The Three Sisters and Beyond: Haudenosaunee Agriculture

 By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

 

Corn. Beans. Squash. The Haudenosaunee (pronounced HOH-din-oh-SHOH-nee), sometimes known as the Iroquois, of upstate New York called these three plants the Three Sisters. In school, I was taught that they were the basis of Haudenosaunee agriculture, but the full truth is so much more interesting and complicated.  

 

Squash, corn, and beans were first domesticated, in that order, in Mexico between 8 and 9 thousand years ago. They were spread across North and South America via migration and trade. According to the archeological record, corn was first grown in New York around 800 CE with squash arriving around 1000 and beans by 1300. Soon after, Haudenosaunee farmers were growing them together in a system known as polyculture. The corn and beans would be planted together in the center of small mounds while the squash would be planted between the mounds. This way, the corn stalks acted as a trellis for the beans to climb while the beans fixed nitrogen in the soil. The broad leaves of the squash blocked weeds from growing and helped reduce evaporation, keeping the soil moist. When consumed together, the three pants contain all the nine essential amino acids needed for human life. 

 

The Haudenosaunee grew 13 varieties of corn, as many varieties of beans, 5 varieties of squash, and 3 types of melons. They also grew potatoes, tomatoes, artichokes, cucumbers, onions, and other root vegetables. Sometimes, Haudenosaunee farmers planted a so-called Fourth Sister, sunflowers, along the edges of fields to provide cooking oil and act as a living fence to keep deer out of the crops. They also grew tobacco for medicinal, spiritual, and trade purposes.

Traditionally, land was owned, not by the individual, but by the matrilineal clan. Haudenosaunee women worked the fields collectively, planting, tending, and harvesting together under the leadership of an elder matriarch. Women were also responsible for gathering from the woods the various nuts, berries, fruits, and greens which made up the rest of their diet. In school, I was taught they “foraged” for “wild edibles”, but recent scholarship suggests that they “harvested” from their “carefully managed food forests.”

Nuts were a hugely important part of the Haudenosaunee diet. Archeological evidence shows that they were harvesting from various nut trees as far back as 2500 BCE. Evidence also suggests that the Haudenosaunee may have deliberately cultivated black walnut and pawpaw, neither of which are originally native to the area. The Haudenosaunee relied heavily on the woods, not just for food, but for the trees they used in construction and tools. Red oak, white cedar, hickory, and American elm were all used to build long houses. Shagbark hickory was used to make bows and other tools, while black ash was used for baskets. While Haudenosaunee women farmed, it was the men who managed the forest through controlled burns and other techniques. After all the wood surrounding a village had been used up, the settlement would be abandoned and its surrounding fields replanted with useful trees before the community moved on.

 When the Continental Army under the command of General John Sullivan burned its way through western New York in the summer of 1779, they found a thriving village in what is now the Town of Chemung. It was surrounded by fields of crops which extended along both sides of the Chemung River, as well as extensive orchards of native plums and European apples and peaches. The soldiers burned it all and chased the villagers west to starvation. When white settlers moved into the area in the following decades, they cut down the carefully managed forests for lumber and farmland. By the 1860s, all of the old growth was gone.

In recent decades, there has been renewed interest in studying and restoring old Haudenosaunee farming and forest management techniques. For Native activists and ecologists, it is about preserving culture, improving diet, and restoring the land. Many non-Native scientists now believe that traditional techniques might help stem climate change while ensuring food for local communities. Food forests are especially hot right now. The Skarù·ręʔ (Tuscarora) Nation reservation in Lewiston, NY, and the City of Syracuse both recently launched initiatives to plant their own community food forests. Check out the White Corn Project based out of the Ganondagan State Historic Site near Victor, NY to learn more about the push to recover Haudenosaunee food ways.

 

If you’d like to learn more about the Haudenosaunee and their contribution to the roots of American democracy, be sure to check out the Smithsonian traveling exhibit Voice & Votes: Democracy in America, on display at the Chemung County Historical Society through November 15, 2025.