Metallic Cartridge Reloading In The Prepper Tool Kit

7 Hunter-Gatherer Skills You Should Practice and More

When it comes to prepping, one of the most commonly asked questions revolves around what kind of event is coming and how to make sure you are prepared for it when it comes. There are in fact such a wide range of events that could occur that it’s nearly impossible to prepare specifically for all of them. So, what’s a prepper to do? We can’t depend on technology and grocery stores because of the...

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Gypsy Pasta Salad – A Survival Meal In a Jar Recipe

This is a super simple and quick recipe that makes great use ingredients that come fresh from the garden, are inexpensive shelf-stable commodities – or even foraged from the wild. This dish might not look like the most delicious 1-pot meal you have ever seen, but just wait until you bite into it – the combined flavors over a bed of pasta are absolutely incredible. I call it a gypsy...

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It’s Here! Round Fourteen of the Preppers Writing Contest

10 Wild Plants You Can Eat (+5 You Shouldn’t!)

You must take time now to learn what plants around you are nutritious and safe. Otherwise you will be at a disadvantage when disaster strikes, and you can’t buy produce at the local store.

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How to Get a Reluctant Spouse Onboard With Prepping

Marriage takes work. We all know that, even if we aren’t married. And things are not always rosy and blissful in the best of times. For preppers, unless you lucked out and married someone equally keen on being ready for any eventuality great or small, you have probably run into friction with your spouse before over any number of things concerning the survival of the family unit. A sorry few...

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Stealth Vegetables and Vitamins At Your Disposal

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: Another article from RA to The Prepper Journal. As always, if you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and be entered into the Prepper Writing Contest with a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards  with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies, then enter today!

“Round Fourteen of The Prepper Journal’s Writing Contest is coming Tomorrow!”

I grow a stealthy food source and I have never come across anyone who realized that it is edible.

The beauty of the flowers makes people think that this easily available variety is only useful as a decorative plant. It works well in hanging baskets. You might see this plant growing alongside the highway or you may already have this plant in your yard and consider it to be just a weed.

It came here from Persia and India and has flourished. This plant is known as Purslane.
The University of Illinois says that Purslane seeds have been known to stay viable for 40 years.

I bought 6 small pots of Purslane for only $1.47 apiece. I transplanted them into larger pots with some good soil and they’re getting big. This is despite me eating from them almost every day.

I also feed some cuttings to my flock of chickens. Purslane is very tender and very juicy.
It has thick, succulent leaves and stems. You can also eat the flowers. Everything but the roots. I think it tastes great and I’m a person who doesn’t like most vegetables.

Purslane works well in salads and juices but I prefer to just snap off branches and munch them in the garden. Doing this promotes bushier growth.

Purslane works great as the crunch in a sandwich. It can be steamed, stir-fried or pureed.
Purslane is also used as a spinach substitute.

It’s best not to overcook Purslane.

The wild Purslane has yellow flowers. I grew some from seed but the ornamental varieties I bought at a garden center do better for me. The best way to propagate Purslane is through root cuttings.

Ornamental Purslane can be red, pink, coral or white. I think they taste just as good as the wild Purslane.

There is no leafy plant with more of the highly sought Omega 3 fatty acid (α-linolenic acid) than Purslane. It even has more than some fish oils. It safeguards you against heart disease & stroke & also helps with autism and other developmental diseases. The Stanford School of Medicine says that Omega 3 fatty acids help prevent cancer.

The United States Department of Agriculture says that Purslane is a source of vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin D, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine and carotenoids, iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and manganese, along with two types of powerful betalain alkaloid pigment anti-oxidants; the reddish beta cyanins, and the yellow beta xanthins.

The Chinese have long used Purslane to treat intestinal conditions due to the organic compounds found in purslane, including dopamine, malic acid, citric acid, alanine and glucose. Purslane is said to improve skin, improve vision, strengthen bones & improve circulation. Purslane is very low in calories and helps with weight loss.

Right now you can be benefiting from a vitamin source better than any pill.
In a survival situation where rationing and shortages are the norm, this can be vital.

Moss Rose:

Spurges:

The plant Moss Rose is often confused with Purslane. Be careful not to confuse Purslane with the Spurges. They have a similar stalk and also like to grow low along the ground but although the leaves may have a similar shape, they are not succulent like Purslane, which seems more like a Jade plant. If in doubt, break the stem. Purslane juice is clear. Spurge is milky white.

It is best to avoid plants with milky white sap.

