Growing Castor & Moringa Seeds From Their 50 Acre Farm In Haiti & Producing in Brooklyn, Papa Rozier Is One of the Most Revolutionary Circularity Brands On The Market

Black circularity is not something we often hear in the beauty/wellness industry. But this beautiful brand, founded by Rubens Amedee and his sister Fredeline, makes Castor and Moringa oil from scratch from his family owned farm in the Carribean and presses the hand picked seeds in their Brooklyn retail farm house.

Papa Rozier is a revolutionary brand that utilizes a 50 acres of organic rich fertile farm-land in Haiti while sustainably enhancing local economies in Bushwick and beyond.

Check out our interview with Papa Rozier:

When and why did you start Papa Rozier Farms?

Papa Rozier Farms was created in 2010 as a way to financially fund our school (BATI School) long term using the only resource available to us in Haiti, our 50 acre farm.

BATI School allows Ayitian children to dream of a new future and enriches the local community through providing access to free education. Located on 50 acres in the mountains above the coastal town of St. Michel, Haiti. Our 501(c)(3) non-profit provides free, localized education for students k-12, through a sustainable farm-funded financial design. We've been working in Haiti since 2010, building a sustainable model for education through the use of agriculture.

How do you define sustainability?

Sustainability can be defined in many ways, but in our case it means standing on your own two feet, building the best community using the natural resources available. Our 50 acre farm (Papa Rozier Farms) in Haiti is at the forefront of everything we do; from nutrition (70% of our school’s lunch menu is sourced from our farm), to economic stimulation through purchase and trade to job creation and building community wealth.

Why is Castor oil and Moringa oil the core of your product line? What other ingredients do you use?

Castor was an easy one for us because of its historical significance in Haitian and African culture and medicine. And now its recognized as one of the best natural preservatives in cosmetics, soap and candle making. Moringa has always been around for ages and is world’s most nutrient dense plant. We choose it because of its health benefits, rapid growing popularity and it is extremely farm friendly, very easy to grow, manage and harvest! We also sell raw honey and use it in some of our products. Last year we decided to try our hand at "Medicinal Honey". We have 13 bee hives (boxes) in the middle of one of our Moringa patch of trees. Our bee colonies feed mostly off of Moringa flowers.

Can you share a bit more about the history of your farm in Haiti!

Our farm is named after our late grandfather, Rozier Bosse aka Papa Rozier, to acknowledge his vision and gift of land to BATI School the self-sustaining educational and agricultural community we have been building the last 10 years in Haiti. Papa Rozier didn't know how to read or write, but he knew math really well and understood the importance of education and legacy. He made sure all of his children were educated (our mom the youngest) and purchased land over his lifetime in hopes that the generations to come would see the value and use its riches for good! This is the land we use today to build our school, grow our crops and feed our community.

Your company is a beautiful example of localized and abroad circularity within the Black Diaspora ... how can you encourage other people in this community to replicate this model?

Thank you, we appreciate those kind words. We would encourage everyone to go back home and just taste some of the riches. The abundance and availability of some of the world’s most sought after natural resources are found throughout the Caribbean and Africa. Collectively, we just have to get comfortable with notion of going back home… to reconnect... to work and to build.