In article ,
Gordon wrote:

A friend told me about the Three Sisters growing method.
Apearently It comes from the Native Americans who would
grow Corn, Beans and Squash together. The corn stalks
would provide a trellis for the beans to grow on, and
the squash would grow on the ground and provide cover
to control the weeds. Sounds intresting.

Anyone else heard of it? Anyone tried it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milpa

Milpa is a crop-growing system used throughout Mesoamerica. It has been
most extensively described in the Yucatán peninsula area of Mexico. The
word milpa is a Mexican Spanish term meaning "field", and is derived
from the Nahuatl word phrase mil-pa "to the field" (Nahuatl mil-li
"field" + -pa "towards"). Based on the ancient agricultural methods of
Maya peoples and other Mesoamerican peoples, milpa agriculture produces
maize, beans, and squash. The milpa cycle calls for 2 years of
cultivation and eight years of letting the area lie fallow. Agronomists
point out that the system is designed to create relatively large yields
of food crops without the use of artificial pesticides or fertilizers,
and they point out that while it is self-sustaining at current levels of
consumption, there is a danger that at more intensive levels of
cultivation the milpa system can become unsustainable.

The concept of milpa is a sociocultural construct rather than simply a
system of agriculture. It involves complex interactions and
relationships between farmers, as well as distinct personal
relationships with both the crops and land. For example, it has been
noted that "the making of milpa is the central, most sacred act, one
which binds together the family, the community, the universe...[it]
forms the core institution of Indian society in Mesoamerica and its
religious and social importance often appear to exceed its nutritional
and economic importance."
--
- Billy

E pluribus unum
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-20100405
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96993722