Zuni waffle gardens were extensive in New Mexico in 1873, and are still used today. Drought, a hot dry, maybe windy, climate requires creative response. Consider an old proven successful technique!
Photographer: T. H. O’Sullivan. Expedition of 1873. Archive
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Planting a waffle garden, Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. Museum of New Mexico photo by Jesse Nusbaum, 1911
The Zuni people developed this waffle-garden design, which is still used today as an ecological method of conserving water. The garden was surrounded by a clay or adobe wall that rose 30-50 cm above the ground. The waffle plot may have had a gravel mulch as well. Both methods served to hold the water in the soil longer, to retard evaporation.
About those walls! Study this little airflow diagram…better to make a porous windbreak!
In a cooler climate, a wall, maybe of berry producing shrubs with dwarf fruit trees behind, can reduce cooling and drying winds, allowing the warmth of a food forest! The waffles still reduce water use. Mulch in summer keeps weeds down and the plant roots cool and moist though the plants are getting lots of heat.
Waffle gardens at the Zuni Pueblo were planted near the Zuni River. Sadly, today, it is an unreliable water source for sustainable farming, but if you live at the bottom of a drainage area, take advantage of it as they did. If you are selecting land, choose wisely.
This Zuni field, below left, takes advantage of the shade of the trees. Notice that the pattern follows the contour of the land, and the waffles are not all square or the same size. Shape them as suits your needs. They don’t have to have straight lines! The rock circle border, below right, indicates the gardener is creating a waffle garden medicine wheel!
OCTOBER 28, 2014 The University of Arizona plans a simple Community Garden that incorporates water conservation structure where the higher ground acts as waffle berms.
June of 2002 the A:Shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center had put in a waffle garden to help the children of Zuni understand the ways of their ancestors. July and August, Zuni usually experiences monsoon season with afternoon thunderstorms coming from the south, a common (hoped for, prayed for!) occurrence. When we visited Zuni in August we found that the garden had changed significantly and that there had been lots of growth to all the crops!
Same garden in August after the rains! The corn is flourishing!
Use and modify your areas to good advantage. High berms deflect the prevailing drying wind. Deep basins hold water where it is needed.
2021! Here is Curtis Quam’s waffle garden in action! He tends it with his family at Zuni Pueblo, NM. It uses less water, increases food security! Please see more at The Resurgence of Waffle Gardens Is Helping Indigenous Farmers Grow Food with Less Water!
Teach! Visit local historic native gardens in your area. In Santa Barbara CA that would be our Mission Garden, called La Huerta, The Orchard. The City of Albuquerque collaborates with the nonprofit Open Space Alliance. Below is the Traditions Demonstration Garden, at the Open Space Visitor Center. It is a hands on volunteer effort learning feature designed to teach about historical foods and methods of farming in the Rio Grande Valley.
Pointers
- Your berms don’t need to be amended.
- You don’t need berms, or very high berms, if you dig down and amend.
- Generally, make your waffle 2′ or smaller square. Make them a size workable for you to comfortably reach across to maintain and harvest.
- Make pathways wide enough between patches so you can safely haul in and unload your amendments, not damage your berms.
- Plant sprawlers like squash, melons, at a corner. They can act as a living mulch.
- Plant corn so it doesn’t shade plants that need full sun.
- Lovely as the Three Sisters sounds, beans climbing corn, squash at the feet of the corn, some say the corn shades out the beans. If your corn is a 10′ tall variety, few can reach the beans to harvest!
- Put up a trellis along one edge if you are ok with breaking tradition a bit. It can also act as a porous windbreak!
Squash and corn starting in a single dug down Waffle! Give it a try! You can do it anywhere!
And that, became this! Happy Planting!
Updated 3.27.22
Love your Mother! Plant bird & bee food! Think grey water! Grow organic! Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!
The Green Bean Connection started as correspondence for the Santa Barbara CA USA Pilgrim Terrace Community Garden. Both of Santa Barbara City’s remaining community gardens are very coastal. During late spring/summer we are often in a fog belt/marine layer most years, locally referred to as the May grays, June glooms and August fogusts. Keep that in mind compared to the microclimate niche where your veggie garden is. Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!
Green Bean Connection 