts .Many years ago I learned a little about the original inhabitants of america. I am grateful to learn more

Really liking your videos on Iroquoian culture and civilization. Awesome to see someone educate us about history, and then watch them recreate that history. Great content.

I've done this with hickory king corn, pinto beans and yellow crooked neck squash. A 3' mound will support 3 corn plants, 6 bean plants and 2 squash plants. 6 mounds produced more corn and squash then I wanted to eat but the amount of beans was lacking. Timing was an issue because of the 90 °F + weather where I live. It was a fun experiment and with some fine tuning I think it would be a good option for backyard gardens since it doesn't take up a lot of space.

I grew a garden Iroquois style way back in 2001, i mounded up the corn and used a hoe with a stone blade to work the garden. It was satisfying

I remember as a kid when my grandfather would go fishing, he would take the remains of the fishing after cleaning and put them in his garden, which was fairly large, and use them as fertilizer, tilling them into the dirt. I have tried corn where I am, but here in the Adirondacks, the soil isn't quite enough for it here and because we get frost and even snow until late May and sometimes early June, the season just isn't long enough. Beans on the other hand are the one things I can grow without fail, we get them every year and in large numbers. Squash varies because they can have the same problem as corn with the late frost here. Sadly it's getting so that fewer people grow vegetables for themselves anymore, although with the current prices, I've heard more people talking about it, but you need a fairly large amount to keep yourself sustained through the winter.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Corn is hard even in prime Ontario farmland. It was never meant to grow in the north.

Using wood ash is called nixtamalization. Not only does it make the corn easier to ground, it makes it much more nutritious and removes mycotoxins. It's a very clever way to get more nutrients out of your crop, requiring less land to feed a family/tribe.

Thank you for this informative video! As a gardener, I feel that the 'messy' nature of the combined planting is not a problem if you are harvesting by hand. It seems it would only be inefficient to do on a large scale because it is impossible to harvest by machine.

I’d love to learn about locations to look for when trying to plant agriculture, besides creating the “compost piles” it would be interesting to see how they knew which areas were fertile enough for planting, for example the cahuilla would follow a species of toad that couldn’t lay its eggs in high salinity, so anywhere the toad lays its eggs, would be low enough in salt to grow food.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Taste the dirt. Get it on your skin. That tells you everything you need to know. Good soil is dark and soft and has a pleasant taste.

@leoscheibelhut940

2 жыл бұрын

Mlacolm P.L.made an excellent point about tasting but that technique is more useful if you have tasted various soils to know good from bad. Most healthy grassland soils will be fertile and in woodlands, the types of trees in an area also tell you a lot. Pines and firs prefer acid soils so that ground is good for potatoes and blueberries, but much tougher to grow the three sisters. They do best in neutral soils.

I tried the 3 sisters in mounds last year. It was an ok harvest; my timing wasn't right. Planted all at once. Great channel.

@MalcolmPL

Жыл бұрын

Corn first in late April. Beans when the corn is a couple inches tall. Squash when the beans start climbing. It requires good soil. If it's depleted you'll need either a good compost pile and manure or else a wagonfull of triple mix.

you make great videos. making me homesick for the haudonesaune lands. i miss the anishnabeg too...

These videos are fantastic 👏

What I find most interesting about farming in general, traditional or modern is the total lack of wild crops that have been growing on their own from abandoned lands. You don't find wild squash or beans or corn growing anywhere that I've seen lol. It's so weird. Almost like the crops have been altered by humans so that they can't survive without us at all.

@MalcolmPL

Жыл бұрын

Sometimes you do. My property is infested with parsnips which have escaped and gone feral. But a lot of modern gmo crops are quite literally designed not to survive in the wild.

@billyd7628

Жыл бұрын

well we humans have bred crops to grow ridicously large Frankenstein fruits which wouldn't have been practical in nature due to water needs and nutrients squash, tomatoes and watermelon for example. that's some of the reason why they can't escape captivity their resource use is just too big. but also crops are used to growing in captivity and only having to compete with own species. we never bred them to be competitive and vigorous enough to compete with wild plants because why would we? we grow them in carefully tended fields dedicated specifically for them only. and the final reason is we spread them to many different spaces where they never naturally were, where the climates dont allow them to grow without help so the plants suffer without care.