Purslane contains oxalic acid. Those with known urinary tract oxalic stones should not eat Purslane or members of the Brassica family of vegetables. I have been eating lots of Purslane all year with no ill effects.

There is another plant that you should grow, if you have any kind of livestock.
That plant is Comfrey which grows large leaves up to 18 inches long.

You can chop the entire plant 5 or more times each season and it will grow back.
Feed the leaves to your chickens, rabbits, ducks, turkeys, goats, pigs, sheep or cows.
You can also grow quantities of Comfrey and dry the leaves for Winter use.
Animals enjoy it either way and even dried, it retains its very high protein content.

There is a common variety of Comfrey known as True Comfrey but most people use a Russian variety that can’t produce viable seed. This is because Comfrey grows TOO well and people want to maintain control of it.

Even with the Bocking varieties, they propagate easily through root cuttings. You can start with one plant and in 2 years, have a thousand plants if you wish. Bocking 14 is the most popular variety but I have recently planted Bocking 4, which is said to be even more palatable to animals.

Comfrey is also renowned for its medicinal properties. It can be made into a poultice that helps healing with ailments that reach all the way into the bones. Comfrey fell out of favor in the 80’s when an Australian report surfaced claiming that it’s alkaloids are harmful if ingested.

I don’t know of any people who are eating Comfrey but many people now dispute those findings and many people report making Comfrey a large part of the diet for their livestock without manifesting any ill effects. According to the book, The Safety of Comfrey, by J.A Pembrey, “there appear to be no cases, in medical history or veterinary records, of humans or animals, showing clinical symptoms, of pyrrolizidine alkaloid poisoning from the consumption of comfrey.”

From the site – Simple Unhooked Living –
“Foster Savage, who takes credit for introducing comfrey into Australia in 1954, fed it to his stock in great quantities (and ate quite a bit of it himself.) He found that milk production increased dramatically in his cows, with the bonus of thick cream. He also fed his pigs as much comfrey as they could eat and the quality of his meat became legendary. His butcher remarked that he had never seen pigs with such healthy livers.”

Comfrey is available as seed, or for the Bocking varieties, as root cuttings, live plants or just the crowns of newly emerging leaves.

There is a multitude of information about these two plants on the internet. Research them for yourself and consider growing them now so you’ll have this valuable resource at your disposal when any disaster scenario arises.

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Self-Defense Tactics – How To Throw A Shuriken

Shuriken were created as self defense weapons, used by ninjas in retreat, and the mold was big nails or small knives. The typical shuriken looks like an asteroid with four arms, a design that it's called the Flat plate type.

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Interactive Interview With Grannie Pam

Photo courtesy of Grannie Pam Peters Many of our longest The Survivalist Blog readers requested a recipe section be added to the website. Dan thought that was a superb idea and got busy creating a new section that would provide useful survival, homesteading, and off grid cooking recipes. The recipe section request sparked an idea for another new, and I believe, one of a kind, prepper website...

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7 tips for camping safely in the rain

By Judy Robinson 
​

We all love rain in the pleasant outdoors. But sometimes, it can be the unwelcomed relative you are forced to meet at a family event. Rain can brighten your day in the right place but at the wrong time, it can kill your mood. 

Image Via https://www.flickr.com/photos/cmmorrison/6008500288
​

One such place where the impact of the rain can be disastrous is when you are camping outdoors. But you do not always have to let the downpour ruin your adventure. If you want to camp in the rain, it's best to prepare yourself to have a fun-filled and adventurous experience.
To help you plan, we have listed the top seven tips to camp safely in wet conditions. Keep reading!

1. Be particular with your rainy-camping equipment
Keeping a check on the weather before you set out on a camping adventure can save you a lot of hassle. While you can't deny the beauty of natural views when it is raining, not having the right equipment can ruin your camping adventure.

To minimize the impact of weather and to ensure you have maximum fun camping outdoors, make sure you are well-equipped. Some of the most important items you should pack include raincoats, beanies, gloves, gumboots, and warm clothing. Also, pack an additional change of clothes in a waterproof bag in case the weather gets worse, and you don't get time to dry wet clothes.

Pack with you several tarpaulins as they can be helpful and against the rain, wind and even the sun. Waterproof sleeping bags can be great equipment to carry so you can have enough time to rest without worrying about the weather.

Having a backup for food is also essential in case the weather ruins what you already have, and there's no way to cook food. Be more careful with your wet-weather equipment if you are camping with children. 

