The KO Way of growing is regenerative, reciprocal with nature and life-giving. HERE’S WHY:

SMALL-SCALE FARMING

Why we want to stay small?

Right now, Kunahmul is growing only 2 acres of reclaimed pasture land.

We believe that staying small means we can stay focused. 

We love growing heirloom and indigenous crops and love delivering them to you. Still, we want our farm to expand consciously. 

consciously? What do you mean?

Growing consciously means giving space and time to everyone who is a member of your team. It means being aware of the surrounding environment and your impact on it. It means growing with your client and mission in mind, rather than just your wallet.

Genetic diversity for the future

Here at Kunahmul Organics, we believe in growing for flavour. We choose to grow seeds that are non-GMO because we think of our farm as a small nodule in a larger ecosystem. If everyone stopped growing the original guys, how would they stay alive? In 80 years, we've lost 93% of our food seed varieties. That's not just history lost (how will we know what our people once ate here?), it's also flavour lost.

LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT

beauty in Simplicity

We use simple tools that ask for low energy inputs and avoid fancy specialized machines that only have one function. We only use gasoline when expanding our bedspace, using a hand-held two-wheel tractor. The rest of the time, we use our handy grelinette to aerate our soil, and prepare beds, we use our hand-held shovels to plant our seedlings, our clippers to prune and our field knives to cut.

This may sound like a lot more work because it is, but using our hands means we are able to pay more attention to detail. We have a relationship with our soil and our plants, and we notice when things change. 

Farming using our bodies is important as it reminds us to stay humble, and to see our limitations. It reminds us of nature's power and how we give to the soil to take from it. Farming like this gives us the ability to focus on flavour and quality, and to remember to grow slowly.

100% ORGANIC AND CHEMICAL FREE

Who doesn't love picking fresh tomatoes off the vine, and eating them right then and there?

This is one of the many perks of organic farming.

We avoid chemical sprays, not only because we worry about its affects on our health, but also because we believe in a low carbon footprint (why import in chemicals we don't need?) and responsible farming (how will these sprays affect the larger ecosystem around us?). Many pesticides are non specific, so spraying for pickleworms on cucumbers, for example, also kills butterflies and other beneficial insects in the area.

But how do you get rid of pests?

Much of our farming relies on soil microbes, pollinators and the surrounding wildlife. Using pesticides, herbicides or fungicides on our plants or soil would quickly change the natural balance. We even avoid using imported bacterial cultures on our soil because without knowing their long term affects, we don't want to tinker with the region's soil microorganisms. This means we rely heavily on composting, mulching, hand-picking weeds and hand-picking pests. This may sound crazy, but the hand-picking is an important meditative gesture that gives us time to observe patterns in our plants.

With patience, we begin to see natural predators taking care of pests. The tiny frogs in our mulch, eating the white flies. The ladybugs taking care of aphids. And, oh how beautiful it is to be around all this life! 

It gives us a reverence for PACHAMAMA.

It reminds us that we are not the owners of nature. We just play a small part in it.

NO SYNTHETIC FERTILIZERS

We avoid using soil amendments that aren't created by us on our farm to lower our reliance on others, our carbon footprint, and our impact on the soil's microbial balance.

At Kunahmul, we mulch heavily with organic materials (most often with grass that is cut on the farm from surrounding pastures), practice green manuring (beans, beans, the magical fruit!) before plantings and use compost to maintain the livelihood of our soil. We also hand-sift and make the soil mix for our seeding trays to ensure a high germination rate and no accidental imported chemicals (no Miracle Gro here).

Our Reef, our rainforest, Our Responsibility

Here at KO Farms, we believe in sustainable and responsible agriculture. We know how we grow will always affect the surrounding ecosystems. We believe in maintaining their livelihoods, and with the Carribbean Sea and its magnificent coral reef being the last living reef in the world, we want to make sure we protect it. 

Belize has so many rivers that run into the sea. This means any agricultural run-off, pesticides or synthethic fertilizers leeching into the water, is a real concern. We'd rather play it safe and avoid using any chemicals and synethic fertilizers, than see its consequences on our wildlife and our drinking water.