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BROOKLYN, N.S. —

Curled up on a dark-coloured sofa in a room with freshly painted black walls and 12-foot ceilings, Jennifer Crawford can’t stop smiling.

Since December, Crawford and partner Logan Aube have been slowly transforming a farmhouse, located in Brooklyn, into their dream business: a home-based, six-seat tasting menu restaurant.

The couple recently moved from a small, 500-square-foot basement apartment in Toronto to the expansive two-acre property, which boasts a meticulously kept 6,000-square-foot home built in 1866, a large barn and smaller barn, chicken coop and a “breathtakingly beautiful” ice house.

“Having worked in the restaurant industry a bit, I wanted to be able to create a job that I had never seen before,” said Crawford.

“So, one of the really beautiful things about winning MasterChef was it has afforded me the freedom to kind of figure that out slowly.”

Jennifer Crawford is looking forward to launching an intimate dining experience in Brooklyn later this year. CAROLE MORRIS-UNDERHILL

Crawford, who originally hails from Kingston, N.S., was the season six MasterChef Canada competition winner. The finale aired June 10, 2019. The win not only came with the title, but $100,000 in prize money.

“It's evolving as we're here. But the main goal is to build a fun, sustainable and creative life around food,” said Crawford.

With a property that is close to amenities yet far enough off the beaten path to provide privacy, Crawford is excited by the opportunities.

“One of the beautiful things about this property is there is so much room and so much space that there's possibilities for infinite growth here depending on how things go,” said Crawford. “But the main thing that I would like to get started doing as fast as I can build a kitchen is offering meals for people."

Crawford said serving six people allows for a more intimate, engaging dining experience.

The farmhouse is currently under renovation. The majority of kitchen cupboards have been removed; there’s no stove or refrigerator in sight. And there won’t be until they’ve settled on a commercial-grade kitchen design.

In the meantime, Crawford has become quite well-versed in the art of open flame cooking, and using a toaster oven.

NOVA SCOTIA CALLING

In between filming MasterChef Canada and when the finale aired, Crawford worked in a Toronto kitchen.

“It was just enough time for me to know that the best thing for like my own mental health and creativity and just quality of life would be to come home,” Crawford said.

After making several event appearances following the MasterChef Canada win, including a couple in the Annapolis Valley, Crawford and Aube began looking to relocate in earnest.

“It's hard to stay away from home. You know, like 12 years was a long time away. I love Toronto for lots of reasons. But it never stopped feeling somewhat transient for me,” Crawford said.

Crawford and Aube reached out to Jennifer Allen, of Royal LePage Atlantic’s The Benedict Group, for help with finding the ideal spot.

They hit it off almost immediately — largely because of their love of golden retrievers.

“We were like kindred spirits and I kind of had a vibe that I knew what they wanted, but just had to find it,” said Allen.

Jennifer Allen, left, helped Logan Aube and Jennifer Crawford find their ideal home in Nova Scotia. The real estate agent bonded with the couple over their mutual love of dogs. Both have golden retrievers. CAROLE MORRIS-UNDERHILL

It didn’t take long. The Brooklyn house had been on the market for about five years.

“It was like it was waiting for them,” Allen said.

Aube said they really only considered a few locations before deciding on Brooklyn.

“I think from the beginning, I kind of liked this place better,” Aube said. “I think it stood out originally because they were all overhead pictures and seeing the red roof that kind of just like made it stand out.”

Allen said the location is perfect for what Crawford and Aube hope to achieve.

“They have the luxury of the land here, the driveway, the community, a little income making cottage next door that brings a tenant income and a very supportive community,” said Allen.

“With the wineries developing around here, I think this is going to be wonderful,” she added.

CLOSE TO AMENITIES

The home is located between the post office and Home Hardware, but set back quite a way from the main road.

Crawford said it’s perfect.

“I kind of wanted to be within an hour of Halifax and for me, the closer to the Valley I was, the better because it's where I grew up and my mom is still in Kingston,” Crawford said.

“This is... the exact halfway point between my mom and our family in Halifax. So it literally couldn't have been designed any better for us, honestly.”

Crawford and Aube see so much potential with the property that they’re still dreaming of what they can achieve five to 10 years from now.

‘We'd love to have some animals. There's so much land here. I want to grow things obviously,” said Crawford, who, as a child, used to grow competitively-sized pumpkins with their late father, Brian Crawford.

Jennifer Crawford and Logan Aube, with their 12-year-old golden retriever Taiga, are excited by the possibilities this large barn on their property offers. They plan to host special events. CAROLE MORRIS-UNDERHILL

As for the giant barn, Crawford envisions hosting large-scale special events there in the future.

But first, Crawford hopes to be ready to launch the six-person dinner service in the summertime.

“I'm hoping this summer because summer in the valley is peak exciting food time and it would just be so nice to be a part of that,” Crawford said.

Crawford said the reception they’ve received since moving to Brooklyn has been phenomenal — from fellow business owners to complete strangers.

“It's totally community over competition here,” Crawford said.

“You don't want to be in a space where everyone's like competing with each other. You want to be in a space where everyone's like nurturing and generous and excited.”

Crawford said they’re excited by what the next chapter holds and are eager to give back.

“We're so eager to contribute to the community here; there's already so many exciting things happening and we're just going to slowly take our time and kind of figure out where we fit into it all,” said Crawford. “I really hope that there can be a lot of collaboration and community and creativity and fun things here over the next bunch of decades.”

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