What is a food forest and why should I care?
A Food Forest is a highly productive system that mimics the patterns of a natural forest to minimize watering, weeding and fertilizing. It is becoming more difficult to source healthy, fresh food that hasn’t been sprayed or manipulated. If you’ve been to the grocery store or farmers market lately, you can see that the prices are not going down either. A mature Food Forest can provide you with fresh (and frozen) fruit all summer long and leave you with enough fruit and berries to dehydrate and freeze over winter. If you’re spending time mowing and maintaining a yard, why not get something out of it?
How much does a food forest typically cost?
The annoying answer? It depends. What does it depend on? How much you want to be involved in the construction (i.e planting) and how much automation you want in your management (i.e irrigation)
Food Forest systems for a typical front yard in Edmonton can range from ~$3,000 to $10,000 with the higher priced systems consisting of extra landscaping (raised beds, decorative boulders, carpentry elements, etc.) and more automated maintenance (automatic irrigation timers & sprinklers)
Can i do the work to keep the installation costs down?
Absolutely! We can help you design your food forest, as well as your entire property’s landscape, so that you know how much material and how many plants you will need to build your system. With your design, you can shop around to other landscape contractors to see who can give you the best price for the job. We also provide hourly mentorship to help guide you in the installation.
why does the design cost so much?
Proper planning will reduce your time input and maintenance. Assuming you live on a 1/4 acre (~10,000ft2 lot with a 2,000ft2 house) is $1,250 to plan out the remaining 8,000ft2 of your property unreasonable?
Our designs offer you the ability to shop around or do the work yourself. Our design process ensures you are getting what you want, and can visualize what it will look like before shovels hit the ground.
What if I want the fruit/berries but not the maintenance?
We provide full maintenance services, including mowing, mulching, pruning and trimming. Our systems are easy to maintain, once set up, and we can provide you with mentorship on how to best maintain your food forest.
We will even pick your fruit and berries for you if needed. Reach out to us to learn more.
What if I don’t want any food but want low-maintenance landscaping instead?
Great! We are experienced in low-maintenance landscaping (xeriscaping), rainwater capture and re-use, pollinator and native plant gardens. We can ensure your yard looks beautiful and is practical for your lifestyle.
We pride ourselves on designing out the drudgery of maintenance.