A holistic ecological education is fundamental to value, manage and respect natural resources and biodiversity. Whether you want to learn to use systems in your homestead thinking or discover traditional plant-based medicine, you will have the opportunity to discover the ethics and principles of permaculture from the Mayan worldview in all of our workshops.
Environmental stewardship, gender equity, ethnic diversity, and food sovereignty are some of the intersecting themes incorporated throughout our educational curriculum. Our pedagogy values ancestral wisdom, fosters local knowledge, promotes a solidarity economy model, and aims to operate through horizontal power relations.
Whether you’re coming as a team, a school or a family, we are happy to program a theoretical and practical workshop totally adapted to your goals, budget and time availability.
We facilitate a wide variety of permaculture and agroecological topics to propose an educational itinerary and practical experiences based on your interests and needs. We’ll design for you and your group a stimulating program full of working tools and ancestral knowledge based on your self-sustainability projects.
All workshops include English translators, lodging, food, didactic material, facilitation and diploma.
Biointensive Permaculture Design
- What are biointensive techniques and how do I adapt them to different climatic conditions?
- How do I design my own diversified and productive permaculture system in a small urban space?
- How do I preserve rich soils?
- How can I manage water well?
- How can I develop my creativity using the resources available around me and applying permaculture principles?
- What native and non-native plants can I plant in my garden or plot?
- How can I use my resources and time more efficiently?
Community Seed Banks
- Why is the protection and propagation of native seeds on a community scale indispensable for food sovereignty?
- How can we preserve, select, harvest, reproduce and distribute native seeds?
- How can seeds be rescued following ancestral knowledge and agroecological practices?
- How can we adapt our seed bank to fulfill the needs of local food sovereignty initiatives?
- How do we manage, maintain and keep records in a seed bank?
- How is the seed quality control carried out?
- How can we use the Maya agricultural calendar at our seed bank?
Introduction to Mesoamerican permaculture
- Why is competitiveness not a sustainable living philosophy and why is permaculture design a viable alternative?
- How can appropriate technology be integrated into a permaculture design?
- How can we form local ecological action groups that ensure food sovereignty for our community?
- How can we responsibly take advantage of the interconnections that exist in each production system?
- How can we resiliently produce food in our gardens and water tanks?
The Influence of the Moon on Agriculture
- How did Maya elders practice ecologically-conscious agriculture in harmony with our environment?
- What are the traditional techniques and ancestral practices based on the Maya cosmovision that are being lost and should be valued today?
- How can we take advantage of the lunar calendar, the trajectory of the sun, the natural elements, the seasons and the energies in my garden or farm?
- What are some of the most important agricultural, philosophical and spiritual concepts of the Kaqchikel culture and language that can be useful to us on a daily basis?
- How can we design an integrated and efficient garden system?
Rich Topsoils & Integrated Pest Management
- What are the different elements in our ecosystems, what are their functions and how are they connected?
- What makes soil rich and healthy? How do we preserve it?
- What is the importance of the relative location of our different elements?
- How does the association of plants work for biological pest control?
- How should organic waste be handled and used?
- How can we contribute to the regeneration of our environment?
Ancestral Maya Medicine
- What is the relationship between Maya Cosmovision and health? What are the history and fundamentals of Maya ancestral medicine?
- What is the true origin of diseases and what are their therapeutic treatments?
- How does the Maya calendar influence medicine and our lives?
- How can we learn to identify and consume medicinal plants for preventive family health?
- What are the Maya medical specialties?
- How can common illnesses be treated with our garden?
Edible Forests & Diverse Polycropping Systems
- How does crop diversity ensure long-term food sovereignty?
- What do natural forests teach us about the creation and management of cultivable ecosystems?
- What integration techniques are used in ecological systems for the good care and management of resources?
- How to ensure earth care and people care through permaculture forest design?
Producing and Transforming Native Maya Plants
- What was the significance of amaranth for the pre-invasion Maya civilization?
- What was the diet of Maya elders and how can we rediscover its benefits?
- What is the nutritional value of amaranth and chia seeds?
- How should amaranth be planted, cultivated, and harvested?
- In what ways can amaranth be artisanally transformed and consumed?
- How can we elaborate organic products of high quality from native plants?
Native Maya Cuisine
- What Mesoamerican native plants have been forgotten but are nutritious and tasty?
- What nutritional needs can be met by regional biodiversity?
- How can we improve our family’s nutrition through the consumption of native plants?
- How can we incorporate (more) native plants into our daily diet?
- How can we prepare delicious and healthy dishes by creating local ingredients recipes?
- What is the difference between food sovereignty and food security?
- What does the recreating and updating our local gastronomy imply?
Diversified and Intensive Aquaculture
- How do we manage water resources efficiently and respectfully?
- How can we manage ponds, wetlands and hydrological systems?
- How can we associate plants and water retention systems?
- How does permaculture work at the community scale?
- How can we deal with climate change consequences without turning to high-cost conventional agriculture?