HEIRLOOM TECHNOLOGY

By Tim Anderson

Handy Tricks from Guatemala

I recently visited Guatemala with my mother, hosted by an amazing NGO ( non-govern-mental organization) called Common Hope ( commonhope.org). The oldest archeological evidence of maize cultivation, 3,000-plus years ago, is found here. Many families have been cultivating it ever since. They’ve come up with some ingenious tricks and tools.

Cornstalk House

Monica and Cristobal live with their family in a traditional Mayan house with walls made from cornstalks (Figure A). The walls are more substantial than you would expect. Handfuls of cornstalks are lashed to a crosspiece with wire. The crosspiece is another bundle of cornstalks. They build fences the same way.

Corncob Tool Handle

Here’s a file handle made from a corncob (Figure B). My farm relatives in Illinois also use corncobs for tool handles. A good corncob handle can last a long time and can be very comfortable in the hand.

Ceramic Griddle

Monica makes tortillas on a hot ceramic platter called a comal (Figure C). The pat-pat-pat of

^» Monica and her brother Cristobal Jesus (pictured flattening tortillas is one of the domestic sounds above) guide us up the side of the volcano Agua, near of Guatemala. The family grew the corn for these the town of Antigua Guatemala. The trail is steep. tortillas right here, halfway up the volcano.

People have dug many pits along the trail and at the end of each row of corn beside us. In the rainy season Greasewood Kindling the water runs into these pits instead of washing the Their father, Don Filiberto, showed me the pitch-trail away. pine sticks he uses to kindle the fire (Figure D).

Monica and her brother are ethnic Maya, like most Guatemalans. And like most families, they grow corn. Corn and beans. The corn depletes the nitrates in the soil. The beans put nitrogen back in with the help of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the root nodules. Beans supply the diet with amino acids lacking in the corn. The bean vines climb up the cornstalks. It’s a perfect system.

The cornstalks grow to 10 feet or more. To harvest the corn, they cut the stalk with a machete overhead. This makes the top fall over so they can reach the ears.

Tump Line

We met this gentleman named Senso Seis coming down the trail. He’s carrying his corn in a net bag with a “tump line” over his forehead, which is their traditional method (Figure E).

Ergonomic Clotheslines

The clotheslines hang down low for ease of hanging clothes. Then long, diagonal poles are used to prop the clotheslines up high out of the way, where they get more sunlight and breeze (no image).

Photography by Tim Anderson

168 Make: Volume 15