Gardens are of economic importance and also of aesthetic and social significance for indigenous peoples who sustain themselves by the cultivation of vegetables and grains. They may be the subject or locus of myth, and they are regularly the focus of ritual. Where subsistence gardening is the major economic activity, people usually have some food gardens close to their homes and others farther afield. In many societies, gardening is complemented with hunting and/or fishing.

Among the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) of North America, cultivation of the "Three Sisters" (corn, beans, and squash) provided vegetables, while the hunting of deer and other animals provided meat. Moreover, the Iroquois grew sacred tobacco for use in ceremonies. Like the Three Sisters, sacred tobacco is said to have first grown from the body of the Corn Mother, the woman who died after giving birth to Right-Handed Twin...