How our modern cities can learn from Ancient Maya food forest systems.
Back in July 2021 The Leaf of Life Team went to visit one of the oldest food forests systems that was still existing even to this day, possibly is was more than 2000 years old, these days it is situated in the middle of the Belize Jungle very close to the Guatemalan Jungle and its not the safest place to visit, there are no longer any settlements and criminal bandits circle the area. Still we were determined to understand what was going on at this site, since El Pilar was an ancient city and surrounding the city was the most incredible agricultural system we had ever seen.
We were also witnessing ingenious urban planning, where squares and buildings were thoroughly planned for a purpose, from mapping time, geometry and the stars, they created court yards some to hold market places and some for entertainment, they even used all these buildings and flat, smooth surfaces to aid them with water engineering. Since 6 months of the years there is no rain at all in the central American tropical forests so they created ponds to collect all the surface run off.
Our guide an Maya plant expert, Narciso(who is now considered a citizen scientists for his integral work alongside archeologist and anthropologist Dr Ford) showed us that all around the city are useful plants, this might seem quite mundane but actually is quite remarkable because these plants did not arrive here by chance, since virgin forest does not contain as many useful species as what is here, the shocking revelation was all this had been intentionally planted, the seeds were collected and cast down thousands of years ago and those ancient seeds are still reproducing today, its literally an advanced food forest, thriving all on its own for thousands of years but its more than just a food bank, There are Medicinal herbs, antidotes, construction materials and other useful plants that can be turned into every day objects, all of which was planted with hands reach. Evidence has shown that the Maya fertilized the land by using small controlled files, this also helps to reduce unexpected forest fires which are wrecking havoc more than ever. The Maya used controlled fires sustainably by clearing small patches they could plant in the nutrient rich ash, what is called a Milpa system, consisting of corn, squash and beans, which is a highly nutritionally rich combination, providing carbohydrates, proteins, beta carotene, vitamins and minerals, plants these three sisters together, is a highly intelligent agricultural system with the beans providing much needed nitrogen to the soil, fertilizing the crops for free, whilst the squash broad leaves cover the ground from the hot harsh tropical sunshine, this protects the soil from loosing water to evaporation and keeps the plants hydrated and healthy. The corn stand proudly providing much needed support to the growing beans.
