, Many of today's sustainable agriculture methods come from techniques Indigenous women introduced., Intercropping , In the spring (cattapeuk), women planted corn (cawl-na-woop), beans, and squash in mounds. Used by many Native communities, this technique is called the "Three Sisters." Elevated mounds drain the soil and reduce erosion. Planting multiple crops together, known today as intercropping, is self-sustaining and effective. The beans add nitrogen to the soil. This fertilizes the corn which then grows into a trellis for the beans. At the base, squash vines trap moisture., Field rotation , Throughout the summer (cohattayough), women weeded and prepared for the autumn harvest (taquitock). As it got cooler, they gathered, dried, and stored crops for the winter (popanow). They did not re-seed crops after a field reached peak productivity. Instead, they let it rest until fertile enough for later planting. They also harvested wild foods such as cattails (ahpuwiyazq), wild rice (manominx), and pawpaw (ahzzamintz)., Settling in villages instead of moving with the seasons meant local tribes could grow crops and hunt, fish, and gather. This shift to village life began about 3,000 years ago., Harvest Leftovers , Archaeologists found these miniscule remains of burnt corn at a village site near the Potomac River. Known as a "corn copule," each is the cup-shaped part that holds the kernel. Estimated to be 400 to 500 years old, these cupules indicate agricultural practices at the site., [Captions:] , The Three Sisters, watercolor by Ernest Smith (Tonawanda Seneca, Heron Clan), 1936, While the farming methods described here are not unique to the Piscataway, the words shown in italics are in the language of the Piscataway, whose ancetral homelands include Montgomery County., Hoeing Corn, watercolor by Ernest Smith (Tonawanda Seneca, Heron Clan), 1940,