Mother Tree Tulum
Is this the answer?
I had the privilege of interviewing Nathan Wakeford, one of the founders of Mother Tree Tulum. I learned about the vision of Mother Tree Tulum, a vision of a regenerative community with a focus on food sovereignty and independence.
Nathan is originally from Australia and previously founded and ran a global food business (he sold into Canada, the US, Hong Kong, New Zealand, all across Australia, etc.).
The response to the covid pandemic had a significant impact on the food company so he sold his shares in that company. Being a very intuitive person, he had already received the guidance that he would be making a move and that it would be to Mexico. He didn’t know how this would happen or how the land would come to him.
Turns out he ended up doing a dieta with ayahuasca in the Amazon rainforest with a small Amazonian tribe, and he did some energy/healing work with a woman who introduced him to an Argentinian man who was helping Mayans sell their land in Mexico.
Nathan connected with them, toured the land, and he immediately knew that was the land for the Mother Tree project.
All the stars were aligned. Nathan sold his company, sold the investment property that he had in Australia, purchased the land near Tulum, and decided to build.
He created a master plan:
The vision of Mother Tree Tulum is to create an economically self-sustaining, off-grid, premium/luxurious regenerative community, with a circular economy that supports the economic well-being of its members.
They have been working on this vision of a regenerative community with a focus on food sovereignty and independence for almost two years now.
Mother Tree Tulum is located in the jungle, where the land is incredibly fertile. Its food forest blossoms all year round with flowers and fruit.
Clean organic and loved food is being grown to nourish the families that will live there and the overflow will be utilized in the cafe they are opening, Todo Bien, a coffee and tea shop inside the city of Tulum intended to create a circular economy which will also provide employment opportunities for people who are involved in the community.
The tropical and hot weather almost all year round and underground water allow them to grow food all year round.
Tulum is one of the fastest-growing areas on Mexico's coastline. There is already a big ex-pat community in Tulum, so you can have both, the Mexican way of living with its lower cost of living plus a large community of people like you that you can relate to and communicate with.
It is fairly easy to immigrate to Mexico, and the people at Mother Tree Tulum are able to help you relocate. They are familiar with all the legalities of the process including temporary residency visas and work permits.
Nathan didn’t have any significant challenges moving to Mexico. He had friends and connections that helped him, so the move to Mexico was a smooth and easy process. He found groups that are already established there, and got help with everything, from exchanging money, opening a bank account, getting his car registered, etc. He found that people in the Tulum area are generally very helpful.
The existence of huge ex-pat networks means that a lot of people have already solved all the issues involved in moving to the area. People have already found the answers to questions like where do you buy a car, where do you go to the dentist, what is the best school, where do you go grocery shopping, where do you go to the chemist, where do you go for child care, which school is the best, all these questions have already been answered by people who have already moved there and done the research.
Compared to maybe 2 years ago, it's getting easier and easier as more and more people move to the area. There is a genuine movement of people relocating who are seeing what's happening in the West, what’s happening in Australia, in Canada, and the like. So there are growing communities that offer support, and people that have already been in that position of relocating and have solved those problems.
There are numerous WhatsApp and Telegram groups in the Tulum area that people can join. Nathan supports people who are seeking to join Mother Tree Tulum by making introductions to lawyers if they need to get visas, showing people around town, pointing out the best places to buy groceries, etc., and he has even picked up people at the airport when they arrive!
Part of the charm as to why Nathan went to the Tulum area, is because during the lockdowns this area was one of the most open places. In Mexico City, for example, people had bought much more of the narrative of places like Canada.
The world is certainly moving towards the creation of much more controlled environments. Thus, regenerative communities have a high degree of freedom. This freedom is found much more in small towns and in developing towns than in large cities that have a lot of infrastructure, which ultimately leads to increased restrictions and limitations for people.
During the lockdowns, in the Tulum area, you didn’t even have to wear a mask. Businesses had the signs up, but there was no enforcement; people didn’t believe in wearing masks; businesses stayed open, bars, restaurants; everything stayed open.
