Adventures in Yucatan, Mexico

Yesterday, Mrs. Silvia Teran visited us to give a conference about the Milpa Maya: the biocultural heritage of Mexico. " Milpa " is the traditional form of agriculture in Yucatan and other parts of mesoamerica. It is a long process of crop rotation that involves cutting and burning a part of the land in order to generate soil to plant crops. Starting with corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, jicama, chiles, etc and through the years moving to different fruits and finally fruit trees until, after 15-20 years, that patch of land is returned to forest that is used for gathering medicinal plants, building materials and hunting animals. Silvia told us some of the incredible characteristics of the milpa, here we will share some of them with you!  One of the remarkable characteristics of the milpa in mesoamerica is that it was the dominant form of agriculture from 1700BC until 1970 The milperos  (farmers) know how to work with the different kinds of soil. The terrain of the m