A smashing time: Common Roots hosts Harvest Hootenanny (23 photos)
Posted Nov 2, 2019 09:51:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Tiny smashers turned retired jack-o'-lanterns into a mushy mess Saturday afternoon at Common Roots Urban Farm.
The community garden's annual Harvest Hootenanny and Pumpkin Smash aims to divert pumpkins from landfills and instead uses them for compost.
“We chop them up into smaller pieces and will compost them over the winter to use in our gardens next year,” says the farm's market garden coordinator Sara Burgess. “This is a great way to repurpose them in the city.”
The compost made from the smash, will be used next growing season on plots of land at Common Roots new BiHi Park location.
“It was an unused piece of land that is now being used productively,” she says. “It's great to see what grows in five months, and to be able to imagine how we could use other pieces of land around the city in this way.”
Earlier this year, the urban farm moved from Bell Road and Robie Street to make way for the QEII hospital expansion.
While its new location is less than one-tenth of the size of its previous 2-acre piece of land, it gives more than 50 urban farmers the ground they need to help feed themselves.
“We rented most of the plots this year, but there were a few that were built later in the season that didn't get filled,” she says. “We have already gone through our waiting list and are assigning them to people for next year.”
According to Burgess, one plot of land costs $30 a year to rent, and a great gardener can grow up to $400 worth of food on it.
Saturday's Harvest Hootenanny and Pumpkin Smash featured live music and dance performances, as well as a Burundian/Congolese, Syrian, Nepali and Somalian feast.
Burgess says she is pleased with the event's turnout.
“I couldn't be happier with the number of people that have come out today to welcome us in this new space,” she says.
