Sustenance strategies for the Hopi, Navajo, and Iroquois.

Food is a means of survival for everyone. Because the Navajo and Hopi were in the same region they had similar means of food, as compared to the Iroquois who had a very different climate.
The Hopi lived in a desolate part of the country were rainfall was usually was less than 10 inches per year. Irrigation systems like floodwater farming were used. Men planted and cultivated crops. The men technically owned the crops, but because the women owned the land its self, when the men gave the harvested goods to his wife to be prepared they became her property. Originally the plants cultivated in the area were kidney beans, tepary beans, maize, cotton, and squash. Other plants were introduced by the Spanish like chili peppers, onions, peaches, watermelons, and wheat. The Hopi also looked tobacco plant. Because farming took almost all the time and game was scarce there was almost no meat in their diet. The farming year began usually in February but it was the sun watcher who determined the time to sow.

The Navajo were in the same region of the country as the Hopi, so they traded regularly. Much like the Hopi’s meals, a lot were without meat, the sheep were a good source of food for them but the herds were sacred and almost like part of the family. The Navajo people’s main source of food was sheep, though as opposed to the Hopi the women did the planting and cultivating. For the most part the Navajo would raise little crops like maize, but mostly they traded the Hopi wool for things like beans and squash.