Dustin Bajer

Designing With Nature. These are my projects.

  • Shop
    • Stickers
    • Online Beekeeping Courses
  • About Me
  • Order A Beehive
  • Beekeeping Courses
    • Online Beekeeping Certificate
    • Course 1: All About Honeybees
    • Course 2: Getting Started in Beekeeping
    • Course 3: Hive Management & Diseases
    • Course 4: Honey Harvesting & Winterization
  • Contact
  • My account
  • Checkout
  • Cart
You are here: Home / Dustin Bajer's Projects / Edmonton’s River Valley Food Forest

Edmonton’s River Valley Food Forest

June 21, 2014 by Dustin Bajer

Edmonton’s Food Forest – An Edible Ecosystem in the River Valley

Each summer since 2014, hundred of volunteers descend into Edmonton’s river valley to add thousands of edible, native trees and shrubs to the City’s first publically planted food forest.

Located on the South facing slope of MacKinnon Ravine, the goal of the food forest is to create a self-sufficient edible ecosystem that captures water, increases biodiversity, reduces costs, cleans the air, sequesters carbon, and builds community. The most common plants include saskatoons, high bush cranberries, currants, elderberries, pin cherries, chokecherries, beaked hazelnuts, strawberries, and raspberries.

Pictures of the River Valley Food Forest 2014-Present

Edmonton Native Food Forest Sites
The 2015/16 site (Red) located 200m West of the 2014 (Green) location.

The Edmonton Food Forest Origin Story

The City of Edmonton has an ambitious goal of doubling its urban forest through naturalisation and thus created the Roots for Trees program – “an enhanced planting initiative which intends to increase tree planting within the city. The annual target is to plant an additional 16,000 trees annually on public and private land.” Roots for Trees achieves much of their work by partnering with community members and organisations to coordinate public planting events. If you’ve seen people planting along Edmonton’s the Whitemud or Yellowhead (freeways) – that’s Roots for Trees.

In the spring of 2014, I was approached by then principal of horticulture, Travis Kennedy about the potential to tweak the City’s naturalisation planting to favour edible species. Travis concluded that Roots for Trees could partner with the local permaculture community to simultaneously meet the goals of both groups.

Members of the Roots for Trees team scope out a location for the 2015 Edmonton Food Forest Expansion.
Members of the Roots for Trees team scope out a location for the 2015 Edmonton Food Forest Expansion.
Planting under forest canopy will better ensure survival under dry conditions and allows for more shade loving species.
Planting under forest canopy will better ensure survival under dry conditions and allows for more shade loving species.
Edmonton Native Food Forest Sites
The 2015 site (Red) is located 200m West of the 2014 (Green) location.

Pincherry At the Edmonton Food Forest.
Pincherry At the Edmonton Food Forest.
Due to drought and above seasonal temperatures, many high bush cranberry did not survive.
Due to drought and above seasonal temperatures, many high bush cranberry did not survive.
Side of 2015 Edmonton Food Forest Expansion.
Site of 2015 Edmonton Food Forest Expansion.

Planting edible perennial plants in Edmonton's River Valley Food Forest 2014. Man carries tray of edible currents on the S. bank of the North Saskatchewan.
Planting edible perennial plants in Edmonton’s River Valley Food Forest 2014. Man carries tray of edible currents on the S. bank of the North Saskatchewan.
Edmonton River Valley Food Forest Installation
Food Forest Install
Digging Swales Edmonton River Valley Food Forest Installation
Water Harvesting Swales

Saskatoon in Edmonton River Valley Food Forest
Edible Native Plants
Edmonton River Valley Food Forest Installation
Bucket Brigade
Edmonton River Valley Food Forest Installation
A Food Forest Next To The River

Edmonton River Valley Food Forest Installation
Hard At Work
Edmonton River Valley Food Forest Installation
Thousands of Edible Plants
Profile of Edmonton River Valley Food Forest
Cross-Section.

Edmonton River Valley Food Forest Concept in Mackinnon Ravine.
Design Concept

Installing The Food Forest

I like to think that the Edmonton River Valley Food Forest has four general goals:

1. Native – composed of species native to Edmonton’s river valley.
2. Low/No maintenance – Must be a functional part of the ecology and build biodiversity, ie. naturalisation.
3. Edible, forageable species – publically accessible to wildlife and residents.
4. Scalable – the process should be scalable over time and transferable to multiple sites.

