What is it?

Tierra Fresca is an Earth-focused neighborhood and regenerative hub for experiences, connection, exploration and innovation.

Tierra Fresca serves as a working model for regenerative living, providing a safe, family-friendly space for exploration, learning, celebration, and healing. The community inspires others worldwide to adopt more regenerative lifestyles, demonstrating that harmonious coexistence with nature is both achievable and fulfilling.

Join us at Tierra Fresca and be part of a movement towards a sustainable future. Experience the harmony of living in tune with nature and contribute to a thriving, regenerative community.

Vision & Mission

The mission is to serve as a duplicatable template and source of inspiration to further the betterment of humanity, our mother Earth, and our connection to her.

We achieve this through living off the land, and in alignment with the rhythm of nature, and providing outlets for residents and guests to learn and grow through educational events, festivals, retreats and intentional media.

We want to create a working process system for development of sustainable communities that can serve as a duplicatable template for budding land projects worldwide.

Objectives & Key Results

Main Objectives:

• Build a thriving regenerative neighborhood and community homestead; focused on health, morality, consciousness, balance, community and innovation; and provide a safe space for exploration, nourishment, education and healing.
• Build deep interpersonal connections with local people and provide a space for ancient knowledge and ancestral wisdom to be shared and re-integrated with the native peoples, and recorded, including native medicinal plants, healing practices, gardening techniques, language, art, culture, etc.
• Establish food forests to provide abundant sustenance to the entire neighborhood, with excess to be preserved, sold, shared, and gifted.
• Embody the values of Mettā Creative and inspire regenerative action amongst visitors, guests and followers.

Key Results:

• Achieve ‘self-suffiency’ within the community, living with, in and “off” the land as a milestone, to go 1 full year without the need to buy groceries
• Host 2-3 educational and creative arts retreats, to generate income, interest, and more development of the land and projects.
• Establish a safe and comfortable environment for families, including necessities like homeschooling, youth-groups, family nurse, and field trips & work opportunities.
• Generate consistent annual yields through the project business ventures to comfortably pay for any common area upgrades, construction, maintenance and repairs on the land.

Land Restoration & Ecosystem Preservation:

We aim to protect and restore:

129 Hectares of Natural Sanctuary. (in dark green)

12 Hectares of Food forests. (in light green)

9 Hectares of Jungle Homestead Lots, Gardens, Common Areas & Community Facilities & Amenities for natural living (in yellow, turquoise & red)

Location

Nestled in the tropical mountains of Suchitipéquez, above the town of Chicacao, Guatemala.

https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d7723.955617804368!2d-91.33174900414228!3d14.543261728837182!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x858ecedea758a9dd%3A0xdb440835169f9c13!2sChicacao%2C Guatemala!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sro!4v1714337276810!5m2!1sen!2sro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicacao

The history of this land is quite remarkable. It served many functions, and today, preserves an energy that is palpably rich with history and memories, as well as fruit and fresh spring water.

History & Culture

He applied what he learned in the U.S. and created what would go on to become a historic coffee plantation, employing thousands of people over the course of it’s lifetime.

The founder of Finca La Arabia, Don Julio Carmen, who studied Accounting at the U.S. Military Academy of Mississippi, brought his family from El Salvador and applied what he learned in the U.S. to create what would become a high-producing agricultural operation and community of over hundreds of families that would work throughout the year. There was eventually an official metal “Finca La Arabia” coin that was created, establishing an internal economy, or ‘donut economy’ where workers would receive these coins for the weight of coffee harvested, and could redeem them for produce, groceries and goods from the farm store.

During the peak years, Finca La Arabia won an award for “Guatemala’s Best Coffee” in 1996. Not only was this farm an internationally renowned coffee plantation, it also became a central location for the “guerilla fighters” that sough refuge in the mountains above the farm during the Civil War, or “Guatemalan Genocide”. It is referred to “El Conflicto” and is a similar story in most countries in Central & South America.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemalan_genocide

And another perspective: https://www.anywhere.com/guatemala/travel-guide/history