However, the 5G towers are already going up and the truth is that the infrastructure and technology are going everywhere. There will be very few places where we will be able to avoid that unless we really go to extremely remote locations.
Our standard of living will come down to our own culture, our ability to grow food, our ability to live outside of large urban centers. In places like Australia, for example, they are banning the ability to grow your own food, particularly in urban areas.
Nathan agreed with me that Mexico doesn’t really have the resources to do that kind of thing (yet!).
Mother Tree Tulum is a regenerative community and circular economy with two components. The first component is the physical component which is like a little mini-village.
They have commercial areas, agricultural areas, residential areas, and entertainment areas. This ensures that if we ever go into lockdowns again, members will be living in an environment where a very high quality of living will be able to be maintained amongst the community, much like a gated community but in a very spacious, large space. Mother Tree Tulum is 16 hectares!
Unlike a residential development, half of the land is allocated to communal areas.
I’m building it because it’s where I want to live, and I don’t want to live in small and cramped houses. I want to be able to look outside and see the jungle and feel that I’m part of the environment.
Mother Tree Tulum aims to become food, water, energy, and economically independent. They have a water supply which is part of one of the largest under water reservoirs in the world. The tropical climate allows them to grow food year round and offers an abundance of sun for solar energy generation.
They are building a decentralized food distribution platform, a decentralized marketplace, and they are developing a whole network of regenerative communities that can allow them to support one another.
The aim is to have their own food, their own building and construction, their own entertainment, their own knowledge, medical and veterinary services and other things like that, and in this way they are increasingly building resiliency through their own sovereignty and independence.
Mother Tree Tulum is located on ejido land which is similar to a 60 year lease with the Mayans. During this time they cannot privatize the land with the government system, something they are not motivated to do anyway. The people in Mother Tree Tulum trust their relationship with the people in the community in the area much more than government papers and agendas. This also means that Mother Tree Tulum is outside the jurisdiction of the government. Ultimately, they are under a governance of the people by the people.
The main goals of Mother Tree Tulum are the creation of a thriving community, a true community with food, water and energy independence, and a sovereign way of living that is very self-determined. In order to attain this, they need to set up sustainable systems and governance.
Thus, the first objective is establishing the community and the next objective is establishing food self-sufficiency.
They have already planted hundreds of fruit trees, they have built an agro-tunnel, sheds, and other structures to support farming, they have dug water wells, etc. And they have already started the next phase which includes the building of community structures, to enable community activities, for example, they have built a tea house and a gym, and they are about to build an entertainment structure and accommodations.
The next steps for Mother Tree Tulum are to further develop the community areas, and a few more perks to make living in the jungle both comfortable and enjoyable.
This is such an exciting time as the people at Mother Tree Tulum are gearing up to finally move into the land!
Meet Nathan as he talks lovingly about Mother Tree Tulum in this video.
There are many people who have already bought land in Mother Tree Tulum and are moving there, who have left behind their jobs and their way of earning money. Mother Tree Tulum aims for a full circular economy, so they are building a cafe and retail space, where people will have the opportunity to use their skills and start earning.
Mother Tree Tulum has a very special energy. It is not a residential development where anyone can buy. There is a vetting process and strict requirements to join: They choose very carefully their own community and the people that will be part of it. They are looking for people who are best equipped for what is coming in terms of resilience, temperament, character, and trustworthiness. “Investors” need not apply.
People at Mother Tree Tulum are looking to be in a community with people with similar values and a similar outlook on life. They are creating their future together with people who see the world in the same way. They have a very focused intentionality that goes into every single component of this community. They are designing and creating their own lives in a very organic way, in a way that they feel is best to thrive and prosper as a community.
They are looking for people who can really live in a “we” rather than an “I” environment, because a lot of us have been conditioned to live in ultimately selfish and fragmented ways. Mother Tree Tulum aims to restore the human spirit and interconnectedness in the way that we take care of each other and each other's interests and needs, so that we can all live high-quality lives.
I don’t know about you, but this all sounds like paradise to me. Let me know what you think.
You can contact Nathan directly through their Instagram account.