Haiti and the Dominican Republic share an island known in Taíno as Kiskeya-Ayti, (the motherland- the land of mountains). Kiskeya is a land of abundance. The Arawak peoples like many other Native American people practiced advanced sustainable agricultural techniques that worked alongside natural ecosystems. We will call them Forest Gardens for the purpose of understanding in a contemporary sense.

To the untrained eye, these types of gardens which can exist in any ecosystem appear to look wild and untouched. But to those managing the land, everything has purpose.

The idea is to create an abundance of edible ecosystems that also support sustained biodiversity so pests can be actively managed through the natural life cycle.

Our part within the ecosystem is to

1, encourage edible growth

2. Create habitat that supports predatory species that consume pest

3. manage soil health and ground cover via routine controlled burns(Don’t do this unless you’re a professional and have the necessary guidance/permits)

4. avoid invasive planting.

This practice has been used for thousands of years on Turtle Island(the Americas).

And in many native communities internationally, these practices were sustained.

The island of Kiskeya was the first colonial settlement, and yet even through a terrible era of genocide many of the ancestral Taíno practices of forest gardening continue on in contemporary Dominican and Haitian cultures.

It is a common sight in the countryside to see entire towns working both collectively and individually in a way that cultivates abundance around. Fruit trees in abundance, staple crops, and cattle rotated year-round.

So many fruits!

In the Tropics, shade is an important aspect of gardening.

In Kiskeya, the Caoba is revered as a central figure in forest gardening. Like the Oak in the United States, the Caoba is home to hundreds of species making it a sign of a healthy habitat.

Today our modern agricultural system is based on an ideal to control the land. Industrial farms actively work against nature to produce foods bath in toxins in soils bleached of their rich natural biodiverse ecosystems. Nature is considered a pest. Soils have to be artificially fertilized because they are becoming de facto deserts.

Decolonizing our perspective on life and our self-imposed centralized stance on nature can help us see, respect, and live alongside nature as we were always intended to.

It can help us reverse these ecological issues and revive the lands.

The beautiful thing is, producing food alongside nature is still practiced today. In pockets of the US, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the rest of Turtle Island.

Join Goco Goes on our mission to introduce these concepts to the broader world.

come and see these ancient perspectives for yourself.

Goco