2. Pitch your tent smartly
Before you adjust your tent, explore the area and inspect the surrounding. The ideal location for a tent is where the ground is high, and there's no chance of water puddles to build around. If you can't find high spots, look for the flattest part of the ground.

Next thing you need to consider is the ground's ability to support and hold the tent. If the ground is wet and doubtful, use waterproof tarps before setting the tent pegs.

A great tent location will also ensure adequate ventilation. This helps keep condensation from building inside. Consider placing a tarp on the tent to keep the rain from entering inside through windows.
When it rains, fold your bedding and other important items and place them away from the tent walls. This simple action can keep your essentials from becoming too damp and uncomfortable.

3. Pick a waterproof tent
Another crucial pick is a waterproof tent. If you are a frequent camper, investing in a waterproof tent is a great idea. It ensures you continue to have fun and adventure despite the conditions.

If you are not sure about this feature of the tent, test it before you carry it to the campsite. There are other ways to make your tent rain-proof. You can find waterproof tent covers made of thick plastic that you can use to cover your regular tent. This, however, does not always provide 100% safety in the rain because the size of the cover and tent may not be the same and does not provide full coverage. 

4. Plan indoor activities
While you can always enjoy the rain by indulging in activities outside the tent, sometimes the weather can become too harsh for outdoor activities.

To keep yourself entertained, you and your family can enjoy indoor activities when it is raining. Card games, board games, magazines, music, and books are great options to carry with you for rainy-day camping.

Just use your imagination and be creative with your approach and have fun while the weather becomes adventurous.

5. The right lighting equipment
You can't risk going totally dark during rain. Having the right lighting equipment that doesn't betray you when the weather becomes harsh can be your savior.
Carry lighting equipment that boosts not only the ambiance but also provideS you enough light to survive. LED string lights can be a great option. These can be draped around the tree canopy, campsite, and can be even placed in mason jars to give you the perfect indoor ambiance.
Other than that, carry flashlights and camp lanterns. To avoid running out of the battery, don't forget to carry extra batteries, specifically lithium ones that are more reliable in wet, rainy conditions. 

6. Carry plastic bags
Carry lots of plastic bags with you as they can be the lifesavers when the weather becomes wet. Plastic bags will not only keep your essentials safe and dry but are also a great way to pack smart. Carry plastic bags in different sizes to accommodate a variety of items.
Plastic bags are naturally waterproof and can keep various stuff dry and safe. Use them to segregate clothes and secure your belongings, especially your food.
It's best to use the reusable plastic bags to avoid pollution. In case you are using the cheap plastic bags, make sure you dispose of them properly.

7. Dry out camping equipment right away
All of your camping equipment, including tents, clothing, and other items, must be vented. Whenever you get a break from the rain, make sure you dry out all your wet camping equipment before storing them.
If you pack without drying the equipment, it will develop mildew molds and unpleasant odor. It can also corrode and ruin items. Avoid hanging your equipment to dry at night. It may rain in the middle of the night and can ruin all the effort.

Conclusion
Rain is natural and can happen anytime. It is best to do your research and pack according to the weather. If you invest in the best family camping tent, your outdoor adventure won’t be ruined. Use these tips mentioned above to plan your next camping trip.
 
Author Bio:
Judy Robinson is a passionate health and lifestyle blogger. She loves to write on healthy lifestyle, travel, fitness 101 and DIY related topics. Follow @judyrobinson for more updates.
 

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Choosing The Most Useful Essay Writer Service. Exactly what does it suggest and just what does it feature?

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Hobbies That You Can Do In The Bunker

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: An article from Nicole to The Prepper Journal. In the past we have had posts on Easy Ways to Entertain the family without Electricity and The 16 Best Hobbies for Preppers, and now we have a different way of looking at things to do at TEOTWAWKI. As always, if you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and be entered into the Prepper Writing Contest with a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards  with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies, then enter today!

“Round Fourteen of The Prepper Journal’s Writing Contest is coming Friday!”

Suppose you flee to a nuclear bunker in order to survive a bomb blast. You can’t stay bored in the fortification for the next 9 or 12 years without electricity, can you? Being cooped up in a dugout can be frustrating not to mention that you might run out of food before the time is up. Assuming that you have sufficient food for a long stay, what hobbies would you consider to keep yourself busy?

