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It was a goodbye to this year's harvest – and their home – for the group of urban farmers looking for a new space in Halifax.
On Sunday afternoon, hundreds of people came to sip apple cider and squash pumpkins at the last event organized by Common Roots Urban Farm at their current location on the corner of Robie Street and Bell Road.
But with the redevelopment of the QEII Health Sciences Center to begin in the spring, the farm has about four months to find a new place to settle.
Jayme Melrose of Common Roots Urban Farm said finding a new home was a challenge and hoped the community would bring her ideas. (Emma Davie / CBC)
"It's the last bravery on this beautiful site that thousands of people have helped create together over the last seven years," said Jayme Melrose of Common Roots.
"I think the feelings are pretty complicated, people are really proud of what we have done, sad to have to leave, interested in what awaits them, and I think people are really happy with what we have built I think we have widened the ground of the possible. "
Melrose said finding the right ground "is complicated," but they are open to community ideas.
She said that one of the highlights of the project is that it brings together different groups of people, from newcomers to families, to tourists.
The farm also runs a program in partnership with Immigrant Services of Nova Scotia, which provides space for refugees who were farmers and who practice English and who return to agriculture.
Imelde Nduwimana, who is Burundian but worked on a farm in Tanzania, is part of this Deep Roots program. She was dancing at Sunday's event.
Imelde Nduwimana is part of the farm's Deep Roots program, which helps refugees who were farmers before arriving in Canada to return to their lands. (Emma Davie / CBC)
She said that she grows beans, leafy vegetables and other vegetables in her home country.
"In my country, I have worked on a farm and I like to work well on this farm because it's a physical exercise for me and the vegetables are good for me, for health and for me." others, "she said.
Part of the Sunday event saw children, and even adults, crush remnants of Halloween pumpkins to use for composting on the farm.
Gus Harvey, eight years old, was having fun spraying pumpkins Sunday afternoon. He did not know exactly why he was doing it – but he had a good idea.
"They will probably make a ginormous pumpkin pie."
Gus Harvey, 8, said he did not know exactly why he was crushing pumpkins, but he was having fun doing it. (Emma Davie / CBC)
Melrose explained that because of the move, most of the remaining pumpkins would go to a chicken farm instead of being composted at Common Roots.
She said the event was also a way to thank volunteers and spread the message of their crowdfunding campaign to generate funds to move their soils and greenhouses.
Melrose hopes to be able to adjust logistics in the winter and move everything in April.
"Because it's a farm, it's never perfect, we always do it in a haphazard way," she said.
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