Hummingbird Farms
permaculture
Tzununá - Santa Cruz La Laguna Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
+502 3330 5340 farmatzikin@gmail.com
About us
We are a collective of farmers, ecologists, bio-builders and designers, working together to make holistic and eco-friendly designs for clients who share our passion for nature and who want to be part of the green movement.
OUR MISSION
Use the Permaculture Principles, to produce designs that facilitate the regeneration of landscapes, and the creation of healthy ecosystems, designed around natural patters, which meet the needs of those who interact and depend upon them, while supporting countless other life forms.
HOW WE WORK
We offer various services
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Design
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Consulting
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Project management and implementation
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Education and Capacity Building
DESIGN
The Design of a terrain is the convergence of two processes
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Once we find the convergence point between steps 1 and 2, our team gets to work, producing detailed designs, available in a range of formats.
1)GOAL ARTICULATION
This involves an informal interview with all the people involved in the Project, or at least someone who represents the group. We use this time to clearly define the goals and vision of the people involved in the project.
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We also use this time to analyse the resources and energy available to invest into the project.
2) SITE ANALYSIS
Consists of the following steps and data collection:
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General site analysis, based primarily on observation, this step requires a good deal of time to be spend on site, simple watching and recording observations
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Location, elevation, slope, climate and micro-climate, productive potential, available resources (especially building materiales)
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Soil Analysis
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Production of a to scale base map with accurate topograpy
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SECTOR ANALYSIS
An important tool that we use is the analysis of sectors or the analysis of all factors, natural and uncontrollable, that intervene in the place.
Design
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2D MAPS
3D RENDERING
DESIGN OF STRUCTURES
EDUCATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING
Before or after design, we can provide educational coaching with the intention of increasing your ability to design, maintain or optimize your project.
We offer training in the following areas:
• Permaculture design principles – The fundamental basis for being able to design in harmony with nature.
• Ecology – The basic principles of ecology and how to recognize the common characteristics that all healthy ecosystems have.
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• Site analysis and permanence scale – How to carry out a site survey and how to interpret all the information
• Keyline Design and Water Harvesting – How to read and interpret topographic data and design your site for maximum hydroelectric efficiency
• Water – Harvesting, purification and management of water
• Plants and permaculture – How to use plants to stabilize, diversify and your ecosystem
• Animals and permaculture – The role of animals in nature and how to integrate them holistically into your project
• Design Methodology – All the techniques we have used in our design projects and the approach we use to maximize creativity.
Trainings can be on our farm, or on your site. We can do them before the design, to facilitate the process, or we can do it after,
to solve technical problems or optimize certain areas.
All courses are supported by high-quality teaching materials. We have a library of drawings and images of common installations and systems to help you understand the concepts.
WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS
TERRACES AND LEVEL CURVES
NATURAL POOLS
Neal hegarty
Neal is from an Irish family with a background in dairy farming. He has worked in agricultural projects all over the world, including Australia and Colombia. He came to Guatemala five years ago to study write a thesis on the relationship between permaculture and traditional agricultural practices of the mayan people. He has been here since, working on many different Permaculture projects, before starting his own Permaculture farm, Granja Tzikin, with his two partners. He now manages his farm and farm to table restaurant and works as a designer and consultant with Regenera. He specializes in holistic land management, production of organic composts and production of organic crops.
ADRIANA URUETA
Adriana Urueta Cortes, is a Colombian ecologist, with extensive experience in environmental impact studies of tropical regions, especially regions inhabited by indigenous communities. Currently she works as a manager in Granja Tzikin, and as a Permaculture Designer and graphic illustrator with Regenera. Adriana has a passion for plants and plant medicine, she has many years of experience studying the plant medicine traditions of the amazon regions.
Jeremy fellous
Jeremy Fellows has focused ten years of study, mentorship and implementation of permaculture design systems back home in Massachusetts. With many years of experience in botany and horticulture, he is fascinated by the world of plants. After working many years in Guatemala, Jeremy has dedicated his focus to land and water management systems that lend to ecological acceleration and social integration through food production.