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If you follow us on social media, you likely saw a number of post regarding Kenel and Lauren's recent visit to Haiti. On this 6-day trip, the Jaden PèpLa team was able to accomplish a number of huge steps for the farm's growth.
1) A big thanks to everyone that has contributed financially, because we were able to make some big next steps in construction of the farm house. At this point, we have an outdoor toilet ALMOST complete, and the house is ready for a roof and doors (with a completion goal of Jan 2020).
What does this matter so much?
Well so far, we have been unable to buy equipment for processing peanuts and the moringa because of a lack of secure storage while the farm house was under construction. With the completion of the doors and roof, we will begin early processing of moringa peanut butter and have a safe place for workers to stay while on the farm.
2) With a little creativity, we produce our very first bag of dried moringa! Is it scalable, no. But it gave us a low-tech way to demonstrate
how we can begin producing this amazing product. It also helps to help explain to the local community what we were looking to accomplish with this project. For those that will begin growing moringa, they can also duplicate this process themselves.
3) One of the best highlights of the trip was, of course, being able to hold our first moringa education workshop! We invited many local members of the community to attend, learn about moringa as a nutritional food source, and also encourage them to begin planting their own moringa trees (and also offer recommendations for maintaining healthy moringa trees). By doing so, they will be able to not just have moringa available for their families, but also for Jaden PèpLa to purchase as soon as we build our first factory.
4) On the last day of our trip, we got the chance to go see a moringa factory in Dezam. This was a critical part of our trip because it allowed us to understand what we need to do to build our very own moringa factory as soon as we have the financial capacity to do so! Our hope is to begin working on this in 2020 so we can begin to purchase moringa and provide end products that will be sold throughout Haiti in collaboration with partnering organizations.
Many, many more details to come soon including the videos from the workshop and the chance to experience Jaden PèpLa in 360! Stay tuned!