A hobby is not simply a way of passing time. It also improves life quality. You do it for pleasure and no one pays for entertaining yourself. In normal circumstances, we take hobbies for leisure and sometimes they may seem a luxury we cannot afford. But if you are surviving a catastrophe in a blockhouse, a hobby might be the only thing to keep you occupied. An entertainment activity offers a plethora of benefits such as:

• It gives you hope
• It keeps your mind occupied
• It can invoke passion in you
• It provides a sense of self-sufficiency
• It is a creative outlet

Below are fun activities that can improve your quality of life while you’re underground.

Reading books

Books provide a lot of imaginative fun. You can even read them out to your family and friends. Any scenarios you could imagine can be played put in a fiction book. Reading allows you to take your mind off the possible tragedy as you take accommodation in a safe shelter. This activity involves more than just passing time. It polishes your knowledge and trains your brain to concentrate. Don’t forget that reading also improves your vocabulary. What a better way to improve brain power. It is like working out your brain like you do to your body in the gym. Moreover, research indicates that reading minimizes stress by 69% so you will be able to sleep better.

Apart from fiction books, consider reading human psychology and medicine. You will learn how to diagnose and treat common sicknesses which you might encounter in the fortification. By the time you get out of the ‘hole,’ you will have gained incredible skills like those of medical practitioners. You can also learn how to be a builder or an electrician by reading books on engineering. This will not only keep your brain active but also focused during the prolonged stay. Go ahead and teach yourself about the economy. There are a lot of skills you need as far as investment goes. Find out how other nations are doing economic-wise. You might be interested to move to another country which is more economically stable after leaving the bunker. By making good use of the many years at disposal, you would come out more knowledgeable than ever before and perhaps start teaching people!

Practice yoga

Yoga benefits both the mind and the body. You only need a small space to keep your body and mind healthy. You will be in a position to keep your sanity intact while you are cooped up down there. Yoga is also an active form of entertainment for both men and women. After many years of training, you will be so physically fit that others might think you are a fitness model. The best thing about yoga is that it helps you to meditate. Meditation is another wonderful technique of reducing stress, improving brain focus, lowering blood pressure, and improving your immunity. Meditation is fun too. It gets you into a good mood and you feel relaxed all the time.

Learn a Foreign Language

You may not have professional teachers in the bunker but you can ask someone to teach you their language. Learning new language allows you to communicate effectively during travels. Being multilingual would also be a great addition to your resume. Studies show that bilinguals think differently than monolinguals. The ability to speak more than one language makes you smarter and you will be more decisive. It actually helps you to polish your own native language. The other benefit is that you can cope with dementia more effectively and you will be more perceptive.

Dancing

Dancing is fun. It also provides benefits like those of physical workouts. Furthermore, it reduces stress by increasing the production of serotonin which is a neurotransmitter hormone that is associated with wellness feelings. Dancing also improves cognitive power thus making you smarter.

Have you checked out exceptional essays about dancing on Edu Birdie? There is a lot you could learn from this site.

Awaken your inner karate child

Karate is a martial art and provides real value to your life. It is one of the best ways to learn self-defense. Practicing martial arts allows you to develop coordination, stamina, strength, and body balance. Moreover, karate teaches you to be more disciplined and stay focused. It is another way to bring your body and mind together.

Crafting

What craft are you good at? Maybe you are good at knitting. You can pick up the needles and threads and make stuff. According to an expert, crafting offers similar benefits to those of meditation. It can help you get over a chronic pain, depression, and anxiety. The continuous action of knitting triggers your parasympathetic nervous system. This is a form of nervous control that calms you down during stress so you don’t have to take a flight or fight response. It is normal to get bad illusions when you are stuck in a place but engaging in craft can give you the peace of mind you just need.

Make new friends

It doesn’t matter how many people are with you in the bunker. You can meet them and establish friendships that will be of great help in future. The last thing you can do when idle is to isolate yourself. Did you know that social isolation is a worse killer than obesity? Spending time with others is fun. They don’t have to be in the same age as you – there is a lot you can learn from the elders and younger people as well. Making new friends is one key to happiness.

Juggling

Juggling can boost your brain concentration as well as hand-eye coordination. Moreover, it is a form of active meditation like yoga. It ensures that your brain is fully engaged in the objects you are trying to juggle, putting you in a relaxed state of mind like you would achieve when chanting with your legs crossed o the floor.

Final word

In a bunker, you don’t get to chat with friends on Facebook or watch your favorite TV series. But there are countless hobbies you can pick or develop in the dugout. You may start with the 8 activities outlined above and still live your best life.

