The Three Sisters Garden at Gaining Ground
If you wander through Gaining Ground’s fields, you’ll find a small plot where corn, beans, and squash grow intertwined. This is the Three Sisters Garden, a space that honors Indigenous agricultural traditions while embodying our care for the land and community.
“A Three Sisters garden brings together corn, beans, and squash, creating a mutually beneficial system in which each plant relies on the other,” explains Assistant Grower Ava Lublin. “Corn provides a trellis for beans to climb, beans fix nitrogen in the soil for the plants, and squash vines spread out to shade the soil, helping retain moisture and suppress weeds.”
These plants are all native to the Americas and have been cultivated for thousands of years, becoming staple ingredients in many cultures. The original Three Sisters Garden at Gaining Ground was established in 1997 at the Old Manse in Concord, when the farm’s growing operations were based there. The tradition was reintroduced in 2023, at the farm’s flagship location, not primarily for yield, but for what it represents.
“This garden is less about producing a lot of food to be eaten and more about education, a reflection on agricultural traditions, and a metaphor for community,” Ava says. “It’s a microcosm of Gaining Ground. We foster community by growing together, relying on one another for health and well-being, and caring for the land and each other.”
The Three Sisters method connects deeply to the farm’s no-till practices. “Companion planting is a traditional way of growing plants to keep pests at bay, attract pollinators, and resist disease,” Ava explains. “No-till organic farming uses these age-old practices to grow healthy, resilient plants without relying on synthetic fertilizers or chemical pesticides.”
This year, the team grew Abenaki Calais Flint Corn, a variety descended from the Vermont Abenaki tribe. “It’s so resilient it survived a legendary summer freeze in 1816,” Ava notes. “It’s another connection to the stewards who grew maize on this land for generations.”
Once dried and milled by Elmendorf Baking Supplies in Cambridge, the corn becomes flour donated to La Colaborativa in Chelsea.
“Recipients tell us it’s one of their favorite things they receive all season,” Ava says. “It’s a special and meaningful connection to culture.”
In the garden, each plant supports the others. The corn shelters, the beans enrich, the squash protects. “We barely have to weed,” Ava says. “They care for each other.”
For visitors and volunteers, the Three Sisters Garden reminds visitors that generosity and balance begin in the soil. “It’s a living example of the history of this land,” Ava says. “When we treat the land with respect and care, it produces a generous bounty, for the earth, and for people.”