The wood ash process of treating corn is also the same as making hominy. the hominy has to be rinsed several times to remove the wood ash and the corn "bran" needs to be removed and since it is done by hand requires a lot of work. Once the bran is removed the kernels can be dried and ground into grits or flour. Ground into flour it is the main ingredient of tortilla and taco shells. The wood ash or lye treatment releases more B vitamins than just ground corn.

1:05 "Because even plants prefer to eat meat when they can" xD I'm telling that one to my vegan gf. Great video btw, I'm definitely subscribing.

Another great video. Thank you for making and sharing your videos. I'm loving them and learning so much.

Just found your channel and I'm hooked, thanks so much for making great content. When I was in agriculture school at UBC (Musqueam territory), there was a garden on the university farm there that had been put in by members of the Guatemalan refugee community in Vancouver, using their version of the Three Sisters technique. It seemed to adapt really well to our longer, wetter growing season, and the soil in that part of the farm was in beautiful shape. I wonder how many modern day examples there are of this technique in use in different climates? Keeping the skills and the seeds going is so important, that kind of knowledge and seed stock is irreplaceable wealth. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Great video, excellent content

You can mash or dry nixtamal(lye corn) and grind into a flour as well for an even better and more nutritious corn flour. This prevents pallegra and was popular among everyone who grew corn. Sprouting and popping are good too. Again you can grind it after to get different kinds of corn flour.

VERY interesting. Keep them coming please

Ya we also do almost the same way, but more like 4 sisters; corn, beans, pumkins and cucumbers.

Nice work!

I believe it is important for us all to know, so thank you! I feel sad and thrilled when watching this information, because I believe their style of living was more advanced than ours today.

Very well done

I've seen (modern) squash & pumpkin farmers that stake the plants and put up netting, growing the plants that produce even large pumpkins up in the air, freeing the ground for other uses.

I'm super pumped tot try this myself this coming spring/summer.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Just remember that the corn goes in a month before the rest.

outstanding as always

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Cheers.

Shé: kon! I see the little star keeping the Sister's company. Love your channel brother and I've learned alot. Nya wen!

3rd video on your channel and finding it fascinating. Live in Pacific Northwest, so more familiar with salmon based food systems, rather than agriculture based just learned Iroquois means "people of the long-house", which is neat, because communities on the west coast had similar structures, also posted with cedar

@MalcolmPL

Жыл бұрын

Haudenosaunee means "people who make longhouses," Iroquois means "massasauga rattlesnake."

im ready for your video on fruit and nut trees. please also creat a video dedicated to the three herbs. perhaps even a video for each.

Corn after lyeing (or hominy corn) sticks together much better than flour corn, once ground. Good for tortillas and breads.

Cool, I read about the three sisters in my NJ state history course back in elementary school.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Good to hear they’re teaching the important things.

Very interesting

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear it.

my squash pulled down a lot of the corn stalks

Many thanks for the videos on traditional agriculture. I recommend that you reach out to Andy and Elliot of the Poor Proles Almanac. That podcast has done a series of episodes on your people's agriculture (apologies if I'm being presumptuous). I think you'd have some interesting and insightful discussions. Also, your audience would learn a thing or two.

Could you do a video on Iroquoisan hygiene and self care?

Nice job. Thanks Courtesy of Half Vast Flying

Great video, I really enjoy the content. Would you be able to post any references or resources you used personally?

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

If I had to do any research leading up to a video I try to post links to anything easy in the description and mention by name any sources that are important. If I don't mention a source, you can take me at my word. I'll let you know when something is an opinion or if it's based on weak information. The vast majority of the information on this channel is either stuff somebody told me or else firsthand experience. It wouldn't be useful for me to site my uncle, or my mum or Lloyd down at the OABA. "These are the things that we are told."

well done taking on an experiment yourself

I've always really wanted to know if they planted the pumpkins for the seeds or for the flesh. There are two different varieties, each emphasizing one over the other. The seeds would be more nutritious especially combined with the corn and beans as they have fat and protein. But whenever there's a pic of indigenous squash, it always seems to be the fleshy variety.

