Beans, Corn, Squash, Oh my!

I am likely the slowest corn, bean and squash planter in the world, or in the bottom tier with the rest of my American muchachos. I need to take bean-flicking lessons. After being instructed how to take three beans and flick them into a small hole on the ground that I had just made with a spear-like tool, I went back to bending over and carefully placing the beans and corn into the hole. I tried flicking; really, I did. They went all over the ground like 52-card pick-up. I decided that bending over and proceeding with turtle speed was more efficient than trying to beat the hare to the finish line.

My trench zucchini plants are growing well!

I planted half an acre of one of our fields with bush beans and a quarter acre with pole beans and corn. The squash I planted along a trench that had been dug in the granadilla vineyard to allow water to flow through the land. In the field, the corn is intercropped with beans, squash and amaranth—a high-protein, gluten-free grain that is grown at high altitudes, like quinoa. Inter-cropping plants best utilizes a piece of land while continuing to enrich the soil. 

Green beans and squash were sown together. Both are now producing abundantly.

For instance, beans fix nitrogen (take nitrogen from the air and transfer it to the soil), which symbiotically combines well with corn, as corn requires large quantities of nitrogen to grow full and tall. Pole beans also needs something on which to climb and twist, so the corn offers a likely and natural pole for the beans, giving the farmer a break in having to stake the beans. Squash and beans have long been planted side-by-side. Similar to the corn, the squash benefits from the extra nitrogen from the beans while covering the soil and smothering some of the weeds. I also like the inter-cropping of parsley and peppers. The parsley keeps the soil moist around the pepper plants, like mulch, and impedes weed growth.  

The parsley is planted near the base of the pepper plants.

Often organic farmers talk about crop rotation, which is extremely important; however, inter-cropping is also a good solution for the small cultivator, as it encourages maximum usage of the land without depleting the soil. In the Winter Harvest by Eliot Coleman, he discusses a historical perspective of intensive market gardening from Paris in the 19th century. He writes that the Parisian farmers would use one freshly tilled garden bed replete with well-decomposed manure from the city horses on which to broadcast radish and carrot seeds, followed by a simultaneous transplanting of lettuce. Due to the difference in timing of germination and growth, the radishes would mature first and be harvested, leaving room for the carrots to grow. Once the lettuce was harvested and the carrots were maturing, cauliflower was transplanted in the open areas! This is an exemplary succession of combining complimentary crops (not of the same family) and tending the soil to the best of one’s ability. Once again, we return to the care of the soil. 

This tree produces a fruit called tree tomatoes, which is in the same family as the tomato but is firmer and sweeter.

Another aspect I enjoy about organic farming is the creativity involved and the observation required. I have spent many years observing people through a sociological eye. Now, I can care for those people by observing nature and contributing to its health. I plan to produce nourishing food for the wide array of people I have come to love.