Quoted By:
Amerifags (like the continent, not just the US) intersted in small scale farming should look in to Pre-Columbian farming techniques. It usually revolved around small-patch, mixed-culture planting versus mono-culture field-style planting.
The most cited example is the Three Sisters. Planting patches of corn, beans and squash together.
The corn provides a support for the beans to grow own, the the beans replace nitrogen in the soil that the corn uses up and the squash provides soil coverage and helps keep weeds at bay.
Nutritionally, the corn and beans make a complete protein and the squash provides more vitamins and minerals.