The idea behind the food forest was to create something self-sufficient and self-maintaining. From the City’s perspective, they’re primarily concerned with the first two goals; volunteers were mostly interested in the third. I added a 4th goal because I’d like to see this kind of planting expand each year and potentially move across the City (or between cities).

I firmly believe that the project has been successful and continues to grow because the goals of the City and the volunteer planters continue to be aligned in such a way everyone benefits. However, these goals do provide some restrictions. As an example, some volunteers would like to see introduced food species included in the food forest. Unfortunately, that would run counter to the first goal – native.

 


Update 2014 – Mild Winter, Dry Summer

A successful day of planting and a mild Winter served the site well. Unfortunately, Summer drought and above average temperatures have reduced survival rates. The location was especially stricken due to its sloped Southern exposure. Despite adding more than 20 water harvesting swales, survival is challenging without rain. As a result, it was decided to monitor the original planting location with the goal of adding infill at future events.

Update 2015 – A Westward Expansion

For some added canopy, we’ve decided to expand the food forest to a location 200 meters West. The site offers a combination of open and shaded areas and increases the variety of plants we can use. The site’s gradual slope also reduces the need for swales (more time planting) and provides better access for watering trucks.

Side of 2015 Edmonton Food Forest Expansion.
Site of 2015 Edmonton Food Forest Expansion.
Planting under forest canopy will better ensure survival under dry conditions and allows for more shade loving species.
Planting under forest canopy will better ensure survival under dry conditions and allows for more shade loving species.
Members of the Roots for Trees team scope out a location for the 2015 Edmonton Food Forest Expansion.
Members of the Roots for Trees team scope out a location for the 2015 Edmonton Food Forest Expansion.

Update 2016 – Bigger and Better

2016 saw the doubling in size of the Western expansion of the food forest. Last year’s plants are doing very well on the site. Whereas 2015 saw a tonne of beaked hazelnut and highbush cranberries, the 2016 planting highly features saskatoons, currants, and gooseberries.

Save The Date! 2017 Planting set for August 26th, 2017

 

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Projects Tagged With: Biophilic Design, Edmonton, Event, Urban Agriculture, Urban Ecology

Trackbacks

  1. MacKinnon Food Forest – design 595 says:
    December 11, 2017 at 12:56 pm

    […] https://dustinbajer.com/edmonton-river-valley-food-forest/ […]

  2. Urban Agriculture as a Response to Climate Change - Dustin Bajer says:
    December 6, 2019 at 11:00 am

    […] food-producing systems that benefit the city and the natural world. Since 2014, I have been partnering with the City’s Roots for Trees program to plant thousands of native edibles in the river […]

Cart

Dustin Bajer

Teacher, permaculture designer, master gardener, hobby beekeeper, consultant, and network nerd living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Read More

Recent Posts

  • Ecological Garden Design Course
  • Shrubscriber Feature Member – Yong Fei Guan
  • Shrubscriber Feature Member – Julie Kusiek
  • Shrubscriber Feature Member – Sherry Heschuk
  • Shrubscriber Feature Member – Jonathan Crane
  • 11 Woody Superpowers That Can Grow Better Cities
  • Funding Community Tree Planting With Shrubscriber
  • Making Walnut Ink And Dye
  • Online Beekeeping Community of Practice
  • Teaching Online Beekeeping Certificate Courses

Contact Information

info@dustinbajer.com
1 (780) 235-0223

Privacy Policy

Refund Policy

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Tags

Adjacent Possible Aquaponics Avantgarden Beekeeping Biophilic Design Botany Craft Cycling Edmonton Education Elm Trees (Ulmus spp.) Food Forward Link Gardening Genetic Engineering Heritage Plants of Edmonton Horsechestnut and Buckeye Trees (Aesculus Spp.) How To List Long Trees Maple Trees (Acer spp.) Maps Migrated Nature Oak Trees (Quercus spp.) Pine Trees (Pinus spp.) Populus spp. Product Prunus spp. Public Talk Quora School Gardens Shrubscriber Shrubscriber Feature Member Six Spruce Trees (Picea spp.) Sustainable Food Edmonton Trees Urban Agriculture Urban Ecology Urban Forestry Urbanism What Grows Here? Willow Trees (Salix spp.) YEGPIE

Payment Method

PayPal, Stripe, or Credit Card
eTransfer, Check, or Cash Options Available Upon Request

Copyright © 2023 · Modern Portfolio Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in