Getting to know our food, and how being good stewards of the land can help us eat better

by Katharine A. Jameson, Vermont Country magazine
03/01/2024

Excerpt: "Learning from the land

"Chief Stevens points out that it’s all in one’s perspective. He gives the example of #dandelions. 'You might look at them as a weed but I might look at them as a food source,' he explains, noting the wine and greens for which they’re used.

"When Europeans arrived in what they later named Vermont, they saw the lush #ForestGardens Natives had fostered, but didn’t recognize that it had been cultivated. 'The sophistication of the agriculture system was so high that people couldn’t see it at all. It just looked like abundant wild lands, but really they were so abundant because of our deep connection and long-term #stewardship of them,' #Abenaki tribal member, #JohnHunt describes in a new, short film posted to YouTube about Abenaki food systems.

"What can we learn from these growth practices? Professor Tiana Baca of Sterling College explains in this film: 'Nature doesn’t grow in #monocrops.' She notes that Native people’s lush gardens maximized yields by #CompanionPlanting crops like the #ThreeSisters. 'The three sisters is a companion planting group of corn, beans and squash. They’re plants that grow together and support each other. The corn is growing up, it’s providing this living trellis. The beans use that to climb on. The beans are then fixing nitrogen and supporting the growth of the corn and then the squash plant kind of sprawls out and creates this living mulch. All of them working together makes all of them produce better.'

"Respect runs deep in the Abenaki tradition. From the elders and ancestors from whom they learn to the food and animals they consume, they bless the animals they dispatch with tobacco and hold sacred the chain of custody of each of their seeds.

" 'We have to have some foresight about it. Treating the land with respect and not looking at it always through our need, but as a collective community need. In the old days we used to look at community more than individual needs.' Stevens discusses the Native mentality that land, contrary to the European way, is to be shared by all creatures, not owned.

" 'There is hope,' Chief Stevens says. 'There is a way to reconnect and change the outcomes of what is happening. But the only way to do that is to put the effort, time and resources into connecting with us, the native people and others to try to remember that historical knowledge of connection to our land, our animals and our wild food sources. The forests and the wild foods sustained our people for thousands of years. Why would we not think it wouldn’t do that now?'

"The Chief set out a few things we can all do to help save the planet."

https://vermontcountry.com/2024/03/01/abenaki-food-systems-native-stewardship/

Roses in the veggie garden? Absolutely! They attract pollinators, deter pests like aphids, and add beauty to your space. Plus, their deep roots improve soil structure. Companion planting isn’t just practical—it can be stunning too! #GardenTips #Roses #VegetableGarden #CompanionPlanting

Beans are pretty easy to grow, but they have more yield if an inoculant is used (more on that in another post).

Companion Planting with Beans

26 April 2018, written by Barbara Pleasant

"Fast to mature and easy to grow, beans have several characteristics that make them good partners for other vegetables. They tolerate partial shade, and most beans have tiny hooked hairs on their leaves that entrap aphids and other small insects. Beans can fix nitrogen taken from the air, so they make fewer demands on the soil's nutrient supply compared to other vegetables. Beans also deter weeds with their dense growth both above and below the ground.

"How you use beans as companion plants depends on what you hope to accomplish. High-rise walls of pole beans can be used to provide shade for neighbors that suffer in strong summer sun, while low-growing bush beans can be used as weed-suppressing ground covers between rows of potatoes.

Whether they grow on vines or bushes, you will need good access to beans that are harvested as green or snap beans, which need to be picked every other day when the crop is ready. Dry beans, which are left on the plants until the pods dry to brown, can simply be left to grow, so they are a great option for Native American-inspired Three Sisters plantings comprised of corn, beans, and long-vined winter squash or pumpkins. "

Learn more:
https://www.growveg.com/guides/companion-planting-with-beans/
#Gardening #SolarPunkSunday #CompanionPlanting #Beans #GrowYourOwn #FoodSecurity

One person's pest is another person's dessert! For those of us who intentionally cultivate #Blackberries...

14 Plants to Grow Alongside Your #Blackberry Bushes to Keep Them Happy

By Kate Chalmers
March 11, 2025

"Blackberries are among the easiest fruits to grow. In addition to providing an abundance of delicious fruit, blackberry bushes boost biodiversity and can be used to create a natural hedgerow.

"However, as with any plant, choosing the right blackberry companions is essential. Careful companion planting can boost soil health, deter pests, attract beneficial insects, and guarantee huge yields of delicious blackberry fruits."

https://homesteadhow-to.com/plants-to-grow-alongside-your-blackberry-bushes-to-keep-them-happy/
#Gardening #SolarPunkSunday #CompanionPlanting #FoodForests #Berries #GrowYourOwn

I'm looking for a reference #book #recommendation on #CompanionPlanting. I will use it for my #permaculture #FoodForest. Desires:

Large number of species.
Ability to match each species to multiple other species.
Matching based on many dimensions. Not just nutrients but also mutualistic and allelopathic effects, insect attraction or repulsion, etcetera.

Does my ideal book exist? A website with such information would also work. Thanks in advance!

Some zinnias the goldfinches haven't eaten with marigolds in the background.

Lovely evening on the #CommunityAllotment with lots of plant swaps with folk on neighbouring plots.. we have acquired #peppers #sunflowers #kale #broccoli and #cornflowers and passed on #jostaberry and #blackberry cuttings #lungwort #foxglove #marrow and some of the #cornflowers #gardening #permaculture #CompanionPlanting

Simple pleasures...been a busy week at work and spent the afternoon on the community #allotment. We've been doing #organic #NoDig #permaculture #CompanionPlanting for 3 and a bit years and the soil is now fantastic..crawling with worms and other critters, trees and fruit bushes all just starting to bud, perennial leeks doing really well, Loganberry and jostaberry cuttings all budding too.. teazels and foxgloves and lungwort have all self seeded so plenty to pass on to others...song thrush singing to keep me company too. #AllsWell

Tepary beans.

I discovered these from reading Sean Sherman’s “The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen.” They are native to the South West and are extremely heat and drought tolerant.

Will be growing these in a dry bed with titan sunflowers as companion plants bc the backyard is a wind tunnel. At least the sunflowers will have been good pollinators during the summer if they get trashed by hurricanes in the fall.

https://www.iamcountryside.com/growing/growing-tepary-beans/

So excited for last day of cold, I lined my beans and peas up for planting tomorrow. This is pea/bean planting round 2. Round 3 will be with different beans next month when the companion plants have grown up a bit.

Check out how adorbs the winged peas are.