Beekeepers, led by Russel Armin Balan, tend their hives in Tinúm, Yucatán, Mexico.

Beatriz (18) combs her son André’s hair after a bath. She is reliant for her income on beekeeping, a skill she learned from her grandfather, Anastasio Balan Osalde.

Members of the Ham family look on at their charcoal ovens at El Temporal Mennonite camp, Campeche, Mexico. The Hams have three ovens in which they produce charcoal from wood chopped down in the surrounding forest.

Soy is harvested in Hopelchén, Campeche, Mexico.

Mayan people celebrate Hanal Pixán, the Day of the Dead, Hopelchén, Campeche, Mexico. Traditional dishes are prepared for the spirits of ancestors, who are believed to return on this day to visit their families.

The Ham family children pay a visit to their cousins, at one of the settlements in El Temporal camp, in Hopelchén, Campeche, Mexico. Mennonite families may comprise between eight and fifteen children and are traditionally tight-knit, with the extended family providing the social fabric of daily life.

Eugenio Madero examines his bees, in Xmabén, Campeche, Mexico. The young beekeeper struggles to keep his bees away from the soy fields of the neighboring Nuevo Durango Mennonite camp. The Xmabén elders recently negotiated with the governors of the Nuevo Durango camp to sell them 4,000 hectares of forest land belonging to the indigenous community.

Ana Ham cleans a pig’s head, while men of the family attend to the carcass. Some meat goes to relatives, some is sold, and the rest is frozen to last three months. The head and organs are given to Mexican employees.

Peter Peters (10) rides in his father’s truck during soy harvest, in Nuevo Durango, Campeche, Mexico.
 

A relative mourns over the body of Anastasio Balan Osalde, an 84-year-old beekeeper who died from complications after having his leg amputated. His family says Anastasio’s bees swarmed from their hives while he was ill, a month before he died.

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