When life gives you lemons, what do you do?

If you're Homegrown Hamilton, you check if the lemons are locally sourced and then set up an earth-to-table arrangement with the farmer and … OK, forget lemons.

When Homegrown Hamilton was served notice it would have to pull up stakes and move — a lemon if we ever saw one — from the location where it has made such an impression downtown, they didn't make lemonade.

They started an indiegogo campaign, to help with the costs of finding a new site, ideally nearby, and moving in.

And they started looking hard at the bad news, turning it around in the light, and it started looking less like lemons and more like potential golden apples. When life gives you lemons, make applesauce.

The Sky Dragon board which owns 27 King William has decided not to renew HH's lease. Homegrown has until the end of July.

First of all, Homegrown Hamilton is a civic treasure. In its five glorious, hard-working years of existence, it has become more than a coffee place (with its own roaster), more than a bar, music and art venue, gathering place and gymnasium of discourse and discussion.

It is a living organism of values-in-practice, community-in-action.

"It (Homegrown Hamilton) represents the things I'm passionate about," says Keisha Neoma-Quinn. "Environmental and social justice practices, starting with the local."

A sculptor, Keisha has been working at HH since the beginning, not only as a server but as an advocate for the place, as an organizer and media point person. She heads the Indiegogo campaign.

It's typical of the way Homegrown Hamilton works. A fair-labour, fair-trade eatery, coffee house and music/literature/art venue, it hires only full-time workers — many of them artists and community activists — who are paid a living wage, and they help shape the direction and operation of the place.

Mike Pattison and Beth Chichakian founded Homegrown Hamilton in 2010-11. While their names might be on the deed, they do not call themselves owners.

"No one owns the space," says Mike. "We collectively take care of ourselves. The sheep have no shepherd. We don't need one because it's a safe space for all. There are no wolves here. It's about freedom."

Perhaps this is why the staff loyalty and patron/user devotion is so fierce. They're all fighting for HH as it faces this crossroads. Many, like Jeff Feswick, president of Historia Building Restoration, equate the place with the very spirit of the new Hamilton, of urban revival here.

So don't leap to stereotypes about HH's clientele. I've seen uniformed police officers sitting happily a-table, next to lawyers in business suits, next to street people, next to pierced-brow free spirits who make their own clothes out of hemp and look as if they just got back from Burning Man.

All kinds of community groups, arts organizations and volunteer organizations (Open Streets; Sobie Bikes; Trans Day of Remembrance; etc.) have held meetings at HH, availing themselves of its stimulating, discursive atmosphere.

With its success, Homegrown Hamilton has paradoxically grown too small. "We're the perfectly wrong size," jokes Mike.

They're looking at new sites that have more room. "We're embracing it as an opportunity," says Mike.

The building, near the Lister Block, is known as the Sky Dragon Centre and owned by the Sky Dragon Co-operative.

"After five years the Sky Dragon Co-operative has decided to end its business relationship with Homegrown Hamilton," says board member Kevin Mackay. "We thank them for the incredible contribution they've made to Hamilton's music scene, and we wish them the very best."

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Part of the reason is that in August a new brew pub, carrying forward the same ideals as Bread and Roses (which had the space before HH) and Homegrown Hamilton, will be opening at 27 King William.

Mike says Homegrown Hamilton is open to many ideas — partners, investors. But moving is not without its costs. There will be permit requirements, architect fees, much else.

To help or learn more, visit Keep Homegrown Close To Home at indiegogo.com/projects/keep-homegrown-close-to-home.