Yes, I’m one of three sisters, but that’s not the subject of this piece.
The three sisters is an agricultural concept that I first learned about from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s magnificent book, Braiding Sweetgrass. It refers to the America’s indigenous community’s planting system of growing corn, beans, and squash together. These three crops provided for the bulk of the vegetables in the Native American diet. By growing them together, this system provided a sustainable, symbiotic ecosystem that also utilized a smaller space than growing them separately would.
These three crops are typically planted together on mounds of soil in a sunny location. In the center of the mound, corn is planted first. Next, beans are placed in the dirt close to the corn whose tall stalks then provide a support and structure for the beans to climb on. The bean plants have a unique property of adding nitrogen, a fertilizer, to the soil. Large spreading squash (gourds or pumpkin) are then planted around the periphery of the mound, providing shade to the soil and a moisture barrier. As well, the squash provides a natural cover that prevents the growth of weeds, and its prickly leaves are a deterrent to animals such as the raccoon. A four minute video describing how to plant a three sisters garden is “HERE.”
The three plants have been given names indicative of their roles: corn is known as “the elder,” beans are “the givers,” and squash is “the protector.”
This is how an ecosystem should work, each member providing their specialized gift to the whole. Each member is dependent on the other members for the gifts that the others contribute. There are no “takers.” They are each “sustainers,” keeping the system alive and active.
There is much wisdom in this system as it applies to agriculture, but it’s also a beautiful metaphor for community.
In human culture there are also elders, givers, and protectors. Personally, I have fulfilled each of these three roles at some point in my life, sometimes simultaneously. Of course, there are other roles in our society, but I am drawn to the simplicity of this organization.
These days, I mostly see myself as an elder and a giver. My role of protector rises when I have charge of my grandchildren or am called on to assist my parents.
Christian teaching, using Paul’s analogy of the body, is a similar metaphor. Each part of the body provides a necessary component, and no one part is able to exist on its own. We are dependent on each other. As much as I like to think of myself as fiercely independent and autonomous, I still rely on my community of family and friends for companionship and sounding boards. As I age, I suspect I will come to rely on them for much more than that.
I keep finding examples of community and reciprocity in nature. In the great ecosystem of Earth, I think the natural world is our “elder,” trying to teach us something. It is also obviously a “giver” as we harvest her bounty. But like a sustaining community, I believe we are called upon to be nature’s “protector.” We are in community with all the world.