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Proactive Prepper Training

For all the research, study and acquisition preppers put into their crisis survival planning, it seems to me many put off actual practice, save for a few specific skills. Sure, plenty of us will get in camping, hunting, hiking and trigger time whenever we can. Those skills are very enjoyable and certainly count as hobbies all on their own. Those of us that can afford professional training will...

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Companion Planting – Planting & Modifying the Three Sisters

Written by R. Ann Parris on The Prepper Journal.

Three Sisters, Elders, or Iroquois mounds are one of the most common and oldest examples of companion planting to be found. Corn, beans and squash are grown in close association, with each plant filling another’s needs. It’s a proven winner large or small, throughout history, including modern university studies on yields and post-harvest soil.

Succotash gardens are also billed as a survival and a storage all-in-one gardens – pretty fair assessments.

The first in is corn. Pole beans are planted after a delay, and use the corn as a trellis. They also stabilize the corn, removing the need to hill it – which is good, because you’re not going to wiggle a hoe through a thriving Three Sisters mound. The beans also replace some or all of the nitrogen used by the corn and, in trinity plantings, their third sister: squash. The squash helps shade the soil, preserving moisture.

There are now about as many ways to arrange them as there are to use the produce, which we’ll touch on later. We’ll also look at ways we can modify it for the crops commonly grown in today’s backyards, tubs, and big plots, compared to the traditional versions.

Clarification – N

The beans are not boosting the nitrogen for this year’s crop. By the end of the season, the beans will have started producing excess nitrogen if the proper bacteria is present, but it’s toward the end of the season. They’re replacing nitrogen used by their companions, which means less amendment is needed in subsequent plantings.

Sunflowers – Skip It

Subbing sunflowers for corn in Elders mounds regularly pops up. It’s more than possible that somebody’s managed successfully, but nobody I know and I’ve yet to find good results/yield data or late-season and harvest images posted by those who claim it works.

When we hear after-action reports on this experiment, it’s usually “well boogers” or excited growers who have not yet established an on-their-own baseline yield for their squash and bean varieties.

Mostly, like many things, we just don’t hear back on it – which is sad, because some of those gardeners who are just getting started or just branching out are likely embarrassed, and think it’s them.

First: Failures are part of any learning curve. “No” is an option on troubleshooting and decision-making flow charts for a reason. “Well that didn’t work” is part of the feedback loop for everything from permaculture to scientific method.

Share failures. We get more feedback yet, which lets us make better adjustments than we would on our own.

Secondly, don’t believe everything you read online – especially start-off suggestions without final results presented. That’s something we’ll touch on with the planting suggestions, too.

I do grow some of my beans with sunflowers, but I expect the major productivity drop versus a corn planting and I do so knowing that bean production is already lower in corn-companionship stands.

(It’s the total productivity of the space that’s a wowser, versus the same area with a single crop, and usually corn gets a pretty significant boost.)

So let’s understand sunflowers. There is a wide, wide range of sunflowers beyond production types. I plant some of them for tiny bird seed. Plus, well, look how cute!

In production conversations, we’re typically looking at two types. Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (BOSS) are used for oils and most animal/bird feed, and are usually 4-6’ tall. The big 8’ and 12’ “stripeys” (professionals say “confection”) are the human-snack and in some animal feeds.

Both are greedy. Like, way greedy. They just don’t share well. There are weed-suppressing groundcovers that work, but whatever you stick near a sunflower is likely to end up stunted. That’s not great for the yields from companions.

Sunflowers seem like they’d sub in for corn without problems, but in the long run, especially for survival gardens, it’s not effective. You’ll need to plant 3-5x the beans you would to meet your normal harvest baselines from corn-bean mounds or single-crop stands, and if you go for a trinity planting, squash just isn’t going to fair well at all.

*Bonus Tidbit: All sunflower stalks are suitable for drying, burning or chipping, and spreading as potent fertilizer elsewhere because they’re so greedy. They’re particularly potassium-hungry, which makes them a fabulous source of potash for other crops.

Back to Corn…

Natives mostly grew dry corn. Today, backyard and small-market growers are mostly after sweet corn. Thing is, sweet corn is ready 20-60 days before most popcorn or field corn varieties – and most dry pole beans.

This becomes super significant when planning a succotash garden.

If you use a big, multi-vined pole bean, it’s tough to get in there to harvest sweet corn without snagging the drying bean vines. Sweet corn is usually more loosely branched, so you may be able to wiggle harvests out from around lighter, single-vine pole beans, but there is regularly damage to vines.

