The cultivable landscape of the ancient Maya flourished in the shallow friable soils of the limestone uplands, avoiding soils that the conventional Western agricultural systems deem arable not recognizing the cultivable lands that do not use plows. Maya development depended on hand cultivation, using labor, knowledge, and skill to increase the productive yields. It was not more fields, but more skill and labor in fields that produced greater yields. For the civilization to thrive, the Maya cultivated their landscape not only for crops, but for all the necessities of daily life, including materials for construction and utensils, fibers and spices, resources for food production, and habitat for hunted animals. The Maya cultivated nature embedding it in the cultural landscape as a cycle of varied forest habitats and productive fields that sustained everyday life. This tradition was unfamiliar to the Western eye and was literally overlooked. This presentation will show the links of contemporary Master Maya forest gardeners to the ancient Maya settlement patterns and promoted a new way of seeing ancient monuments under the canopy.