According to Iroquois legend, corn, beans, and squash are three inseparable sisters who only grow and thrive together. This tradition of interplanting corn, beans and squash in the same mounds, widespread among Native American farming societies, is a sophisticated, sustainable system that provided long-term soil fertility and a healthy diet to generations.
Corn provides a natural pole for bean vines to climb. Beans fix nitrogen on their roots, improving the overall fertility of the plot by providing nitrogen to the following years corn. Bean vines also help stabilize the corn plants, making them less vulnerable to blowing over in the wind. Shallow-rooted squash vines become a living mulch, shading emerging weeds and preventing soil moisture from evaporating, thereby improving the overall crops chances of survival in dry years. Spiny squash plants also help discourage predators from approaching the corn and beans. The large amount of crop residue from this planting combination can be incorporated back into the soil at the end of the season, to build up the organic matter and improve its structure.
Note for self: corn = maize, beans = green beans/runner beans, squash = pumpkin.
beans in the historical case were most likely black beans or pinto beans (the kind you buy dry at the grocery store), but really any kind of bean will work, especially if it likes to climb (they’re all the same species, Phaseolus vulgaris). You do have to make sure the maize grows faster than the beans (or plant beans a couple weeks after the maize), otherwise the vines can actually pull down the maize before it has a chance to get established. And you have to have enough water and nutrients in the soil to support all that growth, or whichever plant is most efficient will steal all the resources and the others will suffer.
Grain+legume in general is an Extremely Valid system, so a lot of cultures have developed variations that fit their own environment and food preferences. In Mali, you might find sorghum+cowpea (black-eyed pea), up in the Andes barley+fava beans, in Southern Africa maize+groundnut (peanut) or maize+pigeon pea, or for A+ high quality animal feed (and/or soil conservation/restoration) oats+vetch… the list goes on.
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Over-Enrolled, Virginia Tech Offers Some New Students Financial Incentives To Wait
Emmanuel Mahgerefteh has wanted to attend Virginia Tech for as long as he can remember.
When he was accepted after applying early to the engineering school, he was thrilled. So were his parents. But an email he received two weeks ago has led him and his family to re-evaluate his plans for next fall.
Last month, Virginia Tech offered about 1,500 incoming in-state freshmen financial incentives to delay enrollment after the school over-enrolled by more than a thousand students. Nearly 8,000 students accepted offers from an admission cycle of over 30,000 applicants.
Expecting around 7,000 acceptances and factoring in the usual “summer melt” of 400 students, school officials had a goal class size of 6,600. But people kept accepting after the target number was hit, right up until the May 1 deadline.
The select group of students who received the incentive offers are enrolled in some of the most populous majors — engineering, biology and University Studies (undeclared). They had until last Friday to show interest in three options: taking a gap year with a $1,000 scholarship, enrolling in a year of free community college or registering for free summer courses while taking the fall or spring semester off. All options would guarantee that the students start at Tech the following year.
