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Red Owl

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The eastern Indians were supposed to grow corn and beans together, with the beans using the corn stalk as a pole. Any idea what type of corn and what type of beans? Also, I was in western NY a few years ago and saw tobacco but it was 5-6' talk with the bottom leaves picked. The only kind of tobacco I knew about grew closer to the ground and the entire plant cut a the same time. If any of you have hunting land, etc.-ever make a long house wit birch bark.
 
I feel as though you are referring to three sisters farming. The corn is referred to as maize was planted, two to three weeks later a pole bean was planted and used the maize (corn stalk) for support, two weeks later squash was planted. The squash provided a tangle foot that corn varmints don't like to tangle with.
The corn was not like the corn we have now a days, it was like what we call an Indian corn, used for meal instead of table serving. The beans were of a wild variety, maybe found in heirloom seeds.
In today's standards I would use truckers' white corn because of the strong stalk and whatever pole bean and summer squash you prefer.
Maize is usually referred to as milo, or Mexican corn now.
I use a line shack mounted on an old grain trailer for hunting, building something on sight is too permanent.
 
Would the corn have been the multiple colored kernels?

One would believe it was multicolored as we think of Indian corn now, but I am wondering if it was a brown color and stocked more like shatter cane. It has a hearty stock sometimes 8 foot tall and sturdy. That is only a guess from old photos and paintings. Now considered noxious, but a native of America. That is not to say Mexican corn didn't show up early, but if I remember, correct me if I am wrong the pilgrims were taught to use the three sisters farming method.
 
Thanks- I was worried that the varieties might have become extinct. On the "Indian" corn- that is- multi colored. How does it taste? There is a myth that at the first Thanksgiving the Indians showed the pilgrims how to make popcorn but in reality, I'll bet it was parched corn instead of pop corn. "Hominy" was an Indian food in which the external hull was removed. I know the Mexicans ground it into Masa flour but I think the American Indians just kept it whole. If the hominy was ground- then I guess that is grits. On the beans, has anyone read of the Indians eating green beans (pod) or were the beans allowed to mature into seed beans? On the squash- I have always thought it was winter squash- like butternut, etc., and pumpkin is pumpkin- I don't think that has changed.
On the tobaccos- it might be fun to try it. Some of my pals picked it as kids.
 
On the one hand, there's the historic value of knowing and doing exactly what they did. On the other, there's the spirit of doing what works best for you now, as they undoubtedly did themselves.

As I recall, the Anasazi (ancestral Pueblo) grew several different varieties of corn and even kept fields separated with enough distance to avoid cross-pollination of their varieties. As their settlements grew, the prime farmland was being held by the more entrenched, older families with poorer farmland being relegated to the younger generations to scratch out their living further away from the core village. Different varieties were developed to handle the poorer soil and difficult to irrigate lands. There's a great book I listened to (Audible) called Anasazi America (David E. Stuart) that details a lot of this stuff in the archaeological record.

Your question was about the Eastern tribes. But if the Anasazi were doing this, I'm sure many of the Eastern tribes were as well. Corn is remarkably easy to breed to get the qualities you need for any climate and condition. So I'd be very surprised if there were any less than a dozen different varieties there -- especially given the size & range of land. It may be hard, if not impossible, to get a true genetic variety of the time period. But getting an heirloom variety that is locally adapted to your area shouldn't be hard.
 
Corn, I have a feeling what was "corn" on the East Coast", corn in Ohio, corn in Mandan and corn in Wahington State is a long ways apart.
 
I have some corn traditionally grown by eastern tribes. It is a white hard shelled non-dent corn. Good stalks, good sized ears. They ground this as meal and made hominy with it. I should grow some this year to try this out.
 
One would believe it was multicolored as we think of Indian corn now, but I am wondering if it was a brown color and stocked more like shatter cane. It has a hearty stock sometimes 8 foot tall and sturdy. That is only a guess from old photos and paintings. Now considered noxious, but a native of America. That is not to say Mexican corn didn't show up early, but if I remember, correct me if I am wrong the pilgrims were taught to use the three sisters farming method.
There were many varieties of corn,beans and squash. Many tribes had there own variety.
 
Native Americans were great traders. Corn is a trade item. You would find it across North and
Central America. What set corn apart is the ability to store it, like beans, for the winter or
thin times. A key Native American Item "Corn Dance" think Earth Mother.
 
Thanks- I was worried that the varieties might have become extinct. On the "Indian" corn- that is- multi colored. How does it taste? There is a myth that at the first Thanksgiving the Indians showed the pilgrims how to make popcorn but in reality, I'll bet it was parched corn instead of pop corn. "Hominy" was an Indian food in which the external hull was removed. I know the Mexicans ground it into Masa flour but I think the American Indians just kept it whole. If the hominy was ground- then I guess that is grits. On the beans, has anyone read of the Indians eating green beans (pod) or were the beans allowed to mature into seed beans? On the squash- I have always thought it was winter squash- like butternut, etc., and pumpkin is pumpkin- I don't think that has changed.
On the tobaccos- it might be fun to try it. Some of my pals picked it as kids.
In 1823 the US army and a band of Sioux warriors assaulted the Aricara villages on the Missouri. The Sioux raided the gardens and ate their fill of fresh foods.
I’m sure even if we can’t document it they ate green beans and new corn.
Squash is native to America. This includes summer squash varieties so winter squashes come to mind the ancestor to zucchini and yellow squash was in the bowl.
I can’t tell you where I read it , and it may have been in a novel, but I was late teens and the only thing I knew about succotash was the cat Sylvester, But I read about a summer dish made with green corn and green beans.
I talked over how to make it with a Navajo women who we bought from at our local farmers market
I honestly can’t tell the taste of blue and red corn from yellow
 
Native Americans were great traders. Corn is a trade item. You would find it across North and
Central America. What set corn apart is the ability to store it, like beans, for the winter or
thin times. A key Native American Item "Corn Dance" think Earth Mother.
Many tribes had a green corn dance or feast annually. Green corn is what we would call sweet corn or unripe corn. I was raised on "green" field corn----never had real sweet corn til I left home.
 
Thanks- I was worried that the varieties might have become extinct. On the "Indian" corn- that is- multi colored. How does it taste? There is a myth that at the first Thanksgiving the Indians showed the pilgrims how to make popcorn but in reality, I'll bet it was parched corn instead of pop corn. "Hominy" was an Indian food in which the external hull was removed. I know the Mexicans ground it into Masa flour but I think the American Indians just kept it whole. If the hominy was ground- then I guess that is grits. On the beans, has anyone read of the Indians eating green beans (pod) or were the beans allowed to mature into seed beans? On the squash- I have always thought it was winter squash- like butternut, etc., and pumpkin is pumpkin- I don't think that has changed.
On the tobaccos- it might be fun to try it. Some of my pals picked it as kids.
Popcorn was well known in colonial/early America.

I believe you are correct about the squash, usually fall harvest variety.
 
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