Mandans and the Practice of Farming

Mandans and the Practice of Farming. . Life for these agriculturalists centered on the cultivation and trade of native corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers along with hunting. Women watched the skies carefully for the arrival of flocks of geese and ducks, which signified the arrival of spring and the time to start preparing the garden. Since gardening was closely tied to women's spiritual lives, offerings were made to waterfowl at certain times of the year. Gardening tools and cultivated plants were often found in women's ceremonial regalia and bundles. Prior to planting, ceremonies were held to bless the gardens and the seed.

The women in each family might cultivate up to five acres of bottomland, where the soil was soft and fertile. Hundreds of acres of crops were planted, cared for, and harvested near each of these large villages. Sunflowers were planted around the edge of their fields. In May, corn, beans, and squash were planted. Young girls would spend days on platforms in the fields shooing birds away from crops in the late summer.

Captions: . In August, squashes were harvested, sliced, and dried. . An archaeologist stands in an excavated cache pit. . Harvested corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers were stored in bell-shaped underground storage pits both inside and outside of Mandan homes. Some caches grass puncheons grass shelled corn dried beans in leather bag were more than six feet deep and stored surplus food such as corn, beans, and dried squash that was later traded to nomadic tribes. . Green corn harvest began shortly after the squash harvest. The green corn was eaten fresh from the fields and the rest was left to ripen with some ears shelled and kernels ground into flour. Other ears were suspended on racks by braiding the husks together. The best corn was kept for seed for the following year. . This historical marker was erected by State Historical Society of North Dakota. It is Near Bismarck in Burleigh County North Dakota