Corn, bean, and squash genuinely support one another in complementary ways

Evidence

The Second Sister is the BEAN. She is a climbing vine. By herself, she would sprawl helplessly along the ground. But when she is planted beside her sister the Corn, the bean-vine climbs up the tall, strong corn-stalk, winding around it, holding on, reaching up toward the light using her sister’s strength to support her. And in return, the bean — like all beans — quietly puts goodness back into the soil (nitrogen, we would say today), feeding and strengthening her sisters in return for the support they give her. So the two sisters help each other: the corn holds up the bean, and the bean feeds the corn. — , A Year of World Stories, 9716

Categorization

• XREF: The ecological companion-planting facts here connect to the reader’s prior capture of Three Sisters content and to general knowledge about nitrogen fixation and companion planting. — connects to: Garden food arises from human-plant partnership where each supplies what the other cannot — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 444; Corn, beans, and squash form a nutritionally complete human diet — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 481

Related

• Corn, beans, and squash form a nutritionally complete human diet (similarity 0.86)