Both Seneca and Cayugas were primarily agriculturally-focused farmers, with a long standing tradition of living off the land. It’s always been a part of the individual tribes’ tradition and culture from the time of our Creation.

Like traditional farmers, to be agricultural, you have to stay planted in one specific location long-term to reap the yield of your crops labor, while actively tending to your produce. The tradition of the “longhouses” initially began due to the roots of the nations’ agricultural practices. The Senecas and Cayugas built longhouses as homes for their families to live in, due to the need for them to stay stationed in one location throughout the entire year, through the varying four seasons of their harvests.

Will Tarrant, the Cultural Preservation Director for SCN expanded further on the rich history of the practices: “Our tribe since the beginning of time has understood the reality of deforestation and preventative soil depletion farming practices. Awareness of soil depletion keeps from excessively extracting nutrients from their agricultural soils. To prevent this the farmers would move around to nearby locations to diversify the extraction of nutrients from the crops soil. This would allow time for the nutrients to grow back in between crops, yielding more abundant harvest. The earliest members understood soil preservation and conservation before it was a trend.”

One of the most interesting aspects of our early agricultural practices were the farming techniques and ingenuity with which they operated within. Specifically, in regards to the types of produce they planted and the order with which they planted. 

When sowing a crop of corn, beans, and squash much attention to detail was involved.  

The corn was always planted first, because the corn stocks grow upward. The farmer would wait for it to grow to be nearly 5 - 6 inches above the soil to grow tall. 

The next vegetable planted was the green beans, a climbing bean, and needed to have something to grow upwards upon. Because the corn had a head start, the beans would begin to grow.  This would allow the stock to have something to grow upon.

About a week after the beans are planted, the last vegetable of the crop would be planted which was squash. The squash would protect the crop from insects and weeds. The squash vines and intertwine at the base of the crops, which protect the corn and the beans combined. Interestingly, the squash give off a smell which bugs don’t like - acting as a natural bug repellent.

The timing is planned perfectly where the harvest would still be ripe at the same time and they would gather around the same time.

These three vegetables are known as the three sisters and are the life sustainers dating back to Our Creation. This is where the old age tradition of these foods commonly being associated at “Thanksgiving” came from. These three vegetables are also present within the Seneca-Cayuga tribal seal.