Pumpkin smashing most popular activity at Halifax Harvest Hootenanny

From pumpkin smashing to cider pressing, dozens attended the annual Harvest Hootenanny at Common Roots Urban Farm in Halifax to celebrate the end of the harvest season.

“The hootenanny has been happening since the farm started, (at) the end of the very first farm season in 2012. The farm was at a different location then, but it’s been happening every year since, the first Saturday after Halloween,” says Nicola Nemy, a coordinator with Common Roots Urban Farm.

Kids were encouraged to dress in their Halloween costumes, giving them the chance to extend their Halloween fever.

The event featured food, live music and a variety of activities, including garlic planting and cider pressing.

But Nemy says pumpkin smashing was the most popular activity.

• In Pictures: Halifax Harvest Hootenanny

“Kids will bring their leftover jack-o’-lanterns, and they smash it here just behind me with some rubber hammers and then we put it in our compost,” she says.

“We have over 110 community garden plots here. We have a big teaching garden. We have a fruit orchard…the farm is a really vibrant community hub.”

The community farm also features a cold storage.

“So basically, a walk-in fridge that we can store the vegetables and flowers,” says Nemy.

“We wanted to get feedback on the design and how it could be better,” says Michael Maclean, a co-founder at OSO Planning and Design. “So we hosted a small gathering this morning of food production organizations, community members, and emergency management organizations to help figure out how best we can adapt this design to be more useful for the city.”

Nemy says the event served as a way for the community to celebrate the end of harvest and enjoy fall activities.

“I think it’s just an opportunity to see one another and to eat some food, smash pumpkins, drink some cider and plant some garlic, but mostly just to see one another.”

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