,,Celebrating the Maya Forest as a
Garden
Meet the Mayan Forest Gardeners from El
Pilar!
Presented by ESP-Maya, a 501c3 non-profit organization, with
SBMNH
At the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Farrand Hall
Saturday, October 13, 2007 from 11 am to 4 pm
The Original PermaCulturists
The Maya have long been exalted for their architectural and artistic
grandeur. Towering temples dominating grand open plazas remain the
enduring evidence of their power. Keen observers of natural
phenomena, their priests studied the heavens, making accurate celestial
predictions with precise mathematics. The Maya were also superb
gardeners. They domesticated their wild jungles and tropical landscape
and established their cities based on forest gardens.
This powerfully effective art, architecture, and agriculture was,
amazingly, established without the aid of wheels and plows or the draft
animals, or even heavy metals like iron. Rather than being constrained by
this, the Maya were able to create a productive landscape that provided
thousands of years of growth and development. This is supremely evident
in the remarkably diverse and sophisticated development of their
landscape. Well-known plants that we rely on today were part of the Maya
diet: the sun trilogy of maize, beans, squash; basic vegetables such as
tomato and chile; fibers such as cotton; condiments like allspice tree
and achiote bush; and the important shaded delicacies of chocolate and
vanilla.
Tailored to the local geography, the Maya cultivated the forest as a
garden for thousands of years. Today the Maya forest is dominated by
these useful plants, nurtured by traditional farmers of the region who
grow a wide array of food, medicine, and spice as well as materials for
construction and home utensils. Their forest gardens provide
nourishment for their families, maintain the soil fertility, secure
water, and clean the air.
Come and meet them!
Join Us and Discover the World of the Maya Past and Present
• Where did the ancient Maya live? • What are we doing to
protect the Maya heritage?
• How can we learn from the Maya Forest Garden?
These are some of the fascinating question we will cover in our panel
discussion
At Fiesta El Pilar.
- ·
Beloved local
landscape designer Lori Ann David will moderate a celebration of the
tropical Maya forest past and present
·
Archaeologist
Anabel Ford will introduce the Maya world
·
A panel of local
and international experts will explore traditional landscapes.
·
Maya forest
gardeners from El Pilar Belize Master Gardener Alfonzo Tzul,
Traditional Healer Beatrice Waight, and Young Entrepreneur Lucas Medina
will discuss how they conserve and prosper in the Maya forest
- ·
Learn about Chumash landscapes
traditional Chumash Healer Adelina Padilla
- ·
Explore how traditional
knowledge can contribute to our own lives and landscapes.