Seminar: Ethnoecology of Indigenous Foods: Re-learning our Local Food Systems
Program: DINÉ
Subject Area: Science
Grade Level: High school
Year of Publication: 2025
Abstract
This unit will invite students to learn about ethnoecology and to consider how humans and
ecosystems are interconnected, specifically in our region. We will read and discuss selections
from the book Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults (Kimmerer & Smith, 2022) that highlight
how human connection to the land is a reciprocal process. The chapter The Three Sisters will
introduce students to the species within a three sisters garden and how they work symbiotically. We will learn about why these three species are important to humans in the Southwest and have been for thousands of years. In groups, students will research and create detailed plant profiles for each of the sister plants- corn, beans, and squash. These plant profiles will include recipes for preparing each ingredient. Then, students will create a model to diagram the nutrient exchange and relationships among the plants, soil, and humans in a Three Sisters garden.
During the second semester of the year, we will collaborate with community partners and local
Indigenous gardeners for students to learn about the methods to plant a Three Sisters garden.
They will start growing seeds of all three species inside under grow lights. Once it is warm enough, students will engineer a location in our school garden to plant their seedlings and design a plan for when and how each species should be planted. They will work together to
plant their own three sisters garden that can grow over the summer and be gifted to the
incoming students of the next year.
This unit will conclude with a differentiated project where students can choose from: using one of their recipes to prepare a dish made of corn, beans, and/or squash to share with the class, interviewing an elder/gardener about their experience growing food, creating interpretive materials for the garden, or making a video to document the process of planting a Three Sisters garden. The final culmination will be a community gathering where we share foods and products from our garden.