About Us
Hello from Beth, Chad, and Noodle!
Our goal is to be a model for sustainable community development and ecotourism. This can be achieved with the creative systems thinking and design principles that showcase the sustainable management of energy consumption, water usage, and waste treatment. Our ethics include biodiversity conservation, soil health, air and water quality, food security, food sovereignty, health and well-being, social justice and human rights, sharing of knowledge and fair allocation of resources.
Our 640 acre cacao farm located in the beautiful San Felipe Village, Toledo District of Belize next to Sarstoom Temash National Park. We are situated 3 miles off the southern highway, 10 miles from the coastal village of Barranco and a 15 minute drive to Punta Gorda Town. The farm boasts a beautiful limestone spring and creek that form a tributary to the Moho River. Over 200 acres of the farm is in its natural jungle/rainforest state which makes for fantastic bird watching.
We had never in our wildest dreams thought that we would own a farm one day! We felt a calling and ended up buying a 640-acre farm in the Southern region of Belize in the village of San Felipe.
So, why did we decide to call it ‘Balam’ke’?
The word may have many different meanings, but we had not one but three good reasons to choose this name for our farm. For starters, the ground of the property has a special soil material that the Mayans call Balam’ke. The term also stands for Jaguar, and we have a rare jaguar with black spots living on our farm.
There is also a traditional Mayan story about an underworld warrior who fought Xibalba and successfully saved corn, beans, and cacao that saved his people and community.
Our Vision
At Balam’ke Farms, our vision is to create a 100% organic garden based on the principles of sustainable agriculture with towering Criollo cacao trees leaning over a variety of exotic fruit trees. One of our core focuses is to raise a lot of bees in our forest garden.
Being strong advocates of farm-to-table sustainability, our idea is to produce our own products on Balam’ke Farms and make farm-fresh items accessible for everyone. We have planted approximately 42,000 Criollo cacao trees in our forest garden. We offer a wide range of products, including cocoa beans, honey, and all-natural soaps, among others.
Our aim is to bring the highest quality Fine Flavor Cacao products to you to ensure your chocolate creations stand out from the crowd.
What Can You Find at Balam’ke Farms?
We take pride, with the help of our team, in delivering the freshest and most organic, farm-made cocoa beans, chocolate bars, honey, cohune oil, and coconut oil, along with farm-made soap bars, and cosmetic items. We also sell fermented and dried fine-flavor cacao products to chocolatiers across the UK, Europe, US, Middle East, and Asia.