Classes at Pacheco Community take place from April to February, three times per week, in which young people learn to plant, care for and harvest edible plants. They also learn about the nutritional value, the importance of knowing where our food comes from and the concept of agroecology with which all crops are grown in the Pacheco Community.

The year in the Pacheco Community is cyclical and is related to the calendar of nature. The annual workshop begins with the sowing of autumn and continues with the winter harvest to start the cycle again with the spring sow and the summer harvest. 

Parallel to the workshop that allows students to learn the theory of social, economic and environmental sustainability, and the practice they do in the gardens, they also learn about food sovereignty, gardening and landscaping. Gardening, as an occupation, allows them to find work cutting the grass in neighbor homes, arranging gardens, pruning trees or even landscaping designs.

For these young students who come from poor families, if they want to study, they need to work in order to help support the whole family. Getting jobs that demand less than 9 hours a day is almost impossible and thus it is unlikely that they can continue studying. For this reason, gardening gives young people a good option so they can continue with their studies.

Students in groups can look for their clients themselves and organize their work schedules so that they are compatible with their study schedules. In addition, they can —and they do— organize associatively so to add more work and support each other while working together.

Our 2017 group of students have just graduated February 24, 2018, and so we would like to thank them for their hard work and congratulate them on this big step we're all proud of!