Nuturing the Flourishing of All People
Acts 11:1-18
The story of the apostle Peter’s vision in Acts is a powerful witness of God’s intention for life to be diverse. Diversity is a buzzword (the “D” in “DEI” that we hear so much about is “diversity) and its ubiquitousness sometimes can diminish just how profound a concept it truly is. Diversity isn’t just aesthetic, it is existential. We need diversity to survive. We need diversity to flourish. The “three sisters,” corn, beans, and squash, found in historic indigenous farming practices brilliantly illustrates this.
I first learned about the “three sisters” from Dr. Robin Wall-Kimmerer, Potawatomi Botanist and author, in her book “Braiding Sweetgrass.” She describes the combination as the “genius of indigenous agriculture.” The three sisters defies the conventional wisdom that the best and most productive way to grow food is homogenously—in straight rows of single species. The three sisters seem like a chaotic sprawl of differing plants growing on top of one another, but they are truly an amazing dance of reciprocity and abundance.
I find the science of the three sisters fascinating. It is a powerful illustration of why diversity is a lot more important than we really give it credit for. When you plant the three sisters, you plant them together. Corn, squash, and beans. The corn grows first and grows quickly; straight and rigid. The stalk of the corn supports the second sister, beans, as her vines crawl up the stalk the corn sister is growing. The leaves of beans all stay lower to the ground as corn rises rapidly upward. And then, after a while, the bean starts to rise upward as well, growing upward on the stalk that the corn provides on vines it begins to create after it is over focusing on growing leaves.
If the corn had not grown up high so quickly, the bean sister would have strangled it before it could have thrived. When timed correctly, the corn easily supports the weight and grip of the vines of her bean sister.
And finally, the latest sister, squash—taking her sweet time, emerges and doesn’t grow upwards; she grows outwards. Her vines crawl along the ground as she puts out large leaves and beautiful yellow flowers. She grows spines to discourage nibbling insects. As her leaves grow large, the shade they provide helps keep moisture in the soil of all three plants.
As a botanist, Dr. Wall-Kimmerer added additional scientific context that reveals the beautiful interdependence of all of these plants. While the corn provides structure for the beans, and the squash’s leaves help the soil retain water all three plants need, botany reveals to us that beans do something remarkable under the soil that isn’t immediately evident. It turns out, the three sisters might be better understood as the “four siblings.” (And also consider the relationship the planter of these siblings has with them—an entire family!).
Each sibling does not rob the other sister of light, water or nourishment. But the corn and squash need something that only their bean sister can provide: nitrogen. If you pulled a bean plant out of the soil and looked at its roots, you would see little white balls. It turns out that the bean alone has a relationship with a bacterium known as Rhizobium—bacteria that convert freely available nitrogen into nitrogen that plants can use for their growth. The bean provides an environment free from oxygen for the bacteria to live, the bacteria creates nitrogen, more than it needs, and the bean and her sisters consume the nitrogen.
Corn, beans, squash, and Rhizobium create a diversity that illustrates how existential reciprocity really is. And that reciprocity creates the most efficient production of food in a square foot of soil. Planting “polycultures” like the three sisters dramatically reduces the need of pest and weed control. This polyculture creates more abundance per square foot than growing these plants separate from one another. Once you learn about three sisters, trying to grow these plants separately doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Diversity isn’t good because it looks pretty. Diversity isn’t just a rainbow flag we wave or a value we cling to. When we talk about the kind of diversity that will save, yes save, humanity, we are talking about the kind of diversity that fosters reciprocity. Dr. Wall-Kimmerer puts it best:
“Individuality is cherished and nurtured, because, in order for the whole to flourish, each of us has to be strong in who we are and carry our gifts with conviction, so they can be shared with others. Being among the sisters provides a visible manifestation of what a community can become when its members understand and share their gifts. In reciprocity, we fill our spirits as well as our bellies.”
The three sisters provide all of the nutrition a human being needs, starch from corn, protein from beans, vitamins from squash. Together in their diversity, they are complete, and so are we.
So when we talk about diversity in humanity, let’s remember the amazing ways our mutual reciprocity with one another allow us to flourish—flourish together. Let’s not forget what we can learn about ourselves from the three sisters. Let’s not forget that it is diversity that makes us complete as human beings, and certainly as Christians.