One solution is to use the pole beans mostly for green beans. We can dedicate lower pods to going to seed for us, limiting the potential damages are limited to veggies with less time invested and faster regrowth.

Another option is to use bush, semi-vining or semi-runner beans with sweet corn, so their max height is lower than the upper ears. At most you might damage tips at 3-4’ harvesting the bottom ear. We can also just declare the bottom ears to be our future seed stock, or let them dry for popcorn/milling so we don’t have to disturb even those shorter vines.

If we’re growing dwarf, compact, bantam, and container corn, shorter-vined and bush beans are definitely superior choices as companions.

Bush Beans

There’s some drawbacks to bush beans, but there’s also benefits. A bush bean won’t typically yield as much as a pole bean, either by the plant or by square-foot.

We have place them carefully, especially with field/dry corn varieties that have denser leafing than sweet corn, or they’ll get shaded out. They’re also a little more likely to be overrun by large squash varieties if we go with a three-species “trinity” mound, so we may have to use bush-type summer squashes.

However, they’re pretty easy to step over for maintenance, and they’re fast-growing and fast-yielding. Packing low-growing bush beans in tightly lets us reap some weed and soil-evaporation suppression from them as well as squashes – or if our squash is in separate rows and mounds.

Bush beans won’t anchor our corn for us – although some bush types will send out a few 6-18” tendrils, particularly the “southern pea” types.

Especially if we’re after sweet corn or working with a bantam, or if we’re working in more limited space, bush beans may be the best option. Instead of traditional beans, we can also consider vining English peas or crowder peas for early and compact corn.

If you really want an old-school, native pairing for corn and don’t have to worry about too much rain, give Bawi a try – https://www.nativeseeds.org/learn/nss-blog/341-celebration-of-tepary-beans-part-1. It’s a prostrate bush type, although it’s a whole different species than the beans most of us know today.

Squash

Historically, a near-pumpkin squash, gourd-like squashes, and small true pumpkins were planted as the third sister in elders gardens. We can use anything we want. Melons, trailing-vine squashes, or compact bush types, and even cucumbers offer pretty similar benefits.

Those options have the added advantage of those spiky vines surrounding the mound, which anecdotally deter pests and critters, but we can even use eggplant. It will do the same soil-shading job as the squashes.

Planting Guides

There are a lot of planting plans out there for Three Sisters now. Some combine all three sisters in a trinity planting per mound, while many have squash on a separate mound. Some use 18” mounds, some suggests 3-5’.

One involves working inside a bucket-sized ring (roughly 12”). If you use that one, consider going easy on densities and fertilize heavily – that’s a lot of biomass in a very small space.

I also give my squash way more than 4-6”, my beans go more than 3” from my corn, and my mounds are usually more than 2-3’ on center, more similar to Wampanoag plantings.

Wampanoag systems also have an arc of sunflowers to the north with separate squash mounds and corn-bean mounds filling in a circle. Others suggest similar, but arrange the beans-corn mounds differently.

In a bed system versus mounds, I tend to max corn and beans through the center and stick whichever squash varieties I want on the ends of short beds, or create breaks with double or triple squash plants every 10-12’ on long beds. Others break up hilled rows and beds in smaller repeating patterns.

Mechanizing is as easy as setting up hoppers with different seed, and a third hopper or a second pass for a much-decreased squash planting 18-36” offset from them, or alternating rows of corn-and-beans with rows of squash.

If we’re using narrow beds/rows or containers, we can easily set up multiple pairs – a few bush beans with that squash, or a squash and a pole bean or two that are going to go up one trellis, and another with our corn and another few beans.

We don’t have to limit our squash to containers or beds – trailing them out to the side or letting small-fruiting varieties drape off a table, bench, or rail is fine (if we can get around them). We do want to make sure the squash isn’t vulnerable to breaking in winds or from fruit weight, though. Those big ol’ stalks are hollow and a little bit fragile.

Three Sisters gardening has a lot to balance just because we do have sooo many options these days. What planting styles work best for us will depend on preexisting soil fertility and the varieties we choose, with our climate and space available playing into cultivar selection. There’s a modification that works for pretty much everybody, though.

It’s a storied, proven winner, regardless of scale, for both beginners and those looking to up their yields or decrease inputs. Tractor- or hand-tended, acreage to balcony, it’s definitely a planting scheme to consider.

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