[Scpg] Sustainable Maya Agriculture -Thurs March 8! 7pm Farrand Hall of Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

Dr Anabel Ford Presentation on Maya Forest Agriculture- March 8!

FREE
Don't miss this amazing opportunity to learn from Dr Anabel Ford about
sustainable Maya agriculture and what we can learn from it today!

WHERE: Farrand Hall of Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
WHEN: Thursday March 8 -- 7PM -- Followed by Refreshments

Renowned archaeologist Dr. Anabel Ford shares how the ancient Maya culture
maintained a biodiverse forest that was productive for them as well as
sustainable for local ecosystems. Enjoy a short video by Jane Goodall and a
talk on the El Pilar Archaeological Reserve for Maya Flora and Fauna, a
future showcase of the traditional forest garden culture of the Maya. After
the presentation, enjoy refreshments and meet Dr. F
Message for Larry Santoyo about Maya Agriculture
Greetings,

Having just returned last night, from the cultivated Mayan jungles of 
Belize, we can attest to the brilliance and productivity of the food 
forestry design.  We were amazed at the terrain and people -Mayan 
farmers still out there cultivating the landscape -It looks like 
random dense jungle -but upon examination is actually a thousand 
years of carefully cultivated food, medicine and fuel forests. -we 
were amazed and humbled.

One of the Mayan farmers that we met (and who was a student in the 
permaculture design course that we taught there), Ignacio Ash, was 
the son of the original settlers who came from Guatamala to 
repopulate this remote area at the source of the Columbia River in 
the early 20th century.

His family planted cacao as part of a mixed agroforestry system, 
integrated with nitrogen-fixing leguminous trees as the overstory 
nurse plants, along with timber/fuel trees, palms for thatching 
roofs, taro varietals, bananas, blogos and plantains, and various 
fruiting and flowering plants. Chickens forage in the understory, 
while a panoply of brilliant birds flit through the canopy.

We had the good fortune to taste over 10 varieties of his organic 
cacao:tasting the fruity pulp around the beans, which were then spit 
out and saved, to be fermented and then later, roasted. The roasted 
beans were then hand ground and formed into cacao balls, rich with 
cocoa butter, which can be stored for months until needed. (Use the 
cacao by finely grating and mixing with boiling water and sugar for a 
tasty drink, or use as you would any baking chocolate)

Interested in ordering the finest in organic cacao?  Contact Ignacio 
at <abidash at yahoo.com> and tell him Larry and Kathryn Santoyo sent you!


Larry and Kathryn
earthflow.com