Native Son, Native Seeds

http://www.stthomas.edu/news/native-son-native-seeds/


Engebretson, Kelly. "Native Son, Native Seeds." St. Thomas Newsroom. N.p., 01 Apr. 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

       The Mesoamerican Institute of Permaculture, IMAP, is a place that I have actually visited, lived and volunteered. The man, Rony, in this article is someone I have worked closely with and I will actually be bringing him to Westerns campus with a grant from the Office for Sustainability so that he can give people information on his amazing ideas. This article focuses on permaculture from the lens of Mayan culture, a way of regenerative instead of just sustainable living.
      When I first visited Guatemala and IMAP in particular I fell in love with the design of the place. I had no idea what permaculture was but I wanted to be a part of it, this thing that had the answer to everything from human waste to CO2 emissions from cooking. I was blown away that they had all the solutions in the global south and in the United States we are still struggling with so many of these small things that could be so easily fixed. 
      Rony speaks on the fact that permaculture is not difficult because all you have to do is let nature do n and observe what it does naturally and then help foster that growth. He makes use of everything from abandoned tires to the pulpe left from coffee beans. We are just a part of nature, not excluded from it so we must act the part.
This is a photo of some fresh dragonfruit I had just pulled off of an overhang of one of the structures along with some sweet plums.