@MalcolmPL

Жыл бұрын

There were a whole bunch of different varieties with different characteristics.

"even plants prefer to eat meat when they can" 😂 10/10

That corn is huge

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, if it’s grown right.

Great video! I loved seeing the progression of the three sisters in your garden. Nia:wen'kowa

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Io.

@dabrooms1455

2 жыл бұрын

@@MalcolmPL Is there a way that I am able to contact you so that we may talk more in depth? I have considered your patreon but I have not used that sort of thing before.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

@@dabrooms1455 I'm sorry but I'm a bit of a technophobe and I'm just not comfortable with giving my personal contact information to strangers on the internet. I hope you understand. However, I am always happy to talk in the youtube comments.

@dabrooms1455

2 жыл бұрын

@@MalcolmPL I understand what you mean. Of course

all indigenous people can get seed grants from native seed search

I would have thought first-nations would have cooked hard corn to make popcorn as I think it was well known for first-peoples across the Americas.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

I was going to posit a nonsense theory about it being difficult without modern pots, due to air pressure, conductivity etc, but then I found this, so I have no explanation. kzread.info/dash/bejne/ZYel19epfpmwhZs.html

WHat a great job. I love this. Just found your vids! I live in the northeast and have always loved the Native American history and culture before the Europeans arrived to screw it all up

Really fascinating! Is there any idea how regenerative this horticultural practice is for the soil? Did indigenous peoples have to rotate their fields every once in awhile to let fields lie fallow? Given how unsustainable and bad current capitalistic agricultural practices are it would be great to know how well this can be scaled up in a way that minimizes our impact on the environment.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

The three sisters method takes a lot out of the soil. That’s part of why you bury things in the garden, to offset the depletion. There’s a similar practice called Hügelkultur, it improves the soil very dramatically over a short period, it’s worth looking up. On the subject of rotating fields. What was done was to rotate villages. Change between three sites every twenty years. Let the forest reclaim the land and start anew.

Did the Iroquioan people harvest any wild rice? I've heard of the Ojibwe doing so, at least. And if so, did it have any noticeable contribution to their diet, or was it akin to any other occasionally-foraged food?

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

I know it was very important to the Ojibwe, but I've never heard of it being eaten this far south. They're in a different climate zone, Boreal forest compared to Carolinian. So maybe it doesn't grow down here.

@krankarvolund7771

2 жыл бұрын

@@MalcolmPL I think in one of my college history class, they mentionned that Iroquois were using wild rice, but I didn't found it anywhere else, so I guess they were talking about the Ojibwe ^^' The best result you get when you search Iroquoian rice is about a man called Rice who did an history of that people ^^

Very cool video, pissed that KZread didn't show it to me till now. On the topic of the messyness of the crops on the ground, the mound setup might have been a way to alleviate that. The island of nutrient rich compost helps encourage the plants to stay on the mound and that gives you more room to maneuver through farming areas. I also wonder what the caloric/nutritional density per acre ends up being in this format versus traditional western techniques. I feel like it has to be better in some metric, and might be an appropriate approach in the future as climate change limits agriculture and forces more need for density in farmland.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

The mess is due to the squash vines, which spread very far from their roots. The system produces significantly more calories for the land than monoculture, the drawback is that it’s harder to mechanize, and requires more care, which is why modern farmers don’t use it.

@supinearcanum

2 жыл бұрын

@@MalcolmPL yeah, I figured mechanization would be the issue, but as climate change continues to shift and limit farmable land, ways to mechanize the process might be more viable to research. What was the watering like, did the proximity make the water needs more demanding on the soil or about what could be expected?

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, it needs a lot of water. The squash and corn are very demanding. But the system ensures you get the most out of each rainfall, the mounds absorb a lot of water and the squash leaves prevent evaporation. It’s during droughts that they require a lot of work, because a bucket just can’t compete with rain, and I wonder what people did back in the day, because while it’s feasible to water a garden with a bucket, twenty acres of field is another matter.

