Vegetable gardens are an important part of EPIC’s work for increasing family food security. Large communal gardens are useful to teach local women in new groups to grow a variety of vegetables. Then they can successfully plant their own home gardens. Women learn to make compost for organic fertilizers and how to prepare nontoxic, natural insecticides. Throughout the harvest season the EPIC promotors lead cooking classes using the vegetables the women have grown. Good hygiene practices are emphasized and then they all eat together! 

Last year flooding from tropical storms in Honduras and Guatemala caused the vegetables in most gardens to rot because of too much rain. But in Mexico there was severe draught. The EPIC programs always promote planting heirloom seeds because these produce seeds for planting next year. Because of this, families with established gardens are usually able to save their seeds from one year to the next. But with the extremes of weather as a result of climate change, more families are needing seeds for planting again next year.