@MrBottlecapBill

Жыл бұрын

@@MalcolmPL My guess is diverting creeks and rivers was the go to method. Or at least planting along those creeks and rivers so if you have to haul the water manually, you don't have far to go with the water. Choosing lower lying lands also helps as even in the dry times the most moisture will find it's way to the low spots.

We were hunters and gather until pueblo contact we learn farming from them after that we start cultivating down the canyon and arroyos that's how the Tewa pueblo call us Navau'u then the Spaniards call us Apache de Nabajo later shortened to Navajo

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

We were half and half. Farming is a fallback if the deer are too clever.

I've always wondered how to apply these in the tropics. Aren't these crops all supposed to mature at the same time and you just go in and harvest them when they're all dried up?

@MalcolmPL

Жыл бұрын

No, pumpkin is ready a month earlier than corn.

@nunyabiznes33

Жыл бұрын

@@MalcolmPL they harvest the crop separately? I remember seeing gardening KZreadr saying he kinda regret his selection of varieties coz it's hard to get in and harvest just one of the crops.

@MalcolmPL

Жыл бұрын

@@nunyabiznes33 Yeah, pumpkins are picked before the first freeze, as it can turn them to mush. Corn is picked after the first freeze as it seals them up for preservation.

@nunyabiznes33

Жыл бұрын

@@MalcolmPL thanks for the info. I haven't thought about needing to time to them to the first freeze

ill take messy permaculture over orderly agriculture anyday of the week

Riveting.

When the sullivan and clinton campaign moved thru new york they burned all the crops from every village. When they got to chenusio or Geneseo the soldiers found the corn to be sweet and they kept some of it. That's where all our modern sweet corn had it's origin.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Huh.

No’yeh told me it’s 4 Sisters not 3

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Sunflower, right?

Youngblood we do not say goodbye in our culture, to say goodbye to someone is to wish them ill or dead like a spell. We say see you later, even when the person has gone home to Creator.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

Don’t be condescending, I’m not going to see you later. I’m never going to see you. I’m never going to see most of my viewers. I say goodbye because I don’t want strangers thinking I’m their friend or that they can intrude in my real life.

@georgecuyler7563

2 жыл бұрын

If I were being condescending I'd be in the wrong, because it is not for me to judge. I'm only trying to teach you our Indigenous ways. Goodbye isn't in our vocabulary. If you don't want to say see you later then maybe something along the lines of, I wish you well, until the next time, happy trails. You could travel all over Turtle Island again and again and never hear the words good-bye in any of our native tongues. I hope this reply finds you well.

@MalcolmPL

2 жыл бұрын

I’m sorry I got defensive, You may not judge, but you make me doubt myself. Make me doubt my decisions and whether I’m even justified in the work I’m doing. I was told as a kid that it meant “glad to be rid of you” but as you can tell from my accent most of my linguistic influences do not come from the rez and I never picked it up. One way or another my speech is what it is. I’m not going to pretend otherwise, same as I’m not going to put on a thicker accent. I know who I am.

@georgecuyler7563

2 жыл бұрын

@@MalcolmPL I love the work you do. Finally someone who is covering us and not calling us primative. You're telling our story. Just so you know I use to blame others for upsetting me. I've come to realize that no one can make me mad, upset or sad, that's on me. I realized that I am the only one in control of my emotions. It took losing my spouse to realize that, I use to blame her for getting me mad. You will find that I am a straight shooter and many people aren't use to this. I just tell/say it like it is.so please understand that being a straight shooter I don't have to try remember what I said. If I tell tall tales then I have to try remember what I've said.

One of the advantages of using lye water to treat the corn is it releases some of the proteins in the corn making it a better food source (the ten dollar word for the process being Nixtamalization). When corn was transplanted to Europe this knowledge didn't go with it and a lot of peasants suffered from Pellagra (a deficiency disease like scurvy) as a result. The American South suffered a similar outbreak during the sharecropper era when land was used for growing cash crops and food was brought in from the Midwest states rather than being grown locally. I'll link the Wikipedia articles for Pellagra and Nixtamalization below. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixtamalization en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellagra

Since zucchini is part of the squash family, I can tell you that it likes to be in a mound. Whether started from seed or transplanted from a plant. The rest of your info is great.